“The transition to digital will open countless markets,” said Viviane Reding, European Comr. for Information Society & Media at a European Institute lunch Wed. She used the film industry as an example: “The transition has made watching video possible on a growing number of technological platforms.” Reding said she also sees a large opening in the market for broadband providers.
Providers are scrambling to meet a Nov. 28 deadline by which interconnected VoIP providers must offer E-911 services, panelists said Thurs. at the VoIP E-911 Solution Summit in D.C. “Because only 33.6% of American counties have phase 2 wireless,” providers will need a lot of time and money to meet the deadline, said Rick Jones of the National Emergency Numbers Assn. (NENA). The FCC order said interconnected VoIP services must transmit all 911 calls with caller location and call-back number to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), “even if through a third party or CLEC.” Many VoIP providers said they consider the FCC’s decision “aggressive.”
A 3-judge panel of the U.S. Appeals Court, Chicago, dismissed a Dreamscape Designs claim that telecom company Affinity Network had overcharged its customers. In the Tues. ruling, the court said “federal tax law preempted Dreamscape’s claims.”
The FCC plans for Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band allocation are unduly skewed toward broad channel blocks and larger geographic areas, MetroPCS told the FCC, according to a recent ex parte. The ex parte was one of several filed with the FCC on the issue, including by CTIA, which supports the FCC plan.
“Municipality-run broadband wireless systems are not necessary,” said Robert Griffen, vp and assoc. gen. counsel for strategic wireless projects at Verizon, during a panel discussion at the Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) meeting Thurs. “Fierce competition will drive down the costs of broadband services,” he said.
By 2011, a billion more people will have access to telecommunications, due mainly to wireless industry expansion, said Ambassador David Gross, State Dept. international communications and information policy coordinator, at the Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) conference. The rapid spread of wireless communications has had “significant political and cultural effects, and not just here,” Gross said. Internationally, the wireless boom has lent momentum to regions once decades behind the U.S. technologically, he said. Today more than 100 countries offer WiFi, with some 65,000 hot spots. To facilitate growth, it’s important to “promote competition and prevent excess regulation in other countries,” said Gross.
Municipalities should leave broadband networks to the private sector when competition is healthy, said financial and regulatory consultant Michael Balhoff in a debate at the Chamber of Commerce Wed. Although the Chamber had speakers on both sides of the issue, many in the business audience clearly seemed to oppose municipal networks. Introducing municipal networks would take significant amounts of business away from ILECs as well as CLECs, slowing or halting competition in the community, Balhoff said.
A focus on fiber-based collocation understates the abilities of competitors without unbundled network elements (UNE) access to transport, Verizon said in the latest round of comments on the petitions for reconsideration of UNE rules. Several commenters, however, defended the earlier FCC decision.
Klausner Technologies filed a $200 million patent infringement suit against AOL in U.S. Dist. Court, Va., June 15. Klausner Technologies is inventor Judah Klaussner’s patent developer. The suit claims AOL’s voice services platform, which includes AOL Voicemail, AOL Call Alert, AOL by Phone and AOL VoIP service, infringes on one of Klausner’s patents. Each of the services infringe on the patent, a lawyer representing Klausner told Washington Internet Daily, because they display caller information for voice mail messages on a computer and allow users to select which messages they want to listen to. An AOL spokesman said: “We have received and reviewed a copy of the lawsuit. We think it is completely without merit.” Klausner invented the technology and patented it, but has never sold a product based on the technology himself, said attorney Gregory Dovel, who represents Klausner in the suit. Klausner is negotiating with a “number” of companies for licensing rights and royalty fees, Dovel said. The $200 million sought is based on a percentage of AOL’s operating profit margin, Dovel said, calling it a “modest royalty.” He said he expects a quick resolution to the case, whether through upcoming negotiations or through a trial. If the case goes to trial, he estimated the court date would be sometime next May.
The proposed SBC-AT&T and Verizon-MCI mergers would hurt competition and business in general, the Alliance for Competition in Telecom (ACTel) said Tues. ACTel, made up of smaller telecom competitors, was created solely to prevent the deals from happening and has petitioned the FCC to stop them. ACTel also plans to take its case to the Justice Dept.