The Wi-Fi Alliance is pushing back at assertions that terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) for broadband will alleviate traffic congestion for Wi-Fi users, calling such claims “inaccurate and misleading.” In a filing posted Wednesday in RM-11685, Alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa said the claim that using the 2473-2495 MHz band in TLPS would widen the Wi-Fi highway doesn't fly because there are no FCC-approved devices that would work on the proposed TLPS network. “There is no evidence that TLPS will be anything but a private, stand-alone, low-power network,” Figueroa said. “Unless Wi-Fi users pay for the privilege of accessing TLPS, they will have no additional spectrum on which to operate their Wi-Fi devices.” In fact, Figueroa said, TLPS could cause interference to Wi-Fi devices: “The very limited technical evaluation that has occurred to date has been rushed and constrained, and the results are inconclusive.” Globalstar has been lobbying for rules that would let it use its TLPS for broadband, arguing that it would ease Wi-Fi congestion. The Wi-Fi Alliance is among an array of industry groups that have raised concerns about TLPS, including the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, CEA, the Entertainment Software Association, NCTA, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and the Wireless ISP Association (see 1505220048). In a statement Friday, Globalstar said those concerns "are rooted solely by anti-competitive motivations." The company in March said it "agreed to demonstrate the ability for TLPS to peacefully coexist with incumbent unlicensed operations and the opposition groups were also given a platform to showcase their results, followed by characterization testing at an FCC laboratory. The opposition was given the chance to demonstrate any technical basis for their concerns in a real-world environment. The results from this demonstration were clear and fully supportive of Globalstar’s contentions. Even the opposition’s own results, with an extreme and unrealistic network that was constructed with the sole purpose of trying to somehow show interference, failed to support their purported concerns. As there is no sound engineering support for the other side’s expressed concerns, in a process that has been open for public comment for over two and a half years, it is clear that the opposition is working only to suppress new and innovative entrants like Globalstar and TLPS."
Free Press, New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge again urged the FCC to impose various requirements on AT&T's planned buy of DirecTV as conditions for approving the deal, said an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 14-90 of a meeting their representatives had with staffers for Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The groups' advocates repeated concerns about the "transaction’s impact on consumers and competition in the broadband and pay-TV markets -- particularly AT&T’s increased incentives to discriminate against over-the-top ('OTT') video marketplace rivals to AT&T’s legacy video services." While the groups believe the deal should be blocked, they urged the FCC to impose conditions in numerous areas: stand-alone broadband, net neutrality, interconnection and zero-rating of video services for data cap purposes. They also said the FCC should (1) be skeptical of -- and verify -- AT&T/DirecTV claims that the deal would deliver public-interest benefits, (2) ensure the deal does no harm to the agency's IP transition efforts and (3) require AT&T to maintain existing DirecTV video service tiers and pricing plans for seven years in order to address horizontal concentration in the multichannel video programming distribution market. AT&T recently filed a lengthy response disputing the arguments of public-interest groups and others seeking conditions on interconnection, data caps and other issues (see 1505270049).
A report on “Cybersecurity Risk Management and Best Practices” from the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council is “the most comprehensive Framework implementation proposal for any industry to date,” CTIA said in comments on a public notice on the framework. “The Report goes beyond merely offering guidance for reducing cybersecurity risk to critical infrastructure, enterprises, and consumers; it provides detailed, scalable recommendations designed to apply to each segment of the communications industry.” The Telecommunications Industry Association also said the report is on the right track. “This report not only provides guidance to communications sector stakeholders, but also serves as a model for industry members and policymakers globally, and reinforces the success of the voluntary public-private partnership model which TIA and many others advocate as the most effective means to improve cybersecurity for critical infrastructure,” TIA said. Comments were due Friday on the PN, released by the Public Safety Bureau March 19. The comments were filed in docket 15-68.
