June 2011

Facebook, Google, Yahoo Join Forces To Fix The Internet's Biggest Problem In Decades

Imagine if the world ran out of phone numbers. Mobile providers could issue no more smartphones, businesses could create no new call centers, and the public would be left fighting over and recycling a diminishing amount of existing phone numbers. "That's a similar situation that we're in on the Internet," says Facebook's Donn Lee, pointing out that the web's billions of IP addresses are about to hit its max.

Lee is Facebook's lead engineer on IPv6, or Internet Protocol version 6, the first new version of the Internet's addressing system in decades, which will provide trillions and trillions more unique addresses on the web. Every time you go online or print a document at work, you're essentially dialing a unique number--called an IP address--to communicate with other devices and computer networks. It's no different than visiting a friend: You might know the name of his apartment building, but you'll need an address and zip code in order to locate it on a map. The web works in the same way, but as the number of homes and businesses and devices connected to the Internet continues to increase exponentially, we're rapidly running out of space online. And now it's up to Internet giants such as Facebook, Google, and Yahoo to fix the problem before it's too late. On June 8, as the World IPv6 Day test fires up, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo--traditionally competitors in the Internet landscape--will come together with hundreds of other major organizations to pool resources for a greater cause. "IPv6 is much bigger than any one company," Lee says. "We felt that it was for the good of the Internet and future generations of the Internet."

Guess Which Company Is Winning The War For Tech Talent

Of all the big tech companies competing for engineering talent, Twitter has fared the best while Yahoo is doing the worst. That's according to statistics released by TopProspect, which helps companies find technical employees based on peer recommendations.

The company analyzed its 2.5 million user profiles for people who have switched jobs in the last two years, and found that for every one person who left Twitter, the company hired 10.9 more. Other companies with a great hired-to-left ratio include the other pre-IPO giants: Facebook (8.1 to 1), Zynga (8.0), LinkedIn (7.5), and Groupon (3.5). In the losers' bracket, Yahoo hired only 0.3 TopProspect employees for every one who left and Microsoft's ratio was 0.4. Other slow growers include Intuit and Google, both with a ratio of 1.2.

Broadband: A Platform for Progress

This report is the second outcome to be issued by the Broadband Commission for Digital Development. It offers examples, evidence, technical choices and strategies for extending broadband networks within the reach of all.

The report is also designed to be the introduction to an evolving collection of resources in the form of an online database to carry forward the work of the Broadband Commission. This repository will carry the outcome reports of the Broadband Commission, as well as numerous research reports, case studies from both developed and developing countries, and other materials to encourage and inform governments and industry — and individual communities themselves — on why broadband is crucially important in today’s world and about ways to get connected.

Lots of Potential Buyers for T-Mobile if they Want to Leave the US Market

[Commentary] One of the recurring myths perpetrated by the supporters of the AT&T-T-Mobile merger is that AT&T is the only viable purchaser of T-Mobile, whose parent company Deutsche Telekom (DT) has announced its intention to pull out of the US market.

Let's start with the facts. First, it's not a foregone conclusion that T-Mobile will leave the US market especially if, as we expect, the merger will be denied. Second, there are many potential buyers for T-Mobile other than "a speculative offer, Sprint or AT&T." Whether AT&T offered the most money or was the most financially healthy suitor for T-Mobile is irrelevant if the merger between the two companies would violate antitrust law. Several antitrust experts, including the American Antitrust Institute and two antitrust lawyers have already concluded that this merger cannot pass muster.

So, what if the deal is rejected? 1) A still-profitable T-Mobile would receive an infusion of $3 billion cash, $2 billion worth of spectrum and $1 billion roaming rights. 2) Other potential buyers could arise including: CenturyLink, the largest cable firms (Comcast, Cablevision, Time Warner and Cox), or foreign investors (Vodafone (UK), Celicom israel, Partner Communications (Israel), China Mobile and América Móvil (Mexico).

AT&T deal for T-Mobile deserves close scrutiny

Misgivings about AT&T's proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA have flooded into the Federal Communications Commission, with nearly 37,000 comments on file that run overwhelmingly against the deal.

