Feb 11, 2010 (Google Net)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2010

THE GOOGLE NET
   Google Fiber for Communities (update: more links)
   Google's Fiber Network Could Foil ISPs and Fuel Innovation
   Google's Broadband Stimulus Program
   Google Doesn't Want to Be an ISP — It Wants to Be a Rabble-rouser

THE STIMULUS
   BTOP Evaluation Assistance Initiative
   100 Broadband Stimulus Applications Still in Play for California
   Rural Idaho hopes to liberate broadband through stimulus
   Carriers could benefit from 'trickle-down' government stimulus awards
   OMB Approves Info Collection for Round 2 of Broadband Stimulus

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   FCC Chairman on What It Means to Regulate the Internet
   Missing The Mark On E-Rate 2.0
   Broadband Data Collection and Validation Must Be Rethought, Experts Say at Breakfast Club
   FCC May Pay Broadcasters for Airwaves

COMMUNITY MEDIA
   Why Public Access Television Is Important

LABOR
   Silicon Valley's tribulations have widespread ramifications
   Lawmaker calls for telework incentives during shutdowns

TELECOM
   Text may be king, but wireless carriers are pushing Internet fees
   Your cell phone company's dirty little secret
   FairPoint Ordered To Pay Rebates to Customers in Maine
   Don't have a smartphone? GetJar has apps for plain old cellphones

CONTENT
   Is Disney vs. Cable the New Macmillan vs. Amazon?
   The future of reading
   Giants Ally to Promote Family TV
   E-Book Price Increase May Stir Readers' Passions
   Apple move to sell US TV shows for $1

JOURNALISM
   Conrad blasts TV coverage of healthcare
   Economy Leads the News

HEALTH IT
   Sankaran: Use IT as healthcare 'force multiplier'

BUDGET
   Budget request addresses some open government costs

CYBERSECURITY
   Assessing The Threat of Cyberterrorism
   Melissa Hathaway urges simple, straight talk on cybersecurity
   Can insurers protect the U.S. from cyberattack?

STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:

   Google's Email Is Halted In Iran
   YouTube blocked in Pakistan: Government attempts to hide President's slip-up
   Live Nation Deal to Get Second UK Antitrust Review
   Germany's Mobile frequency auction set for 12 April
   Deutsche Telekom chief calls for Open Cable
   Ireland's ComReg imposes Local Loop charges, but ALTO wants more
   E-health legislation faces parliament

MORE ONLINE
Jobs Bill May Include R&D Tax Credit Extension | Osteen Supports White Spaces Bill

