TORONTO -- The major Canadian wireless carriers continued to fight late last week over the government’s upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction, as Bell Canada and Telus came out strongly for an open auction with no restrictions while Globalive pushed for a full spectrum set-aside for newer entrants. In dueling speeches and sessions at the Canadian Telecom Summit, executives of the three companies made their cases, joining officials from Rogers Communications and Videotron, who presented their arguments earlier in the conference.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski defended in a May 31 letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the process behind the International Bureau waiver granted to LightSquared in January that allows it to offer terrestrial-only services. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Ranking Member had requested information on the process and any FCC communications about the waiver decision (CD May 18 p9). The Chairman’s letter didn’t address the requested FCC communications involving the decision.
The Internet Society’s Internet Protocol version 6 Day on Wednesday won’t be as successful as it could be unless there’s more ISP input, IPv6 Forum President Latif Ladid said Monday. Over 400 organizations, including major players such as Google, Facebook and Comcast, were signed up to test the new Internet addressing technology as of Monday, ISOC’s website said. But without ISPs “lighting up for IPv6 end-users” the way Luxembourg operator P&T did this month, the level of participation will be limited, Ladid said. However, he said, the event will build momentum for a service that will eventually take hold.
Senators have drafted a plethora of amendments to comprehensive spectrum legislation to be marked up Wednesday in the Commerce Committee. A substitute amendment to S-911 forming the base text of the bill by Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, surfaced last week (CD June 2 p9). At least 79 draft amendments were prepared by other members on the committee, including 30 by Senate Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim DeMint, R-S.C. Historically in Senate Commerce, many amendments offered before markup are not agreed to and are not mentioned at the markup.
Digital Broadcasting OVS failed to properly serve its Open Video System certification application on all the local franchise authorities of the communities where it intended to offer service, the FCC Media Bureau said in an order denying the application released Friday. The company sought certification to operate an Internet-based OVS in the top 50 U.S. TV markets. Friday’s denial focused on procedural errors with the application and didn’t mention that the service was to have been Internet-based. CEO Roy Jimenez said he plans to file another application soon after fixing the notice deficiencies.
The beta version of FCC’s new website is almost impossible to use and emphasizes style over substance, said numerous posts in a comments section posted by the commission. Industry lawyers and other users told us they continue to click a button on the agency’s new homepage to get to the old one, because they find the new site difficult to navigate. The beta was unveiled in April (CD April 6 p9) but lacks all documents that are on what’s now the old homepage.
TORONTO -- Several big Canadian media and telecom players took the gloves off last week in a public feud over the need for vertical integration limits. With the Canadian Radio-TV and Telecom Commission (CRTC) slated to open public hearings on the contentious vertical integration issue June 20, executives from Bell Canada, Rogers, Telus, MTS Allstream, Globalive and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) debated the issue at the Canadian Telecom Summit. While companies like Bell Canada, which recently bought the TV assets of CTV/GlobeMedia, back limited or no restrictions on media integration, such others as Telus and MTS Allstream argued for tougher government rules.
The House Commerce Committee is content to let the FCC take a first run at the Universal Service Fund overhaul, a committee spokeswoman told us Friday. “We are waiting to see what the FCC decides to do before we make a decision on whether legislation is necessary,” the spokeswoman said. Congress’ tacit approval of the FCC’s reform schedule had been expected (CD Feb 8 p1) but Friday’s statement comes amidst a blitz by rural telcos trying to get the Hill to intervene in the USF proceedings (CD May 25 p8). On the Senate side, Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. has said D-block legislation is his “highest priority” (CD Feb 17 p4).
CTIA strongly opposed an FCC proposal that wireless carriers pay Interstate Telecommunications Service Provider (ITSP) fees for the first time. The opposition came in comments responding to a May notice of proposed rulemaking on changes to the commission’s regulatory fees regime. PCIA said a proposed 20 percent fee increase on Private Land Mobile Radio Service (PLMRS) licenses would be unfairly burdensome. USTelecom said the FCC needs to make fundamental changes to its formula for calculating ITSP fees, which go well beyond anything proposed in the NPRM. For FY 2011, Congress has mandated that the FCC collect $335,794,000 through regulatory fees to cover its cost of operations.
The White House is waiting for the FCC and most other independent agencies to submit plans on which of their existing rules should be streamlined, reduced, improved or eliminated, an Office of Management and Budget official said at a hearing Friday of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. A January executive order by President Barack Obama required executive agencies to submit “lookback” plans, and encouraged independent agencies do the same. This fall, the Oversight Subcommittee will consider legislation forcing independent agencies to comply, said Chairman Cliff Stearns, R-Fla.