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The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Bureau is seeking comment on a number of issues relating to broadband funding for smaller rural carriers, known as rate-of-return carriers. In order to help ensure all Americans get access to broadband while increasing efficiency and accountability -- no matter what kind of company serves an area -- we overhauled universal service and created the Connect America Fund.
These reforms required making support for all types of carriers more efficient and accountable. These reforms left the basic rate-of-return system in place, and preserved funding for smaller carriers at $2 billion overall, while improving safeguards against abuse and increasing accountability. But we also provide rate-of-returns the option to migrate to the new, incentive-based Connect America Fund for larger carriers. That framework is simpler, and sets strong incentives for efficient investment in broadband. So today, we are seeking further comment on exactly how to structure the pathway for rate-of-return carriers that wish to migrate to the more market-based, incentive-driven Connect America Fund. We’re looking at other ways to bring broadband to rural America too. Some small carriers have suggested that they should be able to receive support for stand-alone broadband without voice, which their current rules don’t allow. It’s an intriguing idea as consumers increasingly subscribe to fiber, DSL or cable broadband Internet access service and use a mobile phone to talk. So we’re soliciting specific proposals for carrying out this idea. And we’d like comments on how to ensure that we stay within the $2 billion budget for support for small companies if we follow this path to facilitate expanded broadband service offerings.
Setting the Right Incentives for Investment in Rural Broadband [SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ] WCB Seeks Comment on Rate of Return Represcription Staff Report (Public Notice) WCB Seeks Comment on Options to Promote Rural Broadband in Rate-of-Return Areas (Public Notice II) WCB Clarifies ETC Reporting Requirements and Waives Five-Year Plan (Order)
The Federal Communications Commission unanimously agreed to lift over 120 regulatory requirements on phone companies that are unnecessary or outdated in today’s telecommunications marketplace. At the same time, the FCC preserved vital protections to ensure competition, consumer protection, universal service and public safety. Among the rules retained: a requirement that companies notify consumers when services are being eliminated, an important protection as technological transitions transform the marketplace.
Among the over 120 requirements lifted by the FCC are rules that required:
- Keeping paper records made redundant by digital databases
- Detailed filing of property records no longer used by the FCC
- Calling card records reporting that consumed 15,000 hours of compliance work annually
FCC Lifts Unneeded Telecom Rules, Frees Millions for Investment, Consumer Benefit FCC (read the Order) Statement (Chairman Genachowski) Statement (Commissioner Pai) FCC scraps 126 telecom regulations (The Hill) FCC Lifts Boatload of Telephone Regs (B&C)
The Federal Communications Commission missed an opportunity to deliver on President Obama’s directive to remove unnecessary, outdated regulations.
Fifteen months ago, USTelecom filed a petition asking for regulatory relief from a host of old and arcane requirements, many of which were created in the days of rotary dial telephones. These rules may have had a purpose at one point, but it is clear that they no longer do. None of these rules are necessary to serve the agency’s current needs. None of these rules apply to the competitors of legacy voice services that are signing up customers every day in droves. Today, cable companies, Voice over IP providers, wireless providers, and other competitors serve four times as many connections as traditional phone company connections. Most importantly, none of these rules have any impact on consumers.
The FCC Still Has More Work to Do in Eliminating Rotary Phone-Era Rules
In the Broadcast Television Incentive Auction NPRM, the Federal Communications Commission sought public comment on creating a 600 MHz wireless band plan from the spectrum made available for flexible use through the broadcast television incentive auction.
The FCC identified five key policy goals that would provide the framework for adopting a wireless band plan: utility, certainty, interchangeability, quantity and interoperability. The majority of commenters support many features of the proposed band plan framework that aim to achieve these goals, but express a broader range of views on how and where to configure the uplink and downlink blocks in the band plan. To evaluate and quantify the technical tradeoffs associated with configuring the uplink and downlink bands, on May 3, 2013, the FCC hosted a public workshop. At the workshop, stakeholders discussed a variety of technical aspects to consider in creating a 600 MHz wireless band plan, including mobile antenna issues, harmonics interference, intermodulation, and high power services in the duplex gap. To advance the Commission’s goal of maintaining flexibility to offer different amounts of spectrum in different geographic markets, the FCC seeks further comment on how certain Down from 51 band plan approaches can best address the potential for market variation, particularly in markets where available spectrum is constrained.
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Seeks To Supplement The Record On The 600 MHz Band Plan Statement (Commissioner Pai) Wireless Bureau Seeks Input on Auction Band Plan (B&C)
The Federal Communications Commission has adopted rules requiring wireless carriers and certain other text messaging providers to send an automatic “bounce-back” text message to consumers who try to text 911 where text-to-911 service is not available.
The FCC’s requirement will help protect the public by substantially reducing the risk of consumers sending a text message to 911 and mistakenly believing that 911 authorities have received it. Instead, consumers will receive an immediate response that text-to-911 is not supported and to contact emergency services by another means, such as by making a voice call or using telecommunications relay services (if deaf, hard of hearing, or speech disabled) to access 911. The FCC’s action builds upon a voluntary commitment of the four largest U.S. wireless carriers – AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, and Verizon – to provide bounce-back messaging capability throughout their networks by June 30, 2013. The FCC action addresses only the provision of bounce-back messages; the FCC will address text-to-911 implementation at a later date.