The FCC is working on rules, educational campaigns and telecom billing issues, as well as on partnering with grassroots and advocacy groups for aging Americans, to try to help improve their digital literacy, agency officials said during a webinar Thursday. The webinar is the first in a series tied to Older Americans Month, which was created with partners to highlight resources for professionals who work with seniors to address their digital literacy and broadband adoption needs, officials said. "It's so very important that seniors understand and appreciate how technology can be used to help improve lives," said Kris Monteith, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau acting chief. For many older Americans, digital literacy isn't a part of their lives, for a number of reasons, said Gwenn Weaver, NTIA program officer. Individuals may not have access to the technology or can't afford to acquire it, she said. They may not feel that the current technologies are relevant to them and their lives, or it just may be too unfamiliar and too scary. Access to and the ability to use information and communications technologies is critical for older Americans, as well, Weaver said. Seventy-seven percent of older adults say they would need assistance before using a new high-tech device, said Dina Lehmann-Kim, Department of Housing and Urban Development program manager. For those older Americans who use HUD services, the cost of devices and accompanying services are also a barrier, she said. HUD can help open and operate neighborhood networks or computer centers and hire staff to support those initiatives, she said. In-unit routers may also be purchased with some HUD funds, Lehmann-Kim said. Service coordinators can link residents in HUD housing to services or bring services on-site, she said. Software and hardware purchases from community centers or computer labs are also an available service from HUD that can benefit the aging population, she said.
Guggenheim analyst Paul Gallant said he believes the odds are 1 in 3 that a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will stay two parts of the FCC net neutrality order: broadband reclassification under Title II of the Communications Act and an Internet conduct standard. He said his reasons were: "1) Carriers don’t appear to have a strong argument that Title 2 would cause 'irreparable harm' if it takes effect on June 12. The FCC didn’t actually regulate prices or prohibit any services that carriers are currently selling. 2) Title 2/net neutrality was enacted by a Democratic FCC on a 3-2 party line vote, and two of the three judges on the panel are Democrats." Both Democrats were nominated by President Barack Obama, who in November urged the FCC to use its full authority to uphold net neutrality. Gallant said in an email to investors that most of them probably don't even realize a stay is possible, but it would be "clearly positive for cable."
Despite AT&T's pushback, Cogent continues to urge the FCC to impose an interconnection condition on any approval of the AT&T/DirecTV transaction, according to a May 27 Cogent ex parte filing in docket 14-90. During a teleconference with Gigi Sohn, counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer and others repeated Cogent's belief that "AT&T-created congestion at interconnection ports" continued to result in "degraded broadband experiences for its customers," the filing said. They also said AT&T's proposed buy of DirecTV and its video distribution business will increase its incentive to use its ability to "impair broadband Internet access." "Accordingly, we emphasized the need for a clear, robust and enforceable interconnection condition as a prerequisite to a determination that the proposed transaction comports with the public interest," the filing said. "In particular, Mr. Schaeffer underscored the need for a durable interconnection solution that not only solves congestion today, but ensures that as broadband usage continues on its upward trajectory congestion will not reappear in short order." AT&T recently disputed in detail the arguments of Cogent and others for an interconnection condition (see 1505270049.
