Lauren Frayer

The Federal Communications Commission should get out of the business of creating broadband regulations and only step into an enforcement role when customers complain about service, Verizon's Tom Tauke said Wednesday. He called on the FCC and Congress to create an "updated role" for government in telecommunications regulation, particularly for rules related to broadband Internet access and services that run over broadband. The former Republican lawmaker called for an end to what he called "anticipatory regulation" designed to head off problems before they exist.

Less than four weeks after Katrina, preparations for Hurricane Rita appear to be based on lessons learned from the last major storm hitting the region. When Katrina wiped out communications along the Gulf Coast, officials and key emergency workers were cut off from each other. That contributed greatly to the chaos on the ground. This time, said R. David Paulison, new chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Pentagon is sending in five two-person teams to set up communications after the storm comes through.

[Commentary] The problem of interconnecting communications services is not generally an open standards problem. It is an open spectrum problem -- and one we could solve today. Ever since 9/11, the communications world has known about the problems of interconnectivity among public safety services and the general public. Long ago, when radio was becoming a useful tool for public safety and not just for broadcasting, the FCC divided up the spectrum into little slices and gave them out by service.

Cable and satellite industries might never converge, but they could be partners, industry officials said at an Federal Communications Bar Association lunch Wednesday. After Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast terrestrial wireless network, satellite phones and satellite data services played a critical role in filling communication gaps left by the storm. So how about a “satellite backup” service for terrestrial wireless networks, some asked.

Patrick Roberts, president of the Florida Association of Broadcasters, told a Senate Commerce Committee panel Tuesday that several changes should be made to emergency communications procedures. He argued that radio and TV stations should be given priority status for fuel during emergencies. He pointed to several Gulf Coast stations that almost went dark for lack of fuel for back-up generators.

You may not know this, but you have until September 28 to send your comments to the House Commerce Committee on proposed, but as yet introduced, legislation aimed at reforming US telecommunications law. Apparently, large telephone companies already got the word and are visiting Hill staff and complaining about the draft bill's franchising provisions. Parts of the draft threaten to “deny consumers of many of the benefits that today’s technology and marketplace can deliver,” Verizon Exec. Vp Tom Tauke said Wednesday at a Progress & Freedom Foundation conference.

As many as 20 elected local government officials Wednesday began lobbying key members of the House and Senate Commerce Committees, urging Congress to “recognize the importance of local franchising authority.” More than 50 meetings with members of Congress and staff have been set, said Arvada (CO) Mayor Ken Fellman, who chairs the National League of Cities’ (NLC) Information & Technology Communications Committee. Cities are willing to consider streamlining the franchising process, Mayor Fellman said. But local governments must be involved in any telecom law rewrite, he said.

Two coalitions of public-interest advocates are taking different lobbying approaches to the question of whether broadcasters should obtain carriage of multiple channels on cable systems -- so-called multicasting. One coalition -- including Consumers Union and Free Press -- adamantly opposes a multicast "must carry" mandate, which broadcasters are seeking in exchange for a fixed date on the transition to digital television. "There exists no compelling public policy reason" for the multicast mandate, the group said in a letter to the House Energy and Commerce and Senate Commerce committees.

Allowing phone companies to cream-skim cable markets instead of providing service to every household could put some cable systems at a large economic disadvantage -- and these lopsided regulations may force some cable operators to abandon local markets, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association told the FCC.

Nearly two months after New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer unveiled a landmark $10 million settlement with Sony BMG, the Federal Communications Commission has yet to examine a motherlode of evidence collected in Spitzer’s continuing payola investigation. The FCC has had its hands full with a host of post-Hurricane Katrina communications issues. And the Enforcement Bureau, which would take the lead in a federal payola investigation, has been dealing with a backlog of indecency complaints.