January 4, 2012 (So Much Fun. So Irrelevant.)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2012
EEO Best Practices Summit http://benton.org/calendar/2012-01-04/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
So Much Fun. So Irrelevant. - analysis
Gig.U and the next innovation platform - op-ed
5 major changes facing the Internet in 2012
Map shows co-ops lead charge on rural broadband
Understanding Google Fiber better
POLICYMAKERS
A Look Ahead to 2012: NTIA by the Numbers - press release
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Tight Race Catches TV Anchors by Surprise
Hearst Boosts Group-wide Election Coverage
TELEVISION
FCC seeks to change regulation of corporate interests disclosures on TV news
AT&T to Pay $215 Million to TiVo
CPB Support for Education, History, Science and Public Affairs Programming - press release
ADVERTISING
Controversy Surrounds Google Testing Targeted Ad Placements, Dubbed 'Notifications'
FCC seeks to change regulation of corporate interests disclosures on TV news
PRIVACY
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse creates complaint center for online privacy issues
CONTENT
ACLU sues library for blocking Wiccan websites [links to web]
Reminder: It’s Really Easy to Pirate TV. Even Live Sports. [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
War of Choice
STORIES FROM ABROAD
These Headlines presented in partnership with:
China’s President Lashes Out at Western Culture
China Culls 'Low Taste' Shows
China Telecom in milestone UK mobile deal
Chinese Retailer Casts Doubt on TV Investigation [links to web]
Australia’s National Broadband Network delayed: target missed by 31,000
Huawei’s Work in Iran Should Be Investigated, U.S. Lawmakers Say
Chile Bans SIM Locking of Mobile Phones
Italy fines Apple over protection plans [links to web]
Spain rescinds private copy tax, adopts anti-piracy law [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Teachers Resist High-Tech Push in Idaho Schools [links to web]
My 10 fearless high-tech predictions for 2012 - analysis [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
SO IRRELEVANT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Thomas Friedman]
[Commentary] Two things have struck me about the Republican presidential candidate debates leading up to the Iowa caucuses. One is how entertaining they were. The other is how disconnected they were from the biggest trends shaping the job market of the 21st century. What if the 2012 campaign were actually about the world in which we’re living and how we adapt to it? What would the candidates be talking about?
Surely at or near the top of that list would be the tightening merger between globalization and the latest information technology (IT) revolution. The IT revolution is giving individuals more and more cheap tools of innovation, collaboration and creativity — thanks to hand-held computers, social networks and “the cloud,” which stores powerful applications that anyone can download. And the globalization side of this revolution is integrating more and more of these empowered people into ecosystems, where they can innovate and manufacture more products and services that make people’s lives more healthy, educated, entertained, productive and comfortable. The best of these ecosystems will be cities and towns that combine a university, an educated populace, a dynamic business community and the fastest broadband connections on earth. These will be the job factories of the future. The countries that thrive will be those that build more of these towns that make possible “high-performance knowledge exchange and generation,” explains Blair Levin, who runs the Aspen Institute’s Gig.U project, a consortium of 37 university communities working to promote private investment in next-generation ecosystems. Historians have noted that economic clusters always required access to abundant strategic inputs for success, says Levin. In the 1800s, it was access to abundant flowing water and raw materials. In the 1900s, it was access to abundant electricity and transportation. In the 2000s, he said, “it will be access to abundant bandwidth and abundant human intellectual capital,” — places like Silicon Valley, Austin, Boulder, Cambridge and Ann Arbor. But we need many more of these.
