The Skype debate is playing out on two distinctly deliberate levels-one that plays to the nitty gritty of the law and another that plays to emotions.The wonky public-policy crossfire pits cellular carriers that control cellular networks against consumer groups with an overarching net-neutrality agenda...
The Federal Communications Commission, facing congressionally-mandated deadlines and time pressures to complete 700 MHz rules to give wireless license bidders sufficient time to prepare for the upcoming spectrum auction, suddenly finds itself bogged down trying to balance competition, public safety, broadband and other public...
The Federal Communications Commission is set to launch a fast-track rulemaking on Frontline Wireless L.L.C.'s public-safety broadband plan and other issues not resolved in next week's scheduled decision on commercial 700 MHz rules.An apparent casualty of the latest developments is the 700 MHz broadband...
Frontline Wireless L.L.C. said it picked up big-name, high-tech backing for its market-driven plan to buy spectrum for a national, public-safety broadband network that would be shared with commercial wireless carriers.The company inked new partnerships with former Netscape executive James Barksdale, software radio technology...
Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell cast doubt on Frontline Wireless L.L.C.'s public-safety broadband plan, which picked up backing from consumer, utility and public-interest groups last week, with the GOP regulator echoing a cellular industry criticism that the proposal comes too late, and full...
A coalition of consumer and public interest groups said the Federal Communications Communication should craft the 700 MHz auction to foster wireless broadband alternatives based on net neutrality principles. Not surprisingly, this approach is opposed by leading wireless, wireline and cable TV service providers.Coalition...
A small-business lawsuit to overturn the results of the $13.7 billion advanced wireless services auction is back on track, with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreeing to hold oral argument around the time the Federal Communications Commission expects to issue rules for...
High-tech and electronic giants last week gave the Federal Communications Commission a Wi-Fi device to test that they said can operate in vacant television frequencies without disrupting high definition TV signals. Thus, the product could ratchet up the stakes in a battle between Silicon...
For the past eight months, M2Z Networks Inc. stood alone behind a plan that might actually aid President Bush's quest for universal and affordable broadband service in the United States. Now it suddenly has company. It comes in the form of petitions to deny...
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced a public-safety broadband bill that veers from the approach advocated by Cyren Call Communications Corp., first-responder groups and even the maverick lawmaker himself. The "Spectrum Availability for Emergency-Response and Law-Enforcement to Improve Vital Emergency Services Act" calls for the...
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, accused the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of surrendering control of a $1 billion first-responder wireless grant program to another agency that recently told Congress the Sept. 30 deadline...
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, blasted the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for surrendering control of a $1 billion first-responder wireless grant program to an another agency that recently told Congress the Sept. 30 deadline...
Most of the energy these days in Washington is understandably focused on the Next Big Auction. And why not? 700 MHz bidding later this year could attract a mix of mobile phone, satellite, WiMAX and other players collectively ready to spend between $10 billion...
THE SENATE COMMERCE Committee greeted Cyren Call Communications Corp.'s public-safety broadband plan with a non-committal mix of interest, skepticism and outright hostility, a reaction compounded by an industry-funded study that concludes the initiative is a risky business proposition and could actually undermine first-responder communications.Democratic...
A coalition of wireless and high-tech groups urged the Senate Commerce Committee to keep intact the legislative framework that gives public safety additional radio frequencies while rolling out digital TV, warning lawmakers that Cyren Call Communications Corp.'s plan to divert 30 megahertz of auction-bound...
Senate lawmakers blasted Bush administration policy-makers over the implementation of a $43.5 million matching grant program to upgrade emergency dispatch centers so they can receive and process enhanced 911 location data from mobile phones.The Enhanced 911 Act, signed into law in December 2004, directed...
WASHINGTON-A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that could have potentially stalled the auction of 700 MHz spectrum, scheduled for 2008. A lawsuit by Public Citizen, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argued that the recently passed Deficit Reduction...
WASHINGTON—A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that could have potentially stalled the auction of 700 MHz spectrum, currently scheduled for 2008. A lawsuit by Public Citizen, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argued that the recently passed Deficit...
WASHINGTON-Next month's advanced wireless services auction, anticipated for years due to the infusion of an additional 90 megahertz of spectrum into the U.S. wireless industry, may come to be remembered by who didn't show for the big dance. In the no-surprise category, Cingular Wireless...
WASHINGTON-Wireless industry veterans with access to significant financial and political resources soon intend to ask policymakers to scrap plans to auction a large swath of 700 MHz spectrum being surrendered by TV broadcasters and instead use 30 megahertz for a fourth-generation nationwide public-safety network...
WASHINGTON-Efforts must be made to ensure the 700 MHz spectrum from the transition to digital TV is not all won by established operators, a consumer advocate told Congress Thursday afternoon. "You have to make sure Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. don't gobble up...
WASHINGTON-While the 107th Congress will not be remembered for major telecom and high-tech legislative achievements, there is a potential silver lining that could become gold for industry when lawmakers return early next year. It comes in the form of a new homeland security department,...
WASHINGTON- Bidders are slowly dropping out of the bidding in the auction for 700 MHz C- and D-block licenses, but not much has changed in the results of the bidding for the major markets between round 16 and round 26.Aloha Partners L.P. is still...
WASHINGTON-Three rural senators on Thursday told the Federal Communications Commission that its rules for the 700 MHz C- and D-block auction currently set for Aug. 27 did not follow the will of Congress when it passed legislation last month to postpone the auction of...
