Texas Instruments (TI) plans to offer royalty-free licenses under TI patents needed to implement wireless home networking standard called IEEE 802.11g. Offer needs ratification of TI proposal for higher speed wireless local area networks in 2.4 GHz. TI said proposal would double data rate of 802.11b products to 22 Mbps.
New Edge Networks said orders for its broadband services increased more than 60% in last 2 months of 2000 because it picked up customers of competitors that were scaling back or in jeopardy of going out of business. New Edge said it took in record 1,700 orders in last week of Dec. alone.
German govt. awarded 8 major regional spectrum licenses to provide fixed wireless and broadband services to ArcTel, joint venture of Teligent and Mannesmann Arcor. Licenses in 26 MHz band cover Berlin and Hamburg, increasing total population coverage of ArcTel in Germany to 31 million, companies said. Mannesmann Arcor is fixed-line telecom arm of Vodafone Group. Companies said ArcTel now holds more than 200 licenses in Germany.
RateXchange Corp. and London Satellite Exchange announced first global alliance that gives bandwidth users ability to fulfill satellite and fiber requirements at same time. RateXchange operates trading system for fiber bandwidth and London Satellite Exchange is online exchange for satellite industry.
Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC) urged FCC to reject NCTA and Time Warner petitions for reconsideration of agency’s cable-ready labels for new DTV sets (CD Nov 29 p5). Signaling no letup in battle between consumer electronics and cable industries over DTV set labels and other DTV-cable compatibility issues, CERC argued that real problem was OpenCable specifications for advanced digital cable set-top boxes and integrated TV sets, not set labels adopted by Commission. In 10- page filing with FCC, CERC criticized cable industry for not supporting digital cable boxes “capable of competition with the MSO-distributed products now on the market.” Group said it was “cable industry compliance, not the labels, that needs to be reformed.” CERC also said NCTA was seeking to “turn this labeling proceeding into a substantive mandate that all OpenCable-reliant DTV receivers must include the ‘1394’ interface” favored by cable and broadcasting industries for digital sets. CERC said cable industry’s own focus group studies showed that “the labels previously recommended by NCTA are… not good enough.”
OPASTCO urged FCC to set higher benchmark for prices charged by rural CLECs for access because their costs were higher. Commenting on FCC public notice that asked about effect of benchmarks on rural CLECs (CC Doc. 96-262), OPASTCO said it supported idea of benchmarks to hold down CLEC access charges but “a single benchmarked rate would not be suitable for all CLECs.” Higher cutoff should be established “for CLECs serving rural or high-cost areas that suitably reflects their higher costs of providing service,” OPASTCO said. Assn. said all of its members were rural telcos and about 1/3 of them operated CLECs.
BellSouth told FCC it was opposed to request by Dept. of Justice and FBI for additional security requirements under Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). DoJ/FBI asked agency in Nov. to require carriers to: (1) Submit name, phone number, e-mail address and other contact information for person designated as point of contact for CALEA issue. (2) Notify FCC in writing or by e-mail of any change in such contact information. BellSouth said requirements were “unnecessary, burdensome and inconsistent with the Commission’s minimal set of guidelines for compliance with CALEA’s systems security and integrity provisions.”
N.Y. PSC approved rate restructuring plan for Citizens Telecom that will make rates uniform in all of carrier’s service areas across state by 2005. New rate structure will replace hodgepodge of rates from company’s acquisitions of small telcos over last 20 years that led to situations where customers were charged substantially different rates for similar services without cost justification for difference. Plan adopted Tues. provides for phasing in new rates over 4 years, starting in 2002, with annual increases limited to $1 monthly for residential customers and $3 per line monthly for business customers. Customers receiving rate cuts under restructuring will see them implemented this month. New rates also will cover Citizens’ revenue losses from expiration in near future of long-term intercarrier compensation agreements with Verizon for extended local calling. Plan also eliminates Citizens’ rural zone charges to customers beyond base rate areas of its local exchanges and makes Citizens’ local calling areas similar in size to those of Verizon. Citizens is 4th largest incumbent in N.Y., with 307,000 lines in 126 exchanges scattered across state.
Mont. House State Administration Committee completed hearings Wed. on bill that would require state agencies to retain internal and external e-mail memos and letters as public record, just as they must do now with correspondence on paper. Measure (HB-112) would clarify state open records law to include e-mail among agency records that must be retained and made available to public. Panel has until mid-Feb. to move bill. Measure also would make it crime to harass or threaten anyone via e-mail. Penalties would be same as for telephone harassment. State Rep. John Brueggeman (R- Polson), bill’s sponsor, said e-mail had become common method for conducting official state business, but effectively was exempt under current law from requirements that official correspondence be kept for public inspection. Other supporters cited incident last fall in which environmental group seeking internal memos from state Natural Resources Dept. to bolster case in timberland dispute discovered material had been deleted in routine purge of e-mail files. Supporters also said making e-mail harassment crime would close loophole in current law. No opponents spoke at hearing.
News Corp. Chmn. Rupert Murdoch is trying to restore relations with Chinese officials by organizing media summit meeting in Shanghai later this year. He wants summit to coincide with gathering of regional leaders for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Murdoch’s goal is to offer his Star TV system throughout country.