December 2010

In Defense of the National Broadband Plan

[Commentary] While I'm very proud of the work the team at the Federal Communications Commission did to produce the National Broadband Plan and believe its recommendations lead us in the right direction on many fronts, I'm certain it’s far from perfect and hope that as it’s implemented, it’s constantly improved. For that to happen, critics will have to answer the same questions we struggled with, formulate specific policies based on hard data, and acknowledge the hard trade-offs necessary to move our country forward. Here Levin responds to a critique of the National Broadband Plan from Craig Settles.

Tax Compromise and Wikileaks Capture Social media

The online community weighed in heavily on the tax cut deal struck between President Obama and congressional Republicans. In this case, the greatest split came among the liberal commentators themselves who were divided in their assessments of the deal. For the week of December 6-10, 15% of the news links on blogs were about the tax cut accord, making it the No. 1 subject, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

FCC mandates (very) minimum interoperability level for initial broadband public safety network deployments

While stakeholders continue to debate the best approach to building a nationwide mobile broadband public safety network, the Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC) recently issued what it called “requirements for a baseline technical framework” for that network.

The framework applies only to 700 MHz public safety mobile broadband networks in individual states, cities and counties that are approved for early deployment. But it provides a glimpse into how ERIC and the FCC are thinking about the network. The new guidelines sidestepped two issues that are at the heart of the ongoing debate about a nationwide broadband public safety network. The first issue is whether the public safety community will be given the 700 MHz D-block in addition to the 700 MHz spectrum already under its control. The second issue is which, if any, additional 700 MHz bands public safety will inter-operate with.

Transparency for Global Development

The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched Version 1.0 of the Foreign Assistance Dashboard, a new platform devoted to making it easier than ever for policymakers, civil society, and the public to understand U.S. investments and their impact around the globe.

Do you want to know how much the U.S. invested in education in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009? The Foreign Assistance Dashboard makes it easy to see and compare investments across sectors and countries at a glance. Civic-minded developers and researchers can download any and all of the Dashboard’s data in a machine-readable format to mash, visualize, and analyze U.S. budget data in new ways.

John Doerr, Brian Roberts push Obama on network neutrality

The “Open Internet” agreement pending at the Federal Communications Commission got a vote of confidence from two CEOs who visited the White House this week.

John Doerr, partner at powerhouse venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in Silicon Valley, brought up the network neutrality proceeding during conversations with President Barack Obama Doerr, who has invested in Web heavyweights including Google and Amazon, told Obama he was supportive of the net neutrality proposal on which the FCC plans to vote next week. Doerr emphasized the importance of regulatory certainty, which he said the net neutrality proposal would provide. Also in attendance at the White House was Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, who further expressed the need for regulatory certainty, the source said. It is not clear whether other participants in Wednesday's meeting -- including Google CEO Eric Schmidt or Cisco CEO John Chambers -- sounded off on the issue.

National Association of Broadcasters gives Congress static

The National Association of Broadcasters is pinching the nerves of some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where tensions are already flaring with the end of the session fast approaching.

Some Democratic and GOP staffers say their bosses are tired of negotiating with the NAB on lingering policy issues because the trade association seems unwilling to hammer out a compromise. In particular, staffers point to NAB’s stubbornly pushing back on two pieces of legislation that have bipartisan support: one a bill that would allow the Federal Communications Commission to distribute more licenses to noncommercial, low-power local radio stations and the other a bill that would force broadcasters to pay royalties to recording artists when playing their music on the radio.

US ranks 25th in the world for Internet connection speed

The U.S. ranks 25th in the world in average Internet connection speeds, and nearly half of all U.S. residents' Internet connections fall below the Federal Communications Commission's minimum definition of broadband, at 4 megabits per second download, according to a new report.

The median download speed in the U.S. in 2010 is 3 mbps, a slight increase from 2009, according to the report, released Wednesday by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and sister organization Speedmatters.org. South Korea's average download speed is 34.1 mbps, Sweden's is 22.2 mbps, Romania's is 20.3 mbps, and Japan's is 18 mbps, according to the report.

FCC set to auction 16 700 MHz licenses in 2011

The Federal Communications Commission is planning to auction 16 licenses for 700 MHz spectrum next July 19. The licenses previously were offered in Auction 73, but were either not sold or the winning bidder defaulted on the payments. Based on proposed minimum bid prices, the agency expects the auction to raise a minimum of $1.42 million. 2008's Auction 73 raised more than $19 billion, netting AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless nationwide 700 MHz channels, which the nation's two largest carriers are now building out. Indeed, VZW turned on its 700 MHz spectrum earlier this month. Two of the licenses are 12-megahertz (2 by 6 megahertz) in the A block, (698 MHz-704 MHz, 728 MHz-734 MHz) and 14 are in the B block (704 MHz-710 MHz, 734 MHz-740 MHz). The FCC filed a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking around the auction. Comments are due Jan. 12 and reply comments are due Jan. 27.

Maine PUC finds FairPoint on target to hit broadband benchmark

FairPoint Communications is on target to provide high-speed Internet access to 83 percent of its customers by year's end, the Maine Public Utilities Commission determined.

In a special meeting, the three commissioners referred to the results of an informal, day-long meeting Monday between FairPoint, the PUC staff and the Public Advocate's Office. That meeting focused on technical details of how to assess FairPoint's progress in achieving a pre-set goal for broadband. Following recommendations from the meeting, the PUC decided there's no need to open an investigation into the issue, an action that it considered. FairPoint bought Verizon's landline business in 2008 and became Maine's largest phone company. As a condition of the controversial sale, FairPoint agreed to extend broadband service to 87 percent of its customers in five years. As interim steps, it must reach 85 percent by July of 2012 and 83 percent by the end of 2010. That first benchmark appears to be in reach, the PUC's staff determined.

Broadcast TV still Go-to Community Medium

A Q&A with Maria Luisa Francoli, CEO of Havas Media North America and its MPG Global subsidiary.

She says media that cater to communities - be they based on geography or personal interest - will get an increasing share of ad dollars. And TV stations are all part and parcel of that. Francoli is a key driver in multiplatform media planning at the agency, which had $2.7 billion in U.S. billings in 2009, and she'd like to see more effective offerings by stations across the various platforms. And while she has a big-picture mandate, she expresses a keen appreciation for what smaller market TV stations offer clients. She also would like see improvements in how station audiences are measured. One answer may be the viewing data for set-top boxes, but that, she says, is still far from perfect. And like other media buyers, she is eager to take some of the cost out of buying all media.

Benton

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