May 2012

A number of small telecommunications companies and consumer groups sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski expressing alarm at Verizon's recent announcement that it will discontinue installing so-called "naked," or standalone, DSL Internet service as of May 6, 2012.

Existing Verizon "naked DSL" customers who make changes to their service plans will lose their DSL service as a result. Customers will not be able to move their service to a new location. The letter is signed by representatives from small telcos like Access Humboldt and consumer groups like Public Knowledge and Consumers Union. The letter implores Chairman Genachowski to see "that the commission work with Verizon to explore its planned discontinuance of standalone DSL and, if possible, to delay the implementation of a policy that would further reduce the affordability and availability of broadband services to consumers." One reason for delay is that there already is an open FCC proceeding investigating the effects of bundling on prices and competition for telecom services. While the docket has been inactive since 2005, it remains open for public comment.

Congress should pass a law to give investigators freer access to certain cellphone records, an Obama Administration official said in remarks that raised concern among advocates of civil liberties and privacy. Jason Weinstein, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's criminal division, argued that requirements for warrants at early stages of investigations would "cripple" prosecutors and law enforcement.

While prosecutors have been told to get warrants to put a tracking device on a vehicle or to track the precise GPS location of a person via their cellphone, they should not be needed to obtain data from the towers, Weinstein said. "There really is no fairness and no justice when the law applies differently to different people depending on which courthouse you're sitting in," he said at the "State of the Mobile Net" conference sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee. "For that reason alone, we think Congress should clarify the legal standard," he said.

Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB struck a deal with Mexican regulators to avoid paying a fine of almost $1 billion, in exchange for cutting wireless fees and offering calls to competitors for no extra charge. The agency voted unanimously to overturn the fine it assessed in April 2011, the Federal Competition Commission said. The commission will be able to fine Mexico City-based America Movil, the largest wireless carrier in the Americas, as much as 8 percent of its annual Mexican wireless revenue if it violates the pledges. America Movil has 70 percent of Mexico’s mobile- phone lines and 80 percent of land lines.

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