June 7, 2011 (Support for AT&T/T-Mobile)

AT&T/T-MOBILE

MMTC AND AT&T/T-MOBILE
[SOURCE: Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, AUTHOR: David Honig]
[Commentary] Since its founding 25 years ago, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) has been a vocal opponent of consolidation in the media and telecommunications industries. A transaction may be compelling to shareholders or have an attractive economic rationale, but transactions that shrink a sector usually come at the expense of communities of color. Too often, what may appear to be “good” for a company is, in fact, bad for minorities. Thus MMTC has never affirmatively endorsed a proposed merger – until now. This transaction is fundamentally different from past transactions because of what’s at stake – the future of wireless broadband. Mobile broadband is profoundly important in connecting minorities to the Internet. For 4G to be rolled out in a manner that is both swift and inclusive of minorities, broadband providers will require massive amounts of new spectrum to build 4G networks. The proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile would help solve the spectrum crunch by putting this scarce resource to the most efficient and consumer welfare-enhancing uses. According to AT&T, this merger would give it “the scale, spectrum, and resources that will enable it to deploy LTE [its 4G network] to more than 97 percent of Americans, many of them in the rural areas and small towns most in need of greater broadband deployment and economic development.” The transaction would result in better wireless broadband connectivity in very large and disproportionately minority markets like Los Angeles, Houston, Detroit, and Washington (DC).
In the absence of such a solution to the spectrum crunch, carriers may begin to raise prices in order to suppress demand for advanced services. There is another reason to be optimistic and enthusiastic about this transaction: AT&T has a long record of excellence when it comes to diversity and working to inclusion.
Thus the proposed merger warrants a departure from MMTC’s history of opposition to such transactions. The nation has robust wireless and broadband networks. But spectrum resources are quickly running out. The proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile is a natural next step in the evolution of the marketplace. Done right, this transaction will be a boon to all consumers.
benton.org/node/76225 | Minority Media and Telecommunications Council
Recommend this Headline
back to top

AT&T/T-MOBILE GETS SUPPORT FROM TECH COMMUNITY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael de la Merced]
In its quest to win approval of its $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA, AT&T just got a lot of help from its friends. Eight technology giants, including Facebook and Microsoft, and 10 venture capital firms, filed letters supporting the acquisition on June 6. The letters, filed with the Federal Communications Commission, lent their support to AT&T’s argument that the T-Mobile deal will help the company extend its next-generation data network across the country, helping to meet the growing need for wireless broadband services. “Many policy-related efforts will not be able to quickly address near-term capacity needs,” the Microsoft-led group wrote in its letter. “The FCC must seriously weigh the benefits of this merger and approve it.” Other companies that have signed on are Yahoo, Oracle and the BlackBerry’s maker Research in Motion. The venture capital firms include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Partners. Microsoft approached “a select few” technology companies to support the deal, mostly those whose products would obviously also benefit from wider data pipelines, and received quick and positive replies. The software giant also contacted several trade associations to which it belongs, letting them know of the company’s position. While Microsoft and Research in Motion have signed the letter, other notable smartphone players whose offerings consume large amounts of data, like Apple, have not.
benton.org/node/76332 | New York Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

