The National Conference of State Legislatures approved a resolution at its 2011 Legislative Summit, urging Congress, the FCC and state regulators and legislators to review and address the requirements and goals for universal service by adopting policies that promote universal mobility and universal competition. Any federal USF revamp shouldn’t impact or hinder innovation at the state level or interfere with the administration of state USF, the resolution said. While investments in communications infrastructure have received considerable national attention, the federal government must recognize that states have unique priorities that require state and regional specific solutions, the resolution said. NCSL urges Congress to work with states in developing an integrated broadband strategy to ensure universal deployment and affordable access to every constituent, regardless of geography or economic status. NCSL supports the creation of a national advisory board, including state, federal and local policymakers, as well consumer and industry representatives, to develop principles to facilitate deployment of advanced broadband communications services. NCSL urges the FCC, in conjunction with state, federal and local policymakers, to reevaluate the distinction between telecom and information services and gather additional information on the state of advanced broadband and communications services. Meanwhile, NCSL will oppose any effort to authorize or prohibit the establishment of municipal or state created public agencies broadband networks through congressional or federal regulatory action. Should Congress or the federal government take such action, NCSL will challenge the constitutionality of such action. NCSL also urges state and federal policymakers to work together to ensure that industry targeted consumer protections can be applied within a national framework that ensures the continued ability of the state attorneys general to enforce such consumer protections. In order to preserve the states’ sovereignty, NCSL endorses state action to enhance the use of collocation of cell antennas and the streamlining of the current tower siting process. Collocation of antennas should not be subject to additional zoning, land-use or regulatory approval process beyond the initial process for siting the wireless facility. NCSL also believes government should not levy discriminatory fees for the siting of wireless facilities or the application for collocation. Application fees levied on the siting as well as taxes on the wireless facility must not be higher than fees or taxes applied to other general business. While NCSL acknowledges the historic role of states as the primary regulator of intrastate telecom, state legislators also recognize that the historic distinctions between intrastate and interstate communications is fast becoming irrelevant in today’s global marketplace. Services like VoIP that involve integrated functionalities that cannot even be characterized as jurisdictional, it said. NCSL calls upon the Congress and the FCC to partner with states in a national framework for communications policy that ensures minimal regulation but guarantees “all Americans with a choice of mediums and service providers.”
A drop in hardware sales led a 26 percent decline in overall U.S. videogame industry sales for July to $707 million from that month last year. Videogame sales suffered their lowest month since October 2006, according to NPD sales data. Hardware sales fell 29 percent to $223 million as the average selling price for consoles remained flat. Videogame software sales for consoles and portables tumbled 17 percent to $336 million, while sales of videogame accessories slipped 8 percent to $127 million, NPD said. Total videogame software sales were down 30 percent to $357 million, including PC games, it said.
Top AT&T executives rejected a proposal earlier this year from the company’s marketing organization to expand the carrier’s LTE footprint beyond its current goal of covering 80 percent of the U.S. population by the end of 2013. AT&T disclosed that in an FCC filing on a recent meeting with key agency staff. The company promised in March to expand its LTE offerings to cover 97 percent of Americans if its buy of T-Mobile is approved. The filing explains in some detail why the company concluded it couldn’t justify the cost of this aggressive rollout without the T-Mobile buy. The filing pegs the cost at $3.8 billion.
Top AT&T executives rejected a proposal earlier this year from the company’s marketing organization to expand the carrier’s LTE footprint beyond its current goal of covering 80 percent of the U.S. population by the end of 2013. AT&T disclosed that in an FCC filing on a recent meeting with key agency staff. The company promised in March to expand its LTE offerings to cover 97 percent of Americans if its buy of T-Mobile is approved. The filing explains in some detail why the company concluded it couldn’t justify the cost of this aggressive rollout without the T-Mobile buy. The filing pegs the cost at $3.8 billion.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted information on the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). CBP states that a completed Form I-94W, Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Arrival/Departure Record (green form), is required from all VWP visitors to the U.S. at land ports of entry. Each VWP applicant for admission is exempt from a visitor’s visa (B1/B2) if he/she is a citizen of any of the VWP countries. Currently, authorization for travel under the VWP via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is not required if arriving at a U.S. land port of entry. Form I-94W contains questions that assist with determining admissibility to the U.S. VWP travel authorization via ESTA is required if arriving by air or sea under the VWP. VWP frequently asked questions is available here.
Hit by vehicle production disruptions from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and a rise in the price of neodymium for magnets used in high-end loudspeakers, Harman International said net income plunged 86 percent from a year ago in its fiscal Q4 to $18.87 million. Revenue of $1 billion for Q4 2011 compared with $850 million for the 2010 quarter, the company said. While “revenues were strong” in the company’s infotainment business, said CEO Dinesh Paliwal, they couldn’t “offset the loss of profit associated with the change in product mix,” resulting in a hit of 30 cents of earnings per share in the quarter, he said. Increases in July indicate the situation “is improving,” he said, and the company expects vehicle production to return to normal levels in the near term.
On August 5, 2011, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ros-Lehtinen (R), Ranking Member Berman (D), and a bipartisan group of 221 Representatives sent a letter to the President urging the tightening of sanctions on the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.
On May 17, 2011, the USCIB and AAEI asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Bersin to consider 18 additional benefits for the "next generation" of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) for Tier 2 and 3 participants, including zero inspections, eliminating CBP Form 28s, and releasing cargo based on 10+2 data.
PHILADELPHIA -- LightSquared faced tough questions from public safety officials late Monday after a presentation at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials annual conference. The same question came up repeatedly: Will LightSquared be another Nextel, which caused so much interference to public safety systems in the 800 MHz band that ultimately the FCC had to broker the restructuring of that band. That process still is unfolding seven years after the commission approved its landmark 800 MHz rebanding order.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that Global Entry members will now be issued a Global Entry version of the SENTRI card, which is a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI)-compliant, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology-enabled document that may be used by U.S. citizens when entering the U.S. through a land or sea port of entry from Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.