Benton RSS Feed

The Federal Communications Commission says that it was well within its authority to impose a "no blocking" network neutrality regulation on wireless carriers in its Open Internet order, and, as expected, is pointing to a recent (Dec. 4) data roaming court case (Cellco Partnership v. FCC) to buttress its defense of the rules.

In a brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the FCC pointed to that same court's conclusion that the FCC had the authority to require data roaming stemming from its authority to "'[p]rescribe the nature of the service to be rendered' by the holders of FCC-issued spectrum licenses." Verizon had challenged that decision as well. The FCC rule in question required mobile data providers to offer roaming agreements to competitors on "commercially reasonable" terms, one of many FCC actions to try and spur mobile broadband. Verizon challenged the requirement, saying the FCC lacked the authority to issue that mandate. The court did not agree, which decision became fodder for the FCC in the Open Internet order challenge by Verizon and MetroPCS.

At the Oakland Children’s Hospital & Research Center, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Genachowski was joined by the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, the California Telehealth Network, and the Juvenile Justice Center to announce that up to $400 million in annual funding will be made available to healthcare providers as part of the FCC’s new Healthcare Connect Fund.

Beginning in 2013, the FCC’s new Healthcare Connect Fund will spur the development of broadband networks to support modern telemedicine, which will link urban medical centers to rural clinics or provide instant access to health records. The Fund, which expands the FCC's health care broadband initiative from pilot to program, will allow thousands of new providers across the country to share in the benefits of connectivity and dramatically cut costs for both hospitals and the Universal Service Fund. These transformational changes build on major FCC reforms across the universal service system. The FCC will begin accepting applications for the Healthcare Connect Fund beginning in late summer of 2013.

America is a land of haves and have-nots when it comes to broadband Internet. While many of us enjoy downloads speeds of 50 or even 100 Mbps, 119 million Americans lack broadband access (defined as 4Mbps down and 1Mbps up). Out of those 119 million, 19 million live in areas where there is no option to buy a wired broadband connection, according to government data. Wouldn't it be great if we could provide broadband speed to nearly every American, without costly construction projects to bring cables to the home? Apparently, we already can. At least that's what providers of satellite broadband Internet services said at a panel at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Latest-generation satellites operated by HughesNet and ViaSat offer 10 to 15 Mbps down and 1 to 3 Mbps up to nearly any home in the US, representatives of those companies said. They believe the industry simply suffers from an awareness problem. Previous-generation satellite products offered only a fraction of that speed, and even people who realize satellite is available to them may not know that the latest products are as fast as they are.

Smartphones have become incredibly powerful tools for blind people. A phone’s camera can identify money and read text, and GPS navigation tells blind users where they are and what’s nearby. Most mobile accessibility tools can be found through a handful of useful apps on standard smartphones, but there’s a team of developers in Israel working on a new Android phone called Ray. It's a standard Android phone with an interface designed for blind users, that debuts at the International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) this week. “There’s no better tool for blind people than the smartphone,” says Boaz Zilberman, the CEO and founder of Project Ray, “because blind people can practically tailor a mix of applications and capabilities that will help them tremendously in their daily life.”