1. Monthly archive
  2. January 2017

January 2017

“Ajit Pai has been on the wrong side of just about every major issue”

Ajit Pai has been on the wrong side of just about every major issue that has come before the Federal Communications Commission during his tenure. He’s never met a mega-merger he didn’t like or a public safeguard he didn’t try to undermine. He’s been an inveterate opponent of Net Neutrality, expanded broadband access for low-income families, broadband privacy, prison-phone justice, media diversity and more. Pai has been an effective obstructionist who looks out for the corporate interests he used to represent in the private sector. If the new president really wanted an FCC chairman who’d stand up against the runaway media consolidation that Trump himself decried in the AT&T/Time Warner deal, Pai would have been his last choice — though corporate lobbyists across the capital are probably thrilled. Millions of Americans from across the political spectrum have looked to the FCC to protect their rights to connect and communicate and cheered decisions like the historic Net Neutrality ruling, and Pai threatens to undo all of that important work. Those millions will rise up again to oppose his reactionary agenda.

FCC General Counsel Symons Exiting

Federal Communications Commission general counsel Howard Symons is exited the FCC Jan 20 after three years, most of it as vice chair of the incentive auction task force. Symons was named general counsel back in July after general counsel John Sallet left to join the Justice Department as deputy general counsel for litigation in the antitrust division. The general counsel is the top legal advisor to the commission. Its attorneys represent the FCC before appeals courts, recommend decisions in adjudications, and helps provide the legal underpinnings for decisions like reclassifying ISPs under Title II. Before joining the FCC, Symons chaired the communications practice at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo and was senior counsel to the house Telecommunication (now Communications) Subcommittee. The exit comes as the spectrum auction Symons helped shepherd met its benchmarks for closing after the current stage of the forward auction.

White House Website Scrubbed of LGBT, Climate Change, Healthcare and Civil Rights Mentions

Immediately after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, some changes were made to the White House's official website and social media accounts. Though the plan to move Barack Obama's tweets as @POTUS to @POTUS44 was already in place, the Twitter account was wiped clean of tweets and followers to prepare it for President Trump (though he will reportedly continue to use @realDonaldTrump). WhiteHouse.gov also saw lightning-fast changes, many of which observant Twitter users pointed out right away. Pages that contained information on issues such as LGBT and climate change as well as many resources on healthcare and civil rights were removed from the site.

The National Broadband Research Agenda: Key Priorities for Broadband Research and Data

One of the four overarching recommendations in the Broadband Opportunity Council's 2015 report was to improve data collection, analysis, and research on broadband. Included in the report was a commitment by NTIA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to lead the development of a National Broadband Research Agenda to address these topics comprehensively. This Agenda is a synthesis of broad input from academia, the public, and Federal staff, and provides a conceptual framework for potential research proposals and data requirements in four key areas related to U.S. R&D in broadband: technology, deployment, adoption, and socioeconomic impacts. Findings from these proposed research topics will support the continued dynamic growth of the Information and Communications Technology sector and identify effective strategies to address remaining disparities in broadband access, adoption, and choice in the United States.

President Trump’s top 7 action items in telecom

[Commentary] As President Donald Trump settles into his new job there are a number of outstanding issues in the telecommunications industry he will likely address in the coming weeks, months and years. Below are the top seven issues that President Trump will likely weigh in on throughout his administration, as well as speculation on what he might do.

1. Select Federal Communications Commission’s leadership and determine its direction
2. (Almost certainly) repeal network neutrality
3. Act on AT&T’s proposed merger with Time Warner…
4. …and rule on future deals, like a possible Sprint and T-Mobile matchup
5. Finish the incentive auction and formulate an overall spectrum policy
6. Address "unlock the box" and the pay-TV market
7. Create more jobs in telecom

Wheeler's Auction: Promises Undelivered

[Commentary] Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said the other day that the auction “delivered on its ambitious promise.” That’s quite a stretch by any measure. The final numbers of $18.3 billion for 70 MHz of spectrum is miles away from the commission’s talk when this all started back in 2010.

AT&T says 50% of voice customers in Alabama, Florida trial cities transitioned to IP services

AT&T is progressing with its TDM-to-IP voice service transition in two cities in FL and AL, telling the Federal Communications Commission that on a combined basis 50 percent of total customer accounts have voluntarily migrated to one of the company's next-generation wireline and wireless voice services.

In its latest filing with the FCC, AT&T revealed that voluntary consumer transitions to IP in Carbon Hill (AL) and Delray Beach (FL) increased by 72 percent and 59 percent, respectively. As expected, consumer TDM-based services declined by 36 percent and 38 percent. AT&T reported similar trends with business customers in these two cities. Simple IP business accounts were up 35 percent in Carbon Hill and 48 percent in Delray Beach, while simple TDM business accounts declined 28 percent and 25 percent. Customers who have transitioned to the next-gen IP-based services during the trial reported they have received similar service performance, service quality and customer care to that of TDM-based services.

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