Recent Comments on:
Comcast Plans Makeover To Improve Its Image With Consumers

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THE GOOGLE NET

GOOGLE FIBER FOR COMMUNITIES
[SOURCE: Google, AUTHOR: James Kelly]
Google is planning to launch an experiment that the company hopes will make Internet access better and faster for everyone. Google plans to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. The networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. Google will offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people. From now until March 26th, Google is asking interested municipalities to provide us with information about their communities through a Request for information (RFI), which the company will use to determine where to build our network. Google's goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone. Here are some specific things that the company has in mind:
Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it's creating new bandwidth-intensive "killer apps" and services, or other uses we can't yet imagine.
New deployment techniques: We'll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we'll share key lessons learned with the world.
Openness and choice: We'll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we'll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.
The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors said it is particularly pleased that Google plans to work with local governments and respect land use ordinances and other local requirements. Further, the company's decision to target the emerging international standard for broadband speeds and its commitment to true open access, allowing multiple operators to compete over the same platform, represent a welcome embrace of best practices in network development.
benton.org/node/32127 | Google | Google -- blog | NATOA | Free Press | New America | Public Knowledge |
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GOOGLE COULD HELP FUEL INNOVATION
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Google's announcement, which has been five years in the making, could positively shift the telecommunications landscape if it leads to new services that galvanize the Federal Communications Commission, communities and consumers to start demanding faster broadband. It also creates a potential testbed for innovative services that rely on broadband as a platform to work — benefiting entrepreneurs and those who invest in them. With its web DNA and commitment to openness, Google will likely attract entrepreneurs to its network that are willing to try something new on the services front. Presumably it will also offer a faster path to the end consumer than what an existing ISP might. I've always felt that much of the innovation around broadband has occurred despite the ISP or even by bypassing the ISP, so imagine what projects we might see if the pipe owner were an active contributor to that innovation. We at GigaOM have said for years that broadband is the platform for innovation, and Google no doubt agrees. The pace of technological innovation in terms of video conferencing, telemedicine and remote education are rapidly surpassing the average American's connection speed, which ranges from 3 Mbps to 7 Mbps depending on the study. And without the demand for such services, or a cost-effective way to get there, ISPs and entrepreneurs that want to deliver products that require fat pipes are reluctant to invest. Think of it as a chicken-and-egg issue. Google can help change this.
benton.org/node/32126 | GigaOm | Om Malik
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GOOGLE'S BROADBAND STIMULUS PROGRAM
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] Google's announcement that it's going to create one gigabit-per-second networks in a few selected communities looks like what the broadband stimulus program should have been ­ an attempt to jump start technology, to invest in new ideas and to determine how people will use advanced networks given the chance to use them. There is no downside to the Google announcement, except perhaps from the point of view of the Federal government, which gave in to the lowest-common-denominator philosophy when structuring the stimulus program, and from the point of view of the incumbent telephone and cable carriers. The telephone and cable industries lobbied heavily to push down the speed limits for networks being built with stimulus funds, then decided not to play when the grant program was announced and now are busy trying to keep other companies, municipalities and organizations from getting grants to build even the slower networks that the government will fund. Now both the government and the industry are being shown up by Google. The fact that the networks the company plans to build will be open to all service providers and will be operated in a fashion consistent with Net Neutrality principles, in addition to being faster than anything now being offered, will certainly rankle some and there will be, no doubt, some sniping from the sidelines ­ when there should only be applause.
benton.org/node/32129 | Public Knowledge
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GOOGLE WANTS TO BE A RABBLE-ROUSER
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
A Q&A with Google Product Manager Minnie Ingersoll. She says the fiber network announcement is a natural follow-on to the work the company has done in response to the National Broadband Plan. Some of that advocacy includes saying the government should set up testbeds to set up super-fast connections, so we said, "How about we step up and put our money where our mouth is and offer one of these high-speed test beds ourselves?" Getting faster and cheaper Internet access is really core to the mission of the team that she works on. Although calling for community involvement, Ingersoll says Google is asking for any government funding or subsidies.
benton.org/node/32128 | GigaOm
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THE STIMULUS

