The business of Internet, wireless, and telecom law.
Technorati Tags: FCC,National Broadband Plan,ARRA The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act ("ARRA”) appropriated $7.2 billion for various broadband projects. The primary goals of the ARRA broadband provisions are 1) to increase broadband penetration for the unserved, both rural and urban, 2) to increase broadband adoption for the “underserved,” and 3) to deliver new jobs. The [...]
Technorati Tags: Spectrum,FCC,NTIA,Senator Kerry In 2003, President Bush issued an Executive Order entitled “Spectrum Policy for the 21st Century” ordering the Department of Commerce’s NTIA to identify spectrum and propose policies for the spectrum’s more efficient use. The Federal Government Spectrum Task Force was created led by NTIA and consisting of all the departments except [...]
While visiting Denver’s Museum of Nature and Science this week, President Obama signed the historic “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” For the telecom industry, as well as other sectors of the economy, the Recovery Act presents the opportunity for obtaining billions of dollars of grants and loans and delivering jobs and hope to the economy. [...]
The FCC announced yesterday that it will host a summit on February 25, 2009, for coordinating Next Generation 911 deployment for IP-enabled voice service providers. The summit is required by the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008 (NET911 Act) which was unanimously passed by Congress last July. The NET911 Act required the [...]
Yesterday FCC Commissioner McDowell released a letter addressed to Acting Chairman Copps. One great suggestion (see the list) in his letter was the proposal that the Commission schedule in advance Open Meeting dates. Commissioner McDowell explained: We need to improve our external communications regarding FCC processes and actions. As an immediate first step, I suggest [...]
In its first order after the resignation of Chairman Martin and departure of Commissioner Tate, the three remaining commissioners at the FCC, Copps, Adelstein, and McDowell, denied on January 21, 2009, a Petition for Forbearance filed by Feature Group IP. Feature Group IP requested in its October 23, 2007 Petition that the FCC forbear from [...]
This month the FCC narrowly avoided addressing the messy political hot-potato of comprehensive intercarrier compensation reform. Very few, even inside the industry, have a full grasp of the complex problems involved with reform. On November 5, 2008, the FCC issued a lengthy order addressing the dial-up reciprocal compensation issues related to the Core Communications order [...]
The intercarrier compensation scheme is a mess. On this all parties agree. Over the years, the FCC moved from the role of regulator overseeing compensation payments that were enforced through tariffs between carriers to becoming a collector and distributor of billions of dollars of collected funds. There is little agreement on how to implement a [...]
There has been a great deal of talk about open mobile applications, devices and access since last year’s FCC 700Mhz auction order for open mobile devices. The open mobile proposal was teed up by Google as a requirement for the successful bidder of the 700Mhz C Block. The C Block covered the nation with a [...]
On July 23, 2008, a new 911 statute was entered into law. The “New and Emerging Technologies (NET) 911 Improvement Act of 2008” (the NET 911 Act) requires the FCC to enact rules implementing the Act’s provisions within 90 days of the effective date of the legislation, or October 21, 2008. The legislation was designed [...]
