The California Public Utilities Commission made a split decision on numbering relief for two depleted area codes. It set a geographic split of the Palm Springs 760 code and an all-service overlay for the San Fernando 818 code. For 760, the PUC voted 4-1 to approve a split transferring to the new 442 code San Diego’s northern suburbs of Borrego, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Escondido, Fallbrook, Julian, Oceanside, Pauma Valley, Pendleton, Ramona, San Marcos, Valley Center, Vista and Warner Springs. The rest of the area will retain the 760 code. Telecom carriers and the national numbering administrator urged an overlay as less costly and disruptive. But the PUC embraced the split because 75 percent of public comments favored a split, as did most local elected officials. And San Diego’s dense suburbs differ markedly from the rest of the area, where population centers dot vast stretches of desert. The split will force millions to change their phone numbers, dissenting Commissioner Timothy Simon said, generally endorsing overlays for code relief. The PUC left 760 with the code’s more rural northern part to retain a clear distinction between local and toll calls in that sprawling code, which will remain the state’s second largest area code in land area. The new code will debut on a permissive dialing basis in October, becoming mandatory in March 2009. For 818, the PUC adopted the new 747 code as an overlay, requiring 10-digit dialing for all local calls. The overlay will be implemented on a permissive dialing basis on October, going mandatory in March 2009. The PUC said oral and written comments indicated 60 percent of those affected favor an overlay and 15 percent have no preference. It called an overlay the option preferred by the industry. The PUC ordered the industry to conduct a 13-month customer education program but said if surveys show less than 70 percent of the affected population knows of the overlay and dialing change, the education campaign will run until the 70 percent goal is reached.
E-commerce site Convertmy.tv will meet this week with NTIA officials in hopes of gaining reinstatement to sell coupon-eligible converter boxes online, its chief operating officer told Consumer Electronics Daily Monday. NTIA had confirmed earlier in the day that it had thrown Convertmy.tv out of the coupon program after learning the site took orders and redeemed coupons for a box it didn’t stock, breaking NTIA rules. That box, the Maxmedia brand MMDTVB03, was withdrawn this month by the maker, which cited tuner instability.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a summary of changes to the Automated Export System Trade Interface Requirements (AESTIR) to its Web site, indicating that Version 1.0 was changed on April 14, 2008 as follows:
It’s not true that more than 80 percent of electronics waste exports land in “primitive” processing facilities in developing countries, an Environmental Protection Agency official said Thursday. Most of the U.S. exports are handled by “reasonably sound” or “excellent” facilities, said the official. Also, large volumes of e-waste exported are dismantled in the U.S., he said, and a large number of “excellent” processing units are emerging in developing countries. The remarks were made on a conference call organized by state officials to which reporters were granted access on condition that identities of speakers weren’t revealed.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an ACE Reports CSMS message stating that CBP-sponsored telephone training on the Authorized Data Extract (ADE) will begin during the week of April 16, 20081.
LAS VEGAS -- Proliferation of multi-standard devices that get mobile TV reduces the need for a for a single standard for delivering mobile TV, speakers told an NAB convention panel organized by the FLO Forum. “Almost every single receiver device is multi-standard,” said Vinod Valloppillil, Roundbox vice president of product marketing. Conforming a device to multiple standards has costs, but they are “trending toward zero,” he said.
There is more annual investment in U.S. broadband than there was either in the Interstate highway system or the moon landing, even when adjusted for current dollars, USTelecom President Walter McCormick said at the NAB conference. The difference is that the broadband investment is “all private,” he said, and the government should stay out of broadband, including on network management issues. Citing government control of the Internet in China, he said, “I have a serious disagreement with those who equate a free and open Internet with government management.” He said the industry needs to “retain and advance sophisticated network management technology” to make sure the Internet continues to work. Moves for network neutrality are “losing steam,” McCormick said.
LAS VEGAS -- Proliferation of multi-standard devices that get mobile TV reduces the need for a for a single standard for delivering mobile TV, speakers told an NAB convention panel organized by the FLO Forum. “Almost every single receiver device is multi-standard,” said Vinod Valloppillil, Roundbox vice president of product marketing. Conforming a device to multiple standards has costs, but they are “trending toward zero,” he said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a PowerPoint presentation providing an overview of the Automated Commercial Environment delivery entitled Cargo Control and Release (CCR).
RaySat technology hasn’t been proven commercially so the company should have to report to the FCC after a year of operation, ViaSat told the commission. In February, the agency authorized RaySat to operate 400 mobile earth terminals to offer a land-mobile satellite service using the Ku-band on a secondary basis. “Additional reporting and logging conditions are warranted to identify the source of interference in the first instance and because RaySat has not yet deployed its novel land-mobile network and antenna design on a commercial basis,” ViaSat said.