BTOP EVALUATION ASSISTANCE INITIATIVE
[SOURCE: The Transmission Project, AUTHOR: ]
Broadband Technology Opportunities Program round 1 recipients and round 2 applicants are invited to participate in a national initiative to increase the capacity of non-profits to evaluate the efforts of their BTOP projects. The Transmission Project will dedicate a Digital Arts Service Corps member to assist in creating evaluation tools and processes to meet the BTOP requirements for a set of awardees. The Corps member will also aggregate and analyze evaluation data across projects and create case studies and field reports. The Corps member will work from the Transmission Project offices in Boston. The evaluation initiative will focus on these primary questions:
What leads communities, individuals, and organizations to adopt broadband?
What quantifiable difference does broadband make in communities?
What is the impact of broadband on economic development in communities?
How does broadband impact vary by community, demographics, and institutions?
benton.org/node/32149 | Transmission Project, The
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CA BTOP/BIP APPS
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Andy Opsahl]
Roughly 100 broadband stimulus applications connected to California are still in play for the first of the federal government's two funding windows for dispersing $7.2 billion set aside for broadband projects, according to Joe Camicia, chief of staff for the California CIO's Office. "About 50 of those are California-only applications," Camicia said. "The other half touch California in some way, but the 50 that are all California, we think are going to provide the most jobs for Californians." Camicia recently made his announcement in Sunnyvale, Calif., at an event hosted by Infinera Corp., a fiber-optics company with clients who have already won broadband stimulus grants. Approximately 230 California applications were submitted for the first funding round, meaning 130 received rejection letters a few weeks ago, according to Camicia. Hope may not be lost for those applicants, however. Camicia is exploring the possibility of hiring a grant writer, technical consultant and financial consultant to help the rejected applicants polish their applications for resubmission during the second funding window, scheduled to run from Feb 16 to March 15.
benton.org/node/32148 | Government Technology
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RURAL IDAHO AWAITS BROADBAND STIMULUS
[SOURCE: Boise Weekly, AUTHOR: Gavin Dahl]
A dozen broadband leaders in Idaho are eagerly awaiting decisions from two federal agencies doling out the first round of broadband stimulus funds. Although the guidelines seem to favor large telecoms, Idaho's little guys say they are qualified and their projects are necessary. Out of more than 22,000 broadband stimulus applications filed late last year, only 12 Idaho-based organizations sought to provide new connectivity to Idaho.
benton.org/node/32147 | Boise Weekly | Gavin Dahl
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CARRIERS COULD BENEFIT FROM STIMULUS
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
Many network operators are focused on obtaining a potential financial boost from broadband stimulus awards —but a new survey from the Computing Technology Industry Association suggests network operators also could benefit from a trickle-down effect as customers in the government market receive their own stimulus funding. Three quarters of respondents at federal, state and local government organizations said they have already received or expect to receive funding for information technology purchases from the stimulus bill. And while much of that money will go toward hardware including computers, the survey also found increased interest in software-as-a-service and cloud computing, suggesting some of the new funding could be spent with network operators. Stimulus funds could be a welcome relief to government agencies, which have experienced budget cuts that have minimized IT spending. The top five factors affecting the government's ability to use technology, survey respondents said, were reduced budgets, lack of resources, outdated IT systems, a rapidly changing technology landscape and a lack of staff with the right skill sets. These challenges, however, could make IT decision-makers at government organizations more willing to try operator-provided IT services designed to help minimize capital expenditures.
benton.org/node/32146 | Connected Planet
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OMB APPROVES BTOP NOFA
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, AUTHOR: Kathy Smith]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the collection of information contained in the Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) for the Broadband Opportunities Program (BTOP) published on January 22, 2010.
benton.org/node/32123 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

FCC CHAIRMAN ON NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski met with Wall Street Journal reporters and editors on Tuesday. The FCC is trying to craft new rules that would require phone and cable companies to treat all legal Internet traffic that flows over their lines equally. The agency proposed draft "network neutrality" rules last fall, much to the dismay of Internet providers, who say there's no need for the government to step in. "No one is spending time working on the [national] broadband plan saying 'how can we re-regulate?'" he said. "People are spending their time saying about how can we promote investment, how can we promote this infrastructure for global competitiveness. What are the things we need to do to address the kind of gaps we're talking about?" One thing that Internet providers are watching for closely is if the FCC's plan will propose moving back to pre-Bush regulations that would give the agency more clear authority over those Internet lines.
benton.org/node/32125 | Wall Street Journal
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MISSING THE MARK ON E-RATE 2.0
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] Measuring E-Rate's success based on how many classrooms are connected to the Internet is the wrong way to look at things. The real question is have we provided enough bandwidth for classrooms to be able to actually use the Internet? And to that the answer is unequivocally no. Rep Ed Markey, one of the father's of the original E-rate which partially reimburses schools for their telecommunications costs, has introduced a bill, the E-Rate 2.0 Act, does nothing to address two fundamental flaws with the current E-Rate. How can we consider expanding or reforming E-Rate without doing anything to guarantee that schools have the bandwidth they need at a price they can afford?
benton.org/node/32122 | App-Rising.com
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BROADBAND DATA COLLECTION MUST BE RETHOUGHT
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Chris Naoum]
Paul de Sa, chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Office of Strategic Planning, said Tuesday that the agency was taking a fresh look at all aspects of its broadband data-collection processes: collection, validation and analysis, and dissemination. The Commission, he said, is sensitive to the need to balance proprietary information with the desire for transparency in its data-collection processes. John Horrigan, director of consumer research for the FCC's omnibus broadband initiative, addressed the challenges of constructing and merging consistent data-sets. Horrigan said that expanding Form 477 would be analytically useful, "if there is harmonization in data sets then there is a position for rich data analysis." Horrigan went on to discuss the survey conducted of non-adopters and small businesses in the fall of 2009. The data will be released soon after the release of the national broadband plan, said Horrigan
benton.org/node/32121 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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FCC MAY PAY BROADCASTERS FOR AIRWAVES
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Olga Kharif]
Apparently, the Federal Communications Commission is considering a plan to pay broadcasters to vacate airwaves it could use to alleviate network strain caused by the surging use of smartphones such as the iPhone. The FCC weighing the compensation as part of a larger effort to improve access to high-speed Internet connections. The plan may propose using revenue from airwave auctions to pay existing users to exit airwaves. There's no guarantee that Congress will approve the FCC's recommendation or that broadcasters will accept payment in exchange for relinquishing airwaves they could use to expand in areas including mobile digital TV (DTV), says Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters.
benton.org/node/32157 | BusinessWeek
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COMMUNITY MEDIA

