October is a scary month, full of goblins, ghosts and things that go bump in the night.
Wireless is scary business too. Have you noticed all the issues that once were proclaimed dead keep beckoning from beyond the grave?
Earlier this month, an appeals court heard arguments to decide whether U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake was within the law in dismissing five class-action lawsuits seeking to force carriers to supply consumers with headsets to reduce any risk of injury from radiation emitted by cell phones. The issue was dead, written off. No one would bother with these suits after Blake twice ruled in favor of industry. Not true. It sounded very much alive and kicking, with Ken Starr (yes that Ken Starr) arguing on behalf of the wireless industry. Now that’s scary, I tell you.
Meanwhile, Sen. Trent Lott is trying to get an amendment to a 911 funding bill that would allow carriers that chose a handset-based E911 Phase II solution a loophole to get out of that requirement for awhile. That story was dead, I tell you. I didn’t think we would have to write about the intricacies of handset-based solutions vs. network-based solutions for another year or so. Now it’s awakened, is stretching and could end up attached to key legislation.
Another issue that won’t die: the California bill of rights. The California Public Utilities Commission said it planned to enforce new consumers rights for wireless users only to be sued last week by the six nationwide wireless carriers, even as some of them asked for extensions to comply with the rules. That was to be expected. But it turns out, the entire matter of the bill of rights went before the CPUC Thursday, and it may be tabled until next year. Neither side is willing to let this issue die, one way or the other. Instead, it gets tabled, revisited, revamped, postponed and protested. It’s a zombie!
Those in wireless familiar with the ways of Washington and the painful process of transitioning people to digital TV know that TV broadcasters are never ever going to give back the spectrum they “borrowed” for the transition to digital TV. And yet, the FCC, public-safety, the House, the Senate and wireless keep taking turns trying to find a way to wrestle these channels away from the powerful broadcast lobby. If this were a movie, we’d be watching the 13th sequel.
And we still wouldn’t be watching it on HDTV.
