The FCC issued the 224-page text of its Lifeline modernization order and commissioner statements Wednesday. The item was adopted 3-2 March 31 after an attempted bipartisan budget deal collapsed (see 1603310056). The order extends Lifeline low-income USF support to broadband service and updates program administration. It creates minimum service standards for broadband and mobile voice services while allowing "an exception in areas where fixed broadband providers do not meet the minimum standards." The FCC mandated a "five-and-one-half-year transition, during which we will gradually increase mobile voice and data requirements and gradually decrease voice support levels." It shifts responsibility for verifying consumer Lifeline eligibility from carriers to a national entity, creates a streamlined national Lifeline broadband provider designation process and requires participating providers to make Wi-Fi functionality available when providing devices for Lifeline use. The FCC established a $2.25 billion annual Lifeline budget that can be adjusted if spending reaches 90 percent of that level. Democratic commissioners issued their statements March 31 but the full statements of the dissenting Republicans weren't available until Wednesday's order. "I cannot support this Order," said Commissioner Ajit Pai in a 16-page statement. "It is not fiscally responsible. It does not clean up the waste, fraud, and abuse. And it consigns Lifeline consumers to second-class broadband services for the foreseeable future. On top of this, the Order does not comply with federal law." Pai said that the agency did "practically nothing" to fix Lifeline's "fiscal nightmare." He said the order didn't set a "meaningful," enforceable budget, doesn't target funding to households lacking broadband, doesn't curb excessive spending on urban tribal lands and doesn't address loopholes that invite carrier abuse, but does "cut state commissions out of the Lifeline designation process." He said Chairman Tom Wheeler worked to unwind a budget compromise between Pai and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Mignon Clyburn. O'Rielly said the most disappointing aspect was that the budget deal was "attacked for all the wrong reasons." The compromise budget "would not have harmed the program or recipients" but instead would have allowed support to reach "all eligible households that lack sufficient broadband while staying within reasonable fiscal limits," he said, noting he would have backed a $2 billion cap. Instead, the order adopted a "phony" budget mechanism, he said.
The FCC issued the 224-page text of its Lifeline modernization order and commissioner statements Wednesday. The item was adopted 3-2 March 31 after an attempted bipartisan budget deal collapsed (see 1603310056). The order extends Lifeline low-income USF support to broadband service and updates program administration. It creates minimum service standards for broadband and mobile voice services while allowing "an exception in areas where fixed broadband providers do not meet the minimum standards." The FCC mandated a "five-and-one-half-year transition, during which we will gradually increase mobile voice and data requirements and gradually decrease voice support levels." It shifts responsibility for verifying consumer Lifeline eligibility from carriers to a national entity, creates a streamlined national Lifeline broadband provider designation process and requires participating providers to make Wi-Fi functionality available when providing devices for Lifeline use. The FCC established a $2.25 billion annual Lifeline budget that can be adjusted if spending reaches 90 percent of that level. Democratic commissioners issued their statements March 31 but the full statements of the dissenting Republicans weren't available until Wednesday's order. "I cannot support this Order," said Commissioner Ajit Pai in a 16-page statement. "It is not fiscally responsible. It does not clean up the waste, fraud, and abuse. And it consigns Lifeline consumers to second-class broadband services for the foreseeable future. On top of this, the Order does not comply with federal law." Pai said that the agency did "practically nothing" to fix Lifeline's "fiscal nightmare." He said the order didn't set a "meaningful," enforceable budget, doesn't target funding to households lacking broadband, doesn't curb excessive spending on urban tribal lands and doesn't address loopholes that invite carrier abuse, but does "cut state commissions out of the Lifeline designation process." He said Chairman Tom Wheeler worked to unwind a budget compromise between Pai and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Mignon Clyburn. O'Rielly said the most disappointing aspect was that the budget deal was "attacked for all the wrong reasons." The compromise budget "would not have harmed the program or recipients" but instead would have allowed support to reach "all eligible households that lack sufficient broadband while staying within reasonable fiscal limits," he said, noting he would have backed a $2 billion cap. Instead, the order adopted a "phony" budget mechanism, he said.
