Telecom Policy Report articles from March 2006

Telecom Policy Report archives from March 2006

Senate Poised To Bake Up New USF Plan But How Will It Slice The Pie?
March 6, 2006... Once everyone gets past an apparent industry and political consensus that the Federal Communications Commission's universal service fund (USF) program needs to broaden its contributor base, the devil effectively takes over the details with...

Katrina Group Underlines Telecom Challenge.
March 6, 2006... The Federal Communications Commission's volunteer group investigating Hurricane Katrina's impact on the damaged Gulf Coast region is moving at an accelerated pace, with its storm-specific mission having wider implications on how...

Momentum Builds Behind New Video-Franchise Rules.
March 6, 2006... A nationwide campaign to streamline video franchising - effectively to quicken the pace of telco entry into Internet Protocol television content delivery - continues unabated as state-level developments, lobbying-group movement and...

Ofcom Puts Those 'Silent' Auto-Dialer Calls On Hold.
March 6, 2006... U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom has ordered new, more stringent rules to clamp down on so-called "silent and abandoned" telephone calls generated by automatic dialers run by telemarketing organizations with over-burdened call- center personnel....

Bucking Tradition: PFF Champions Market-Based RF Spectrum-Reform Moves.
March 13, 2006... Assigning property rights, introducing more market forces into allocations and revamping government deployments were among the measures advocated by a Washington think tank to achieve more efficient spectrum usage. The most recent Progress...

Video-Franchise Bills Turn Up Like Bad Pennies.
March 13, 2006... The hotly contested video-franchise war hit more milestones as Virginia's governor signed into law what is considered a compromise measure, a New Jersey bill establishing a statewide system was resurrected from last year and the U.S. House...

Mega Mergers: Reflections On Reassembling Ma Bell.
March 13, 2006... By Frank Barbetta, editor, Telecom Policy Report The 'new' AT&T's proposed $67.1 billion purchase of BellSouth and their Cingular Wireless joint venture (TelecomWeb news break, March 7) raises the specter of a return to old monopoly power...

New Call-Records Bills Hold Carrier Feet To The Fire.
March 13, 2006... The U.S. Congress is accelerating into high gear against telephone call- records brokering as new bills were added to House and Senate hoppers that would levy stiff penalties on all aspects of such online activities and would also hold...

NENA Pushes VoIP, Next-Gen E911 Agenda.
March 13, 2006... During its annual meeting in Washington, D.C., last week, the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) sought to address the sticky issues clinging to enhanced 911 (E911) calling services by offering suggestions on Voice over Internet...

Mergers, Net Neutrality, Franchising Widen Lawmaker, Lobbyist Gap.
March 20, 2006... Mergers of major carriers and possible federal legislation on network neutrality and video franchising are becoming seriously entangled on Capitol Hill, threatening further divisions among the lawmakers and attracting pressure groups from...

Opinions: Who's Telling Congress What?
March 20, 2006... Pressure on the U.S. Congress over network neutrality, video franchising and others aspects of telecom law rewrites has attracting an eclectic crowd. Here's a sampling of how others are weighing in: * A broad base of 70 Internet consumer...

Public Safety Mulls Spectrum Shift, VoIP Petition.
March 20, 2006... It's been calling for more federal leadership, additional professional funding, radio communications/systems interoperability, enhanced 911 capabilities for next-generation networks/services and a host of other future initiatives. Now,...

Expert Says Policy Changes Require Risk Management.
March 20, 2006... Telecom regulatory and legislative policy changes attempting to cope with rapid technology and business shifts require industry players to add sophisticated risk-management techniques to their strategic outlooks, according to one key...

Net Neutrality And Franchising: Two Issues That Define Broadband Policy.
March 20, 2006... By Hugh Carter Donahue, Ph.D. Years ago, Ralph Waldo Emerson noticed that public policy recurrently plays catch-up with technological innovation and, when it comes to broadband policy, one cannot help but marvel at his sage prescience....

FCC: USAC Hikes 2Q USF Rates.
March 20, 2006... Although administrative expenses are expected to be a bit lower, the Federal Communications Commission proposes that the universal service fund (USF) contribution factor for 2Q06 rise to between 0.109 percent and 10.9 percent due to...

At CompTel: Competitive Carrier Misdealings Suggest Martin's Honeymoon Is Over.
March 27, 2006... Now past a first anniversary as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, it seems that any honeymoon Kevin J. Martin might have enjoyed with U.S. competitive carriers is now over. From his speech last week disclosing a default...

Verizon Forbearance: What's In Store?
March 27, 2006... The flap about the Federal Communications Commission allowing Verizon Communications services to be exempt from common carrier rules and obligations under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 and the commission's Computer Inquiry stems...

More From CompTel: Will VoIP Peering Pose A Threat To The Interconnect Regime?
March 27, 2006... The possibility that peering arrangements among Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers threaten historical telephone company interconnect agreements as well as the regulatory regimes that govern them was raised last week during...

True Believers: The Telecom Act of '96 Was Just Fine.
March 27, 2006... In the recent year or so, many pundits, politicians and incumbent telco executives have accused the Telecommunications Act of 1996 of being obsolete and ineffective. Indeed, there has been a movement to amend, rewrite or even vanquish the...

Time Warner Cable Takes State VoIP Fights To Washington.
March 27, 2006... A Time Warner Cable argument with South Carolina and Nebraska regulators over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services and wholesale interconnections is now being tossed around at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in a duel...