Europe needs its own cloud computing strategy if it’s to lead the rest of the world as it did with GSM, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Thursday. Her plan to unleash the potential of the cloud won’t affect relations with the U.S., where many key cloud services providers are located, but will give European companies the chance to compete more fairly, she said at a press briefing. Small and mid-sized businesses applauded the move, but cloud computing companies and consumers voiced concerns.
Legislative experts said minority media groups will have opportunities to advance their legislative and regulatory priorities in 2013, during a panel Wednesday hosted by the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. Tim Johnson, legislative director for Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said next year he expects lawmakers to be active on the issues of video regulation, privacy and cybersecurity. “The business models of video providers suggest you will see a lot of evolution in the business of how video gets transmitted and who pays for it,” Johnson said.
AT&T said the FCC should reject CLEC proposals to adopt a de minimis exemption to the upcoming mandatory data request on the special access market (http://xrl.us/bnrhym). The proposals would exempt providers with less than a certain number of facilities-based building connections in a market from having to provide data. Several CLECs had made the requests, arguing an exemption could ease the burden on small companies whose data would be of little use to the commission’s analysis.
The media ownership order the FCC is drafting likely will stick with the provisions outlined in last year’s notice of proposed rulemaking for that quadrennial review, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn predicted Wednesday. With the caveat that she has not seen the draft, and none is circulating for a vote, she speculated at a conference that it won’t likely propose more deregulation than the NPRM. “It will probably retain many of the existing media ownership rules” including a ban on one company owning more than one broadcast network and existing limits on how many radio stations can be commonly owned in a market, Clyburn said. There may be “a minor modification or two” to existing rules, she said.
Federal officials ventured to Colorado in mid-September after allegations of overbuilt fiber and federal stimulus gone wrong. The concern was EAGLE-Net, a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grantee that got $100.6 million to address what NTIA called “lack of affordable high-capacity broadband access at many rural and underserved school districts and educational institutions” (http://xrl.us/bnq84g). But the intergovernmental entity has critics who told us the grant winner overbuilt into private providers’ territory, displaying a shifting agenda and a deficit of collaboration that has left them worried. EAGLE-Net didn’t overbuild, its executives said.
LAS VEGAS -- Congress likely will take a hard look at a Telecom Act rewrite next year, Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry said Wednesday at the close of the association’s convention. CCA closed with a panel of carrier executives who discussed the outlook for a rewrite.
LAS VEGAS -- Competitive Carriers Association officials warn that unless the FCC approves a mandate requiring that all devices built for lower 700 MHz spectrum work across the band, CCA members are unlikely to make much of a play in the upcoming incentive auction of broadcast spectrum. CCA officials cite what they say is a statistic that shows why an interoperability mandate is critical -- members of the group invested some $2 billion in the 700 MHz auction and most to date have been unable to roll out service.
LAS VEGAS -- T-Mobile USA “lost its way” as AT&T’s attempts to buy it last year fell through, said Jim Alling, T-Mobile chief operating officer, during a keynote at the Competitive Carriers Association convention Tuesday. Alling, who was interim CEO until last week, was the highest profile speaker from T-Mobile at the conference. T-Mobile joined CCA in March and the Las Vegas meeting was its first major meeting as a member of the group, which just changed its name from the Rural Cellular Association.
The FCC Media Bureau should push back by at least 18 months a Dec. 1 deadline to begin using standard home-networking outputs on cable boxes, Verizon said in response to a petition by TiVo to be temporarily let out of those rules. TiVo’s petition “generally underscores the need for broader relief across providers and equipment,” Verizon said. Verizon said it plans to introduce a new device -- the Verizon Media Server (VMS) -- that will let customers use third-party devices to access and control its FiOS service.
Dish Network plans to sell a fixed and mobile broadband service across the country, executives said Tuesday at the company’s Washington office. Satellite is the best way to deliver video to the U.S., said Jeff Blum, Dish deputy general counsel. “Consumers want more than a fixed linear video experience,” he said. “They want fixed and mobile voice, video and data.” The service is an effort to offer more data capacity and decrease latency, he said. Dish separately sought to keep its current uplink mobile satellite service spectrum as-is, when it gets a waiver to provide satellite broadband terrestrially (CD Sept 25 p1). Sprint Nextel wants a shift to protect the H block of spectrum that may be auctioned.