Switzerland is now on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's lower-tier watch list for copyright and other intellectual property rights violations, USTR said April 27 in its annual Special 301 report on the global status of IP rights enforcement (here). China and India remain on USTR's mid-tier priority watch list, which includes nine other countries, because ongoing IP rights enforcement problems outweigh efforts to reform both nations' IP laws. USTR again chose not to include any countries on its higher-tier priority foreign country list.
Switzerland is now on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's lower-tier watch list for copyright and other IP rights violations, USTR said Wednesday in its annual Special 301 report on the global status of IP rights enforcement. China and India remain on USTR's mid-tier priority watch list, which includes nine other countries, because ongoing IP rights enforcement problems outweigh efforts to reform both nations' IP laws. USTR again chose not to include any countries on its higher-tier priority foreign country list.
Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
The FCC could modify proposals to revamp its special access framework for “business data services,” informed sources told us Wednesday. There likely will be some changes to a proposed rulemaking, one source said. Another suggested draft tentative conclusions could be watered down. The FCC is to vote on a business data service (BDS) item at its Thursday meeting, after Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated a draft Further NPRM that proposed a "technology-neutral framework" and an accompanying ILEC tariff investigation order to ban "all or nothing" discount plans and restrict early termination fees and volume shortfall penalties (see 1604080011). NCTA and AT&T made public statements Wednesday criticizing the FCC direction, while Public Knowledge issued a supportive statement.
The FCC could modify proposals to revamp its special access framework for “business data services,” informed sources told us Wednesday. There likely will be some changes to a proposed rulemaking, one source said. Another suggested draft tentative conclusions could be watered down. The FCC is to vote on a business data service (BDS) item at its Thursday meeting, after Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated a draft Further NPRM that proposed a "technology-neutral framework" and an accompanying ILEC tariff investigation order to ban "all or nothing" discount plans and restrict early termination fees and volume shortfall penalties (see 1604080011). NCTA and AT&T made public statements Wednesday criticizing the FCC direction, while Public Knowledge issued a supportive statement.
CBP should announce mandatory ACE filing dates “as soon as possible” for any agencies or entry types for which mandatory filing dates have not yet been announced, said the Commercial Customs Advisory Committee (COAC) in a recommendation formally adopted at a meeting held April 27. Some importers surveyed say their brokers are waiting for the announcement of the deadlines, particularly for Food and Drug Administration data, before they start filing in ACE, while brokers need to know when agency data will be required so they can adequately plan their development and training efforts, said COAC members during the meeting.
Switzerland is now on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's lower-tier watch list for copyright and other IP rights violations, USTR said Wednesday in its annual Special 301 report on the global status of IP rights enforcement. China and India remain on USTR's mid-tier priority watch list, which includes nine other countries, because ongoing IP rights enforcement problems outweigh efforts to reform both nations' IP laws. USTR again chose not to include any countries on its higher-tier priority foreign country list.
Sony landed a U.S. patent Tuesday for a “method and apparatus for transmitting a-priori information in a communication system,” Patent and Trademark Office records show. A-priori information is that which is based on scientific deduction rather than observed, empirical data. The patent (9,326,295) is based on a December 2014 application and lists as its inventor Luke Fay, senior staff engineer at Sony Electronics in San Diego. Fay is chairman of ATSC’s S-32 specialist group that framed ATSC 3.0's physical layer, which is now before the FCC as an authorization petition (see 1604130065). Fay also is vice chairman of ATSC’s Technology Group 3, which is supervising development of the overall ATSC 3.0 standard. “During the last decade, terrestrial broadcasting has evolved from analog to digital,” Fay’s patent says. “There exist several wideband digital communication techniques depending on a broadcasting standard used,” including OFDM, which is “a method of encoding digital data on multiple carrier frequencies and is used in applications such as digital television and audio broadcasting, DSL Internet access, wireless networks, power line networks, and 4G mobile communications,” the patent says. Though the patent doesn’t say so, OFDM is the modulation system used in ATSC 3.0 and has been used for years by Europe’s DVB consortium. “Current digital broadcasting systems use fixed knowledge of a channel bandwidth at a receiver,” the patent says. “In addition to the specific information about the communications technology used, the receiver needs the channel bandwidth or a sampling frequency to demodulate received signals. Due to technical advancements, the channel bandwidth and the sampling frequency may change over the years. As recognized by the present inventor, there is a need to facilitate changes in channel bandwidth and/or sampling frequency.”