Telecom Policy Report articles from May 2006

Telecom Policy Report archives from May 2006

Stevens Taps GAO Broadband Report To Buttress Huge Communications Bill.
May 8, 2006... Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) late last week seized upon a just-issued Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on broadband deployment in the United States to muster Senate and House support for the massive communications draft...

Edgy In Illinois: AT&T Sues Local Franchisers.
May 8, 2006... AT&T's court battles with municipal governments and local franchise authorities (LFAs) over its "Project Lightspeed" fiber-optic installations and video services (TPR, April 24) got a little edgier last week as the carrier filed additional...

Franchising Issue Invades CWA's Angst With Verizon.
May 8, 2006... It's certainly no surprise to hear that the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union is at odds with the likes of Verizon Communications, yet the hotly contested local video-franchise issue has been slowing creeping its way into their...

CALEA Rules Take Center Stage, But That's Not All.
May 8, 2006... Aggressive administration pursuit of law- and regulatory-enforcement policies on homeland security, crime and consumer fraud and other forms of nefarious activity were in the limelight last week on several fronts, with disputes over the...

States Take Up Plans On Internet Taxation.
May 8, 2006... Some 19 states have signed onto a single system for sales tax collections on business conducted over the Internet as part of a broad multi-state "Streamlined Sales Tax Project" (SSTP) that has been under development for several years. ...

NTIA, USTR Nominations Head To The Senate.
May 8, 2006... President George W. Bush has asked the Senate to vet two nominations: John M. R. Kneuer to be assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce for communications and information, and Susan C. Schwab to be United States Trade...

CompTel Eyes Merger Ruling.
May 8, 2006... The Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel) expects the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia this Wednesday (May 10) to decide if the group can participate in review of last year's SBC/AT&T and Verizon/MCI...

Colleges, Universities Flunk Numbers-Based Universal Service Fund Alternatives.
May 15, 2006... U.S. colleges and universities last week added their cost worries to the list of groups concerned about potential changes in universal service fund (USF) contribution methods, especially the often-discussed flat-fee telephone-numbers...

USF Reform Piques New Congressional Curiosity.
May 15, 2006... Drastic reformation of the universal service fund (USF), adding rural broadband coverage to the program or merely keeping things as they are will be gaining increased attention among politicians in Congress as pending telecom bills with...

DTV Transition Still Tying Up Loose Ends.
May 15, 2006... Although broadcaster migration from analog to digital television (DTV) transmission is set for 2009 and the freed spectrum for public-safety, emergency-response and commercial communications use will be in play (TPR, May 1), public policy on...

American Cable Association On The Warpath.
May 15, 2006... The American Cable Association (ACA) last week effectively went into battle regarding several telecom-related fronts, blasting misuse of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) funding program and promising a...

Telco Execs May Testify On NSA Call Database.
May 15, 2006... Executives of AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon Communications may be tapped as witnesses to testify about the carriers' collaboration with the National Security Agency (NSA) effort to collecting millions of U.S. subscriber call-data records as...

Court 'Mega-Merger' Review Coming To A Head?
May 15, 2006... The normally quiet court process of evaluating U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) consent decrees under the Tunney Act could get a little rowdy when it comes to last year's SBC/AT&T and Verizon/MCI "mega-mergers" if interveners have anything...

FCC 800 MHz ATG Auction Takes Off.
May 15, 2006... The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week started its long- awaited Auction No. 65 bidding contest for 800 MHz spectrum to be used for new nationwide air-to-ground (ATG) RF services licenses aboard commercial aircraft. By the end...

Congress Hung Up On Net Neutrality As Communications-Bill Debates Unfold.
May 22, 2006... As the Senate mulls a massive communications-law proposal and the House strains to play catch up by cobbling together pieces of discrete bills (TPR, May 8), the network-neutrality issue is rearing up as a major thorn among federal lawmakers,...

FCC Delays AWS Auction Due To Discount Rules.
May 22, 2006... Late last Friday, the Federal Communications Commission disclosed a new schedule for gaveling its auction of spectrum licenses for third-generation (3G) Advanced Wireless Services (AWS), putting off the bid process for about six weeks in...

U.S. Competitiveness Bills Close To Reaching Congress.
May 22, 2006... As the pace of legislative proposals accelerate with the approaching holiday and summer recesses, the U.S. Congress will be looking at bills aimed at increasing the U.S. competitive posture in business and technology, with...

Ag Committee Hears RUS Fund Benefits, Complaints.
May 22, 2006... Although the cable-television business recently has attracted attention by blasting alleged misuse of the U.S Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) funding (TPR, May 15), small telephone companies last week had a chance...

N.J. Senate Passes Statewide Video-Franchise Bill.
May 22, 2006... The New Jersey Senate last week passed a bill allowing new video-service entrants and existing cablecos to bypass local franchise authorities (LFAs) via a statewide franchising system in what is seen as an emerging victory for a Verizon...

NYC Eyes 311 Online Access.
May 22, 2006... The New York City government may expand online accessibility to its 311 service that currently handles non-emergency public-safety complaints while it also considers a $13.9 million-plus plan to include information on social services for...

Interest Groups Blast Away On Telecom Bills.
May 29, 2006... Last week's approval of proposed network-neutrality legislation by a House committee and yet-another Senate hearing on a sweeping communications-law proposal produced a torrent of pro-and-con reactions from industry lobbyists and other...

McDowell Gets Senate Nod As FCC's 5th Member.
May 29, 2006... Late last Friday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Robert M. McDowell to be a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), giving the regulatory agency its full five-seat complement for the first time since the resignation of Chairman...

Critics Hail FET Demise, Turn To New Fights.
May 29, 2006... Unsurprisingly, critics of the 3-percent federal excise tax (FET) imposed on landline and wireless telephone bills were elated to learn the U.S. government threw in the towel on the 108-year-old long-distance levy as a result of constant...

ACLU Rousts Telcos On NSA Call-Data Sharing.
May 29, 2006... Although the Washington, D.C., flap over alleged National Security Agency (NSA) monitoring of telephone call records has significantly toned down, with only a few sporadic outbursts, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nevertheless,...

Does M2Z's Broadband Petition Give The FCC More Options?
May 29, 2006... Apparently it's not enough for the Federal Communications Commission to be in the midst of auctioning spectrum licenses for new nationwide air-to-ground (ATG) service licenses or preparing for a spectrum licenses auction for third- generation...

DoJ Vets Intelsat-PanAmSat Deal.
May 29, 2006... The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) late last week essentially approved Intelsat Ltd.'s $3.2 billion proposed merger with PanAmSat Holding Corporation, clearing the way for the transaction review to be completed by the Federal...