March 2010

FCC to endorse broadband goals, but not vote on plan

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is urging his four colleagues on the commission to sign a joint "mission statement" endorsing the overarching goals of the proposed national broadband plan in lieu of an up-or-down vote on the massive technology blueprint.

Instead of risking a split vote among the five FCC commissioners on approving the plan, Chairman Genachowski is seeking consensus on a joint statement, which sources said would provide him with some political cover for the controversies that are certain to be triggered by the some of the plan's recommendations. The plan is expected to spawn several legislative and regulatory proposals, setting the stage for protracted battles over implementation. A central recommendation calls for reorienting the multibillion-dollar federal Universal Service Fund from subsidizing telecom costs in low-income and rural areas to reducing monthly broadband bills for eligible Americans. The agency says this goal can be achieved without expanding the program's size.

How much hate will the National Broadband Plan get?

What kind of response can the Federal Communications Commission expect to the National Broadband Plan?

Well, we already know that television station owners are opposed to any plan that reallocates spectrum from broadcasting to wireless broadband services.

Line sharing or "unbundling" -- allowing smaller broadband providers to access the networks of the big cable companies and telcos at wholesale rates -- was suggested by a Harvard study commissioned for the plan, but there's no clear indication that that idea will make it into the final report.

Also, in early February, the FCC announced new rules that would give Native American communities "Tribal Priority" when it came to applying for new radio station licenses. The debate leading up to this decision was somewhat contentious, with various groups, including the Catholic Radio Association, contending that Tribal Priority would represent an unfair or even race/identity based form of preference. But Indian country advocate Native Public Media responded that the policy would not run afoul of various affirmative action standards, because Native Americans are classified "not as a discrete racial group, but, rather, as members of quasi-sovereign tribal entities whose lives and activities are governed by the [Bureau of Indian Affairs] in a unique fashion." Native groups insist that their negotiations with the FCC should take place on a "nation-to-nation" basis. What does this have to do with broadband? Well, on Tuesday Genachowski told the Native American Congress that the FCC may extend that "Tribal Priority" concept not only to radio stations but to wireless licenses as well. "The National Broadband Plan will recommend that the Commission look at expanding any Tribal priority policy to include the process for licensing fixed and mobile wireless licenses covering Tribal lands," he told the Congress. If you think that this is a small change question, keep in mind that something close to a third of the state of Arizona is on Indian reservation land. Ditto for Oklahoma. And about a quarter of South Dakota belongs to reservations. Radio's one thing; wireless and broadband's another.

Observations and Predictions about the National Broadband Plan

A few observations and predictions based on information that has emerged so far about the National Broadband Plan:

1) 100 Squared Math and Realities: Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has said the plan will establish a goal of providing 100 million households (90% of the US) with 100 Mb/s connectivity. But will major carriers be interested in delivering that speed in high-cost areas? It might take the FCC allowing carriers to phase out traditional phone service. A transition to voice over the Internet (VoIP) would see the funding mechanism for Universal Service would vanish. VoIP providers, including telcos, also would have to self-organize a way of interconnecting with one another, which probably isn't the best way to help ensure that all the grammies and grampies who just want their phone to work will be taken care of.

2) The reclassification debate: If the FCC doesn't reclassify broadband, the Commission may not have the authority to create the broadband Universal Service fund. Combine that with the VoIP issues and it's easy to see why reclassification of VoIP and broadband are almost certain to be part of the plan.

Four Key Factors for Successful Broadband Plan

[Commentary] PRTM predicts these four areas will be addressed in the National Broadband Plan:

1) Enable new services: The plan must focus on the ultimate goal of delivering services and solutions in far-reaching areas such as education, healthcare, homeland security, and energy -- and must be rooted in facts and specific requirements to deliver high-impact, network- and mobility-enabled applications. Numerous other government organizations -- the departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Energy, Transportation and others -- must rally around the plan. Maximizing the value of expended broadband capability will require standards and unification that only the government can bring.