benton.org/node/109642 | New York Times
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GIG.U AND THE NEXT INNOVATION PLATFORM
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Rey Ramsey]
[Commentary] The United States has historically been the leader in the development and use of information networks and the technologies that give them life. The Internet is an American invention, and in the early part of the last decade, we were the leader in developing and adopting wireline broadband -- a leadership position we have since ceded to other countries. While the world is in the midst of the mobile revolution, there is another round of innovation to come in wired networks and this time, the advantage might not be ours. Other countries, such as Korea, Japan and Sweden, have already deployed networks capable of speeds 200 times faster than the speed the average American uses. If that gap persists, other countries will be the ones developing the expertise that leads to the Gigabit Google, Cisco or Amazon. Gig.U was born and now 37 university communities are in conversation with more than 50 companies, including Google and the major telecommunications and cable companies, about how to improve the business case for next generation deployments in their areas. We should hope for their success. If we can eliminate bandwidth as a barrier to innovation for a good number of students, faculty, and the businesses that congregate in university communities, there is no telling how they will, again, reinvent how we live and work, both in the United States and around the world. It won't happen overnight, but like the foundation laid for 4G a decade before it became commercially available, it will provide new opportunities for the next generation. Gig.U is the next platform by which the United States can take advantage of Carlson's Law. We don't know what a million folks around college communities playing with unlimited bandwidth will develop, but if history is a guide, it will be chaotic, smart, and provide the next generation of innovation that America and the world need.
benton.org/node/109595 | San Jose Mercury News
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THE INTERNET IN 2012
[SOURCE: NetworkWorld, AUTHOR: Carolyn Duffy Marsan]
2012 is poised to go down in Internet history as one of the most significant 12-month periods from both a technical and policy perspective since the late 1990s, when this network-of-networks stopped being a research project and became an engine of economic growth. This year the Internet will face several milestones as it undergoes its biggest-ever technical upgrade, from Internet Protocol version 4 to version 6. In addition, key contracts that the U.S. federal government controls for Internet infrastructure and operations are being re-bid. Taken together, these events could result in monumental changes in both who operates the Internet infrastructure as well as how these operations are handled:
The root servers may have a new operator.
A new company could operate the .com registry.
Up to 1,000 new top-level domains will start being introduced.
An additional 10,000 websites will support IPv6.
Europe will run out of IPv4 addresses.
benton.org/node/109586 | NetworkWorld
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MINNESOTA’S BROADBAND MAP
[SOURCE: Minneapolis Public Radio, AUTHOR: Dave Peters]
Minnesota's new broadband task force filed its first official report. Some areas of the state already meet the state's 2015 goal for adequate high-speed Internet access for all households. No surprise that the Twin Cities, with its population density and multiple providers, meets the goal. But it's intriguing to see the two large outstate areas in the upper Minnesota River valley and up north. A big reason is the optic fiber work done in recent years by small rural cooperatives like Farmers Mutual in Madison, Federated Telephone in Morris and Paul Bunyan in Bemidji. Folks in those co-ops will tell you in makes a different when the goal is customer-owner service instead of shareholder profit.
benton.org/node/109588 | Minneapolis Public Radio
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UNDERSTANDING GOOGLE FIBER
[SOURCE: KCTV, AUTHOR: Bonyen Lee]
Google's high-speed internet test program is down to a six-month window before it's implemented in Kansas City. The Social Media Club of Kansas City says since the announcement in March, families are slow to realize the Google Fiber could be in their homes. That's why SMCKC has held a series of community meetings with metro neighborhoods to get them on a consideration list. "When we talk to neighborhood people, there's still a lot of 'what does this mean? How is this going to change my life, why do I want it? Why do I care?' So Give Us a Gig is an opportunity for us to take those opportunities out and educate, engage, and help those communities advocate for themselves to be able to get it," Aaron Deacon with SMCKC said. The Give Us a Gig project gives metro communities a chance to prove themselves worthy of Google's high-speed internet. Google would provide a gigabyte of download speed - nearly 100 times faster than the average provider. SMCKC is not affiliated with Google. The club is a volunteer based organization with a mission to further technology in Kansas City. The club is working with Google on community feedback and interest. Deacon admits Google has not released details about the price or when and where the fiber will be laid. But Deacon says SMCKC wants to help all communities be eligible. "We want to make sure people who can't afford it, we're trying to figure out through grant writing, partnerships, local businesses, where some of the lower income neighborhoods can have access to the service," Deacon said. Google expects to implement the test program by June and has said rates will be competitive.
benton.org/node/109604 | KCTV
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POLICYMAKERS
NTIA BY THE NUMBERS
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
In the coming year, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will continue its focus on three key areas: expanding high speed Internet access and adoption, freeing up more spectrum for wireless broadband, and promoting policies that preserve the Internet as an engine for innovation and economic growth. Here are some numbers to illustrate these challenges.