SPRINT THE WINNER?
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Roger Entner]
In March 2011, AT&T announced that it was planning to acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 billion. This was the unexpected culmination of months of rumors about the sale of the ailing T-Mobile. Many analysts had seen Sprint as the most likely partner, but it was AT&T that made the successful bid after it was approached by T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom. Quick research gathered from the Web sites of various wireless providers presents a set of facts that do not support claims that T-Mobile is the lowest-cost provider. Furthermore, trend lines for wireless pricing before and after wireless mergers do not support the theory that the merger will lead to price increases. As the late Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-NY) famously said: "We are all entitled to our opinions, but not our own facts." Nationwide, consumers have at least three offers available to them that are lower in cost than T-Mobile's current offerings. Boost Mobile, which is owned by Sprint, and Tracfone's Straight Talk both offer nationwide plans that provide a lower-cost option. In fact, Sprint's Boost Mobile, Leap Wireless, Metro PCS, and Straight Talk are all gaining customers, while T-Mobile's higher-priced services are losing customers. It is highly doubtful that Sprint, Leap, Metro PCS, and Tracfone will raise prices while competing vigorously against each other for customers at the low-cost end of the market, just because a higher-priced competitor is no longer competing.
The best way to describe T-Mobile at this time is as "the most expensive low-cost phone provider"--an oxymoron indeed, and the exact reason for T-Mobile's customer losses. The root of T-Mobile's current churn and customer drop-offs lies in the lack of focus on a clear consumer segment. The provider's plans are too expensive to appeal to customers who seek low-cost plans, while it is unable to provide a network that will satisfy the demands of customers who are willing to pay a premium.
Another popular argument against the merger is that prices would rise--a claim made in regard to every proposed merger. In the wireless industry, however, this has not been proved; in fact, it is quite the contrary.
What is perhaps even more interesting is that Sprint, while loudly opposing the acquisition, will in all likelihood be the biggest winner from T-Mobile's disappearance. It is already the best-positioned value provider in the wireless industry. Sprint's postpaid plans are providing great value, while its Boost brand is a leader in the disruptive unlimited segment, and its Virgin Mobile brand is well represented in the per-minute prepaid segment. No other provider has as firmly anchored itself as the low-cost provider as Sprint has, and no other carrier in the U.S. has done a better job of improving its customer service.
For Sprint, the merger (and opposing it) represents a win-win opportunity. By opposing the merger, Sprint makes the lives of two of its competitors more difficult and increases the chance Sprint will secure extensive and favorable conditions on the merged entity. If it succeeds in blocking the merger, Sprint will have forced AT&T and T-Mobile to waste an entire year of valuable management time that could have been used to make Sprint's life more difficult. T-Mobile would be in a particularly difficult position to reinvigorate a workforce and attract new customers. After all, how do you gain customers when your company is viewed as uninterested in staying in the United States and without a vision for the future, but was forced by regulators to still compete? In sum, opposition based on fears of price increases or a sense that T-Mobile is the lowest-cost provider, and therefore needs to remain a standalone company, is wrongheaded, because it's not based in reality.
[Entner is the founder of Recon Analytics]
benton.org/node/76223 | C-Net|News.com
Recommend this Headline
back to top

REVENGE OF THE BABY BELLS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Steven Pearlstein]
[Commentary] It was 30 years ago that lawyers from the Justice Department first went into court to ask a federal judge to break up AT&T, and much has happened since then. The breakup of the Bell system into long distance and the regional “Baby Bells.” The rush of new competition and the resulting drop in prices. The decline of wire-line service, and the explosion of voice and data over wireless broadband. The irony is that after all that entrepreneurial energy and technological innovation and fierce competition, the telephone market once again threatens to consolidate back into the hands of two national giants, AT&T and Verizon, which are direct corporate descendents of Ma Bell. That is the context to keep in mind as the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission consider AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile.
The government has two choices.
It could stick with the competitive, lightly-regulated model and try to make it work by blocking a merger of the No. 2 and No. 4 competitors that will leave 75 percent of the wireless market in the hands of AT&T and Verizon. Or it could acknowledge that, because of powerful economies of scale and limits on the amount of wireless spectrum that is available, the “telephone” market is a natural oligopoly that can support only a handful of players and limited competition — and, by implication, requires much stronger government regulation.
Which arrangement — a tightly-regulated oligopoly or a lightly-regulated market with numerous firms of varying size — is most likely to produce the next innovation that improves services while lowering costs? At different times, we've had success with both models, but surely the worst outcome would be the unregulated oligopoly that AT&T and Verizon would have us embrace.
benton.org/node/76221 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

FCC LETTERS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Ruth Milkman]
The Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has sent out letters to a number of wireless carriers, asking them questions about AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. The FCC sent nine questions on geographic coverage and technical format, network development plans, cell sites, agreements between the companies, price lists, spectrum capacity requests, billing plans and more. The letters went to Verizon, Sprint,
The FCC has requested answers no later than June 20 and indicated that the replies will be treated as confidential.
benton.org/node/76218 | Federal Communications Commission | to Sprint | to US Cellular | to MetroPCS | to Leap Wireless | to Cellular South
Recommend this Headline
back to top

