June 2013

On May 24, 2013, Verizon filed an application under section 214 of the Communications Act of 1934, to discontinue certain domestic telecommunications services in certain parts of New Jersey and New York affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The application indicates that Verizon requests authority to discontinue three copper-based special access services, Metallic Service, Program Audio Service and Telegraph Grade Service (collectively, Affected Services), to customers in some parts of New Jersey and New York. Verizon explains that Metallic Service uses a metallic channel to transmit signals at low speeds up to 30 baud; Telegraph Grade Service uses a telegraph grade channel to transmit binary signals at rates up to 150 baud; and Program Audio Service provides a channel for the one-way transmission of a complex signal voltage with the option for customers to choose a bandwidth tier of 50 to 15000 Hz, 200 to 3500 Hz, 100 to 5000 Hz, or 50 to 8000 Hz. Verizon asserts that copper wireline facilities used to provide these services in certain parts of New Jersey and New York were destroyed or rendered inoperable by Hurricane Sandy on or after October 29, 2012. Verizon indicates that the facilities are located in New Jersey and New York and are specifically referenced in network change notices that Verizon filed pursuant to its waiver for disaster planning and response on May 10, 2013.

[Comments Due: July 29, 2013. WC Docket No. 13-149 Comp. Pol. File No. 1112.]

Recent editorials authored by top Internet executives paint a rosy picture of America's broadband services, but experts say they distort reality and don't offer a full picture about problems with the market.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam argued in The New York Times that the U.S. has "gained a global leadership position" in delivering high-speed Internet. Comcast chief executive David Cohen wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer that America has become "a world leader" in broadband access and speed. But the editorials fail to tell the full story about the state of high-speed Internet in America, industry analysts and consumer advocates said. They said that while broadband service in the U.S. has improved, consumers are still paying more for slower speeds than their counterparts in several countries.

Sascha Meinrath, vice president of the New America Foundation, said the editorials appeared to be "part of a well-orchestrated misinformation campaign" to disguise problems in the U.S. broadband market.

Dave Burstein, editor of the industry blog DSLPrime, said the executives are distorting the true picture by citing statistics that compare the U.S. to the average of all European countries. Burstein said a more accurate comparison should look at the U.S. in relation to individual countries like France and England.

[Commentary] Unfortunately, there’s been a long-standing campaign by a few academics & advocates to talk down America’s broadband market, while holding up France and Hong Kong as broadband Nirvanas for innovation and consumer pricing. A growing body of evidence, however, shows that the U.S. is no broadband backwater.

Akamai data puts the U.S. at No. 1 when considering “other countries with either a similar population or land mass.” That point is key: it’s impossible to make valid comparisons between a continent-sized landmass (that includes the Great Plains, Alaska and western Texas) and largely urbanized countries that look more like the Northeastern U.S. Corridor. Comparing California to Hong Kong is simply not useful. Looking at individual states, we can see that the best U.S. states beat out most of the rest of the world, both in average speeds, and peak connection speeds. Broadband critics typically ignore the mobile industry, presumably because its wild growth over the last five years doesn’t fit their chosen narrative. Finally, on broadband pricing, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s study concludes that “American broadband is affordable and in part reflects the significant private investment in American infrastructure. The OECD data indicates that entry-level broadband services are available to U.S. consumers at the second-lowest cost in the OECD.

In the wake of protests over violent content on its site Facebook announced that it will remove ads on pages or groups that contain “any violent, graphic or sexual content.” Starting July 1, Facebook will review pages for controversial content. While this content may not technically violate Facebook’s community standards policy, if the company marks it as offensive, it will not serve ads from brands on the right-hand column of these pages.

Previously, Facebook said, advertisers selling “adult” products were able to buy ads on these pages. “While we already have rigorous review and removal policies for content against our terms, we recognize we need to do more to prevent situations where ads are displayed alongside controversial Pages and Groups,” the company said.