2) Break down barriers to network investments: Network investment is perhaps the greatest obstacle to widespread availability of high-speed broadband services in underserved areas. Accelerated expansion of broadband networks will be achieved through not only tax breaks, subsidies, and equalizing taxes, but also through the removal of obstacles that increase the cost of network deployment. Improved approval processes like the recently-passed FCC tower siting "shot clock" rule, are needed to improve zoning and deployment, promoting increased investment.

3) Free up spectrum to enable wireless solutions and mobility: PRTM looks forward to the passing of the National Spectrum Inventory Act which will be the first step towards identifying underutilized and inefficiently managed spectrum.

4) Bring broadband access to economically disadvantaged communities: PRTM anticipates a recommended shift for the Universal Service Fund from the provision of traditional telephone services to broadband. This would reduce the recurring cost of broadband service to currently underserved and unserved consumers, enabling them to sign up for currently-unaffordable broadband plans.

[PTRM is a global management consulting firm.]

Keeping Up With the Joneses

Our nation's electricity grid is overstretched. Our greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb. What could possibly reverse this trend? Look no further than over your fence.

In a Senate hearing last week we heard from Adrian Tuck, CEO of fast-growing technology start-up Tendril that helps consumers understand and manage their energy use. When consumers see their energy consumption information on their Tendril iPhone app or in-home energy display they make smarter decisions and waste less energy. Tuck testified that, generally speaking, consumers are motivated to save energy in one of three ways: saving money, saving the planet, and beating their neighbors.

Which one was the most effective at driving consumers to cut their consumption? Yep. You guessed it. It turns out many consumers are more motivated to beat their neighbor in energy savings, rather than save money or save the world. It makes sense when you think about it. We're social beings, and often make decisions in social contexts. The science behind this is called behavioral economics. There is a rich panoply of motivations (social, cognitive, emotional) that drive the economic decisions we make. Think Malcolm Gladwell's Blink and Dick Thaler and Cass Sunstein's Nudge.

OPOWER, another fast-growing start-up, is an example of a company that uses behavioral science to improve electric utility energy efficiency programs. How does it work? Working closely with a utility, OPOWER mails a color, one-page report to customers. Although it's branded with the utility logo, the report deviates from the hard-to-understand bill we're accustomed to receiving. To start, less is more. They provide simple graphs that make it easy to understand how much energy you used last month, and how that compares to the months prior. Next, it's not really a bill. OPOWER doesn't show a total bill amount or ask you to send money—it's simply a supplemental information sheet about your energy usage.

Commerce Department Invests $80 Million in Louisiana Broadband

The Commerce Department announced an $80 million broadband investment in Louisiana on Friday morning, during a conference call hosted by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA). The investment will make more affordable high-speed Internet access for 100,000 households, 15,000 businesses and 1,200 anchor institutions such as libraries and public safety offices. The money will help the state expand broadband throughout 3,500 square miles that includes 12 impoverished parishes, many of which didn't even have phone service a few years ago, said Sec Locke.

The Louisiana Broadband Alliance, collaboration among six state agencies, plans to deploy more than 900 miles of fiber-optic network to expand broadband Internet service in some of the most economically distressed regions of Louisiana. The new network intends to provide direct connections for more than 80 community anchor institutions including universities, K-12 schools, libraries, and healthcare facilities. The 3,488-square-mile service area includes 12 impoverished parishes targeted by the state's Louisiana Delta Initiative and a separate five-parish area that is home to four federally-recognized American Indian Tribes. The new network would connect to the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI), a more than 1,600 mile fiber-optic network that connects Louisiana and Mississippi research universities to National LambdaRail and Internet2.

Ofcom to examine UK network neutrality

Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, said that several media companies have raised concerns about the issue of network neutrality -- the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated the same by Internet service providers -- in the last few months.