MORE ON WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

INCENTIVE AUCTION MARKUP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Senate Commerce Committee's planned June 8 markup of an incentive auction bill could prove to be a marathon undertaking. According to copies of draft amendments -- there are nearly 100 of them including 30 from Sen Jim DeMint (R-SC) alone -- that move up dates, change language, strike sections and add others. The bill (appropriately numbered S. 911) would allow the Federal Communications Commission to compensate broadcasters for moving off some of their spectrum to make room for more wireless broadband. It would also allow allocate the D block of spectrum to first responders for an interoperable broadband emergency communications network rather than auction it, as Congress originally designated. Many Republicans, including leaders of the House Commerce Committee, would prefer that the block still be auctioned, which could prove an impediment to the swift passage of the bill that its sponsor, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D- WV), is pushing for. Chairman Rockefeller wants the bill passed and to the president before the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Creating the emergency network was one of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
benton.org/node/76213 | Broadcasting&Cable
Recommend this Headline
back to top

TETHERING COMPLAINT
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
In the war to control access to services over wireless networks, the Free Press, a consumer group, has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission because Verizon has reportedly asked Google to disable tethering on Android devices. Tethering applications allow users to turn their phones into mobile hotspots, a feature operators tend to charge extra for. In the complaint, the Free Press argues that Verizon violates some of the open access provisions it agreed to when it bought its 700 MHz spectrum in 2008. Note that only the 700 MHz spectrum that Verizon is using for LTE will be affected by the open access rules.
benton.org/node/76208 | GigaOm | Free Press
Recommend this Headline
back to top

SUB-$100 SMARTPHONES
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Dan Warren]
[Commentary] In the tech industry, the $100 price point is something of a holy grail. For almost a decade now, philanthropists have been talking about developing a $100 laptop that will close the digital divide between the computer haves and have-nots. The cost of laptops and netbooks is falling steadily, but it will be the smartphone and, perhaps the tablet, that will really bring the world online. We are nearing the point where sub-$100 smartphones, complete with mobile broadband connectivity and touchscreens, will be widely available, enabling many more people to access a vast array of online services, content and information. Eventually, it may even become feasible to sell sub-$100 tablets with embedded HSPA connectivity. Sceptics argue that HSPA networks don't have the capacity to serve large numbers of tablet computers simultaneously. Today, that is probably true. But mobile technology isn't standing still. Some 93 operators have deployed HSPA+, an upgrade to HSPA, which makes more efficient use of the available spectrum. These HSPA+ networks deliver peak throughput speeds of up to 42Mbps. LTE, which has already been deployed by 21 operators worldwide, also offers a step-change in performance and capacity over vanilla 3G networks. U.K. regulator Ofcom said in May that its research had found that LTE and similar technologies will deliver more than 200% of the capacity of existing 3G technologies, using the same amount of spectrum. However, Ofcom acknowledged that more spectrum is also needed to meet booming demand for mobile broadband. Other regulators are coming to the same conclusion and I expect far more spectrum to be allocated to mobile broadband services over the next decade.
benton.org/node/76308 | Connected Planet
Recommend this Headline
back to top

INTERNET/BROADBAND

FCC AND RURAL AMERICA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Byron Dorgan]
[Commentary] In the US, communications tools are essential for our daily lives. We almost take for granted that every American has access to them. But that’s not the case. People who live in rural areas have often struggled to get telephone and broadband service. They get their service only when one of the smaller telephone companies in their rural area builds out new services to their customers. Today there are new and real questions about who will be able to access advanced telecommunication services in the future. Will the people who live in rural and hard-to-reach areas have the same access as other Americans? That question is going to be answered by the actions of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the coming months. Unless the FCC protects a time-honored principle called “universal service,” millions of rural Americans could be left behind in this telecommunications revolution. The FCC document proposing a new “Connect America Fund” as a substitute for USF describes their interest in “market-driven” policies. But history has shown us that if we had relied on the “market” to move electricity and telephone service to rural and high-cost areas, we'd still be waiting. I believe the first step for the FCC must be to recommit to the principle of “universal service.” The wrong decision by the FCC could be a disaster for the economic future of high-cost and rural areas. Without access to the latest and best telecommunications services, rural areas of our country will be on the wrong side of the digital divide, and consigned to a future without economic opportunity or development. Reform done right could pave the way for sustained service and the universal build-out of the latest telecommunications services to all Americans in every region of our country, as well as the economic opportunities that come with it. That is the path I hope the FCC will choose. [Dorgan is a former senator from North Dakota]
benton.org/node/76316 | Hill, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top