The deadline for official petitions to deny the transaction was last week, prompting a last-minute flurry of paperwork from competitors like Sprint and industry groups including the Computer & Communications Industry Association and Free Press. The public comments are a jumble of fears and grievances, covering everything from AT&T's dropped calls to ominous warnings about the Ma Bell monopoly reassembling itself one acquisition at a time. But the most consistent arguments boiled down to this: The combination of the Nos. 2 and 4 wireless players would fundamentally alter the market, creating an AT&T and Verizon duopoly with control over nearly 80 percent of the space. These telecom twins would have all the power and every incentive to undermine competition, innovation and pricing pressure in a sector driving the economic and technological trends of the day.

Chairman Walden on USF Reform, AT&T/T-Mobile

House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) spoke to the Oregon and Washington Telecommunications Associations on June 7. His topics included the Universal Service Fund, Intercarrier Compensation reform, and the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile acquisition.

On Universal Service Fund reform, the Subcommittee has ben working with the Federal Communications Commission to implement several principles:

Cap the high cost fund and each sub-fund and analyze each for waste, fraud and abuse.
Use market-based, technology-neutral mechanisms—such as competitive bidding, models, and bench marks—to right size the Fund and target the subsidies to consumers in high cost areas who need it most.
Subsidize unserved areas, but only those that are otherwise uneconomic for the private sector to serve keeping in mind the existing business and regulatory models that may need, where appropriate and on a reformed basis, access charge replacement in the form of continuing USF support.
Wring out waste, fraud, and abuse from the high-cost fund and the rest of the Universal Service Fund by periodically re-examining whether areas remain “high cost” and creating performance measures to evaluate what works and get the biggest “bang for our buck.”
Migrate the Fund to support broadband deployment as reforms are implemented and the fund is put on sound financial footing.
Focus infrastructure buildout on areas not receiving broadband stimulus grants or loans or other broadband subsides to avoid paying twice for deployment of the same infrastructure.
Overhaul the contribution methodology to lower the administrative burden on businesses and to reduce the drag on efficiency it represents.

On AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile, he said, "It is far too soon to judge the merits of this merger. I will wait for the record to be complete and the evidence to come in before making up my mind." He announced that his Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the merger at some point in the next few months. He identified two concerns:

"First, America’s economic growth and vitality is dependent on competitive and innovative free markets. I am thus interested in learning whether the merger promotes competition for consumers and encourages innovation in the technology manufacturing sector. If not, it may lead the industry further into the watering hole of government regulation.

Second, I am concerned about the 'public interest' conditions the FCC might place on the merger if approved. Conditions placed on any merger should be limited to those conditions necessary to address risks to consumers that arise as a direct result of the merger. Mergers should not be used to impose conditions that are better suited for generic proceedings where all industry and consumer groups have an equal opportunity to weigh in."

Kaplan to Head FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that Ruth Milkman will be stepping down as Chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to take on new responsibilities in the Office of the Chairman; and that Rick Kaplan, currently Chief Counsel and Senior Legal Advisor to the Chairman, will succeed Milkman as Bureau Chief. The change will be effective June 20, 2011.

Milkman is departing the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to serve as Special Counsel to the Chairman for Innovation in Government. Among her responsibilities, Ms. Milkman will lead a team to develop proposals for procedural, regulatory and statutory changes to further innovation, extending the work previously undertaken by Mary Beth Richards, the former Special Counsel to the Chairman for FCC Reform. Milkman has served as Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau since August 2009, and occupied various roles at the Commission between 1986 and 1998, including Deputy Chief of the International and Common Carrier Bureaus, and Senior Legal Advisor to Chairman Reed Hundt. She also was a founding partner of Lawler, Metzger, Milkman & Keeney, LLC, and served as law clerk to the Honorable J. Harvie Wilkinson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Prior to his current role in the Office of the Chairman, Kaplan previously served as Chief of Staff for Commission Mignon Clyburn, and as deputy coordinator of the FCC DTV Task Force under then-Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps. He practiced regulatory law and appellate litigation at Sidley Austin LLP, and served in the Office of the General Counsel at the US House of Representatives. Kaplan began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Prior to his legal career, Kaplan founded and operated a sports management and public relations agency that represented and served professional athletes and sports-related organizations.

