The FCC wants as many carriers as possible to take part in the upcoming major auctions, FCC acting Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman said Wednesday at the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) spring conference in San Antonio. Sherman made clear that the FCC is giving strong consideration to spectrum aggregation limits for the TV incentive auction, which have been opposed by Verizon and AT&T.
The Utility Reform Network (TURN)’s emergency motion to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last week (CD March 20 p15) is just the latest shot being fired at Verizon before local authorities. Echoing a complaint filed with the D.C. Public Service Commission (DCPSC), the CPUC motion alleges the company, in its zeal to make the IP transition, has been letting its copper network deteriorate and is being overly aggressive in moving customers from copper to FiOS or wireless Voice Link without their consent.
Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
NTIA lent its support to bidirectional sharing, in which federal agencies, the Department of Defense in particular, would have access to commercial spectrum in areas of the country where carriers are not deploying in a particular band. Bidirectional sharing is the flip side of carriers sharing spectrum already in use by federal agencies. The letter, to the FCC, follows filings by carriers last week raising concerns about bidirectional sharing in the AWS-3 band, as the FCC develops auction rules.
Four North Texas elementary schools will compete for a physical education grant at a “Coaches Cook-Off” competition during the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four weekend in Arlington, Texas, sponsor LG Electronics said Thursday. The schools chosen are: Silver Creek Elementary School, in Azle; Cesar Chavez and West elementary schools, both in Fort Worth; and Central Elementary School, in Seagoville. They were selected through a grant application process run by Project Fit America, which helps schools create opportunities for students to be active, fit and healthy, and has raised more than $13 million to support that cause, LG said. Coaches from each school will be teamed up with Baylor head coach Scott Drew and Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy during the annual culinary showdown at AT&T Stadium on April 5, the day of the men’s basketball semifinals. Each team will have 30 minutes to cook a selection of game day treats using a “full suite of high-performance appliances in the LG Kitchen at AT&T Stadium,” LG said. The coaches’ dishes will be tasted and evaluated by a panel of judges, including former player Clyde Drexler, a “big advocate for youth fitness,” LG said. The winning school will receive the LG Project Fit grant, to spend on indoor and outdoor physical fitness facilities and “on-site training support” for teachers, it said. LG didn’t immediately comment on the size of the winning grant. All four schools competing also will land a bevy of LG products, including computer monitors, TVs and refrigerators, it said.
A rare closed-door meeting of the North American Numbering Council is heightening tensions between Neustar and Telcordia as the Local Number Portability Administrator vendor selection draws near. The group will discuss “confidential procurement information obtained by members” about LNPA selection, said an FCC public notice. Neustar has been waging a public battle against a perceived lack of openness and transparency in the selection process (CD Feb 26 p5). Neustar President Lisa Hook said in its latest letter, sent Wednesday to NANC Chairwoman Betty Ann Kane, that the closed meeting “gives urgency” to its concerns. “It is not too late to fix this process,” she said. Ericcson’s Telcordia said Neustar is wrong.
The Communications Act is “serviceable,” Phil Verveer, senior counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, told a Free State Foundation panel Tuesday. That’s good news, he said, because updating the act is going to be a challenge. Law professors on the panel agreed that FCC action on net neutrality under Section 706 of the Communications Act carries a huge number of potential “land mines” for the agency to navigate.
Control4 has landed HDBaseT certification for its 8x8 HDMI matrix switch, the company said Tuesday. The switch delivers uncompressed HD video, multi-channel audio, power, ethernet, and RS-232 and infrared control signals over a Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable, the company said. In addition to eight HDMI inputs and eight HDBaseT outputs, the Control4 switch has two local HDMI outputs, eight LAN pass-through ports, eight stereo audio outputs, eight RS-232 ports, eight bi-directional IR control ports, and an ethernet port, the company said. The company didn’t comment on device compatibility with 4K video signals.
The Communications Act is “serviceable,” Phil Verveer, senior counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, told a Free State Foundation panel Tuesday. That’s good news, he said, because updating the act is going to be a challenge. Law professors on the panel agreed that FCC action on net neutrality under Section 706 of the Communications Act carries a huge number of potential “land mines” for the agency to navigate.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s Jan. 14 decision largely rejecting the FCC’s net neutrality rules clarified that the FCC has broad authority over broadband, said Verizon Senior Vice President Craig Silliman Tuesday at the Free State Foundation telecom conference. Nonetheless, Verizon decided not to challenge some of the court’s conclusions because the carrier believes it’s time to move on to other issues, Silliman said. The FCC under Chairman Tom Wheeler also decided not to appeal the case.