November 2014

Federal Communications Commission officials said that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is circulating two items suggesting that the FCC take further action on two aspects of the TDM-to-IP transition. One item is a notice of proposed rulemaking focused on copper retirement and aimed at ensuring that public safety, consumers and competition are protected as network operators convert today’s copper- and TDM-based phone networks to IP-based networks. A second NPRM focuses on ensuring 911 reliability during this transition.

The NPRM focused on protecting consumers, public safety, and competition has three key components:

• Ensuring that consumers can call 911, electric utilities and the like during a power outage even if they are using phone service delivered over cable or fiber infrastructure. Traditional phone service delivered over copper wiring provides power to the handset from the central office while the alternative delivery methods require backup power.
• Ensuring that customers are notified if a service provider plans to retire its traditional copper phone network
• Ensuring that competition is not harmed if telcos discontinue a legacy service, possibly by requiring the telcos to make equivalent replacement services available to competitors

The second NPRM was triggered by a recent increase in what are commonly referred to as “sunny day” 911 outages caused not by a weather or other emergency but instead result from equipment failures. The NPRM makes proposals in four areas:

• Establishing a notification process that would inform the public of changes to 911 systems
• Requiring companies that are part of the 911 ecosystem to be more accountable to the public and ensuring that all parties understand their important roles
• Promoting situational awareness during 911 outages, including establishing a single point of contact during service restoration
• Expanding the types of entities involved in the 911 ecosystem requiring FCC certification

Leaks by ex-intelligence contractor Edward Snowden ignited awareness that US authorities access US citizens' private call records and correspondence with foreigners. Just like cyber criminals, they break into personal devices, using phishing techniques. Bogus, yet persuasive emails -- say, ones that contain an Associated Press article about bomb threats at schools -- secretly slip surveillance malware into a suspect's computer. The feds also compel telecom companies to turn over bulk call records and tap international communications. Tech developers cashing in on the mass spying revelations are promoting products that prevent the government from breaching citizens' data. Yet these companies, according to US authorities, are impeding legal efforts to track down criminals and terrorists.

[Commentary] Coverage of the Pew Research Center’s latest study has emphasized the finding that news consumption has become more polarized, each of us preferring All the News that Fits Our Worldview. But to me the most interesting finding was different: the deep alienation of conservatives from mainstream media and “journalism.”

Get this: among the 36 outlets they studied, there was only one -- The Wall Street Journal -- that had positive levels of trust among both consistently liberal and consistently conservative Americans. This was not because of ideological polarization (liberals trust plenty of outlets). It is because conservatives trust so few. Not surprisingly, they mistrust MSNBC and Mother Jones. But they also mistrust ABC News, CBS, NBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN. Hell, they even discount Bloomberg, USA Today, PBS and Yahoo News.

[Waldman is author of the landmark report on the changing media landscape produced by the Federal Communications Commission]

As T-Mobile US and AT&T Mobility continue to duel over potential changes to the Federal Communications Commission's data roaming rules, a filing by an economics professor in support of T-Mobile's position reveals that in 2013, T-Mobile paid an average 30 cents per MB for data roaming data in the US.

The economist, Joseph Farrell, argues that the figure is 3.6 times the retail data rate Verizon Wireless, charges its own customers, 6 times the retail rate for AT&T and more than 10 times the rate at Sprint. However, in 2012, T-Mobile paid almost 86 cents per MB in data roaming charges and in 2011 in paid almost $1.20 per MB. Those figures have likely fallen as T-Mobile has built outs its network coverage, especially for LTE. Farrell, who served as the FCC's chief economist from 1996-1997 and is now a professor at the University of California-Berkeley, argued in his filing to the FCC on T-Mobile's behalf that when deciding whether a proposed data roaming rate or agreement is commercially reasonable, the FCC "should be especially concerned about high rates charged to a significant retail competitor that lacks adequate alternative roaming providers," as is the case with T-Mobile and AT&T.