LAS VEGAS -- The digital age is starting to live up to expectations, with phones, TVs and other devices linking up with PCs in new ways, Microsoft founder Bill Gates told a standing room only audience Wed. night at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) here.
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LAS VEGAS -- An almost apologetic SBC CEO Edward Whitacre Thurs. said in a speech to the Consumer Electronics Show it has taken his company too long to make a major appearance at the show. The CEO said SBC was correcting that with a series of announcements leading up to the unveiling of the new U-verse brand for its video platform.
NTIA sent an aggressive signal Thurs. that the govt. will move quickly to take the steps needed for a planned June 2006 auction of advanced wireless service (AWS) spectrum. The agency sent federal agencies formal notification of their new obligations under the spectrum transition fund bill (HR-5419) signed into law by President Bush on Dec. 23. NTIA asked each affected agency to submit its cost estimates and schedule for relocation by Sept. 15.
LAS VEGAS -- VoIP executives said Wed. they don’t tremble at the prospect of cable operators offering their own VoIP services. Speaking at the Pulver.com summit that opened the Consumer Electronics Show here, the officials said they view VoIP as offering advantages over wireless phones, which they said are unlikely to become the complete substitute for the public switched telephone network, given quality of service and other issues.
The FCC published Tues. in the Federal Register the National Programmatic Agreement (NPA) for wireless tower siting, but the Commission still awaits approval of key forms that carriers must file under the pact. The effective date based on the publication is March 7, but sources said the FCC has yet to get administration sign- off on forms 620 and 621.
Chmn. Powell has begun to circulate for a vote 2 items that take on intercarrier compensation (IC) reform, including a report and order that will address conflicts between wireless carriers and rural ILECs on termination rates, we've learned. The other item is a further notice of proposed rulemaking that sends out for comment proposals for revising the IC regime, including the controversial plan proposed by the Intercarrier Compensation Forum (ICF).
Wireless carriers are likely to ask the FCC to rethink its anti-collusion auction rules, which cut off many business contacts between carriers in the period between the filing of short forms and the actual auction, following upcoming Auction 58. The market implications could be major. For example, sources said the current quiet period complicates any move by Verizon Wireless to make a play for Sprint, since both companies are participating with partners in the key PCS auction, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 26.
Chmn. Powell formally asked the NTIA on Wed. to begin the process that will lead to an auction of 90 MHz of spectrum for advanced wireless services (AWS) in June 2006. Powell also announced the auction of other spectrum at 1432- 1435 MHz in July or Aug. of the same year. Wireless carriers have called on the FCC to act quickly to initiate the AWS auction and were pleased with the Powell letter.
Philadelphia has accused Nextel and Cingular of potentially interfering with police and fire radios that operate in the 800 MHz band. The city released a report by RCC Consulting that found 56 sites where wireless phones may be interfering with emergency communications in the city’s recently installed $54 million digital radio system. The Motorola-built system has experienced a number of communications glitches, a subject of some local press reports. RCC said interference was the most severe near Philadelphia International Airport, along Interstate 95, as well in sections of South Philadelphia and Grays Ferry. One area of controversy has been that RCC, at the city’s urging, has tested for noise floor. Carriers urge testing instead based on performance degradation. “We are working cooperatively with the city,” a spokeswoman for Nextel said Wed.: “We began testing earlier this month. We will continue testing as we have in other markets that have experienced interference… What’s going on in Philadelphia kind of gets to the heart of why we need a comprehensive solution” like the 800 MHz rebanding initiative. City officials have blamed the carriers. Joseph James, the city’s deputy comr. for public property, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Nextel disagrees with conclusions in the RCC report while Cingular officials “want to ignore this and hope the problem goes away.”
Wireless Bureau Chief John Muleta last week called in the 5 national carriers, Tier 2 and Tier 3 carriers, as well as the public safety community, for an unusual industry-wide meeting focusing on E911 compliance and the ability of carriers to meet fast-approaching deadlines, sources told us Tues.