Telco and cable petitioners filed their final brief Thursday in support of their motion to stay two key parts of the FCC net neutrality order, which they called "a seismic departure from the status quo that has prevailed for more than two decades." The American Cable Association, AT&T, CenturyLink, CTIA, NCTA, USTelecom and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association filed their response to the stay opposition of the FCC, Department of Justice and others (see 1505220037) a day before the filing deadline imposed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The petitioners said FCC reclassification of broadband Internet access as Title II common carriage under the Communications Act would expose their industry members "to a host of new, ill-defined requirements, and it immediately threatens them with class-action litigation and enforcement actions." They said the reclassification is likely to be set aside as contrary to the Communications Act and promulgated in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, citing a host of reasons. "This is thus a paradigmatic case for granting a stay pending appeal," the groups said. "The Internet economy has thrived without Title II mandates, to the immense benefit of the public." Petitioners knocked FCC arguments invoking Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes to claim that case-by-case adjudication can't cause harm. "Petitioners object not to case-by-case adjudication itself, but to a massive regulatory sea change, accompanied by potential class-action litigation and multi-million dollar forfeitures, without any intelligible guidance as to what 'rates' and 'practices' are 'just' and 'reasonable' in the broadband context, and what conduct the newly concocted Internet conduct standard proscribes. Justice Holmes never sanctioned such a regime," they said. Thousands of providers face "immediate and irreparable harm," with the situation "most dire for the hundreds of small broadband providers," they said. The petitioners haven't asked that the four FCC net neutrality rules -- no Internet blocking, throttling or paid prioritization, along with transparency duties -- be stayed. Absent a stay, the commission order takes effect on June 12. The petitioners said at a minimum the court should grant expedited review, which the agency and its intervenors support.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai continued his attacks on the agency's net neutrality order, and also took aim at the agency's recent broadband privacy guidance (see 1505200059). "There’s been a dramatic shift towards heavy-handed regulation of the Internet -- one that has created tremendous uncertainty and is already resulting in broadband providers cutting back on investments," he said in his written remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday at the International Institute of Communications Telecommunications and Media Forum in Miami. Pai said FCC policy for years removed barriers to investment, helping spur broadband deployment and innovation. "Unfortunately, the U.S. government is now putting our success at risk," he said. "First and foremost is the FCC’s recent net neutrality decision -- a decision to apply last century’s public-utility laws to today’s broadband providers, a decision to regulate everything from the last mile of the network to interconnection near the Internet’s core." Pai said the FCC order, which adopted net neutrality rules and reclassified broadband under Title II of the Communications Act, complicated the business case for deployment. He said the regulations "give the FCC power to micromanage virtually every aspect of how broadband providers offer service and manage their networks." That injected uncertainty into the market, Pai said. "Take the so-called 'Internet conduct standard' as an example. It gives the FCC power to review businesses models and prohibit pricing plans that benefit consumers," he said. "Everything from zero rating to usage-based pricing might be on the chopping block. And 'might' is the key. The vaguely worded standard gives the FCC a lot of discretion." Pai also questioned the utility of recent Enforcement Bureau guidance on broadband privacy, which he said was vague. "What exactly do broadband providers have to do to comply with the law? I'm an FCC Commissioner and a lawyer, and I have no idea. You're guess is as good as mine. This 'guidance' casts far more shade than sunlight."
AOL had at least three other potential suitors before agreeing to be bought by Verizon, AOL said in a 14D-9 filing Tuesday at the SEC, without naming the three. Verizon’s pursuit of AOL started last summer, when Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam first met with AOL CEO Tim Armstrong to discuss “ongoing and emerging trends in their respective industries,” the filing said. On March 15, Verizon made a more formal offer to buy a majority of AOL, which Armstrong took to his board four days later, AOL said. Discussions continued with a second potential suitor in April, the filing disclosed. It said AOL has considered selling off some assets. Armstrong is slated to get an incentive award of 1.5 percent of the company’s market value at the time of the deal's completion, which would translate to $59 million at the current $3.9 billion value, the filing said. Armstrong also holds options and shares that would bring him $179 million or more. The deal was unveiled two weeks ago (see 1505120019).
USTelecom asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to intervene in defense of the FCC against Full Service Network's petition for review challenging the agency's net neutrality order. "Unlike all of the other petitioners that have filed petitions to date, these Petitioners intend to argue that the FCC should have imposed even more regulation on providers of broadband Internet access service, including USTelecom’s member companies," USTelecom said in its motion Tuesday. USTelecom has filed a petition for review (and sought a stay) of the FCC order on the grounds that the commission allegedly overstepped its authority in seeking too much regulatory oversight, among other things.