MERGERS
Ameritech Customers Overpay, Group Says (ChiTrib)
Bell Deal May Face Tough Conditions (NYT)
Cable TV and the Internet, Too (NYT)
BROADBAND
Cable-Internet Issue Is Vital, But Not Utmost (SJ Merc)
ANTITRUST
Is Microsoft Moving to Settle? U.S. Says No (NYT)
SPECTRUM
Creation of a Low Power Radio Service (FCC)
FCC Handled Over 1200 Interference Complaints (FCC)
PRIVACY
Privacy Watchdog Declines to Pursue Microsoft, a Backer (CyberTimes)
JOBS
In Fairfax, a Promise of Jobs Falls Short (WP)
Web-Weary Workers Find Outlets Online (CyberTimes)
MERGERS
AMERITECH CUSTOMERS OVERPAY, GROUP SAYS
Issue: Merger
An analysis by the Consumer Federation of America finds that Ameritech
customers are paying at least $600 million more per year than they should
because of a lack of competition. Citizen Action/Illinois, a local allay of
the national group, is providing additional arguments why the Illinois
Commerce Commission should block the proposed merger of Ameritech and SBC.
The analysis comes as negotiations between SBC-Ameritech and opponents to
the merger have bogged down. The company was seeking a compromise like the
one it negotiated in Ohio, but no agreement has been reached and no meetings
are scheduled between the interested parties. The staff of the ICC, the Cook
County and Illinois attorneys general, and the Citizens Utility Board are
all on the record opposing the merger. [CFA will release the analysis at a
press briefing Tuesday, March 23 at 1:45 at 28 E. Jackson in Chicago]
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Jon Van]
(http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-25548,00.html)
BELL DEAL MAY FACE TOUGH CONDITIONS
Issue: Mergers
The FCC is still considering approval of the latest planed mergers of Baby
Bells. SBC's acquisition of Ameritech and Bell Atlantic's deal with GTE
could both be subject to delays or conditions imposed by the FCC. There is
growing concern that recent telecommunications mergers have threatened
competition. Regulators have found that it is difficult to impose or enforce
conditions once a merger receives approval. For this reason, the Commission
might require the Bells to open their networks to rivals before the deals
are approved. According to a FCC official, such a move would show that the
carriers are "really serious about moving toward allowing competition."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: Kathy Chen and Stephanie Metha]
(http://wsj.com/)
CABLE TV AND THE INTERNET, TOO
Issue: Cable/Internet
In response to the recently announced $53 billion dollar deal between two of
the nation's largest cable companies, Comcast and Mediaone, one might be
surprised to hear more talk about data delivery than cable programming. In
the digital age, cable companies will be looking for profit from advanced
communications services as much as from tradition cable TV. As cable
companies get set to battle the local Bells over territory in the provision
of high speed Internet services, a combined Comcast/Mediaone - which will be
the nation's third largest cable company -- will be well positioned for
broadband competition. The most important rivals for the new cable giant
will not be other cable companies, but the local phone industry. Local
Bells, like Bell Atlantic, have plans to wire much of Comcast territory with
high-speed access before the end of next year.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/biztech/articles/23comcast.html)
See also:
BIG NAMES IN CABLE GROW THICKER IN CONSOLIDATION
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Tim Jones]
(http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9903230135,00.html)
BROADBAND
CABLE-INTERNET ISSUE IS VITAL, BUT NOT UTMOST
Issue: Broadband/Universal Service
"What's emerging, at least for the time being, is an America where just two
high-capacity pipes - run by the cable and phone companies - will reach into
any average American's home. And AT&T is putting together a system where it
will control content and transmission on one of those pipes. AT&T's threat
to stop improving its cable network if it can't be the ISP and data pipeline
is pure blackmail, and it's working. One of these days, if consumer choice
is really on the agenda, Congress will wake up and ask some questions. For
now, consumers won't get any help from the Federal Communications
Commission. That was the observation of columnist Dan Gillmor as he
attended a meeting with some of the technology world's major players at an
Arizona resort. He and others from the meeting also visited the stark,
barren lands of the Gila River Indian Community which have telephone service
only because the reservation created its own company and operates partially
on subsidies from federal taxpayers. Gillmor concludes, "How our society
decides the cable-Internet issue matters a great deal. But the divergence
between the information rich and poor should be just as important."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Dan Gillmor]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/dg032399.htm)
ANTITRUST
IS MICROSOFT MOVING TO SETTLE? U.S. SAYS NO
Issue: Antitrust
"We have not received any settlement proposal from Microsoft," Assistant
Attorney General Joel I. Klein said yesterday responding to a report that
Microsoft is interested in settling the federal antitrust suit against it.