"It has been a big issue for historic reasons for many years in the US. It is now beginning to be an issue here," he said. "The deployment of traffic management techniques and policies is now happening in scale." Richards said that Ofcom would publish its initial findings in the spring. "Traffic management policies need to be very clearly explained and very transparent," he said. Richards has indicated that the highly interventionist approach seen in the United States might not be appropriate for the UK and Europe, and that it was "even harder to justify blanket net neutrality rules when we consider the risks they could pose to potential collaborative and desirable investment in networks." "In the US, limited competition, both at the network and the ISP level, means that the potential for consumer detriment through traffic management is greater," he said. "In Europe, as recent research for the FCC indicates, the mixed model -- investment in infrastructure complemented by unbundling of the local loop -- has delivered a more competitive market structure from the exchange back into the network." Richards also said that service providers needed to be more open with consumers about their traffic management policies. "Even if consumers have access to transparent information, they need to understand how traffic management practices will affect their day-to-day experience of a service and be able to assess which product best meets their needs," he said. "This may require substantial effort and time, particularly if the information provided about traffic management practices is fairly technical."

EFF demands FCC close copyright "loophole" in net neutrality

The Electronic Frontier Foundation might be expected to love the Federal Communications Commission's "Open Internet" push, but the group has one big concern with the rulemaking: the presence of "a loophole for copyright enforcement in its proposed regulations for network neutrality."

EFF has now submitted a petition to the FCC with 7,000 signatures, asking for the provisions to be stripped from the final rule. "Before the ink is dry on net neutrality regulations, we already see corporate lobbyists and 'public decency' advocates pushing for loopholes," said EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick. "A loophole like this could swallow network neutrality, with ISPs claiming copyright enforcement as a pretext for all sorts of discriminatory behavior." At issue is the "reasonable network management" exception to net neutrality. The FCC makes clear that network neutrality rules only apply to "lawful content," and neutrality does not apply to the illegal transmission of copyrighted work. Despite the EFF's concern, this exception has been in place for years already.

Cell Phone Inventor: Spectrum Reclamation Isn't Answer

Martin Cooper, credited with inventing the cell phone, is this week's guest on C-SPAN's The Communicators.

He says the Federal Communications Commission should not be focused on trying to get more spectrum from any of the current users, but instead on spurring more efficient use of the spectrum already out there. He said making that spectrum exponentially more efficient is doable. Cooper's company, ArrayComm, is in the business of achieving that spectral efficiency. Talking about his theory of spectral efficiency, Cooper said that given how much more efficient transmissions are since the days of Marconi--by a trillion times, or doubled every month over the past 110 years-- he saw that continuing if there is incentive to keep finding more efficiencies. "We know we can keep doing this for the next 50 or 60 years," he said, and then hand that process off to the next generation. Cooper said that freeing up more spectrum is "a wish and a hope." While he said that the spectrum belonged to the public, he also said it is very difficult to get spectrum from licensees because the way the allocation process has been set up, it is more like ownership.

Westin: News Orgs Must Stay Committed to Investigative Journalism

After receiving the Radio-Television Digital News Foundation's First Amendment Leadership award, ABC News President David Westin says that news organizations can't invoke the First Amendment unless they have "reporters out in the field doing the work that needs to be done and we have the resources to support them."

And while ABC has announced major cuts and a restructuring of its news operation, he said news organizations needed to be committed to investigative journalism, beat reporting and long-form documentaries. He got a second on that sentiment from NBC News President Steve Capus, also in attendance.

"As we gather here tonight," Westin said, "I can see no greater challenge to the First Amendment than the threats that are being faced by so many of our news organizations...threats to their ability to have the wherewithal to employ reporters and support them with the resources that they need." He said those risks may be the greatest since the First Amendment was adopted in 1791. "We've seen some of our best news organizations face cuts, and sometimes wave after wave of cuts."

Benton

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