fcc

FCC blocks ViaSat's end run around rural experiment standards

13 December 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

You’ve got to hand it to the people at ViaSat. They don’t give up. If FCC tests – correctly – show that satellite Internet service has both advantages and disadvantages, then shout the good news loud enough to shake the rafters and browbeat the FCC into suppressing the bad. If the FCC wants to conduct an experiment to see if there are technologies and business models that can deliver urban-quality broadband service to rural customers, try to duck the quality requirements when no one is looking.… More

California beats the odds in FCC rural broadband experiments

10 December 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

Sometimes things turn out better than you might expect.

California came out pretty well in the FCC’s provisional rural broadband experiment decisions. Of the 40 bidders that were accepted, 3 proposed a total of 9 projects in California. That’s 11% of the total number of accepted projects. In dollar terms, projects in our state did even better, claiming $16 million of the $99.5 million, 16% of the money tentatively awarded by the FCC.

There wasn’t much information given about the projects or the bidders by the FCC, just names, number of bids selected, total amount of the grant requested and total number of census blocks covered.… More

FCC's chosen rural broadband experiments likely skew heavily towards wireless

9 December 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

The FCC has provisionally blessed 86 project bids submitted by 40 different companies for the rural broadband experiments program. The total tab is $99.5 million, just inside the $100 million limit for the program’s kitty. The companies selected have 10 days to submit the rest of the required financial, technical and other information.

It’s hard to tell much from the information released by the FCC – just total dollars and census blocks for each company.… More

Anti-trust hammer beats common carrier control of telecoms monopolies

8 December 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

There are three ways to deal with a monopoly, natural or otherwise: hope new technology will eventually render it obsolete, accept it but control it with regulation, or use anti-trust rules to break it up.

In a rapidly evolving environment, waiting out a monopoly can be a viable, if uncomfortably lengthy, strategy. Microsoft’s de facto user-side control of computer technology is long gone thanks to iOS, Android and Linux, and not because of the nibbling of regulatory snapping turtles.… More

AT&T tells FCC sorry, we meant to say we're bailing on DSL, not fiber

28 November 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Under fire from the FCC, AT&T is walking back a statement by CEO Randall Stephenson that the company will stop building out fiber while common carrier regulation of broadband is on the table. With the exception, Stephenson said, of 2 million homes that were promised as part of AT&T’s bid to get regulatory approval of its purchase of DirecTv.

That statement, made at an investment conference and likely unscripted, provoked a demand from the FCC for AT&T to explain itself.… More

Marriott wants FCC cover for attacks on guests' WiFi devices

27 November 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

It’s interference, but it’s for your own good.

Lobbyists for Marriott and the hotel industry are asking for permission to use technological attacks to shut down personal WiFi hotspots and other devices on their properties (h/t to the Baller-Herbst list for the pointer). All in the name of security, of course. These are public spirited companies that would never do something so crass just to protect the profits generated from selling Internet access to guests.

As explained by Fletcher, Heald and Hildreth’s ComLawBlog, Marriott combats competing WiFi signals and what it considers misuse of its own network with digital counterattacks…

To address these various problems, Marriott and its friends commonly deploy sophisticated and expensive Wi-Fi network management systems that search for unauthorized or excessive uses of a network.

… More

FCC looks at telcos' copper network retirement by neglect, considers forced sales

26 November 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Landline telephone companies are backing off from traditional Plain Old Telephone Service in favor of less regulated and more advanced Internet Protocol technologies. When they invest in upgrades, it’s usually fiber and not copper-based. As a result, there’s a move away from copper networks and associated legacy services.

In a notice approved last week and published yesterday, the FCC is looking for comments on how it should regulate that process. One of the questions the commission wants to answer is what do about de facto retirement of copper plant, where telephone companies simply let unprofitable network segments rot on the poles…

There are numerous allegations that in some cases incumbent LECs are failing to maintain their copper networks that have not undergone the Commission’s existing copper retirement procedures…First, to establish whether there is a factual basis for new rules in this area, are incumbent LECs in some circumstances neglecting copper to the point where it is no longer reliably usable?

… More

There's still interest in rural broadband experiments, but no way to judge feasibility yet

24 November 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Hundreds of companies, communities and miscellaneous organisations, representing just a touch shy of a thousand projects, told the FCC last March that they wanted to take part in its rural broadband experiment program. When it came time to actually submit a bid – it’s effectively an auction process – only 181 applications were received by the 7 November 2014 deadline.

The FCC hasn’t released a list of the bidders.… More

How much of the net neutrality job will go to state regulators?

20 November 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

Whether or not the FCC decides to regulate broadband service as a common carrier utility, new net neutrality rules will be imposed, successfully or not. State utility regulators from across the country met in San Francisco this week. The California Public Utilities Commission hosted a conference on Internet regulation, and net neutrality in particular, chaired by commissioner Catherine Sandoval, yesterday afternoon.

A national panel of economics and law professors discussed where state regulators fit in.… More

FCC squeezes the AT&T GigaWeasel

17 November 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Sneak peak at AT&T’s response.

The FCC slapped back at AT&T on Friday, demanding it turn over information describing exactly what it means when it says it’s going to build fiber to 2 million more homes if its deal to buy DirecTv is approved, but will otherwise stop upgrading systems while the FCC decides whether to regulate broadband as a common carrier service.

That was the gist of comments made on Wednesday by AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson (h/t to Fred Pilot at Eldo Telecom for the heads up).… More