November 2012

Past the chicken coop and up a hill, in a spot on campus where the wooden buildings of the Mountain School can seem farther away than the mountains of western New Hampshire, there sometimes can be found a single bar, sometimes two, of cellphone reception. The spot, between the potato patch and a llama named Nigel, is something of an open secret at the school in this remote corner of Vermont where simplicity is valued over technology.

“We’re at the periphery of civilization here,” said Doug Austin, a teacher. But that is about to change. The school offers high school juniors, many from elite private institutions in the Northeast, a semester to immerse themselves in nature. The students make solo camping trips to a nearby mountain for a day or two of reflection, and practice orienteering skills without a GPS device. Between English and environmental science classes, they care for farm animals, chop wood and read the works of Robert Frost. And in the process, many say, they stop scouring the campus for its sparse bars of reception and lose the habit of checking their Facebook pages at every opportunity. As the rest of the country has gotten high-speed Internet, Vershire (population 730) has lagged, relying on land lines shared among neighbors, with dial-up and (for homes that face the right way) satellite Internet service that cuts out when the weather is rough. But cellphone signals have been seeping in, and soon there will be more. This fall, technicians will start laying fiber-optic cable to bring high-speed Internet to the town. Cellphone coverage is expected soon after. “Right now we’re the third-world country of Vermont,” said Gene Craft, the town clerk. “We’d like to be in touch.” That presents a challenge for the Mountain School: how to regulate the use of smartphones and other devices that serve as a constant distraction for 21st-century teenagers, who are here to engage with the rural setting and with one another.

Deutsche Telekom has been pushed into a €6.9 billion net loss after an impairment charge resulting from the merger of its US operations with MetroPCS, but stuck to full-year guidance given otherwise solid third-quarter results. Third-quarter revenue at the largest German telecoms group by customer numbers dipped slightly to €14.7 billion on the back of better than expected but still declining sales in its core European operations, which have been hit by worsening economic conditions. The Bonn-based company emphasized that the €6.9 billion net loss, down from a profit of €1.1 billion a year earlier, was because of a special accounting factor that caused an impairment charge of €7.4 billion at T-Mobile USA in the period.

A slew of thorny issues awaits President Obama and Congress in the lame-duck session. Obama’s victory increases the chances that the lame duck will be productive, but it remains to be seen if the president and leaders on Capitol Hill can break the gridlock that has gripped the 112th Congress. The following are policy matters that could be addressed in the coming weeks:

1. Online poker. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wants action in the lame duck on a bill legalizing online poker and online lottery sales. Companion legislation has been introduced in the House by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX).
2. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Senate might consider the controversial FISA amendments bill in the lame duck. The legislation would reauthorize spying on foreign communications without a judicial warrant. The House has approved a five-year extension of the authority, which expires in January.
3. Online sales tax. Retail groups have been pushing hard for an online sales tax measure they say will level the playing field between brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers. Similar, but not identical, bipartisan measures in both the House and Senate would allow states to collect from out-of-state retailers. Some conservatives, such as Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), oppose it.
4. Cybersecurity. Senate Republicans blocked the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), in September, and a compromise has been elusive, given business opposition.

The direction of the Federal Communications Commission during a second Obama Administration will be decided in two places: In the chairman’s office, which could have a new occupant next year, and in federal court, where cases are pending that challenge the FCC’s authority over broadband service, Internet traffic and wireless data.

Julius Genachowski, the FCC chairman since 2009, made the expansion of broadband service a priority during his tenure, but the next chairman will face formidable foes in efforts to free up more airwaves, or spectrum, for use by wireless phone companies. Two of the biggest potential sources of repurposed spectrum are television broadcasters and the military, and neither has eagerly embraced the prospect of giving up or sharing significant swaths of their current airwaves. Telecommunications companies have challenged the FCC’s authority to adopt rules governing how Internet service providers manage their networks and enforce what is known as network neutrality. Also under fire are FCC rules that require big companies like AT&T and Verizon to offer use of their data networks to customers of competing companies while they are roaming out of their service area. And small, rural phone companies are fighting the commission’s right to overhaul the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes for otherwise-uneconomical rural phone service, for use to build broadband networks. All three cases are pending before federal appeals courts.

Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group, said that because the cases all dealt with next-generation communications, if the FCC were to lose all three of three cases, “we could be looking at an agency that’s almost irrelevant.”