Telecom Policy Report articles from January 2006

Telecom Policy Report archives from January 2006

Looking Back: The Telecom Year In Review.
January 2, 2006... How 2005 Did And Didn't Shape Up Welcome to 2006. Right after New Year's Day is a traditional time for reflection, so Telecom Policy Report once again offers a glimpse at the past year's highlights (TPR, Dec. 22, 2004). The 2005...

Verizon's Wild Video Franchise Ride In The Garden State.
January 9, 2006... The nationwide push by incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) to circumvent local video franchising proved to be quite an adventure recently for Verizon Communications in New Jersey, where a roller coaster series of public developments...

Jersey Cable-Franchise Bill Stalls But 'I Shall Return'.
January 9, 2006... The microcosm state-level video franchise battle between Verizon-led telcos and New Jersey Cable Telecommunications Association-led cablecast reached a confusing apex last week when a proposed bill to amend and revamp the Garden State's...

Carriers Face '06 Merger Terms, UNE-P Demise.
January 9, 2006... Competitive carriers in 2006 face two new key business conditions brought on by the previous year's regulatory and court decisions, including terms imposed on the SBC Communications/AT&T and the Verizon Communications/MCI "mega mergers" as...

Rural/Small Telco Coalition Pens New Year's Manifesto.
January 9, 2006... The Coalition To Keep America Connected - formed late last year by several rural and small-community telco groups, in large part to protect universal service fund (USF) programs (TPR, Oct. 7, 2005) - last week unfolded a 2006 lobbying and...

Tax Credit, DTV Among Items Begging 'Reconciliation'.
January 9, 2006... The research-and-development tax credit and digital television transition are among the legislative items of concern to the telecom business currently in limbo, pending the return of the U.S. Congress to Capitol Hill and resolution of...

Indiana Telecom Bill Slated For Senate Committee.
January 9, 2006... An Indiana State Senate committee will hold a public meeting tomorrow (Jan. 10) to discuss recently proposed telecom-reform legislation that would, among other things, mandate a statewide system for video franchising and impose new...

Air-To-Ground 800 MHz Auction Set For May As FCC Ties Up Loose Ends.
January 17, 2006... In what could reflect a far-reaching shift in users' communications habits aboard U.S. commercial aircraft, the Federal Communications Commission has outlined details of a long-awaited auction that will sell 800 MHz spectrum for new...

State Telecom, Franchise Bills Could Be Prolific.
January 17, 2006... Pending telecom legislation already under consideration in Georgia, Indiana and New Jersey may well be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the heightened sense of urgency and interest in communications-law rewrites, video- franchise...

Georgia Bill Restricts PSC Voice Oversight.
January 17, 2006... Georgia's General Assembly will be considering new communications legislation that effectively deregulates voice telephony regardless of technology by restricting or removing much of the state's Public Service Commission authority and...

Martin Designates Katrina Panel Members, Tasks.
January 17, 2006... Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin has named members of an expected independent panel to review Hurricane Katrina's impact last year on telecom as well as media networks in the affected Gulf Coast region. The panel is...

Some New Witnesses, Please.
January 17, 2006... By Frank Barbetta, editor, Telecom Policy Report When the U.S. Congress reconvenes, we once again are likely to see hearings on telecom reform, perhaps especially surrounding the Internet Protocol field, and it would be interesting if some...

N.Y. Senator Blasts IRS Excise Tax Collection.
January 17, 2006... The latest salvo against the 108-year-old federal excise tax (FET) was fired in New York last Sunday when Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) not only blasted the levy on users' communications bills, but also the tax collector. At a press...

Telephony Call-Records Brokering Overwhelms Nation's Capitol.
January 23, 2006... Like a volcanic buildup of pressure that suddenly, yet not unexpectedly, erupts, a simmering national scandal over the buying and selling of supposedly private telephone calling records exploded into full view last week to produce a mixture...

FCC Enforcement Cites Call Brokers.
January 23, 2006... It was no secret the FCC had been considering new regulations to beef up customer data protection, including call records, at the behest of a petition for rulemaking by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (TPR, Dec, 5, 2005; TelecomWeb...

Open Internet Peril Begs Net-Neutrality Question.
January 23, 2006... The idea that the open and freewheeling nature of the Internet may be in danger is putting a lot of people on edge and, as one wag puts it, this suggests that, someday, many end users of the World Wide Web may become detached, moving farther...

'Oh, Please, Not Congress'.
January 23, 2006... Like a judge's dissenting opinion that digresses slightly from the court's majority, the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) ostensibly believes in the Internet's open spirit, but it believes the U.S. Congress must not steer regulation of...

At Press Time: Supremes Refuse RIM Hearing.
January 23, 2006... As Telecom Policy Report was going to press, we learned the U.S. Supreme Court had denied BlackBerry maker Research In Motion's petition for certiorari asking for a review of issues concerning the extraterritorial reach of U.S. patent law...

PFF's Telecom Bill Gets More Flak On USF Reforms.
January 23, 2006... For the second time in a little more than a month, critical fire has been directed at the Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) think tank's telecom-reform model legislation project, again specifically on proposals for changing many monetary...

Lightly Observed: Commish Dances The Tennessee Waltz.
January 23, 2006... The Federal Communications Commission's first public meeting in 2006 last Friday (Feb. 20) served mostly as a forum for internal bureau and office recaps of last year's work, but for Deborah Taylor Tate, the new Republican member and...

In Blue Hawaii, Rural Telcos Stress Broadband Needs As USF Tops Agenda.
January 30, 2006... Rural telcos, political forces and other policy makers mixed company last week in a lobbying campaign for continued favorable support of broadband infrastructure investment and communications service improvements in sparsely populated areas....

NTCA Members Want More Spectrum.
January 30, 2006... The NationalTelecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA), meanwhile, released a survey on rural wireless offerings that ostensibly demonstrates membership sincerity and commitment to consumers and innovation but that additionally...

U.S. Lawmakers Churn Calling-Records Flap.
January 30, 2006... The U.S. Congress last week further stirred up national concerns over access and sale of wireline and wireless operators' customer calling records (TPR, Jan. 23), seeking more information from the Federal Communications Commission on its...

Stevens Will Back McDowell For FCC Post.
January 30, 2006... Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is applauding the nomination of Robert McDowell, a federal-affairs attorney for the Comptel industry association representing competitive-carrier interests, to fill the remaining vacant seat at the Federal...

Virginia Communications Flat Tax Progresses.
January 30, 2006... By a 62-35 vote, the Virginia House of Delegates passed a proposed communications-tax-reform measure that streamlines such levies into a statewide flat-rate structure and eliminates local cable-franchising fees. Instead, the measure adds...

Junk Fax Order Protects Confidential Data.
January 30, 2006... The Federal Communications Commission says it is willing to protect confidential data and records submitted in its notice of proposed rulemaking to (NPRM) to tighten rules and regulations on the practice of the transmission of unwanted...

Senators Unveil New Science/Tech/R&D Package.
January 30, 2006... A group of U.S. senators last week took the wraps off a package of three proposed bills aimed at stimulating leading-edge science and technology innovation in the United States with programs totaling about $10 billion in federal expenditures...