July 2011

Sen Grassley to FCC on LightSquared: What are you hiding?

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said he still hasn't received the answers he wants from the Federal Communications Commission on why the agency fast-tracked a regulatory step for troubled satellite firm LightSquared. The FCC in a letter earlier this week told Sen Grassley that it doesn't have to reveal documents requested by the Judiciary committee. Only the Commerce committee can force the agency to reveal correspondence between the FCC and LightSquared officials. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski instead told Grassley to file a freedom of information act request. “What is the FCC hiding?” Sen Grassley said.

Cellphones don't increase cancer risk in kids, study says

Using cellphones doesn't increase children's cancer risk, according to a new study, the latest in a series of papers that find no link between the phones and brain tumors.

Scientists say the study is important, because it is the first of its kind to focus on children. The study's authors compared the cellphone habits of nearly 1,000 children in Western Europe, including 352 with brain tumors and 646 without. Kids who used cellphones were no more likely to develop a brain tumor than others, according to the study of children ages 7 to 19, published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers looked at their data in several ways, searching for possible trends with long-term use. They found no increase in brain tumors among children who had used cellphones for five years or more, according to the study, funded by European health agencies.

Inside The Libyan Rebels' Mobile-Phone Network

While the world is debating what to do in Libya, the rebels have been getting technical -- here's a look inside two mobile-phone networks created by the Libyan rebels to make calls without pesky surveillance and jamming. The best part? Local calls are free.

US Places Fourth Globally For Ultra High-Speed Internet Connections

The United States is behind three Asian nations when it comes to the deployment of ultra high-speed Internet networks, according to a recent report from a British broadband data analysis firm Point Topic.

The U.S. had paltry 6.9 million subscribers to fiber-to-the-home broadband service in the first quarter of 2011, compared to 28.9 million in China, 20.14 million in Japan, and 9.5 million in South Korea, according to Point Topic's global broadband deployment report, which gathers data from both commercial and government sources. The 6.9 million subscriber number in the United States represents nine percent of the total broadband market, with cable and DSL subscribers making up the rest of the wireline broadband market. That penetration percentage is markedly below those of the other Asian nations. Thirty-eight percent of China's broadband subscribers used fiber-to-the-home in the first quarter of 2011, compared to about 26 percent for Japan, and 12.46 percent for South Korea. Overall, China leads the world in terms of the number of broadband subscribers with 135.23 million subscribers; the U.S. has 88.7 million, Japan has 34.6 million and Germany has 27.16 million.

The most noteworthy number is the fiber-to-the-home number, however, since that's the technology that the experts pinpoint as being the most durable and cost-effective form of information infrastructure that many policymakers think is important to keeping nations competitive.

NTIA's Status Report on the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has reported to Congress progress on the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, focusing on activities from January 1-March 31, 2011.

The covers four areas of BTOP implementation and project oversight:

Status and progress of BTOP projects and overall program expenditures -- BTOP is on track to achieve its program goals, and delivered significant progress this quarter in areas such as the environmental and historical preservation clearances needed to begin infrastructure construction, groundbreakings and computer center launches, and delivery of broadband training. This progress can be clearly seen in awardees’ quarterly progress reports made public on June 1, 2011.5
Supporting initiatives, including the SBI mapping and capacity building efforts and the new Digital Literacy Portal -- On February 17, 2011 NTIA, in collaboration with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), unveiled the National Broadband Map – the first public, searchable nationwide map of consumer broadband Internet availability in the United States. The SBI grants, in addition to funding state efforts to collect data for the map, are also playing a critical role as states and territories identify and address obstacles to broadband deployment and adoption.
Monitoring of BTOP program activity and results from those monitoring efforts -- Recipients are required to report their financial, project performance, and Recovery Act-related activities on a quarterly basis. Three reports – the Federal Financial Report (FFR), BTOP Performance Progress Report (PPR), and Recovery Act report – are reviewed each quarter by the BTOP Program Office and the NIST/NOAA Grants Office to formally monitor project progress against established baselines, expenditure of grant funds, and contribution of non-Federal cost share. NTIA instituted a number of measures to increase the consistency and accuracy of recipient data reporting.
Communications, training, and assistance initiatives that enhance the implementation and sustainability of BTOP projects -- NTIA conducted ongoing communications and outreach to report on BTOP progress to interested stakeholders and to assist grant recipients in achieving project success. The agency used concrete examples from BTOP projects to demonstrate how the Program will benefit communities across the United States and improve access to and use of broadband.

Delivering broadband across the great divide

Massachusetts is launching an ambitious project designed to bring online relief to broadband-starved communities in the central and western parts of the state, a push that officials hope will deliver on the promise of jobs and economic expansion.