PUBLIC ACCESS TV
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Tracy Rosenberg]
[Commentary] The nation's more than 3,000 public access centers are on the verge of extinction. Yours may go next week, next month or next year, but their days are numbered due to statewide cable franchising. Statewide cable franchising is a term designed to put just about anybody to sleep, but here is what it really means. In the good old days, your local cable oligopoly, be it Comcast, AT&T or Time Warner, was required to go from county to county and negotiate for the right to be the cable provider of choice. In exchange for this mini-monopoly (whose value has been somewhat, but not entirely, degraded by the entrance of satellite providers like Dish and DirecTV), cities and counties could ask for things. Some were more or less asleep at the wheel, but many of them negotiated lots of great amenities: channels for governmental meetings to be aired, educational channels for the local schools and public channels for the citizens-at-large, sometimes including fully-staffed production studios that trained thousands of people in media making and citizen journalism. There is a bill, H.R 3745, the Community Access Preservation Act in the House of Representatives, which will go a long ways toward blunting the most damaging effects of the statewide franchising laws. But it needs support. [Tracy Rosenberg is the Executive Director of Media Alliance.]
benton.org/node/32144 | Huffington Post, The
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LABOR

SILICON VALLEY'S WOES
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Jon Swartz]
Don't let a recent surge in the financial performance of high-tech companies fool you: Silicon Valley continues to hemorrhage jobs and talent. Lingering frailty threatens to hurt the local economy and damage the innovative culture that defines the region, according to the 2010 Silicon Valley index, released today. "The Valley's innovation engine has stalled," says Russell Hancock, CEO of Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network. The annual study on the economic state of the Valley paints a region battered by state legislative gridlock, increased competition from other countries, and a drain in venture funding and foreign-born talent. The region lost 90,000 jobs between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009, dropping total employment to 2003-05 levels of 1.3 million. Many employers are moving technical jobs overseas, where wages are lower and running a business is cheaper.
benton.org/node/32151 | USAToday
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TELEWORK INCENTIVES
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Alyssa Rosenberg]
As snow continued to shut down federal agencies in the Washington area this week, a Virginia lawmaker asked the Office of Personnel Management to document productivity savings from telework and to consider how employees who work remotely are disproportionately affected by closures. "You've got this double standard," said Rep Gerry Connolly (D-VA). "The rest of the workforce is given a free day, but if you've signed a telework agreement in some agencies, you're required to work from a remote location. Obviously unintentionally, it serves as a disincentive." Rep Connolly said he didn't want to discourage telework, but that he hoped to talk to OPM Director John Berry about incentives to reward employees who telework when the work day is canceled for their office-working colleagues. He praised Berry for using the government closures to encourage managers and employees to put telework agreements to use, and for working to expand telework since he was sworn in last spring. benton.org/node/32142 | nextgov
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TELECOM

