LAS VEGAS -- Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann Wednesday echoed concerns voiced by AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson the day before (CD March 24 p1) at the CTIA show about the need for the U.S. to steer clear of imposing new regulations on the wireless industry. Obermann, whose company is the parent of T-Mobile USA, also called on the FCC to bring new spectrum online for wireless broadband as quickly as possible. Competition and a light-handed approach on regulation “have served the U.S. wireless customer very well,” he said. “I am optimistic that American policymakers will want to continue this trend to ensure continued growth and investments going forward. So far, the regulatory approach has paid off."
LAS VEGAS -- The U.S. may need regulatory action to fulfill the potential of the smart grid, suggested a panelist at a CTIA presentation. Kore Telematics CEO Alex Brisbourne said the lack of a clearcut standard was holding back efficient implementation.
LAS VEGAS -- The FCC is still contacting public safety groups and others in the wireless world to explain the National Broadband Plan’s proposal for the 700 MHz band, said Jennifer Manner, the Deputy Public Safety Bureau’s deputy chief, at the CTIA convention. Questions about the plan, which has faced a firestorm of criticism from public safety groups, followed FCC officials to Las Vegas.
Critics of expanded federal authority over private networks came up short with an effort to draw bright-line restrictions in the Cybersecurity Act (S-773), approved by the Senate Commerce Committee with several amendments at a short markup Wednesday. Sponsors emphasized that the bill would keep changing as it moved out of committee and indicated they disagreed with each other on core provisions, including what kind of regulations to apply to network and infrastructure owners. Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., called the bill “preemptive” to protect the country but “basic,” lacking many details despite having gone through four drafts.
Intelsat is ramping up efforts to slow satellite interference, as growth in satellite services worldwide has led to increased problems for operators, company executives said. Customers are complaining of interference more than any other issue, and complaints will likely continue to increase as satellite device sales and fill rates move higher unless something is done, CEO Dave McGlade told reporters.
LAS VEGAS -- The FCC will continue to make protection of spectrum incumbents a top priority, as pressure grows to squeeze more onto the radio waves as the commission implements the National Broadband Plan, Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julie Knapp said at the CTIA convention. The challenges are in many ways the same the FCC has long faced, though they're growing more complex, he said. “We take as a given that there’s a need to protect the incumbent services against harmful interference,” Knapp said. “At the same time we have an objective of both assuring that we provide the opportunity for new services to be introduced and to make sure that the spectrum is being used efficiently."
Initial items in the National Broadband Plan that may get FCC proceedings include recommendations that the agency take steps to make all cable, DBS and telco-TV providers offer gateway devices and that CableCARDs be easier to install, numerous agency and industry officials said. Commissioners may vote as soon as next month on two related and forthcoming items, they said. One would likely begin an inquiry on how to mandate all subscription-video systems be able to be accessed by a simple gateway device that could also get online content. Another would resolve some CableCARD problems.
TORONTO -- In a much-anticipated decision, the Canadian Radio-TV and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said the nation’s conventional TV networks can seek from cable operators and satellite-TV providers fees or other compensation for their signals. But the CRTC stopped short of imposing any fees or mandating “value for signal” negotiations between the parties, pending a judgment by the courts on the agency’s power to do so.
Allowing unlicensed wireless auxiliary devices on all TV band channels would run counter to the recommendations in the National Broadband Plan, AT&T said in reply comments to an FCC rulemaking. “The proposed rule would delay the implementation of the National Broadband Plan by requiring subsequent commercial broadband licensees to clear the broadcast spectrum of the very low-power auxiliary users this proposed rule would place there."
The National Broadband Plan sets the stage for increased broadband adoption, but hasn’t quelled the debate over Universal Service Fund, spectrum use and Title II reclassification, telecom officials said on panels Tuesday. The spectrum portion of the plan “really does push the ball forward to try to get more flexible use for spectrum,” said Gregory Rosston, deputy director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Spectrum is the “mother’s milk” of wireless, said Verizon Executive Vice President Tom Tauke. The recommendations get the ball moving “in the development of additional spectrum resources for wireless. That’s a big positive for investment and innovation,” he said the event, held at the National Press Club.