Advocates for the disabled called for FCC mandates or recommendations to spur broadband adoption by people with disabilities. They responded to a commission notice seeking comment on broadband accessibility for people with disabilities, part of the FCC’s development of a national broadband plan. But CTIA, CEA and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) warned that accessibility mandates for wireless and other devices drives up costs and can stifle innovation.
Advocates for the disabled called for FCC mandates or recommendations to spur broadband adoption by people with disabilities. They responded to a commission notice seeking comment on broadband accessibility for people with disabilities, part of the FCC’s development of a national broadband plan. But CTIA, CEA and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) warned that accessibility mandates for wireless and other devices drives up costs and can stifle innovation.
GENEVA -- Shared infrastructure or broadband backbones may be the key to providing broadband to more rural areas, even in highly-developed countries, speakers said at the ITU Telecom conference Wednesday. Such sharing raises difficult regulatory issues, said Matthias Kurth, president of Germany’s Federal Network Agency and chairman of the European Regulatory Group. He said that’s a way to stimulate broadband penetration while minimizing cost.
Business, not government, must lead the way in extending broadband, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said Tuesday at a hearing in Ravenel, S.C., about broadband adoption. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who used to be on the state’s Public Service Commission, also attended the session. It was the FCC’s second field hearing in its broadband investigation.
GENEVA -- Government, business and individual users have to step up their efforts to boost cybersecurity, executives said during a ITU Telecom World forum. Governments need to give cybersecurity the same attention they give roads and other services, said CEO Carlos Moreira of Wisekey. Tens of billions more devices are now being added to the “primitive technology” that was designed for something else, he said, referring to the Web’s nuclear research origins.
Business, not government, must lead the way in extending broadband, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said Tuesday at a hearing in Ravenel, S.C., about broadband adoption. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who used to be on the state’s Public Service Commission, also attended the session. It was the FCC’s second field hearing in its broadband investigation.
Judges seemed skeptical of Rural Cellular Association arguments that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit should throw out the FCC’s interim cap on universal service payments to competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (CETCs), imposed in May 2008. RCA attorney David LaFuria told judges during oral argument Monday that the commission had imposed the cap without a factual or logical basis, without showing an emergency requiring bold action.
Work on comprehensive emergency communications legislation will come next year when the FCC finishes its broadband plan and perhaps takes up revamping the Universal Service Fund, House aides said at an E-911 Institute meeting Thursday. The need for a nationwide strategy and funding for next-generation E-911 services could be taken up in a USF bill or some other broadband-related vehicle, aides said. Some of this year’s broadband stimulus awards could go to public-safety projects, as called for in the Recovery Act, but much more money will be needed to fulfill longstanding plans for a nationwide interoperable network, people at the conference said.
“No one is proposing any government spending at this time,” FCC broadband plan coordinator Blair Levin told reporters late Tuesday after his task force presented its midterm report to the commissioners (CD Sept 30 p1). The task force estimate of the cost of making broadband available to everyone in the country, $20-$350 billion, reflects anticipated capital and operating expenses and shouldn’t be taken as a recommendation for what the government should spend, Levin said. He said he doesn’t know what the group will recommend in February beyond increased information collection. On possible government funding, Chairman Julius Genachowski said “all of the different policy options will have to be explored between now and February.” When Congress authorized broadband grants, it “understood that it was a step in what needs to be a larger, long-term plan for the country, he said. “This is a major challenge for the country that will require a national commitment to make sure that we have a 21st century communications infrastructure available to all Americans.” Universal-service reform and several other matters came up at the meeting, but “exactly what the timing will be of addressing each issue hasn’t been decided yet,” Genachowski said. He did touch on spectrum scarcity, saying he’s “less confident that the country will have the spectrum it needs to meet the purposes that were outlined in the presentation today.” But the chairman said he’s “confident that we will have data that’s sufficient to support what’s recommended.” With the midterm report done, Levin said, he expects meetings with industry to discuss the findings. The meetings will be closed but not confidential, and FCC staff probably will write about them on the commission’s blog, he said. The task force will concentrate, among a longer list of issues in the report, on “things that if we don’t change government policies, five to ten years from now” policymakers will regret it, he said.
The Wireline Bureau wants comment on a petition by the Ad Hoc Coalition of International Telecommunications Companies (CD Sept 9 p13) asking the agency to rule that the Universal Service Administrative Co. can’t “indirectly” impose universal service fund (USF) fees on international-only long-distance providers. Ad Hoc also asked the FCC to rule that it lacks jurisdiction to impose USF obligations on those from outside the U.S. Comments are due Oct. 28, replies Nov. 12.