fcc

Republican FCC commissioners decree the rules are what we say they are

21 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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It’s good to be the king.

Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly, the two republicans on the Federal Communications Commission, have sent a letter to lobbyists for telecoms and Internet service providers promising them that their clients don’t have to follow rules that went into effect last week, saying the times they are a changing…

We want to assure you and your members that we would not support any adverse actions against small business providers for supposed non-compliance with the “enhanced transparency” rules after [17 January 2017], and we will seek to revisit those particular requirements, and the Title II Net Neutrality proceeding more broadly, as soon as possible.

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AT&T waves a weed whacker at FCC staff

19 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Which side of the dirt do you want to be on?

Mommy might have said no, but daddy is going to whack your weeds. That’s the message AT&T delivered to Federal Communications Commission staff who had challenged the legality of allowing customers who buy a package of DirecTv programming to watch it without incurring data charges or burning through data caps. The practice is called zero rating and it was left in a regulatory grey area by the FCC’s 2015 decision to classify Internet access as a common carrier service.… More

Trump's FCC takes shape, and it looks like a power tool

17 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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The new majority

The Federal Communications Commission will begin the Trump administration with a 2-to-1 majority. Chairman Tom Wheeler finally made his plans public on Thursday, saying he would hand in his resignation as Donald Trump becomes the U.S. president on 20 January 2017. That would leave two republicans – Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly – and one democrat, Mignon Clyburn on the commission.

Wheeler’s departure was inevitable. He would have lost his chairman’s gig the minute Trump took office, and his strutting style and big man on campus persona could never be sufficiently deflated to fit within the humble job description of a working commissioner on the minority side.… More

End of the line for an intelligent, independent FCC commissioner

10 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Happier days.

Jessica Rosenworcel won’t be coming back to the Federal Communications Commission next year. Not unless she’s renominated by either president Obama or Trump and the U.S. senate concurs. Or the senate takes the highly unusual step of returning to work during the holiday break. Senators wrapped up business for the year in the wee hours this morning, leaving a stack of unfinished business, including confirmation of a new term on the FCC for Rosenworcel.… More

DSL service hammered in FCC report

8 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Cable modem service is reliable and fast, and getting faster, but DSL service offered by telcos isn’t. That’s the top line conclusion of the Federal Communications Commission’s 2016 annual report on fixed broadband service across the U.S…

When DSL is used to provide broadband service, the maximum advertised download speeds among the most popular service tiers has increased only slightly since 2011. In contrast, for cable services, the maximum advertised download speeds among the most popular service tiers have increased from 12-30 Mbps in March 2011 to 100-300 Mbps in September 2015.

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TV-to-mobile spectrum transfer heads to fourth auction round

6 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Less equals less, when it comes to spectrum auctions. That seems to be the lesson the Federal Communications Commission is learning as it ends its third stage of reverse-and-forward auctions for frequencies currently used by television broadcasters and coveted by mobile carriers.

But not coveted as much as broadcasters think, apparently. The FCC opened the bidding from mobile carriers and closed it couple hours later when it became clear that the price they are willing to pay isn’t anywhere near what broadcasters want in exchange for giving it up.… More

Another net neutrality skeptic lands at the FCC

3 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Telecoms policy solidifies.

A third, like minded crew member beamed down to the Trump transition’s landing team at the Federal Communications Commission this week. Roslyn Layton was named to the volunteer position and, together with previous appointees Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison, will help manage the transition from an Obama-appointed democratic majority to a Trump-appointed republican one.

Like Jamison and Eisenach, Layton has links to the American Enterprise Institute, a right-of-center consulting shop, and works as a consultant and in academia, albeit with a thin scholarly resume.… More

FCC considers such unfinished business as can be finished

26 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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There’s one more open meeting on the Federal Communications Commission’s 2016 schedule, and the agenda will be limited to relatively minor and generally innocuous policy decisions. That’s in keeping with FCC chairman Tom Wheeler’s sudden pullback ahead of the November meeting and his stated hope that decisions on controversial items would be “addressed after the transfer of leadership from this agency“.

Wheeler released a preliminary agenda for the 15 December 2016 meeting just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.… More

Broadband monopoly battles may shift to states when FCC retreats

25 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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A key telecoms advisor to Donald Trump seems to be floating the idea of pushing more broadband regulatory responsibility down to states. Mark Jamison, currently a lecturer at the University of Florida and formerly a staff lobbyist for Sprint, is one half of the Trump transition landing team assigned to the Federal Communications Commission. In a blog post published before the election, he argues that there’s no longer a need for the FCC, as it currently exists…

Telecommunications network providers and ISPs are rarely, if ever, monopolies.

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Telecoms policy transition is a turnover, not a new game

23 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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Pick up the ball and move it in the opposite direction.

A two-man Trump transition “landing team” is descending on the Federal Communications Commission. Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison have made their career at the dark junction of industry, academia and government. Both are affiliated with the D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute, an industry-friendly consulting group that serves clients on the right wing of the political ecosystem, and both have strong ties to the telecoms industry, Eisenach as a consultant to Verizon and Jamison as a lobbyist for Sprint.… More