Apparently because they think they have the upper hand the Justice
Department wants Microsoft to take the first step. The judge in the case
has urged both sides to use the current lengthy recess period to reach a
settlement. Microsoft says it is willing to show flexibility on some issues
but not others. It appears the issues that Microsoft is not willing to
discuss are the ones that the Justice Department and the 19 states that have
joined it want to negotiate. A Microsoft spokesman said, "Any settlement
must preserve Microsoft's ability to add new features to our operating
system as technology advances." That view means Microsoft is unwilling to
give up the ability to bundle other software products with Windows, which
was the issue which set off the antitrust suit initially. Lawyers on both
sides say the odds of settlement are long.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C6), AUTHOR: Joel Brinkley]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/biztech/articles/23soft.html)
See also:
MICROSOFT TO BROACH SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Rajiv Chandrasekaran]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/micro.htm)
MICROSOFT MULLING SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Andrew Zajac]
(http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9903230147,00.html)
SPECTRUM
CREATION OF A LOW POWER RADIO SERVICE
Issue: Radio
In the now (in)famous microradio proceeding, the Commission originally set
comment and reply comment dates of April 12, 1999 and May 12, 1999,
respectively. The Commission has extended those deadlines to June 1 and July
1, 1999. For more info, see the Low Power FM homepage
(http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/prd/lpfm/).
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Orders/1999/da990542.txt)
FCC HANDLED OVER 1200 INTERFERENCE COMPLAINTS
Issue: Public Safety
The FCC said that its Compliance and Information Bureau responded to over
1,200 calls during the past year from local, state, and federal public
safety and emergency officials seeking assistance on radio frequency
problems, many involved with life-threatening emergency situations. The
Compliance and Information Bureau provides around the clock assistance to
public safety and emergency organizations that are experiencing
communications problems. The bureau will alert and dispatch local FCC field
office agents to locate and resolve the interference problems, giving
priority to emergency situations involving potential harm to life and property.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Compliance/News_Releases/1999/nrci9010.html)
PRIVACY
PRIVACY WATCHDOG DECLINES TO PURSUE MICROSOFT, A BACKER
Issue: Privacy
TRUSTe (http://www.truste.org), a Santa Barbara, Calif-based nonprofit
organization that regulates the Internet privacy policies of about 500
companies, scolded but declined to pursue an audit Microsoft, a premier
corporate partner which contributed $100,000 to the nonprofit group. The
group found that Microsoft compromised consumer privacy and trust with an
identifying number in its Windows 98 operating system that was
surreptitiously collecting consumer data. Privacy advocates are pointing to
the case as an example of why "seals of approval" don't work for consumers.
"It illustrates the fact that these seals don't deliver the real privacy
protection that people want and deserve, and self-regulation is sham
regulation," said Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters
(http://www.junkbusters.com), who filed the complaint with TRUSTe.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing (jeri( at )nytimes.com)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/cyber/articles/23privacy.html)
JOBS
IN FAIRFAX, A PROMISE OF JOBS FALLS SHORT
Issue: Education/Employment
What happens if you mix welfare recipients and the Y2K bug? Tom Neff and
friends decided to create TekAid, a closely watched technology training
experiment. It goal was to create computer programmers who could work for
the Washington, DC area technology companies which were pleading for skilled
employees. The results have been more modest than Neff's promise of $40,000
computer programming positions for the 41 persons from the Fairfax County
welfare and unemployment rolls who entered the program. Completing 14 weeks
of math and computer courses and final tests, about 35 of the graduates have
jobs, but many are in entry-level assignments of $25,000 and have never
gotten near those $40,000 jobs. Neff says local technology companies that
had been offering the jobs backed out. Also financing took a couple of
years and the companies were not as desperate for Cobol programmers as they
had been earlier. Plus many of the class members were better suited to
other computer jobs than programming and the content of the program had to
be shifted. So the graduates are not making programmer's pay, but enough to
lift their heads above water, Edwin DeCastro of the Fairfax Family Services
Department. He believes the program has opened up the possibility of
permanent jobs, more training, promotions, and security for the graduates.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Peter Behr]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/feed/biztop922192608508.htm)
WEB-WEARY WORKERS FIND OUTLETS ONLINE
Issue: Lifestyles!
"If you tell someone you work in the Internet business, they think you have
$30 million falling out of your pocket," said Lessard, who has had seven
jobs in seven years in the new media business in New York. "It's just not
the case." The media seems to focus on the big winners of new media --
people who started a business in their garage and eventually sold it for
millions. Aside from a few lucky receptionists or project managers whose
stock options have turned in to gold, most rank-and-file workers are not
millionaires. They are people working long, long hours -- and they are not
as enchanted with the new media as when they started. Netslaves: Horror
Stories of Working on the Web (http://www.netslaves.com/) is an online
magazine that lets these workers vent their frustrations and reflect on
their profession. The site's e-commerce section, for example, sells an "IPO
voodoo doll" and a "management buzzword translator." [Wonder if there's a
way to combine those two products?] "You have to be a fighter to survive the
new media space," said Judy Wert, a recruiter whose business, Wert and Co.,
specializes in high-tech and Internet placements. She has seen the industry
grow and change from one flush with cash to one that has had to clamp down
to keep costs at bay. "People who came into the business thinking it was
going to be a new frontier have found that it's a tough business," she said.
"There are definitely people who have made it and people who have not." For
more to read see Burn Rate (http://www.burnrate.com/).
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Lisa Napoli (napoli( at )nytimes.com)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/cyber/articles/23workers.html)
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