ARE WE THERE YET?
[SOURCE: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, AUTHOR: Richard Bennett]
The Federal Communications Commission's 2011 Broadband Competition Report finds that wireline broadband deployment to rural America has stalled, while mobile broadband deployment is accelerating across the entire country. The conclusion that leaps from the report is that we've reached a saturation point for wireline broadband deployment, but that continued investment in mobile broadband makes this relatively unimportant. It appears that all of the markets that can sustain wireline broadband without subsidies have been served, and it will be up to other technologies – such as 4G mobile broadband and satellite – to provide broadband service to the rest of rural America. Mobile broadband is advancing at a rapid rate in terms of both performance and penetration.
benton.org/node/76314 | Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Recommend this Headline
back to top

INTERNET SALES TAX PUSH
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Michelle Quinn]
The days of the Internet as a tax-free shopping zone may be numbered. Sen Dick Durbin (D-II) is expected to step into the escalating Internet sales tax battle as soon as this week with a bill that would allow the 44 states — plus Washington, (DC) — that collect sales taxes to require out-of-state online retailers to pay up. Durbin’s Main Street Fairness Act is similar to some previous congressional efforts to weigh in on whether states can force online businesses to collect sales taxes on items sold to state residents. But while those efforts failed, this year may be different. Faced with state budget shortfalls, some large states like Texas, California and Illinois are looking to online retailers for additional tax revenues. As a result, large e-tailers — such as Amazon.com — have threatened to cut off affiliates who sell in those states rather than start collecting taxes.
benton.org/node/76302 | Politico
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CYBERSECURITY

CYBERSECURITY PLANS
[SOURCE: Federal Computer Week, AUTHOR: Michael Hardy]
When it comes to securing cyberspace, the Obama Administration is working hard on the soft sell. The administration has put forward two proposals in recent weeks — one an international plan for securing the Internet and the other a strategy for protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure. Any U.S. government plan inevitably involves crossing boundaries — boundaries between the United States and other countries and between government and private industry. And unfortunately, when crossing boundaries, it's all too easy to step on toes. But the administration is doing its best to tread lightly. The International Strategy for Cyberspace is an attempt to define how countries worldwide could collaborate on security without compromising their individual sovereignty. That represents a decided shift in U.S. policy, observers say. The plan “follows the U.S. decision last summer to change its position on cybersecurity, agreeing to work with other nations to reduce threats to computer networks,” writes Ellen Nakashima in the Washington Post. “Previously, the United States resisted proposals limiting possible military use of cyberspace.” However, there’s no getting around the fact that the United States is operating from a position of power, which puts some countries on edge. But it's a position the Obama Administration is not about to give up.
benton.org/node/76205 | Federal Computer Week | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top

SECURITY TOKENS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Siobhan Gorman, Shara Tibken]
RSA Security is offering to provide security monitoring or replace its well-known SecurID tokens -- devices used by millions of corporate workers to securely log on to their computers -- "for virtually every customer we have," the company's Chairman Art Coviello said. In a letter to customers June 6, the EMC Corp. unit openly acknowledged for the first time that intruders had breached its security systems at defense contractor Lockheed Martin using data stolen from RSA. SecurID tokens have become a fixture of office life at thousands of corporations, used when employees log onto computers or sensitive software systems. The token is an essential piece of security, acting as an ever-changing password that flashes a series of six digits that should be virtually impossible to duplicate. Coviello didn't specify what happened to the tokens at Lockheed. The intruders didn't take any Lockheed customer or employee data. But as a precaution, he said RSA will offer to replace nearly all tokens -- millions of them used by government agencies and businesses.
benton.org/node/76329 | Wall Street Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

