April 2013

Chat apps such as WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage have overtaken the text message as the favorite way to tap out a note to friends, undermining the traditional SMS cash cow for mobile operators.

The data, collected for the Financial Times by telecoms and media consultancy Informa, highlights the rapid rise of a technology that did not exist five years ago but is seen by some as a potential challenger to Facebook’s dominance in social networking. There were more instant messages being sent daily by the end of last year than there were text messages, Informa said. The consultancy expects “over the top” messaging to more than double to 41bn per day this year – more than twice the number of text messages expected to be sent. The transfer in technology has big implications for the telecoms industry, which will generate more than $120 billion from text messages this year, according to Informa.

[Commentary] Through a web of subsidies called the Universal Service Fund, U.S. telephone subscribers ensure that telecommunications networks are affordable and available in rural areas; that schools, libraries and rural health centers can access basic and advanced services at discounted rates; and low income consumers can still afford basic phone service. This week, a Congressional panel focused on the program that provides discounts on monthly telephone service for eligible low-income consumers to help ensure they have the opportunities and security that telephone service affords, including being able to connect to jobs, family, and 911 services. Although, historically, the low income program has been viewed as a benefit without a vocal constituency, the hearing demonstrated that many consumers rely on support to ensure their connection to vital communications.

[Commentary] If the Arab Spring realized social media’s civic promise, then the Boston bombings may be the moment that promise evaporated.

By now, we’re only too familiar with the much-analyzed, much-disparaged mistakes the ambiguous “hivemind” made in the wake of the attacks. In a thousand disparate ways, across every available social channel, we all made the same mistake: We believed we were entitled to and could easily possess first-hand knowledge of the Boston tragedy. And we believed our networks, the ones we had come to know and trust, imparted that knowledge. The fact remains that — in the wake of a devastating tragedy, at a moment that should have humbled us — the only thread uniting social media users was our conviction of the Internet’s infallibility.

In this Public Notice, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) and the Office of the Managing Director (OMD) of the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) provide instructions to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) regarding collections for the new Healthcare Connect Fund, pursuant to the Commission’s directives in the December 2012 Healthcare Connect Fund Order. The Bureau and OMD also instruct USAC not to consider excess collections for rural health care support when making its overall universal service fund (USF) demand projections.