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 (CD Feb 20 p1).
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 (WID Feb 20 p1).
HD Radio sales will hit about 7.5 million units this year, up from about 5.2 million in 2013, due largely to continued deployment in vehicles, said iBiquity Digital CEO Bob Struble in an interview. Many FM stations and a smaller number of AMs are using HD Radio from iBiquity, which licenses the digital-radio technology, and some FMs have boosted the power levels after the FCC allowed it (CD June 21 p8). Radio stations increasingly see HD Radio use in cars as a way to compete with so-called connected vehicle technology, executives have told us.
Since Intelsat and Inmarsat were privatized, consumers have benefited from robust services and the satellite market is competitive, the companies said in comments to the FCC on The Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) Act report. Inmarsat’s forthcoming Ka-band network, Global Xpress, is the result of a $1.2 billion investment into three Ka-band satellites, Inmarsat said (http://bit.ly/1iG8rIr). Inmarsat has partnered with several satellite industry companies, like iDirect and Cobham/SeaTel, to help deploy Global Xpress, it said: “Inmarsat’s land portfolio has and will continue to grow in the low data rate services.” Intelsat continues to invest heavily “to keep its satellite fleet technologically current,” the satellite operator said in comments (http://bit.ly/1dW1rY8). It has nine satellites in the design or build stages, including several next-generation high-throughput Intelsat Epic satellites, it said. The goals of the ORBIT Act have been fully achieved and the reporting requirement “now is an unnecessary burden on limited commission resources,” it said. The comments will be reflected in the FCC’s annual report to Congress (CD Feb 13 p17).
HD Radio sales will hit about 7.5 million units this year, up from about 5.2 million in 2013, driven largely by continued deployment in vehicles, iBiquity Digital CEO Bob Struble told us at the Piper Jaffray investor conference in New York.
European Union regulators face a long slog of negotiations over implementation of the new EU customs regime, said a customs official from the United Kingdom during a Feb. 27 webinar hosted by law firm Baker & McKenzie. Passage of the Union Customs Code in September was only the first step in a long implementation process that in some cases won’t end until 2020, said Peter Starling of HM Revenue & Customs. The commission issued draft regulations in January (here) that are currently the subject of negotiations with member states. Starling, who is lead negotiator for the U.K., says negotiators will focus on several aspects of the proposed regulation, including elimination of the first sale rule for customs valuation and the potential expansion of the dutiability of royalties and license fees.
The record numbers of U.S. Border Patrol and CBP officers funded in President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) budget are designed to enhance port security, while facilitating and expediting trade, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told congressional committees on March 13. The hearings topped off four total appearances before Congress this week aimed at defending the DHS FY15 budget proposal. The budget requests $90 million for video surveillance to increase vigilance over border and port security, Johnson told the House Homeland Security committee.
The Canada Border Services Agency recently released its 2014-15 Report on Plans and Priorities. The report includes expenditure plans for each department within CBSA for the next three years, and is meant to assist the Canadian Parliament in setting the agency’s budget. The agency projects its spending to fall from about $1.9 million in 2013-14 to $1.73 million in 2014-15, $1.65 in 2015-16, and $1.55 million in 2016-16. It also includes information on CBSA’s general priorities and areas of risk. The report identifies four priorities for CBSA going forward (the following only includes information on trade priorities):
The FCC should freeze for six months the grant of new licenses for business communications in the 900 MHz band while industry develops a 900 MHz Private Land Mobile Broadband (PLM BB) plan, said the American Petroleum Institute, Enterprise Wireless Alliance and Utilities Telecom Council in a petition filed at the FCC. The groups proposed that 5x5 MHz of 900 MHz Industrial/Business spectrum be reallocated, with 2x2 MHz dedicated to existing Land-Mobile Radio systems and 3x3 MHz to support private LTE networks. “As the Commission is aware, access to spectrum capable of meeting these members’ internal broadband communications requirements is essential if they are to continue supporting America’s economic growth, expanded employment, public well-being, the delivery of critical goods and services, security, and workforce safety,” the groups said (http://bit.ly/1kVBSb1). The freeze would only affect applicants that don’t already have a license in a particular market, they said. “Under this approach, current 900 MHz licensees would be permitted to expand geographic coverage or channel capacity to serve ongoing business communication requirements while the PLM BB plan is more fully defined. New applicants, however, would be prohibited."
Canada took another step toward setting “eManifest” advance manifest transmission requirements for truck and rail cargo, issuing on Feb. 15 proposed regulations that would implement the long-delayed program. Canada Border Service Agency’s proposed rule would require truck carriers to submit cargo and conveyance information one hour before reaching the Canadian border. Rail carriers would have to submit data two hours before a train crosses the border. Freight forwarders would also be tasked with advance electronic submission of secondary information on a shipment, and would have to keep associated records as well.