80 percent: Approximate amount of Fortune 500 companies that only accept job applications online;
60-plus percent: Amount of working Americans who use the Internet as an integral part of their jobs ;
1 in 3 U.S. households lack high-speed Internet service–that’s more than 100 million Americans cut off from many economic and educational opportunities;
1 in 5 U.S. households don’t use the Internet anywhere–that’s more than 60 million Americans left behind in the 21st century economy.
Thanks to funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, NTIA is investing nearly $4 billion in about 230 projects to expand broadband access and adoption in communities nationwide. These grant projects are building and upgrading broadband infrastructure, expanding and improving public computer centers, and promoting broadband adoption through computer training and other approaches. Together these investments are laying the groundwork for sustainable economic growth, creating jobs, and preparing more Americans for the 21st century workforce. Grantees report so far:
29,000: Miles of broadband infrastructure deployed or upgraded;
24,000: New workstations installed in public computer centers;
755,000: Hours of training provided in the last quarter alone;
220,000: People who received the training in the last quarter;
230,000: New broadband subscribers.
benton.org/node/109590 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
IOWA RESULTS COVERAGE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Stelter]
From their respective television studios in Midtown Manhattan on Jan 3, the MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow and the Fox News commentator Karl Rove looked to Iowa and saw the same thing: a Republican race that was “tight as a tick.” For a few hours on Tuesday night, the nation’s television anchors and political reporters were transfixed by which candidates would finish in fifth and sixth place in the Iowa caucuses — not because they had projected the first-place finisher, but because they couldn’t. The race between three Republicans — Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum — appeared at first to be a three-way tie, far too close to call, delighting the people who had been promising viewers and readers a dramatic start to the 2012 voting season. “We have no idea when we’ll be able to call this,” said Ms. Maddow, sounding almost giddy during the 10 p.m. hour of her broadcast. “It’s great.” Chuck Todd, the political director for NBC News and an anchor for MSNBC, indicated that the network would have to wait for every vote to be counted. At one point in the evening, when about 48 percent of precincts had reported their vote totals, ABC said that just seven votes separated Mr. Santorum and Mr. Romney. Later, when 96 percent of precincts had reported and 113 votes separated them, The Des Moines Register called the two “deadlocked.” Most newspapers and late-night local newscasts were put to bed without the final results for the night.
benton.org/node/109643 | New York Times
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HEARST BOOSTS ELECTION COVERAGE
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: ]
Hearst Television released details of Commitment 2012, the latest iteration of the company’s biannual election-coverage efforts, which began with Commitment 2000 and which have earned a Peabody Award and multiple USC Annenberg Walter Cronkite Awards, including six group-wide honors. Hearst owns stations in Des Moines, Iowa (KCCI), and Manchester, New Hampshire (WMUR), the two markets where the 2012 presidential campaign begins with the Iowa caucuses, and the New Hampshire primary, on Jan. 10. Commitment 2012, the company said, will involve “an intensified effort at the company’s 25 news-producing TV stations, and on their respective local websites and mobile sites, to provide comprehensive local TV news coverage of national, state and local election campaigns on-air, online and via mobile devices.” A cornerstone feature of Commitment 2012 will be “12 in 12” — a pledge of a minimum 12 minutes’ airtime for daily political news and candidate-discourse coverage per weekday and, where possible, on weekends, in the 30 days leading up to the primary and general elections at each of its news-producing stations. Hearst says this represents a 20% increase — or some 25 additional hours for a total of 150 hours group-wide over the 30-day period — from the 10 minutes daily that Hearst first pledged in 2006. In addition, each station will produce a “Virtual Town Hall” or discussion in the 30 days leading up to the election.
