The business of Internet, wireless, and telecom law.
Starting in 1996, the FCC began the work of moving TV broadcasters from analog to digital TV. At the time it was anticipated that TV stations would use their spectrum to deliver additional, unspecified non-broadcast- type services. In 1998, the FCC prescribed a rule (47 CFR 73.624(g )), following the 1996 Telecom Act, allowing TV [...]
On April 18, 2011, comments were due for the USF Reform Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making. Various parties filed 130+ comments. Reply comments are due on May 23, 2011. USF reform comments were filed by ILECs, RLECs, CLECs, state commissions, fiber providers, cable companies, mobile providers, associations, and [...]
On February 9, 2011, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on numerous proposed changes to “fundamentally modernize” the USF (Universal Service Fund) and another subsidy program called the “intercarrier compensation system.” The USF “High Cost Fund” is a multibillion dollar annual subsidy created in [...]
Last month, Carl Ford of 4GWE fame, hosted a White Spaces session at his popular 4GWE LA West Coast conference. The panel followed the release of the FCC’s September 23, 2010 white spaces order. There was great conversation on white spaces spectrum and regulatory issues. I moderated the session. Panelists included Brough Turner, CTO Netblazr [...]
The Recovery Act NTIA winners are waiting for millions of dollars of stimulus funding. The NTIA winners receiving the largest grants will install fiber on thousands of miles of poles. These NTIA fiber winners will be the new competitors to the ILECs who own the poles. The FCC is trying to address the pole problem [...]
Universal Service Reform has been in the FCC “reform hopper” for more than 10 years. Commissioner McDowell correctly labeled the USF program “antiquated, arcane, inefficient and just downright broken.” Fixing USF is anything but easy because while you can move USF money from one bucket to another, lowering the fee will take away government subsidies [...]
Technorati Tags: FCC,NTIA,Cisco,Alcatel-Lucent,FTTH,Fiber,Recovery Act,BTOP On Friday, July 26, 2009, the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) granted a “limited waiver” for the Buy America restriction in the Recovery Act covering certain types of equipment that may be required for broadband projects. The NTIA is responsible for overseeing the process of delivering $4.7 billion in stimulus [...]
Technorati Tags: FCC,Senate Commerce Committee,Genachowski Obama was voted in with lots of talk about reform. Democrats could not wait to make change. However, with other priorities like the economy teetering on the edge of the cliff and GM filing for bankruptcy and the $787 billion Recovery Act, more was on the agenda plate that could [...]
Technorati Tags: FCC,NTIA,Recovery Act,Buy America,Broadband The Recovery Act included a “Made in America” requirement for all $787 billion of stimulus funding. Section 1605 of the Act provides that in a “public work” all “manufactured goods used in the project” must be “produced in the United States.” A Federal agency is authorized to waive the requirement [...]
Technorati Tags: NTIA,ARRA,Recovery Act,National Broadband Plan,Recovery.gov On May 18, 2009, NTIA submitted the first required quarterly progress report to Congress on getting the Recovery Act funding out the door. Without a press release or press conference, NTIA “quietly” (a word GigaOm’s Stacey Higginbotham used) explained to Congress that the first tranche of broadband funding would [...]
