August 2012

Free Online Course Will Rely on Multiple Sites

A group of online-learning ventures is collaborating on a new kind of free class to be offered this fall, known as a mechanical MOOC (for “massive open online course”), that will teach a computer-programming language by patching together existing resources from open-learning sites. Unlike courses already available online, the new class will not require a traditional instructor, or a large start-up investment. The new course, “A Gentle Introduction to Python,” will blend content from MIT’s OpenCourseWare, instant-feedback exercises and quizzes from Codecademy, and study groups organized by OpenStudy, and will be coordinated through an e-mail list operated by Peer 2 Peer University.

Everything Everywhere Wins Permission For Faster Network in UK

Deutsche Telekom AG and France Telecom’s UK mobile-phone venture gained permission to run faster data services on its current airwaves, removing a hurdle to its plan to begin operating a so-called 4G network this year.

Everything Everywhere, the country’s largest wireless operator, can use licenses in the 1,800 megahertz spectrum to deliver the faster connections, UK regulator Ofcom said. The venture said today it still plans to deploy the long-term evolution technology, which offers faster speeds, by the end of this year. Allowing the carrier to use the frequencies will deliver significant benefits to consumers, and “there is no material risk that those benefits will be outweighed by a distortion of competition,” Ofcom said. “Delaying doing so would therefore be to the detriment of consumers.” The decision allows Everything Everywhere to get a head start on Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) and Telefonica SA (TEF), which are waiting for more frequencies to become available at an auction before starting their own faster services.

Myanmar to Curb Censorship of Media

The government of Myanmar said that it would no longer censor private publications, a move that journalists described as a major step toward media freedom in a country where military governments have tried for decades to control the flow of information. The announcement was made to editors and posted on a government Web site. “All publications in Myanmar are exempt from the scrutiny of Press Scrutiny and Registration Department,” the government said in a terse statement. Private publications in Myanmar have been thriving since President Thein Sein began taking steps last year to open up the country’s economy and move the country toward democracy.

Canadians Spend Less Time on Smartphones Than Last Year

Canada's love affair with mobile rages on, but it seems as if the relationship is entering the 'comfort zone.'

The spring 2012 wave of Ipsos Reid's Mobil-ology, a study of the mobile market in Canada, shows that the frequency at which Canadians are using their smartphones, tablets and eReaders remains stable, however, the average duration of time they report using them has declined. "Initially, seasonality was suspected as a cause of this reported behaviour," says Mary Beth Barbour, Senior Vice President with Ipsos Reid. "However, the average duration of use has failed to return to the higher levels recorded a year earlier in spring 2011. This is beginning to suggest a potential shift in usage patterns." Wave 3 of the study, conducted in March/April 2012, shows that device usage has stabilized over time. On average, Canadians report using their Smartphones 222 times per month, Tablets 115 times per month, and eReaders 38 times per month.

Argentine Networks Prepare for Mobile TV Service

Argentina's three main mobile networks -- Movistar, Claro, and Personal -- have submitted plans to the government to offer mobile TV services, over the DTT platform. Citing a government official, El Diario reported that the three networks expect to announce their plans following a meeting that is due to be held in ten days’ time. The Mobile TV service will be based on the Japanese ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial) system, which is already supported in Venezuela and Brazil. Due to import restrictions, handsets will need to be sent to local factories to be modified for the local Mobile TV service.

Internet used by 86% of Germans – study

The majority (86%) of 14-64 year olds in Germany use the internet, with a PC their primary Internet access device (used by 85% of Internet users), according to the latest TNS Infratest Convergence Monitor.

Commerce Department Names Board of Directors for the First Responder Network Authority

Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank appointed twelve of the nation’s leading experts on public safety and wireless broadband communications to serve on the Board of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet). They are:

Tim Bryan, CEO, National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative
Charles “Chuck” Dowd, Deputy Chief, New York City Police Department
F. Craig Farrill, Wireless telecommunications executive
Paul Fitzgerald, Sheriff, Story County, Iowa
Samuel “Sam” Ginn, Telecommunications executive
Jeffrey Johnson, Fire Chief (retired); former Chair, State Interoperability Council, State of Oregon; CEO, Western Fire Chiefs Association
William Keever, Telecommunications executive (retired)
Kevin McGinnis, Chief/CEO, North East Mobile Health Services
Ed Reynolds, Telecommunications executive (retired)
Susan Swenson, Telecommunications/technology executive
Teri Takai, Government information technology expert; former CIO, states of Michigan and California
Wellington Webb, Founder, Webb Group International; former Mayor, Denver, Colorado

Ginn will serve as the Chairman of the FirstNet Board.