FCC Adopts Rules to Help Inform and Protect Consumers During the Transition to Text-to-911 FCC (Report and Order) Statement (Chairman Genachowski) Statement (Commissioner Clyburn) Statement (Commissioner Rosenworcel) Statement (Commissioner Pai)
AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson made some of his most extensive comments yet about his increasingly publicized interest in turning the U.S. phone giant into a bigger player in Europe.
“I just find Europe fascinating right now,” Stephenson said at a J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. investor conference in Boston. “One just has to ask that if somebody were to invest aggressively in mobile broadband in Europe would the demographic not lead to the same type of result as we have seen in the United States? And I believe fundamentally, yes, it will.” Stephenson was saying that European consumers have similar spending patterns and demands to people in the U.S. But European wireless carriers have struggled to profit as heavily from the smartphone boom as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, in part because many European carriers have not built out advanced, LTE data networks and still rely heavily on fees for voice calls and text messages. “The market is going to evolve in Europe,” Stephenson said. “As fast as it took off here, it will take off in Europe.”
AT&T Fascinated by Europe
A privacy watchdog group is going after Snapchat for deceiving users about self-destructing messages that don't actually self-destruct. The smartphone app has become popular with young people for sending messages that a few seconds later disappear. That clever disappearing act has made the Los Angeles start-up a hit with users and some prominent investors in Silicon Valley. But it turns out that photos sent over Snapchat have a longer shelf life than people think. They don't vanish -- at least not entirely -- and can be retrieved in some cases.
Privacy watchdog EPIC files complaint against Snapchat with FTC
Google's Hangouts messaging app has been receiving generally positive reviews since it was launched, but when it comes to Android users on AT&T's network, it's hit a bit of a snag: The carrier isn't allowing users to make cellular video calls.
Google introduced the new Android and iOS app during the keynote at its annual developers conference. The app is designed to make it easier for users to communicate with their friends through Google by sending messages or making video calls, whether from their smartphone, tablet or computer. When the app is used on a smartphone or a cellular-connected tablet, Hangouts can also send messages using an individual's data plan. Making video calls over cellular networks is also allowed by most major carriers, but when Android AT&T users try the feature, they are getting a message telling them they must be on a Wi-Fi network to make a video call. When asked why this is happening, AT&T blamed Google and the smartphone makers. In a statement, AT&T said apps downloaded from the Internet can be used to make video calls over its cellular network. But when it comes to apps that are pre-installed, the software developers and the phone makers have to work with AT&T to enable the ability to make cellular video calling.
AT&T blocking cellular video calls made with new Google Android app
A Wells Fargo analysis values the station Sinclair Broadcast Group’s spectrum at $2.9 billion, or $35.74 per share, 35% above the company’s May 16 closing price.
“We think it important for investors to focus on the broadcasters’ most important asset — the about 300 MHz of nationwide spectrum that is owned … collectively by this industry,” the report says. Using the same analysis, the study says that the spectrum value of stock for Media General and Belo Corp. were 25% and 23% above their May16 closing prices, respectively. The report goes on to say the value of the broadcast spectrum was based on the prices generated by a 2008 FCC spectrum auction, adjusted for inflation.
Spectrum Valuation Puts Sinclair at the Top
Tom Wheeler, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Federal Communications Commission, agreed to sell holdings of $500,001 to $1 million in both AT&T and Verizon Communications to resolve possible conflicts of interest before taking office.
Wheeler, a former head of wireless and cable trade groups, disclosed his holdings and willingness to divest from 78 companies that also include Google and smartphone maker Apple in documents released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. He also reported stakes in top cable company Comcast worth $2,002 to $30,000 that he would sell. As head of the Federal Communications Commission, Wheeler would regulate broadcast and cable companies, review industry mergers and help set rules for auctioning airwaves coveted by leading U.S. telephone company AT&T and No. 2 Verizon for the wireless services powering their growth. Wheeler, 67, reported income of at least $1,105,189 from sources including salary, advisory fees, and serving as a director of companies including Earthlink. In a letter accompanying his disclosure form, Wheeler said he would resign from Atlanta-based Earthlink’s board and sell shares of the Internet-service provider if he wins Senate confirmation. Wheeler also said he would sell his holdings in wireless provider Sprint Nextel and its partner Clearwire Corp. (CLWR) which are seeking merger permission before the agency. Media companies he listed for divestiture include cable providers Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems, along with broadcasters CBS and Walt Disney, which owns the ABC television network.
FCC Nominee Wheeler to Divest AT&T, Verizon to Avoid Conflict Documents (Office of Government Ethics) FCC nominee Wheeler will divest holdings if confirmed (Reuters) FCC nominee to dump AT&T, Verizon holdings (The Hill)