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Ofcom, the UK's telecommunications regulator, proposed a tougher oversight regime for BT by saying the price of its flagship wholesale products should rise by less than the rate of inflation over the next three years.
Ofcom said its proposals should result in consumers securing real term reductions in the price of their phone and broadband services. This is because Ofcom expects TalkTalk and British Sky Broadcasting to pass on savings, that they secure on BT’s wholesale products, to their retail customers. Ofcom imposes price controls on the products provided by BT Openreach, the telecoms group’s subsidiary that provides rivals with access to its infrastructure. TalkTalk and BSkyB are among BT’s most important wholesale customers. They rent parts of BT’s network infrastructure, in a process known as local loop unbundling, so as to provide phone and broadband services to their retail customers. BT’s wholesale customers pay £89.10 per year for each landline that they rent from Openreach under the local loop unbundling process. Ofcom’s approach to the new price controls for Openreach’s products is tougher compared with the watchdog’s existing oversight regime. In 2009, Ofcom said the price of Openreach’s flagship products could rise above the rate of inflation. Ofcom’s new approach partly reflects its view that Openreach’s weighted average cost of capital has fallen from 10.1 per cent to 8.6 per cent. BT said it was crucial that it was able to secure a “fair rate of return” on its investments in telecoms networks.
BT faces tougher oversight on pricing
NBN Co., the Australian government- owned builder of a national broadband network, suspended the bidding process because proposed construction costs are too high.
“We have said all along that we are building an NBN, but not at any price,” Kevin Brown, the company’s head of corporate services, said today in a statement. “We will not proceed on the basis of prices we are currently being offered.” The broadband project, estimated since last year by the government to cost A$36 billion ($37 billion), is intended to connect 93 percent of all Australian homes to a fiber-based, high-speed, Internet network. It’s the biggest infrastructure project in the country’s history. “NBN Co. does not regard current pricing reflects capacity constraints,” Brown said. “We are progressing a different approach that we think will produce a better result.”
Australia’s NBN Says Costs Are Too High, Suspends Tenders
Plans to build a mobile phone network on London Underground in time for the Olympic Games have been abandoned.
The UK’s four mobile operators -- Everything Everywhere, O2, Vodafone and 3 -- said they had concluded it would not be possible to build the network in time for the Olympics starting next July. One person familiar with the plans said the logistics of constructing a mobile network on the Tube had proved extremely difficult, partly because the work could only take place for a limited period during the night when trains were not running. This person also said the Tube tunnels were small, which would further complicate the task of putting network infrastructure into them.
Olympic Tube phone plan dropped London Tube Won't Have Mobile-Phone Service Before Olympics (Bloomberg)
Microsoft may have filed its antitrust case against Google in Europe for the same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks: That’s where the money is. The European Commission has a history of levying big fines against monopolists — and Brussels is widely seen as friendlier terrain than Washington for trust-busting — so it makes sense that Microsoft would take a shot at Google far from Redmond or Mountain View.
But the Microsoft-Google feud didn't start in Europe, and it’s not going to end there. Sooner or later, it will be back in Washington — and, in fact, it already is. The Justice Department is in talks with Google over its move into travel — and is threatening to take the search giant to court if it doesn't scale back its plans. Lawmakers from both parties are calling for congressional hearings into Google’s expansion beyond search. And Microsoft is probably hoping against hope that its antitrust case against Google in the EU will prod the Justice Department into launching a similar one here.
The Microsoft-Google feud comes to DC
Microsoft has a surprising ally in its argument that Google is an abusive monopolist: Samuel Miller, the prosecutor who led the federal government's first antitrust case against Microsoft more than a decade ago. "Having prosecuted the Microsoft case, its seems to me that Google, as a monopoly, is engaging in the same tactics to keep its dominant position as Microsoft was engaging in," Miller says. "Those are the same tactics that got Microsoft in trouble." Miller believes all of Microsoft's arguments are "valid and worthy of serious consideration."
DOJ's Microsoft prosecutor: Google is a monopoly
"It's not on our short-term agenda," said House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) of the proposed purchase of T-Mobile by AT&T.
He said given the recent history of big mergers, it will likely take the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission a year or more to decide whether to approve the deal between the second and fourth largest wireless firms. While declining to give a date, Chairman Upton said he expects the committee will hold a hearing later this year to "walk through" the issues related to the merger.
Chairman Upton: AT&T-T-Mobile Not on Short-Term Agenda
Time Warner Cable pulled 12 networks from Discovery Communications, Fox Cable Networks and Viacom off its iPad streaming-video application -- after those companies complained that the service violated the terms of their distribution agreements -- although the MSO continues to insist it has the right to deliver that programming to the tablets. The networks removed from the app are: Discovery's Animal Planet, Discovery and TLC; Fox's FX and National Geographic Channel; and Viacom's BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nick, Spike and VH1. For now, Fox News Channel is still available through the app. Originally TWC was offering 32 channels through the free app, TWCable TV for iPad, but is currently offering 20.
Time Warner Cable Yanks 12 Networks From iPad App Time Warner Cable Drops Fox, Viacom From IPad App Amid Dispute (Bloomberg)
The privacy practices outlined in the settlement announced Wednesday between Google and the Federal Trade Commission should apply to all firms, according to Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA). Going forward, Google will have to obtain users' consent whenever it changes how one of its products uses or shares consumer data. Rep Eshoo said that same standard should apply to all Web firms. “Personal privacy is a closely held American value. When we share our personal data with business, its use should be transparent and secure," Rep Eshoo said. “Google’s agreement to obtain consumer consent before sharing new information with third parties should apply to all companies that collect or use personal data.”
Rep Eshoo: Google-FTC settlement should apply to all firms
Broadband access equipment vendor Calix continues to clean up on broadband stimulus-related deployment contracts, announcing two more projects with week, both with Minnesota stimulus winners.
Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services (SMBS) , a consortium of Minnesota communities, will use Calix’s Ethernet Extensible Architecture-powered (EXA) E7 Ethernet Service Access Platform and 700GE family of optical network terminals (ONTs) to deliver broadband to eight rural communities across southwest Minnesota. The deployment is modeled on a nearby fiber to the premises (FTTP) network in Windom (MN) that Calix also built, and will leverage the experience and many key components of the Windomnet network infrastructure.
Calix’s other stimulus-related announcement this week was for a project with Minnesota’s Red River Telephone, which won about $10 million in stimulus money. Red River is building a 690 route-mile fiber network using GPON and gigabit Ethernet technologies via the Calix C7 Multi-Service Access Platform and 700GE family of ONTs. The network will cover several communities in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Calix bags two more broadband stimulus projects
Three major health organizations, the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association and American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, have collaborated to create a quality improvement program aimed at improving outpatient care nationwide. Working with electronic health records providers from around the country, the program will provide doctors with the ability to easily gather, access and report on important data that can ultimately lead to improved care and outcomes for patients.
The program, called The Guideline Advantage, targets four of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States today, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes. Modeled after the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines quality suite of programs, the program was first launched in 2009 as Get With The Guidelines-Outpatient, and focused on cardiovascular health. Now, as The Guideline Advantage, the program provides the basis for evaluating and improving outpatient treatment for -- and prevention of -- these four diseases, which share many similar risk factors. Through the use of electronic health records, the program will also develop a rich database of information for future heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes research.
National health groups team up for quality