Telecom Policy Report articles from February 2005

Telecom Policy Report archives from February 2005

Why The SBC-AT&T Merger Will Test Gov't Mettle.
February 2, 2005... Pro-Competition, Antitrust Policies Also Under Scrutiny SBC Communications' proposal to acquire former parent AT&T for about $16 billion in stock will provide one of the industry's biggest tests of federal government mental dexterity and...

NPRM Addresses CALLS Successor.
February 2, 2005... Earlier this week, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to gather information regarding what kind of regulatory framework to apply to price-cap local exchange carriers' (LECs) interstate special access services after June 30,...

DACA Project Tackles Reform One Issue At A Time.
February 2, 2005... Individuals from government, telecom and computer circles are organizing a coalition effort to help write a new set of communications-reform legislation that will be proposed as guidelines to the U.S. Congress. Under the auspices of The...

Look For Formal UNE Order By Friday.
February 2, 2005... The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expects its formal order on new and supposedly somewhat relaxed Unbundled Network Element (UNE) rules for incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) will be released no later than Friday, Feb. 4,...

Euro IP Services Not Ready for Prime-Time Regulation.
February 2, 2005... If official European criteria are used as the test, then Internet Protocol (IP) services for the most part -- with the possible exception of voice-over-IP (VoIP) offerings -- are not yet ready for prime-time regulation. That's the view of...

USTA Publicity Campaign Seeks Legislative Jump Start.
February 2, 2005... The U.S. Telecom Association (USTA) appears to be accelerating a publicity campaign for both a grassroots and a service-provider effort to jump start the new Congress into writing new telecommunications-reform legislation. Media advertisements,...

FCC Rules Set To Wean 'Mass-Market' UNE Access.
February 9, 2005... Court-Forced Order Takes A Narrower, Focused Approach The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) waited until after business closed late Friday to issue its anxiously awaited, court-forced modifications of ground rules for incumbent local...

CEOs Address IP Telecom Issues Today.
February 9, 2005... The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecom and the Internet has scheduled a hearing today on IP services in what could be a prelude to Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) possibly introducing or cosponsoring legislation...

Merger Mania Could Signal A New Detente.
February 9, 2005... SBC's proposed purchase of AT&T and potential mergers between other large incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) and interexchange carriers (IXCs) could alter these telecom operators' policy positions if such former antagonists join the same...

Wisconsin Stirs Up Telemarketing, Internet Tax Imbroglio.
February 9, 2005... The state of Wisconsin is continuing to put pressure on the FCC to retain or essentially back up the state's relatively tough laws restricting telemarketing activities, while the state could possibly open a new battle front regarding its right...

The USF: More Controversy, More Kudos.
February 9, 2005... The FCC's Universal Service Fund (USF) remains in a somewhat dubious spotlight of attention again, this time with tug-of-war statements emanating from FCC commissioners themselves as well as from different advocacy groups taking positions on...

Franchise Fracus: Verizon Pursues More Local Licenses.
February 9, 2005... Verizon Communications appears out of luck when it comes to offering cable TV in Virginia, now that state legislators opted Monday to table a bill that essentially would have circumvented the local franchise process. The proposed legislation...

Congress Starts The Telecom Act Re-Write Clock.
February 16, 2005... Debate May Signal Internet Epiphany, But That's Not All The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecom and the Internet last week held what its chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) claimed would be the first in a series of such...

UNEs: It Ain't Over Yet.
February 16, 2005... The parties behind last year's court reversal of the FCC's Triennial Review Order as it pertained to unbundled elements have filed a supplemental petition for a writ of mandamus, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to force...

Verizon Trumps Qwest, But Don't Count Your Chickens.
February 16, 2005... Like SBC Communications' proposed $16 billion purchase of AT&T, this week's Verizon Communications deal to buy MCI for about $6.3 billion represents a leapfrog opportunity for both incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) to plunge big time...

New Jersey Governor Stirs Up Anti-Telemarketing Fray.
February 16, 2005... New Jersey's Acting Governor Richard Codey recently initiated a public lobbying effort to keep the FCC from considering recent telemarketing petitions to override stringent "Do Not Call" laws in Indiana, New Jersey and Wisconsin (TPR, Feb. 9),...

A New FNPRM Addresses The ICC Dilemma...Again.
February 16, 2005... Thought we weren't going to tackle this brouhaha this issue, didn't you, but we saved the best for last. At its open meeting last week, the FCC decided to take another stab at establishing a new, unified intercarrier compensation (ICC) regime...

WTB Chief Asks CTIA For Content-Monitoring Cooperation.
February 16, 2005... Pointing out that wireless technology has reached the point of allowing consumers to "access an increasing amount and variety of information through their mobile connections," John Muleta, chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau,...

A Tale Of Two Issues: DTV And TSP Funding.
February 23, 2005... Congress, Agencies Debate TV, Public Safety Costs In Wartime Simultaneously taking place last week in Washington, D.C., were two seemingly unrelated public events -- one a congressional panel on digital television (DTV) and another a...

SBC, AT&T File Merger Requests.
February 23, 2005... SBC Communications and AT&T today started their merger-approval bid with joint filings at the Federal Communications Commission and at the U.S. Department of Justice; the companies told authorities consumers and businesses throughout the...

New Report Outlines Network Security Measures.
February 23, 2005... The security of current U.S. telecom networks is the stuff nightly news reports are made of. Hot off the presses is the National Cyber Security Progress Report, sponsored by the National Cyber Security Partnership (NCSP) and cosponsored by the...

CWA Favors 'Business Sense' Of ILEC-IXC Mergers.
February 23, 2005... The Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents about 700,000 employees at telcos, manufacturers and telecom-related companies like Lucent Technologies, has been supportive of the recent proposed mergers among incumbent local...

Senator Hits AT&T On Calling Card-USF Flap.
February 23, 2005... Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) - chairman of the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation - has blasted AT&T efforts to label its prepaid calling cards as information services to avoid contributions to the Universal Service Fund...