ISSA WANTS HACKING RECORDS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) asked Google Chief Executive Larry Page to preserve all e-mails and electronic documents related to the federal officials’ email accounts that may have been compromised in the Gmail hacking attack that the company disclosed last week. “In light of our concern over … Google’s direct ownership role over the attacked accounts,” Chairman Issa wrote in a four-page letter to Page, “the committee needs to learn more about what happened.” Chairman Issa has repeatedly criticized the Obama Administration for skirting rules that prevent White House employees from communicating about business matters on their personal e-mail accounts. Messages sent over personal e-mail do not need to be turned over to Congress or the public if requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Chairman Issa requested that Google preserve all records since Jan. 20, 2009, that are tied to the Gmail accounts of officials who may have been hit by the breach. Google said the attack originated from China, which government officials there deny. Chairman Issa also asked that Google submit all documents and messages from officials whose accounts were believed to be compromised since Jan. 1, 2010. Additionally, he requested any communications about Google’s response to cyberattacks — and the White House’s feedback to Google about such attacks — for the same time period.
benton.org/node/76304 | Politico | The Hill
Recommend this Headline
back to top

CONTENT

THREATENED APPS?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sam Grobart, Jenna Wortham]
How do you know if you've created a really great, useful iPhone app? Apple tries to put you out of business. That may be overstating it, but a number of new features for Apple’s operating systems that it announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference have been available through existing apps and services for some time. Some of those apps are quite popular, and have been lucrative for the people who developed them. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the services and applications that will be living in a changed world thanks to Apple’s new operating systems for Macs and iPhones.
benton.org/node/76300 | New York Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

A CLOUD GATHERS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Charles Leadbeater]
[Commentary] The cloud capitalists – Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon – present themselves as the next step of the networked world. Cloud computing allows our data to be stored remotely so it is always there to be accessed from any device we like. For consumers juggling a mass of data on an array of devices, this offers a benign mix of reliability and flexibility. Business should benefit too. The smallest start-up may be able to create an IT infrastructure from sales to manufacture in a few clicks. So what’s not to like? Some of the misgivings about the cloud, in particular over security, are misplaced. A well-managed cloud will be more secure than a personal computer armed with a password closely resembling the name of the user’s spouse. The big issues will be about ownership and control, for example who owns the particles in the cloud: witness the furore over whether Facebook owns pictures posted by its members. More worrying, commercial providers of cloud services will have strong incentives to manage their users to maximize revenues and to discourage them from roaming from one cloud to another. You may well be confined to your Apple zone and discouraged from straying. The open web encourages people to share, mix and match software and content. The cloud will be more controlled, like Apple’s app store. Cloud services will always be looking over our shoulder, analyzing our habits, nudging us in one direction or another. The intimacy will get us more personalized services. But we will find ourselves increasingly dependent on services that will shape our behavior: think of Facebook’s clumsy definition and management of social relationships writ large. The interests of consumers and cloud capitalists will not always be as one. While almost all our culture will become digital and more of it will be available to more people than ever before, the cloud capitalists will have more pervasive power than even the likes of Rupert Murdoch. To avoid that trap we need the digital equivalent of the classification of cloud types created by Luke Howard, an amateur meteorologist, in 1803. His scheme of cirrus, stratus and cumulus created 52 main varieties of clouds. We should seek diversity in the kinds of digital clouds we have, public and private, large and small, fleeting and permanent.
benton.org/node/76298 | Financial Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top