The public-private project, known as MassBroadband 123, will deliver high-speed Internet to 120 cities and towns, many of them rural, and help end the state’s geographic digital divide, Gov Deval (D-MA) Patrick said. Gov Patrick kicked off the project’s construction in Berkshire County at the Sandisfield Fire Department, one of nearly 1,400 schools, libraries, hospitals, and public safety facilities lacking reliable Internet service. The project, expected to take about two years to complete, is being paid for with state and federal funds, including $45.4 million in stimulus funding and $26.2 million in matching state dollars. Network operator Axia NGNetworks USA plans to invest roughly $40 million in the project.

Gov Patrick said the planned installation of 1,300 miles of fiber-optic cable is also one of the largest projects of its kind under construction in the country. “For too long, families and businesses in Western Massachusetts have lived without reliable and affordable high-speed Internet access," Gov Patrick said. “Today . . . we start the critical final step in delivering broadband access to everyone."

Why spectrum debate is tied to debt ceiling plan

Congressional leaders seem to be throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the debate over the budget and raising the debt ceiling. Now it looks like the incentive wireless spectrum auctions proposed by the Federal Communications Commission may end up as part of a package that is being hashed out by Republicans and Democrats in Washington (DC).

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) included the sale of wireless spectrum to mobile broadband providers in his proposed package of cuts and revenue-raisers. He said he expects the sale of wireless spectrum to generate $15 billion in revenue for the government, which could be applied to reducing the nation's budget deficit. At first blush it seems rather silly that the issue of auctioning additional wireless spectrum would be caught up in the current budget debate and stalemate over the debt ceiling. But when you take a closer look, it may not be so ridiculous after all. Think of it this way. When a household is looking for some extra cash, the family may start to look at added expenses they can cut. For example, maybe they get rid of cable TV or they stop eating out. Mom may also go back to work. And the family may also consider selling some of its assets, such as dad's coveted sailboat. The proceeds from all of these measures could be used to help pay down credit card debt or fill gaps in the family's budget. For the government, cutting monthly expenses is like slashing spending on entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicaid. Creating new revenue streams could mean raising taxes. And getting cash by selling off some assets is similar to the notion of auctioning unused wireless spectrum from TV broadcasters and government entities.

The first two options -- cutting expenses and raising revenue--are already being debated among Democrats and Republicans as they try to figure out a plan to deal with the nation's budgetary and debt issues. So it makes perfect sense that Congressional leaders would also be looking at ways to raise money through the sale of valuable assets.

Lieberman praises spectrum plan in Reid's debt-ceiling bill

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-CT) praised a provision in Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) debt-ceiling bill that would allocate the D Block section of spectrum to emergency responders.

“I wish I could take credit for it, Sen. Reid putting it in,” Sen Lieberman said. “He, I think, wanted to benefit from the revenue part of it but also understood that if he did that without recognizing the needs of the first-responder community, he'd run into problems.” Reid’s bill sets aside $7 billion through fiscal 2017 for the creation of a nationwide interoperable public safety network. Sen Lieberman said he was disappointed that funding for the network was less than the nearly $11 billion that was included in a bill that passed the Senate Commerce Committee last month. Homeland Security Committee ranking member Susan Collins (R-Maine) supports creating a network for first-responders, but she said the issue should not be dealt with in a debt-ceiling bill.

Senate GOP seeks cost-benefit analysis of network neutrality

Eleven Republican Senators wrote to the Federal Communications Commission requesting a cost-benefit analysis of the agency's network neutrality rules, arguing such a review would be in the spirit of President Barack Obama's push to reduce burdensome regulations.

The Senators, led by Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), cited President Obama's July memorandum instructing the independent agencies to join executive agencies in eliminating outdated or burdensome regulations. They suggested the FCC's vote on net neutrality might have turned out differently if the memo had come out earlier.

"We believe that had these Executive Orders been implemented before net neutrality rules were approved by a vote of 3-2 by the FCC on December 21, 2010, the Commission would have made a more informed decision," the Republican senators wrote. "Therefore, we respectfully request that before net neutrality rules go into effect, you honor the intent of the President's Executive Order by applying a retrospective review towards the net neutrality order and pursuing a cost benefit analysis."

Congress Gets Involved in Fight Over Food Marketing Guidelines

The food and beverage lobby is finally getting some attention on Capitol Hill as it tries to neuter the government's proposed voluntary guidelines for marketing food to children.

More than 30 Democratic members of Congress, organized by Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., are set to send a letter to the heads of the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, criticizing the analysis behind the guidelines and requesting a cost-benefit analysis of the proposal. The letter follows one that Rep. George Butterfield (D-NC) sent one last month; it's likely to be followed by another, as Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) is also working on a letter with a number of other senators. And there's language in a House appropriations bill that prohibits the FTC from using any of the funds from the bill to move forward on the guidelines, at least not until after a cost-benefit analysis that Congress wanted done on them in the first place is completed.

But getting members of Congress to pay attention has been anything but easy for the food, beverage, advertising, and media industries, which view the guidelines as draconian, costly, and most importantly, voluntary in name only. If these were actual regulations, imposed in the normal way business is done in Washington, they would know exactly what they have to do to fight them. But because these guidelines are voluntary, it's been like punching air.

Benton

Search