benton.org/node/109592 | TVNewsCheck
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TELEVISION
ADVERTISING IN TV NEWS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
Television newscasts are increasingly seeded with corporate advertising masquerading as news — and the federal government wants to do something about it. Concerned that subtle “pay-for-play” marketing ploys are seeping into the news, the Federal Communications Commission has proposed a regulation that would require the nation’s 1,500 commercial TV stations to disclose online the corporate interests behind the news. The proposal, which could take months to be enacted, has drawn praise from media watchdogs and consumer groups that have criticized the current system, which requires broadcasters to disclose that an advertiser paid for a mention on the news only in the closing credits of a broadcast. “Unless you stick around for the end credits, you’re unlikely to know it’s payola,” said Corie Wright, senior policy counsel for Free Press, a media watchdog group backing the FCC proposal. “If broadcasters were required to put it online, you could check to see if it was actually sponsored or not.” The proposed regulation is aimed at news programs that appear to viewers to be the work of independent journalists, but in fact sponsors have shaped or even dictated the coverage.
benton.org/node/109638 | Washington Post
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AT&T-TIVO SETTLEMENT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: ]
TiVo scored another major patent victory as AT&T agreed to pay the set-top box maker at least $215 million to settle litigation and acquire rights to use TiVo's intellectual property. The settlement marks the latest gain from a string of lawsuits brought by TiVo, a pioneer in devices known as digital recorders, or DVRs, that has long accused many of its rivals of violating its patents. Under the terms of the settlement, AT&T agreed to pay TiVo $51 million upfront and $164 million in guaranteed payments through July 2018. AT&T will also pay incremental license fees based on subscriber numbers through that time should its own DVR subscriber base exceed certain levels, TiVo said.
benton.org/node/109640 | Wall Street Journal | GigaOm | Multichannel News
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CPS SUPPORT
[SOURCE: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) highlighted its investments in upcoming public media series and specials. Specifically, CPB investments supported the development and production of new programming for 2012 including: "The Dust Bowl," "Slavery by Another Name" and "Finding Your Roots." It also supported the acquisition of “The Interrupters,” which will air on FRONTLINE, and the development of specials on signature series including Nova (“Hunting the Elements”) and Nature (“Cracking the Koala Code”). In addition, CPB supported the expansion of online educational content through PBS KIDS GO! – making sure that succeeding generations of children, regardless of their background or means, will continue to have a safe place to learn, free of commercial strings, quality compromises and editorial influence.
In "The Dust Bowl," Ken Burns will present the oral histories of Americans who lived through our nation’s greatest ecological disaster, which coincided, in part, with America’s greatest economic collapse. "The Dust Bowl" is the story of Americans who clung to their homes and way of life for almost a decade as they endured devastating wind and dust storms that brought drought, disease and death. It is also the story of Americans who left behind everything they had and headed west in search of work and a better life. Above all, it is a quintessentially American tale of stamina, resilience and hope – both false and real – and of the unbeatable spirit of plain folk who made their way through hard times.
In 2012, CPB will build on its initial $14 million investment in PBS KIDS GO! with an additional $4 million investment that will allow PBS to expand its educational activities to older children, ages 6-9. An enhanced website will serve as one of the primary multi-media tools, along with children’s television content, that teaches kids basic literacy and math skills. The PBS KIDS GO! experience will be completely customizable, allowing students to rearrange the site according to their own interests and tailor games and activities to their individual skill level to make learning more engaging and relevant.
benton.org/node/109612 | Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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ADVERTISING
GOOGLE CONTROVERSEY
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Laurie Sullivan]
Google began testing targeted ad placement in AdWords accounts to those spending more than $500,000 or $6 million annually for products other than AdWords tools. The first ads began to appear for one marketer in late December, after spending $1 million in paid-search ads on behalf of a client. Calling it a notification, rather than product ad, a Google spokesperson said the company communicates with its AdWords clients through in-product notices. "We have recently informed them, via an in-AdWords notice, of the newly rebuilt DoubleClick Search, which is helping many clients run their search campaigns on Google and elsewhere, even more effectively." Some marketers don't see it that way. The text -- whether ad or notification -- running at the top of the page provides information about a 90-day free trial for DoubleClick Search V3, aimed at advertisers that meet the minimum ad-spend requirement. Marketers, calling it an "unfair playing ground," said the DoubleClick ad only showed up in accounts with "sizable spending." It appears that Google uses what it knows about a company to promote the product with targeted ads, which is not an unusual practice for any company. It's the first time that marketers have begun to see cross-promotional notifications or ads for other Google tools in the AdWords user interface. Some marketers that are familiar with the text ads seem a bit uneasy about being served the notices because it appears that account information and spend levels trigger the ads.