FirstNet is congressionally mandated to establish a nationwide wireless broadband network that enables police, firefighters, emergency services personnel, and others in public safety to better communicate with one another during emergencies and use new technology to improve response time, keep communities safe, and save lives. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, signed into law in February 2012, created FirstNet, an independent authority within Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Congress directed that FirstNet be run by a 15-person Board of Directors, with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget named as permanent members of the Board. Congress charged the Secretary of Commerce with selecting the remaining 12 members.

AT&T’s FaceTime Restrictions Could Be Violating FCC Rules

When Apple releases its next version of its mobile operating system iOS this fall, iPhone customers will have the option to place FaceTime video calls over the cellular network, whereas before they could do so only on Wi-Fi. On the AT&T network, however, that privilege will be available to customers only on a certain type of data plan, which has raised debate on whether or not the carrier is violating government rules.

AT&T said that using FaceTime over its network would be a feature for customers of its shared data plans, not customers who have the older unlimited or tiered data plans. Public Knowledge, a nonprofit group that focuses on Internet law, says that by prohibiting its other customers from using the video-calling feature on the network, AT&T is violating network neutrality rules by blocking a service that potentially competes with its own. John Bergmayer, senior staff lawyer at Public Knowledge, said AT&T was violating the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet Rules, which say that mobile providers shall not “block applications that compete with the provider’s voice or video telephony services.” “There is no technical reason why one data plan should be able to access FaceTime and another not,” Bergmayer said. AT&T says it has done nothing wrong, because FaceTime is still available over Wi-Fi.

The Spectrum Gap Keeps Growing

[Commentary] A growing "spectrum gap" between Verizon and AT&T and the rest of the wireless industry is hobbling competition and harming consumers.

The problem isn't any one transaction. The problem is that the majority of spectrum that becomes available ends up in the hands of AT&T or Verizon. AT&T and Verizon are able to out-bid any other potential buyer, not merely because they have so much money. Apple has much more money than either of those companies and does not buy spectrum. So does Exxon. Rather, AT&T and Verizon are willing to pay more for spectrum, and do more to get it, because spectrum is more valuable to them. First, they already have large networks, so due to economies of scale they can put new spectrum to work more cheaply than their competitors. This makes them more willing to pay for spectrum than any competitor that would have to spend a lot more to get a network off the ground. And, of course, it's worth good money for them to corner the market for a basic input their competitors need to operate--imagine if McDonald's was able to buy up all of the hamburger buns in the country, or it Microsoft was able to corner the market on ones and zeros. As a given carrier has more and more spectrum the "foreclosure value" of buying up spectrum goes up. But this is a problem.

If policymakers in the US want to protect consumers they need to promote wireless competition. And to do that, they need to adopt spectrum policies that put spectrum in the hands of the providers that need it most, not just the providers that can pay the most.

Verizon learned from AT&T’s mistakes to push spectrum deal with cable operators

In winning approval for a $3.6 billion deal with leading cable companies, Verizon showed that it learned from the mistakes of its chief rival, AT&T.

Whereas AT&T rolled out a splashy public relations campaign last year to try and push through a $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, Verizon kept its cable proposal under the radar while offering concessions to regulators. Verizon's strategy proved more effective. Although there were many differences between the AT&T/T-Mobile merger and Verizon's cable deal, both were primarily about the companies' need for spectrum. Gigi Sohn, president of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, which opposed both deals, said that although she believes Verizon's deal was "in a lot of ways equally bad, if not worse" than AT&T’s, it was "more subtle." She noted that Verizon's deal would allow it upgrade its network with spectrum that the cable companies weren't using. The AT&T merger, Sohn claimed, was "just a dog" from a public interest perspective. Verizon's strategy for navigating its deal through the regulatory process was also vastly different. Verizon’s public relations campaign was barely noticeable, and few lawmakers weighed in on the matter. When it became clear that regulators were taking a hard look at the deal, Verizon proactively offered to put some of its own valuable spectrum up for sale. The company even won the support of T-Mobile, who had been a vocal critic, by striking a side deal that gave T-Mobile a chunk of the cable companies' spectrum.

Benton

Search