Wireless has already faced deep cuts in universal support and the goal of the FCC now should be to encourage more deployment of mobile broadband, CTIA said in replies on an inquiry and rulemaking on changes to the high-cost universal service program. As a result of the 2008 cap on support for competitive eligible telecom carriers, wireless carriers and other CETCs have already lost $800 million in funding, the group said. The notices follow up on recommendations in the National Broadband Plan that the Universal Service Fund be restructured to pay for broadband.
CapRock Communications began selling a new very small aperture terminal service for land drilling operations, the company said. The service, called Field Access, will give drilling sites broadband, real-time data and corporate networking, said CapRock. Field Access will use regional technicians for quick VSAT orders, installations and rig moves, it said.
The FCC is seeking public input on how to continue improving the data and analysis used to monitor and accelerate progress toward universal broadband, as the commission plans its next report on broadband deployment. A notice of inquiry released Friday set due dates of Sept. 7 for comments, Oct. 5 for replies.
Although there are few, if any, technical roadblocks to single-character internationalized top-level domain names, several policy questions must be resolved before such domain spaces are created, an ICANN panel said. The joint Country-Code Names Supporting Organization-Generic Names Supporting Organization IDN Working Group (JIG) published an initial report on the issues July 27 for public comment. It and other ICANN groups don’t recommend banning one-character TLDs. But one former ICANN board member said single-character, as opposed to single-word, domains should be barred because ICANN can’t handle them.
HOUSTON -- APCO played a major role in restoring emergency communications in Haiti following January’s massive earthquake, President Richard Mirgon said Tuesday at the group’s annual conference. A major side effect of the earthquake was the destruction of Haiti’s land mobile radio system, with its transmitter in the presidential palace. An estimated 10,000 emergency calls were made and not answered after disaster struck, Mirgon said.
California’s Public Utilities Commission conditionally approved a matching grant slightly exceeding $640,000 to Calaveras Telephone, whose Poker Flat broadband project is aimed at isolated communities in the Sierra foothills. The California Advanced Services Fund grant, 10 percent of the total $6.4 million cost, will apply if Calaveras lands a 64 percent matching American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant of $4.08 million, the commission said Thursday. Calaveras Telephone would put up the other $1.68 million. Poker Flat now has access on copper lines at speeds below 3 Mbps down and 512 kbps up. Project planners envision a fiber to the home network offering speeds of 3-20 Mpbs down and 512 kbps-5 Mbps up to 409 households in a lakeside community off state Highway 4, the commission said. Of its $100 million stake, the state fund has designated more than $49 million, a figure that has shrunk because the fund withdrew grants to eight recipients who failed to get Recovery Act or matching funds for their projects, the commission said.
Alcatel-Lucent and EADS Defence & Security will demonstrate interoperability between a live broadband LTE wireless network and digital land mobile radio commonly used by local police, fire departments and other emergency responders, the companies said. The joint solution will be demonstrated at the 2010 APCO Conference in Houston next week and will highlight a variety of voice, video and data applications.
LCD panel manufacturers are slowing production after global LCD inventory grew to 18.5 weeks in Q2 from 16 weeks the previous quarter, AU Optronics and Corning executives told analysts Wednesday in separate conference calls. The inventory bulge was fueled a decline in U.S. TV sales and a build up of inventory in China, company officials said.
On July 19, 2010, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported S. 3607, the fiscal year 20111 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security (including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Transportation Security Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, etc.).
NTIA initially identified four bands for possible fast-track clearance in response in part to recommendations in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, Associate Administrator Karl Nebbia told the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee Tuesday. Two of the bands, including 1755-1780 MHz, have already been taken off the list since no decision could be made by an Oct. 1 deadline. The 1675-1710 MHz band, which provides weather satellite downlinks, and the 3500-3650 MHz band remain on the agency’s list for possible quick clearance. Another chunk of spectrum, the 4200-4220 and 4380-4400 MHz band, was on the list but has also been removed because of potential complications.