benton.org/node/109610 | MediaPost
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PRIVACY
PRIVACY RIGHTS CLEARINGHOUSE
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Mike Swift]
In an attempt to create a central online directory for privacy complaints against social networks and websites, a California group launched a service that allows people to share privacy problems with government agencies, lawyers or journalists. The San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse is one of a handful of nonprofit advocacy groups across the country that monitor online privacy issues, and the group says that's part of the problem: There is no centralized easy-to-use place where consumers can file an online complaint about a privacy breach. The effort to create the complaint center began after a 2009 study by UC Berkeley's School of Information and its law school. The "KnowPrivacy" study found that while consumers were not aware of the personal data collection practices used by websites and social networks to track their movements online, they nevertheless wanted more control over their personal information. Consumers also are confused, the study found, about where they can go to make a complaint. The service allows consumers to choose whether to make an anonymous complaint, or whether to share their identity and problem with journalists, lawyers or government enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission or other state and federal consumer protection agencies.
The new complaint tool is a collaborative project with the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley, and was funded by grants from the Rose Foundation and California Consumer Protection Foundation.
benton.org/node/109635 | San Jose Mercury News | Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
WAR OF CHOICE
[SOURCE: The New Yorker, AUTHOR: Ken Auletta]
Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL) is surely the most prominent Hispanic Republican in America. National Republicans say openly that Sen Rubio is a top contender to be the Party’s 2012 Vice-Presidential nominee. He could, they suggest, secure victory for the party in Florida and win over Hispanic voters in other states, many of whom have been angered by the GOP Presidential candidates’ harsh positions on immigration. But Rubio’s positions on immigration are to the right of those held by most Hispanic Americans. And these views have helped lead him into a war with Univision, which is the dominant Spanish-language media outlet in the country, and which champions immigration reform. Rubio’s fight with Univision began in early July, when Geraldo Reyes, the chief of the network’s investigative unit, called Rubio’s older sister, Barbara Cicilia, and asked about her husband, Orlando, who, two decades earlier, had been convicted as part of a drug-trafficking ring that paid off cops and sold cocaine by the kilo. Soon after, a conference call was arranged with Rubio’s communications director, Alex Burgos, and Rubio’s senior political adviser, Todd Harris. In addition to Lee, five people from Univision were on the call: Reyes; the news vice-president, Daniel Coronell; the managing editor, Maria Martinez-Henao; and two senior Univision attorneys. Rubio’s staff wanted to kill the story. Univision wanted Rubio to answer questions on camera.
benton.org/node/109609 | New Yorker, The
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
These Headlines presented in partnership with:
CHINA LASHES OUT AT WESTERN CULTURE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Edward Wong]
President Hu Jintao has said China must strengthen its cultural production to defend against the West’s assault on the country’s culture and ideology, according to an essay in a Communist Party policy magazine published this week. The publication of Mr. Hu’s words signaled that a new major policy initiative announced in October would continue well into 2012. The essay, which was signed by Mr. Hu and based on a speech he gave in October, drew a sharp line between the cultures of the West and China and effectively said the two sides were engaged in an escalating war. It was published in Seeking Truth, a magazine that evolved from a publication founded by Mao Zedong as a platform for establishing Communist Party principles. “We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration,” Mr. Hu said. “We should deeply understand the seriousness and complexity of the ideological struggle, always sound the alarms and remain vigilant, and take forceful measures to be on guard and respond,” he added. Those measures, Mr. Hu said, should be centered on developing cultural products that can draw the interest of the Chinese and meet the “growing spiritual and cultural demands of the people.”