NBC Wins TV Rights to 4 Olympics for $4.3 Billion

NBC extended its Olympic reign until 2020 as Comcast, its parent company, agreed to acquire the rights to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia; the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro; and the next two Olympics, in unspecified cities. NBC bid $4.3 billion for U.S. broadcast right for the four Olympics. The victory was a sign that Comcast saw the value of continuing the relationship with the Olympics, with its powerful impact in prime time. ESPN bid $1.4 billion for the 2014 and 2016 Games; Fox put in bids for two Olympics and for four Olympics. Early reports peg NBC's bid at $4 billion, which would make this the most expensive TV rights deal in Olympic broadcast history.

Comcast's NBCUniversal expects to make a profit on the $4.4 billion it will expend for the US media rights for the 2014 through 2020 Olympic Games. "We are excited to get started and continue the great legacy and work that has been the relationship between NBC and the Olympics. We couldn't be more proud," Roberts said. "We've been clear from the beginning that we want to be disciplined and responsible," Roberts said. "We think this will be a profitable relationship for NBC Universal. Having eight more years, we will have an opportunity to build up a lot of the assets at NBC Universal....It was unanimous among our team that having [the Games] for the longer term will help us achieve that goal." It was not immediately known whether Comcast would seek an Olympic surcharge as NBCUniversal had for Olympics past and present, under General Electric's ownership. Sources indicate that NBCU has already obtained surcharges from a number of MSOs for some of the Games under the new deal. NBCU is also said to be receving contributions from broadcast network affilait to support the Games' bid.

Christie Drops State-Owned Broadcasting

Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), saying he wasn't elected to be "programmer in chief," is taking New Jersey out of the broadcasting business. NJN, a television network formed in 1968, will be broken off from the state and handed over to WNET, the New York public media station. WNET will get federal subsidies to continue running New Jersey programming.

It's not a clean break. The state will still own the license and will revisit the contract in five years. Gov Christie said that shouldn't be seen as a specter looming in the news decisions that are made. He described it as a tool necessary to make sure the new network lives up to its contractual obligations.

There will be nightly news shows and at least 20 hours of "New Jersey-centric" coverage provided by a veteran broadcaster whose father is a major figure in Newark politics. Meanwhile, the licenses of NJN's radio network are being sold to other stations. Gov Christie said he had been uncomfortable since taking office about subsidizing a news organization whose employees were state workers charged with independently covering state government. "In my view that should have ended with the Soviet Union," he said. "It's ending here in New Jersey a little bit later than the fall of the wall in Berlin, but we're getting there." The change has rankled some lawmakers and activists, who said they feared a station would be more beholden to fund-raisers and donors. They worried that news coverage would suffer with a potentially reduced staff.

The deal also shone a spotlight on the Adubato family of Newark, which continues to play a major role in ward-level politics. Steve Adubato Jr. will provide programming for the new station, which will be called NJTV. The evening news will be called "NJ Today." Adubato anchors several public-affairs interview shows and runs a communications-training company. His father, Steve Adubato Sr., is a longtime Democratic power broker in Newark who is aligned with Gov Christie, a Republican, most notably on education. Asked about concerns over the independence of his reporting and programming, the younger Adubato said his Emmy awards and his work speak for themselves.

FCC's Genachowski Plans to Delete Fairness Doctrine From Code of Federal Regulations

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has told Congress he supports striking the so-called 'fairness doctrine' and a couple of its corollaries from the Code of Federal Regulations.

In a letter responding to a request from Fred Upton (R-MI) and Greg Walden (R- OR), the chairs of the House Commerce Committee and Communications Subcommittee, that the FCC officially deep-six the doctrine, pointing to President Obama's directive earlier this year to federal agencies to review outdated regulations still on the books. "I fully support deleting the Fairness Doctrine and related provisions form the Code of Federal Regulations," he wrote in a letter dated June 6, "so that there can be no mistake that what has been a dead letter is truly dead." He said that his staff was currently reviewing its regulations, which has focused to date on rules still actively governing licensees, but that he expected they would recommend the deletion of the fairness doctrine and related corollaries, which provided for free response time for personal attacks and equal time for other candidates if a station endorsed a candidate in an editorial. The corollaries were repealed by the FCC in 2000. "I look forward to effectuating this change when acting on the staff's recommendations and anticipate that the process can be completed in the near future," he wrote. He reiterated that he felt the doctrine had the potential to chill speech and should have been abandoned when it was more than two decades ago.

Benton

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