Two months after an FCC majority refused to find that the U.S. wireless market is competitive in its annual wireless competition report, the same majority is expected to decline to declare that broadband is being deployed to all Americans “in a reasonable and timely fashion,” commission officials said Friday. The latest negative review of how markets are working is in the Section 706 broadband competition report, which the commissioners voted on last week and is expected to be released in the next few days. Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker are expected to dissent from the broadband report, as they did to the wireless report. The report is the first since the initial report in 1999 not to give the industry a clean bill of health on deployment.
Opponents and supporters of reclassification filed long, often strongly worded filings in response to what FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski calls his “Third Way” broadband-reclassification proposal. The comments land at a sharply divided agency.
The FCC will not consider an order on the 700 MHz D-block at its Aug. 7 meeting. The FCC released a tentative agenda for the meeting at our deadline, with only two items scheduled for a vote -- a hearing aid compatibility report and order and further notice of proposed rulemaking and a wireless backhaul NPRM and notice of inquiry. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, meanwhile, said he’s not troubled by the strong opposition to the FCC’s proposal to auction the 700 MHz D-block expressed by APCO and other public safety groups because of support from other public safety groups. Congress has discussed using the proceeds to fund a public safety wireless broadband network. The rumor Thursday was that Genachowski was considering circulating a D-block order for the meeting. Genachowski declined to comment on timing. “We're moving forward very energetically on what was an aggressive implementation for the National Broadband Plan that we announced a few months ago and so across the agency, staff is working around the clock to try to meet the targets that we set in the implementation plan,” Genachowski said after the meeting. “I'm sure you know how hard the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and the Wireless Bureau are working, in particular on delivering a successful plan on public safety.” Genachowski noted that there has also been a “tremendous amount of bipartisan support for the plan.” He cited in particular the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Association of Fire Fighters and the chairman and vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission. “There continue to be ongoing discussions.”
The FCC received thousands of filings this week in response to its inquiry seeking comments on reclassifying broadband transmission under Title II of the Communications Act, making broadband subject to common carrier regulation. Comments were due Thursday. The FCC remains sharply divided, with few signs that the FCC’s three Democrats, who support reclassification, or two Republicans, in sharp opposition, have moderated their views.
FCC proposals to reclassify broadband transmission under Title II of the Communications Act and impose net neutrality rules on the industry could have a chilling effect on investment in broadband, two analysts and an investor said Wednesday. Telecom companies look at whether there is the “commercial opportunity” for more profits by increasing investment in broadband, Citigroup Managing Director Mike Rollins said at a panel at a New York Law School. “Investors like certainty and visibility of policy,” he said. “The reason it’s so important in telecom is these investments are very long term in nature.”
Communications companies will have a big role in the “smart grid” of the future, Verizon, AT&T, CTIA and other industry players said in a filing at the Department of Energy, which sought comment on the communications requirements of a smart grid. The smart grid was one of the focuses of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, released in March.
CTIA, USTelecom, AT&T, Verizon, Qwest and Sprint Nextel said the FCC should drop, at least for now, plans for a voluntary cybersecurity certification program that the commission proposed. In an April 21 notice of inquiry, the FCC asked how such a program would work and whether it would improve security.
The FCC is expected to take on a light schedule in August, with only two items tentatively on the agenda for the Aug. 5 meeting, despite the dozens pending following the release of the National Broadband Plan. The main item is expected to be on wireless backhaul, possibly a notice of proposed rulemaking, following up on various proposals in the plan, FCC sources said Tuesday. Chairman Genachowski is also teeing up a vote on hearing-aid compatibility rules for the meeting. Neither is considered a major order. Still to be decided is whether the chairman will seek a vote on the 700 MHz D-block, though some sources believe that order likely won’t get a vote next month since eighth floor advisers have yet to be told an order is coming in short order. The FCC often takes on a light agenda at its August meeting.
Data roaming is critical to competition in a wireless market increasingly dominated by a few large carriers, Free Press said in reply comments at the FCC. Small carriers also urged the FCC to move forward quickly to mandate data roaming as recommended by the National Broadband Plan. Small and mid-sized carriers presented a united front last month in arguing that the FCC should use its authority under Title III of the Communications Act to impose a data roaming obligation on carriers similar to the one approved for voice in 2007 (CD June 16 p2). AT&T and Verizon Wireless countered that the commission cannot mandate data roaming as wireless is currently regulated.
So-called “traffic pumping” costs U.S. wireless carriers $190 million annually, consulting firm Connectiv Solutions said in a report to be released Tuesday. Carriers pay in other ways as well, the report noted, saying increased traffic as a result of traffic pumping also means more network congestion and a decline in network quality. The president of a leading conferencing company disputed the findings.