benton.org/node/109631 | New York Times
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LOW TASE SHOWS IN CHINA
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Carlos Tejada]
China's satellite broadcasters have eliminated more than two-thirds of prime-time entertainment programs such as dating and reality shows to comply with tough new government restrictions, as Beijing increasingly seeks to rein in cultural trends it finds problematic. The state-run Xinhua news agency said that satellite broadcasters have winnowed the number of entertainment shows aired during prime time to 38 from 126. A new rule that came into effect on Sunday limits the number of entertainment programs the broadcasters air to two each week and a maximum of 90 minutes daily between 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. The rule, first announced in October, is targeted at what Chinese regulators have called "excessive entertainment and a trend toward low taste," to address the rise of talent shows, dating shows and other such programming aired by China's tightly regulated, but increasingly competitive, regional satellite broadcasters. Authorities also encouraged broadcasters to air more news and educational programming. "Satellite channels have started to broadcast programs that promote traditional virtues and socialist core values," Xinhua cited China's broadcasting regulator as saying. The rule is part of a broad government effort to take firmer control of China's media landscape, an effort that also includes the nation's freewheeling Internet culture.
benton.org/node/109630 | Wall Street Journal
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CHINA TELECOM-UK MOBILE DEAL
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Daniel Thomas]
China Telecom, the largest Chinese fixed-line telecoms company by customer numbers, is to launch a UK mobile phone business under an agreement with Everything Everywhere, the combined British operations of France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom. China Telecom wants to win customers outside its domestic market by using existing local networks to roll out its branded services to Chinese residents as well as visitors from China such as students and tourists. China Telecom Europe has signed a strategic partnership to use the network of Everything Everywhere, the largest mobile operator in the UK by customer numbers. The UK is one of the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists, and the company is said to be keen to roll out its service ahead of a predicted increase in visitor numbers for the Olympics this year.
benton.org/node/109628 | Financial Times
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NBN DELAY
[SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, AUTHOR: ]
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has again slammed the Australian government's $36 billion national broadband network (NBN) project as a waste of money after it was revealed only 4,000 households had been connected to the network so far. Of those 4,000 just 2,315 premises have begun using the NBN's fiber optic cables for communications. The connection figures, released this week by the government-owned company set up to deliver the network, are well down on NBN Co's earlier projection of 35,000 connections in 2011. NBN expects numbers to ramp up in 2012 as more retail service providers begin offering broadband plans and Australians began migrating to the network from existing services. It's also waiting on an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission green light for its deal with the country's biggest telco Telstra, so it can access the company's underground infrastructure to lay more fiber. Under the deal with the government and NBN Co, Telstra will progressively decommission its copper-based network and allow NBN Co to access its pits, manholes and exchanges, and sell some infrastructure. In return, Telstra will receive $11 billion from the government.
benton.org/node/109606 | Sydney Morning Herald
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HUAWEI WORK IN IRAN
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Eric Engleman]
The State Department should investigate whether Huawei Technologies Co. and other telecommunications companies broke the law by supplying sensitive technology to Iran, six lawmakers said. Huawei, China’s largest maker of phone equipment, said Dec. 9 it would voluntarily restrict business in Iran because of that country’s “increasingly complex situation.” The Shenzhen, China-based company said it wouldn’t seek new customers in Iran and will limit the scope of business with existing clients. While calling Huawei’s decision on Iran a “positive step,” the lawmakers in a Dec. 22 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the company’s “previous actions and continuing service of existing contracts with Iranian clients may violate” an Iran sanctions law passed in 2010. Representative Sue Myrick, a North Carolina Republican, released the letter; it was also signed by Sens John Kyl (R-AZ), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), James Inhofe (R-OK), and Sheldon Whitehouse (R-RI), and Rep Frank Wolf (R-VA). The law, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act, prohibits the U.S. government from “entering into or renewing a contract with a company that exports sensitive telecommunications technology to Iran,” the lawmakers wrote.
benton.org/node/109613 | Bloomberg
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CHILE BANS SIM LOCKING OF MOBILE PHONES
[SOURCE: cellular-news, AUTHOR: Simon Davies]
The Chilean telecoms regulator, Subtel, has passed a regulation requiring mobile networks to unlock mobile phones at no charge to the customer. The regulation also required networks to stop SIM-locking handsets in future. Department of Telecommunications Minister, Pedro Pablo Errázuriz said that this is to be the "year of number portability" in the country and the new policy would bring in lower prices and more freedom for consumers.
benton.org/node/109621 | cellular-news
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