September 2013

House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) said that pulling funding from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) should be a "last resort" if the body continues its push for Internet regulation.

"It's also a big club," he said at event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute. "You hope you can work these things out." Chairman Walden argued that the first step should be for the Senate to pass his bill declaring support for the current model of Internet governance free from government control. Chairman Walden also said he hopes to be able to agree on bipartisan Federal Communications Commission process reform legislation sometime in the fall. He wants to establish shot clocks, cost-benefit analyses and other FCC reforms, but has run into opposition from Democrats. He emphasized the need for major telecommunications regulation reform, but wasn't sure how that would be achieved, whether through a comprehensive telecom rewrite or in pieces. He suggested, though, that it could not all be accomplished in the reauthorization of STELA, the bill covering satellite and cable compulsory licenses. Chairman Walden said his subcommittee would hold a hearing next month on the fate of copper wire in a world of Internet delivery. The transition from traditional phone service to IP delivery is a hot topic in Washington as the FCC considers how to ease that transition and what, if any, legacy regulations -- interconnection requirements, for example -- should carry over. "The last thing we want to do is stifle the unprecedented innovation of the Internet by subjecting it to the complicated outdated government imposed rules of the plain old telephone network," Chairman Walden said.

Boosting broadband speeds is correlated with a higher income in developed countries according to Ericsson.

A bump from 4 Mbps, which is the US definition of broadband, to 8 Mbps is tied to an increase in income of $120 per month in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. In Brazil, India and China — countries with a less developed broadband infrastructure — speeds boosts of 512 kbps to 4Mbps offers a $46 monthly increase in income. The greatest boost in those countries comes from going from no internet access to 512 kbps which is correlated with a $70 increase in household income per month. In OECD countries the biggest benefit from a speed boost comes when homes go from no broadband to 4 Mbps, gaining about $322 per month. Importantly, the study notes that the benefits of broadband speed increases vary by country and also increase in a step progression.

[Commentary] AT&T filed comments in the Federal Communication Commission’s proceeding to modernize the E-rate program.

Not only should broadband be prioritized over other services when it comes to receiving funding, but the FCC should also put funding toward ensuring adequate internal connections within these institutions. Access to broadband is useless if you don’t have sufficient inside wiring or electronics. While there are many changes that we think should be made to the current E-rate system, there is one thing that must remain the same and that is that it continues to operate in a technology-neutral manner. Proposals to favor the use of dark fiber over other technologies to roll out high-speed broadband are woefully misguided. Wireless data, cable and satellite are just a few of the other technology platforms that can and should be considered as viable options and must receive comparable funding to dark fiber. One technology platform is not going to meet the needs of every school and library across the country. These institutions must be afforded the option of choosing the technology that enables them to get the best quality and most reliable high-capacity broadband service.

Not content with being a beloved geek icon and a social media superstar, “Star Trek” actor George Takei is about to take on new frontier: bringing next-generation tech to an older set of Americans.

Takei is taking his own love of technology, and his distinctive voice, to the Web, where he’s anchoring an AARP series devoted to teaching older people about industry’s latest innovations. The series, “Takei’s Take,” will have 12 episodes and air every two weeks. The shows will be four minutes — “give or take,” Takei said — and will aim at not only at educating more people about technology trends, but also at presenting the information in such a way that viewers may want to adopt some of the ideas from the tech industry in their own lives.