September 2011

The Naval Research Laboratory plans to launch an experimental, $75 million satellite that U.S. ground forces can use for on-the-move communications with standard military handheld or back radios.

The Tactical Satellite-4 (TacSat-4) will zoom around Earth in an elliptical orbit at altitudes ranging from 435 miles to 7,470 miles, keeping the spacecraft far closer than the 22,000-mile orbit of geostationary communications satellites, according to the Operationally Responsive Space Office at Kirtland Air Force Base (NM), which funded the launch and first six months of use. Michael Hurley, head of spacecraft development for the Naval Research Lab, said from the TacSat-4 launch site in Kodiak (Alaska). He said the low orbits will allow ground forces for the first time to communicate with a military satellite using omnidirectional antennas on their radios while on the move, rather than stopping to set up a satellite antenna.

University of Missouri students arrived on campus this fall with a slew of new electronic toys and immediately wrought havoc with the school's wireless network.

Early on, too many gadgets were vying for attention, leaving some students unable to connect. There was, of course, a lot of virtual hand wringing and outrage from students furious and frustrated over the slow or severed connections. Still, it was far from a total crash. "It was only in certain places, large lecture halls and crowded areas," said Elise Moser, a laptop-armed freshman from Maryland Heights. "I'd get it in one class but then spend all the next class trying to get on the Internet." The problems were traced to a software glitch and quickly fixed. But the incident is a reminder of the challenges faced by campuses nationwide striving to keep up with the needs of increasingly mobile students and faculty. Like other schools, the University of Missouri-Columbia is in a state of perpetual upgrade, adding more Internet capacity and mobile access points all the time. But this new school year already is proving to be notable in one regard, said Terry Robb, director of information technology.

The battle over Universal Service Fund reform isn't grabbing the kind of headlines that other regulatory squabbles are, but it is a significant issue for the U.S. telecom market for multiple reasons. Here's what you need to know about regulatory reform:

• Why you should care: First, the Federal Communications Commission's decision as to how USF will be changed essentially determines who has the best shot at providing broadband in unserved and underserved areas of the U.S. going forward. And by default, that means what the FCC decides will also likely determine whether those areas get broadband service and what the service looks like -– how fast it will be, how symmetrical, and whether it is wireless or wireline.
• Second, the impact of the FCC's choices could reverberate into other aspects of telecom, specifically wireless backhaul. Efforts to build ubiquitous 4G coverage could be impacted if the new rules send rural telecom providers into a tailspin, because someone has to build and maintain connections to wireless towers in rural areas.
• USF reform is being paired with intercarrier compensation (ICC), the regulatory formula that determines how telecom service providers compensate each other for completing voice calls. The pairing makes sense because ICC has been another means of funding networks in high-cost areas that have become archaic with the introduction of VoIP, among other things. ICC changes will impact any service provider offering voice services, potentially including VoIP companies and cable players.
• Some not-so-small companies, such as CenturyLink and even AT&T, would be financially impacted by changes in the USF rules that hurt incumbents. There's a reason the six largest U.S. incumbents have banded together and gotten some support from rural telecom associations for a plan that affords some protection to existing service providers in rural areas.
• And finally, the entire industry will be affected if a prolonged debate or court battle delays any decision on USF, because regulatory uncertainty slows purchasing on all fronts. The FCC had promised USF reform earlier this year but now has slipped on its plan to finish the process this summer and could be months away. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) this week urged the agency to finish by October, saying the process has already gone on too long.

[Commentary] The fall television season’s a great time for fresh starts — to welcome back favorite television shows and hope they'll continue their momentum, or find great new shows. This autumn’s been heralded as a breakthrough for women on television, particularly women in comedy, following the massive and somewhat unexpected box office success of the female-led ensemble comedy Bridesmaids this summer.

In shows premiering this fall, women are saving to start small businesses on 2 Broke Girls; running hit television shows while their husband stays home with their new baby in Up All Night; solving murders while pushing back against police department sexism in NBC’s remake of the British detective show Prime Suspect; and fleeing the ’60s suburbs to fly around the world in Pan Am. These shows are still in their early days, so it’s too early to tell if these shows will upset old stereotypes of women on television or rely on them to tell the same comforting stories to audiences.