October 2009

House lawmakers demanded on Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency move quickly to upgrade the nation's Cold War-era public warning system so presidential alerts will reach Americans through modern communications, including cell phones. Rep Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, asked Mark Goldstein, director of physical infrastructure at the Government Accountability Office, what if the president had to send out a message today, who would and who would not receive it? "There's no assurance that the message would get very far," Goldstein alleged. "There's been limited testing of the system." A lack of concrete goals and deadlines have delayed installation of a comprehensive system, called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), that will interface with Web-based and cellular devices, according to lawmakers and GAO.

[Commentary] Google is always a trend setter. Sadly, in this case, the trend is the refusal to complete calls to certain free conference call or free porn sites. Now Speakeasy has decided to do the same. Unless the Federal Communications Commission acts quickly, I expect other voice over Internet providers to follow this trend.

What could the FCC do?

1) Issue a Declaratory Ruling & Order similar to the one issued in June 2007 prohibiting self-help by regular carriers. The Ruling should:

(a) Declare that any VOIP provider or other service that assists users in making calls to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) that refuses to complete calls to any PSTN number is not eligible for protection under Madison River. If you want to be an application, then you don't get interconnection. No privileges without the accompanying responsibilities. and,

(b) Declare that any VOIP provider that elects to block must meet the same explicit notice standards as Speakeasy.

2) The FCC needs to finally settle the regulatory status of VOIP providers and, in particular, figure out the status of Google Voice. If Google is smart, they will frame the issue by filing a Petition for Decl. Ruling along the lines they would like to see. If AT&T were smart, they'd file something real instead of that ridiculous letter they filed last week. But even if no one files anything (and I have enough to do this week, thank you very much), the FCC can and should investigate on its own authority and figure out what the heck Google Voice actually is so we can stop being distracted by this question.

Rural telcos haven't been on the forefront of rolling out a 3G-based quad play, but they can't afford to stay that way if rural America is to keep up. Fittingly, wireless and broadband were key themes at National Telecommunications Cooperative Association's (NTCA) fall event. held Sept. 13-16 in New York. Steve Collier of Milsoft Technologies keynoted the event, centering in on the fact that the world will eventually be an entirely wireless one. He said simply that rural telcos have no choice to adjust to that reality. Meanwhile Jonathan Adelstein, the Rural Utilities Service Administrator, noted that the broadband - wireless and wireline - are linchpins to transforming rural communities into economic powerhouses. "Broadband is today's rural platform by which we can raise the standard of living for every American, just as electricity was a century ago," he noted. However, as national carriers bring more wireless broadband to more densely populated areas in the form of 3G, WiMAX and eventually LTE, rural America has largely been left out. 2G speeds are the norm from wireless operators, and this is where RLECs have the potential to come in. Only 12 percent of rural youth receive wireless service from their local telephone company, with the majority (76 percent) receiving service from a national carrier. Thus, it's clear RLECs could take market share by bundling a higher-speed, data-friendly wireless service with their home broadband service.

Mobile Internet usage is growing exponentially—undoubtedly boosted in large part by smartphones like the iPhone. However, despite the hype surrounding the segment, just a quarter of wireless subscribers logged onto the Web via their mobile devices in July. According to a new report issued by Nielsen, there were 56.9 million mobile Web users in July of this year. That represents a healthy 34 percent spike in audience versus the 42.5 million mobile Web visitors tracked last year. However, per a separate Nielsen report issued in January—there are close to 225 million total mobile subscribers in the U.S.; therefore, mobile Internet penetration is roughly 25 percent, still trailing PC Web usage and lagging far behind mainstream media like TV.