HEALTH

CLINICAL TEST VIA PHONE, COMPUTER
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jennifer Corbett Dooren]
Pfizer is conducting a drug trial in which patients participate from their homes using computers and smartphones rather than visiting a clinic. The company plans to compare the results to those obtained from a previous, traditional trial of the same drug. The study involves the company's overactive-bladder drug Detrol. If successful, the methods used in the study might eventually be used to help drive down the high cost of bringing new medicines to market. The Food and Drug Administration recently signed off on Pfizer's study, which is believed to be the first all-electronic, home-based study of a drug to receive agency approval. Study participants are being recruited through Internet advertisements and directed to the study's website, which explains the study and allows enrollment. Patients who enroll in the study will be required to have blood drawn at a local clinic or during a home visit. Medications will be mailed to participants, something that's rarely, if ever done in clinical trials. Patients will keep diaries using a mobile phone that has an application specifically designed to track symptoms of overactive bladder. Patients will fill out assessments on a secure website four times throughout the study. Although a home-based, electronic approach won't work for all drugs in clinical trials, the company and the FDA are looking to see if the technology can be integrated into more studies to make it easier to recruit patients and allow them to participate in clinical research. Now, patients usually need to live near a study site to participate.
benton.org/node/76326 | Wall Street Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

TELEVISION

15% OF HOMES RELY ON OVER-THE-AIR TV
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
According to a new Knowledge Networks survey, the number of Americans now relying exclusively on over-the-air TV is 46 million, up from 42 million a year ago. Knowledge's just-released 2011 Ownership Survey and Trend Report found that 15% of homes rely solely on over-the-air signals. Those over-the-air homes tend to skew toward lower income and minority viewers, according to the study, with 23% of homes making under $30,000 per year relying only on over-the air signals. The survey found that 23% of Hispanic homes are broadcast-only. Homes headed by younger adults are also more likely to access TV programming exclusively through broadcast signals. Twenty percent of homes with a head of household age 18-34 are broadcast only, compared with 15% of homes in which the head of household is 35-54, or 13% of homes in which the head of household is 55 years of age or older. The survey found a small but notable number of homes that have canceled pay TV service at their current home. According to the study, 4% of TV households, which translates to 5 million TV households, eliminated pay TV service in their current home at some point in the past and now rely only on over-the-air reception. Of these homes, most report overall cost-cutting (71%) or not enough value for cost (30%) as the reason for doing so (respondents could give more than one reason).
benton.org/node/76296 | Broadcasting&Cable | TVNewsCheck
Recommend this Headline
back to top

DID COMCAST FOOL FCC?
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Katy Bachman]
Do the conditions that the Federal Communications Commission imposed on the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal have any real teeth? We may find out soon, thanks to a complaint against Comcast that Bloomberg LP is set to file with the FCC -- perhaps as soon as this week. Bloomberg will allege that Comcast is violating a condition regarding “neighborhooding”—that is, grouping similar channels together on the dial so that viewers can find them more easily. The condition, imposed to prevent Comcast from using its cable systems to shut out competitors to networks like MSNBC and CNBC that it now owns, specifies, “If Comcast now or in the future carries news and/or business news channels in a neighborhood... Comcast must carry all independent news and business news channels in that neighborhood.” Bloomberg argues that Comcast is neighborhooding those channels, and that it’s violating the condition by keeping CNBC competitor Bloomberg Television out in a nosebleed section.
benton.org/node/76211 | AdWeek
Recommend this Headline
back to top

POLICYMAKERS

FCC ADDS ECONOMISTS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Julius Genachowski announced the appointment of Marius Schwartz to the position of Chief Economist in the Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis (OSP). Schwartz is Professor of Economics at Georgetown University and will begin June 1, 2011. Schwartz's teaching and research specialties are in industrial organization, competition and regulation.
Before joining Georgetown University, Schwartz served as Economics Director of Enforcement at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and as Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics. He also served the President's Council of Economic Advisers as the Senior Economist for industrial organization matters. Schwartz holds a B.Sc. degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from UCLA, also in economics.
Outgoing Chief Economist Jonathan Baker and Gregory Rosston will both serve as Senior Economists for Transactions to work on the Commission's reviews of the AT&T-T-Mobile and AT&T-Qualcomm transactions.
Baker will return to American University's Washington College of Law where he is a Professor of Law. He previously served as the Director of the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission. Previously, he worked as a Senior Economist at the President's Council of Economic Advisers and as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice.
Rosston is Deputy Director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and Deputy Director of the Public Policy program at Stanford University. He is also the co-Chair of the Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee. He previously served as Deputy Chief Economist at the Commission working on the implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and he helped to design and implement the first ever spectrum auctions in the United States.
benton.org/node/76312 | Federal Communications Commission
Recommend this Headline
back to top

