Top FCC officials said Wed. at the Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) show in Washington that they expected decisions by early next year on a series of interlocking spectrum issues, including efforts to solve public safety interference at 800 MHz. The outcome of the 800 MHz proceeding has implications for replacement spectrum that Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS) operators seek in the planned reallocation of some MDS spectrum for advanced wireless services.
As consumer protection in the telecom industry “a lot of times gets a short shrift,” it’s important for the FCC to recognize that “while serving in a regulatory role, everything we do is about consumers,” FCC Comr. Abernathy said at a seminar sponsored by CompTel and Davis Wright Tremaine Tues. in Washington. She said to serve the public interest, the Commission should focus on 3 key areas: (1) It should “trust the market crafting its regulations and allow competition to thrive.” (2) Both the agency and industry should educate consumers to allow them to “reap the benefits of increased competition.” (3) The Commission, when the market fails, “must be willing to step in and enforce our rules promptly.” Abernathy said the Commission, to better serve the public, “must strictly observe its enforcement obligations and not hesitate to act when rules are violated.” She said stringent enforcement was “crucial when we rely on market forces rather than prescriptive regulations. It is only when our rules have force that companies will think twice before violating them.” For example, Abernathy said, Enhanced 911 (E911) regulations for wireless carriers was one of the areas in which the FCC acted quickly in enforcing its rules: “We have monitored and will continue to monitor each carrier’s progress in initiating each phase of the implementation process and assess penalties for failure to comply with deployment benchmarks.” Abernathy said consumer education was “essential to our ability to regulate in the public interest.” For example, she said, fewer than half of the parents who had a TV equipped with a V-chip were aware of that, and of those who were, only 1/3 had tried to use it. Consumer education is a “significant goal” in E911 deployment effort, she said.
AT&T Canada said it changed its name to Allstream and adopted a new logo to signify its position as a fully independent communication solutions provider. The company, which emerged from its capital restructuring process in April with no long-term debt but with positive cash flow and positive net income, said it had significantly improved its operating and capital efficiency and established a sustainable capital structure. “We will continue to strengthen our business and enhance our competitive advantages,” Allstream CEO John McLennan said at a news conference Wed. in Toronto. Allstream COO John MacDonald said as part of its strategy, the company would focus on: (1) Attracting new blue-chip customers. (2) Improving customer service excellence. (3) Collaborating with customers to deliver innovative business solutions. (4) Building on the company’s portfolio of connectivity, infrastructure management and IT services. MacDonald said the company would continue to work with AT&T, and “we also have the flexibility to expand our reach by partnering with new international suppliers.” He said it would remain focused on serving Canadian-based multinational companies with global networking requirements, and would also “continue to support U.S.-based multinationals with networking requirements in Canada.” The company said it would continue to use the AT&T brand for its calling card and Internet addresses until June 2004.
A&E TV Networks Pres. Nick Davatzes and Advance/Newhouse CEO Robert Miron appointed co-chmn. of Cable in the Classroom board… Joining Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering from McDermott, Will & Emery: Stephanie Liston, Robert Bratby and Thomas Crane… John Weimer promoted to vp, Multimax… Mark Holman, ex-Dept. of Homeland Security and Dept. of Defense, named chmn. of advisory board, Global Secure Holdings… Scott Anderson promoted to head Semiconductor Products Sector, Motorola, succeeding Fred Shlapak, retiring.
The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) should have the limited role of only setting up general logistical aspects of the Media Security & Reliability Council’s (MSRC) plans to improve emergency warning systems, council members were told at the group’s 3rd biannual meeting May 28 (CD May 29 p3). Media executives said in interviews after the meeting that federal govt. involvement of some sort was necessary, and many even suggested the Council would agree to work with any conditions DHS proposed.
Motorola said it lowered its 2nd-quarter cellular handset sales forecast in Asia for 2003 due to the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak and continuing excess levels of inventory from locally based handset manufacturers. It said it now expected its 2nd-quarter sales to be $6-$6.2 billion, vs. its prior guidance of $6.4-$6.6 billion, and its earnings, excluding special items, to be about breakeven. The company said Asian issues also affected its semiconductor product sales to the wireless market. It said SARS “had a more pronounced impact on consumer purchases of cellular handsets than the company had assumed in its previous guidance.” However, it said it was “confident” once SARS was brought under control, consumers in Asia would “resume their purchases of cellular handsets at levels similar to those prior to the SARS outbreak,” but said the timing of a return to normal conditions was “uncertain.” The company said its cellular handset results in N. America, Latin America and Europe were meeting original expectations for the quarter.
FCC Office of Engineering & Technology Chief Edmond Thomas said Tues. the Commission expected to start a proceeding by year’s end to open a debate on “interference temperature,” which he called “an extremely difficult technical concept to implement.” He told a National Spectrum Managers Assn. conference in Arlington, Va., that the FCC also planned to open a proceeding by year-end on cognitive radio technologies. On both counts, the end-of-year period is “exactly what we are shooting for and it looks like we are going to do that.”
Japan’s NTT DoCoMo plans to offer “World Wing,” an international wireless roaming service for its 3G subscribers, starting June 1. The carrier said the service would allow its subscribers traveling overseas to make and receive calls by inserting a chip from their DoCoMo handset into any GSM handset that had international roaming capabilities. DoCoMo said it didn’t plan to levy a monthly charge for the service and fees would depend on the country where it was being used. DoCoMo said it also planned to provide rental GSM handsets for use overseas. The roaming service will be available in 53 countries at the start, with plans to expand it eventually to 72, DoCoMo said.
The FCC should regulate all broadband services as a Title 1 information service, said Tom Tauke, Verizon senior vp-public policy and external affairs. Telling NARUC and NECA that federal broadband policy hadn’t caught up with technology or markets, he said the FCC should use its current regulation of cable broadband service as a model for all broadband offerings. Tauke said regulations hadn’t changed much since he called for a regulatory philosophy of “old wires, old rules; new wires, new rules” nearly 2 years ago. “We still have no national broadband policy. We need action,” he said. However, he expressed confidence that the FCC would “get it right” when it releases its Triennial Review order. If the FCC were to regulate all broadband services under Title 1 regulations, it still would retain oversight over the service and act if needed, he said. Tauke said Verizon was upgrading its network and would add 10 million broadband customers this year. He said the future of broadband for ILECs was fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). However, new deployments “run into a wall” of regulations that prevent build-outs, including FTTH, he said. Tauke described the Internet as a “value chain,” with many providers having access to customers. He said content providers should be allowed unfettered access to consumers and broadband providers shouldn’t be allowed to interfere with content distribution. -- TL
LAS VEGAS -- Several panel sessions during the RTNDA convention here last week included praise for the new technologies being used to cover the Iraq war, providing for “ultimate reality TV” from the scene. Appearing live via video satellite from the war zone, ABC correspondent Mike von Fremd said that in the 1991 Gulf War “we handed our tape up to a ‘copter. Now we have videophones, satellite phones… It’s unbelievable.”