TEXTING IS KING, BUT CARRIERS PUSH DATA
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
For all the bells and whistles on cell phones these days, text messaging is the most popular feature for users. And while many are upgrading to phones that have full keyboards and wider screens to text more easily, they aren't necessarily interested in using their phones to access the Web, according to research analysts. That has some customers unhappy that they are increasingly required to buy data plans. Joel Kelsey, an policy analyst at Consumers Union, said the fees show that wireless providers are moving toward bundling services, much like the cable and telephone industries do with broadband, paid television and phone service. The bundles can be good for consumers who are looking to use multiple communications services at a discount. But additional charges and fees for things like wireless data aren't explained and, in the case for some customers, are unwanted.
benton.org/node/32124 | Washington Post
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CELL PHONE BILLS GROWING
[SOURCE: CNNMoney.com, AUTHOR: David Goldman]
Mobile phone companies have been lauded for slashing the cost of unlimited voice plans, but many wireless customers' monthly bills are actually going to get a bit more expensive. Last month, both Verizon and AT&T lowered their unlimited voice plans by $30 to $70 per month. Sprint recently unveiled a plan that allows unlimited calls to any mobile device for $60 per month. That brought the three biggest mobile carriers' prices closer to rival T-Mobile, which offers a $60 per month unlimited plan, and in line with a slew of low-cost carriers that offer similar plans for about $40 per month. But as the wireless giants go around touting their lower voice prices, data plan costs have been quietly moving higher for some non-smartphone customers.
benton.org/node/32139 | CNNMoney.com
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CYBERSECURITY

ASSESSING THE THREAT OF CYBERTERRORISM
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: ]
At an intelligence briefing last month, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair warned Congress that the nation's computer networks were particularly vulnerable to terrorist attacks. "Malicious cyber-activity is occurring on an unprecedented scale with extraordinary sophistication," Blair said, noting that a December security breach at Google was a "major wake up call" for U.S. officials. Every single day, Blair said, sensitive information is "stolen from both government and private sector networks" as criminals become increasingly more sophisticated. The Internet's connectivity, says James Lewis, creates "endless opportunities for mischief." Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the co-author of the report "Security Cyberspace in the 44th Presidency," explains how recent breaches at Google and the Department of Defense have illustrated that the United States is not yet ready to deal with a large scale cyber-attack.
benton.org/node/32138 | National Public Radio
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HATHAWAY URGES SIMPLE, STRAIGHT TALK
[SOURCE: FederalComputerWeek, AUTHOR: Ben Bain]
It's time for the United States to have a conversation in plain language about threats against computer networks and systems, the Obama administration's former acting senior director for cyberspace said. "We can no longer accept a polite conversation; we need to discuss what's happening to our public- and private-sector networks and bring transparency to the problem," said Melissa Hathaway, who last year led the Obama administration's review of cyberspace policy. Hathaway made the comments after receiving the annual McCurdy Award for vision in cybersecurity from the Internet Security Alliance for her work on that review. Hathaway stepped down from her position with the Obama administration last August and currently is president of Hathaway Global Strategies. "A lot of important staff work has been done over the last several months, but in many ways I feel like we have lost the sense of urgency of the situation," Hathaway said. "I think that broadly we need to have more of a national dialogue and sense of urgency, I'd like to see a lot more people bringing transparency to the problem," she added.
benton.org/node/32137 | FederalComputerWeek
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INSURANCE AND CYBERSECURITY
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Tom Risen]
The newest soldier on the frontlines of America's cyber defenses could be an insurance salesman. To prepare American companies for the costly fallout of hacks, as recently experienced by Google's operations in China, a market for cyber insurance has been taking root and is extending coverage to keep companies and customers safe in cyberspace. Hackers often stay undetected by the companies they target because corporate budgets didn't prioritize online security. A study conducted by Verizon between 2004 and 2008 determined that 75 percent of breaches were not discovered by the victimized organization, and that 87 percent could have been prevented with reasonable online protection. Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, argued that companies on "the front lines of the cyberwars" will remain undefended unless they can be persuaded to obtain cyber insurance. "We're going to have attacks forever until we change the economics of the issue," Clinton said. "Companies need more incentives to defend themselves."
benton.org/node/32136 | National Journal
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:

GMAIL BLOCKED IN IRAN
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Rhoads, Chip Cummins, Jessica Vascellaro]
Iran's telecommunications agency announced what it described as a permanent suspension of Google Inc.'s email services, saying a national email service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out. It wasn't clear late Wednesday what effect the order had on Gmail services in Iran, or even if Iran had implemented its new policy. Iranian officials have claimed technological advances in the past that they haven't been able to execute. A Google spokesman said, "We have heard from users in Iran that they are having trouble accessing Gmail. We can confirm a sharp drop in traffic, and we have looked at our own networks and found that they are working properly. Whenever we encounter blocks in our services we try to resolve them as quickly as possibly because we strongly believe that people everywhere should have the ability to communicate freely online." An Iranian official said the move was meant to boost local development of Internet technology and to build trust between people and the government.
benton.org/node/32156 | Wall Street Journal | Financial Times
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YOUTUBE BLOCKED IN PAKISTAN
[SOURCE: Association for Progressive Communications, AUTHOR: ]
Bytes for All and its members in Pakistan vehemently condemn the Government's block on YouTube and considers it yet another attack on civil liberties and free speech in the country. The saga of this block goes back a few weeks to a public speech by Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, who is the democratically elected President of Pakistan, but an extremely unpopular politician in the country. While he was speaking in Urdu to a public rally, not many people were attentive to what he was saying. As a result, he lost his temper and yelled at them in English, telling the audience to "shut up". Various independent media channels picked up on this clip, laughing about this "royal shut up", and the video eventually made its way on to YouTube. Dr. Adil Najam, renowned academic and scientist noted "such behavior is embarrassing for any politician, but especially for the president of a country." This video would have gone by unnoticed if the PTA and the Pakistan Internet Exchange had not started blocking it in Pakistani cyberspace. Suddenly blog posts, Facebook pages, twitter and other social networking sites were flooded with anger against the government's attempts to block YouTube. The links featuring this video on YouTube are still blocked and come up as a "restricted site" when people try to access them.
benton.org/node/32155 | Association for Progressive Communications
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LIVE NATION DEAL GETS NEW ANTITRUST REVIEW
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Matthew Campbell]
The merger that created Live Nation Entertainment Inc. must be reviewed a second time in the U.K. after a London tribunal said regulators didn't fully consider the input of a competitor in the market for ticket sales. The Competition Appeal Tribunal made the order to the Competition Commission at a hearing today in response to an appeal by CTS Eventim AG, commission spokesman Rory Taylor said. If the commission reverses its approval, the combined company could be required to make changes to its U.K. operations, he said. The review will be conducted to allow Eventim, which had signed an agreement with Live Nation to handle ticketing for U.K. concerts, to have more input, Taylor said.
benton.org/node/32145 | Bloomberg
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MOBILE FREQUENCY AUCTION SET FOR 12 APRIL
[SOURCE: TeleGeography, AUTHOR: ]
Germany's largest spectrum auction since the allocation of UMTS concessions in 2000 will take place on 12 April 2010, local daily Die Welt reports, citing industry sources. The auction involves licenses for spectrum freed up in the switchover from analog to digital television. A spectrum package of 360MHz is set for sale, including spectrum in the 1.7GHz, 1.8GHz, 2GHz and 2.6GHz ranges, as well as 60MHz in the digital dividend range of 800MHz. The government hopes the auction will help close the digital divide in Germany by speeding up the rollout of broadband Internet and increasing coverage in rural areas.
benton.org/node/32130 | TeleGeography
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