FCC's NEW CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Robert Naylor will serve as the Federal Communications Commission's Chief Information Officer and implement a tech-forward strategy to cut costs, equip workers
with effective tools, and shift the Commission’s IT trajectory towards more sustainable and secure cloud-based solutions. Naylor will continue to guide the agency’s investment in tech infrastructure, reducing costs and empowering FCC employees to deploy innovative solutions inside the agency.
Naylor previously served an appointment as the Chief Information Officer for the United States Small Business Administration. He has recently served on two committees within the Federal Executive CIO Council, and was a member of two White House workgroups within the Office of Science and Technology Policy. In 1999, Naylor started an international professional services small business, servicing the human capital management industry. In this capacity, his company served many of the Fortune 100 businesses in Hong Kong, Singapore, England, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Australia, as well as 30 States in the USA.
benton.org/node/76209 | Federal Communications Commission
Recommend this Headline
back to top

LOBBYING

WHO ARE FREE PRESS' DONORS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Free Press is waiting for Rep Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to submit a formal request before sharing a list of its ten largest donors. "Rep. Blackburn never formally requested information about our donors. During research director Derek Turner’s testimony, she asked him about our funding, and he replied that we take no corporate or government money, and that all of our funding comes from private donors and foundations," said Free Press Communications Director Dave Saldana. "Since then, we have been waiting for her to submit her inquiry in writing for the record, and we haven’t received any such thing." Blackburn spokesman Claude Chafin said, "When Mrs. Blackburn asked Free Press in an open hearing to divulge their funding sources for the record, and the witness replies 'Absolutely, I'd be pleased to. Yes,' she takes them at their word. Free Press can hide behind a piece of paper if they want to, but the question is what are they hiding?"
benton.org/node/76200 | Hill, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top

STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:

OFFICIAL CHINESE MEDIA LASH OUT AT GOOGLE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Loretta Chao]
A leading Chinese government newspaper lashed out at Google, saying the company's allegations of China-based hacking were a politically motivated attempt to spark new disputes between China and the US. The People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, printed the editorial on the front page of its overseas edition Monday with the headline, "Google, What Do You Want?" It said the company's allegations last week were politically motivated with "a vicious intent of sparking new disputes concerning Internet security between China and the U.S." Google had said hackers in Jinan, the capital of China's eastern Shandong province, tried to hijack the Gmail accounts of senior U.S. officials and other people by tricking them into disclosing their passwords. "Google shouldn't engulf itself in the international political war as a tool for political gaming," said the commentary, written by editor Zhang Yixuan. If there is "any change in the international atmosphere, I am afraid Google will become a target to be sacrificed by politics, and also will be discarded by the market."
benton.org/node/76285 | Wall Street Journal | NYTimes | WSJ
Recommend this Headline
back to top

IRAN VOWS TO UNPLUG INTERNET
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Rhoads, Farnaz Fassihi]
Iran is taking steps toward an aggressive new form of censorship: a so-called national Internet that could, in effect, disconnect Iranian cyberspace from the rest of the world. The leadership in Iran sees the project as a way to end the fight for control of the Internet, according to observers of Iranian policy inside and outside the country. Iran, already among the most sophisticated nations in online censoring, also promotes its national Internet as a cost-saving measure for consumers and as a way to uphold Islamic moral codes. In February, as pro-democracy protests spread rapidly across the Middle East and North Africa, Reza Bagheri Asl, director of the telecommunication ministry's research institute, told an Iranian news agency that soon 60% of the nation's homes and businesses would be on the new, internal network. Within two years it would extend to the entire country, he said.
benton.org/node/76281 | Wall Street Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top

Benton

Search

Benton

Daily Digest

Analysis

June 7, 2011 (Support for AT&T/T-Mobile)