WASHINGTON-A plan from the U.S. Department of Transportation to institute a nationwide three-digit number for traffic information may be derailed by a call from MCI WorldCom Inc. for a complete rule making into how abbreviated numbers are allocated.The idea works something like this: You are...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission rejected privacy and industry concerns in approving six of nine additional capabilities to an industry interim technical standard implementing the digital wiretap act.The decision was not surprising. Last October, the FCC tentatively concluded five of the nine so-called punch-list items...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission this week is expected to start struggling with the definition of competition as it reviews comments submitted in its competitive networks docket.Is it competition that allows a renter to choose between different apartment buildings based on what telecommunications services are...
Soon my constant companion will leave me-no I don't mean my husband or my adorable bulldog-rather I mean my Sprint Spectrum phone.I (along with all of the other Sprint Spectrum subscribers) am being "upgraded" to Sprint PCS. In other words, I am being moved...
WASHINGTON-A federal appeals court has thrown out recently changed rules on how telecommunications carriers use information about their customers.The court issued the ruling as the wireless industry celebrated the Federal Communications Commission's decision to relax some of its rules regarding how carriers use information...
WASHINGTON-Whether the spectrum cap should stay or go-one issue that distinguishes incumbent cellular operators and upstart personal communications services operators-"will hopefully" be decided by the Federal Communications Commission at its September meeting, said Thomas Sugrue, chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.The Cellular Telecommunications...
WASHINGTON-Whether a recent appeals court ruling on universal service will have a positive or negative impact on wireless carriers depends on how you interpret a footnote in the decision.Footnote 31 of the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in...
WASHINGTON-The telecommunications industry and the Federal Communications Commission late Thursday held off an attempt by two members of Congress to allow states to make decisions regarding the allocation of telephone numbers.The allocation of telephone numbers is a critical issue for the wireless industry. Just...
Last time around, you'll remember we made special note of Herculean Gore 2000 fund-raising efforts by one J. Shelby Bryan, wireless pioneer and FOB. Well, there's more.For all his help, Clinton in late July appointed Bryan to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Heady...
The Federal Communications Commission has delayed until fall its truth-in-billing rules because the Office of Management and Budget did not approve of the information collections portion of the rules. The rules were adopted April 15, but now will not be effective until at least...
WASHINGTON-The pace of technological change-rapid and frenzied-will have an impact on regulation, and in turn, how regulation impacts the wireless industry in the next millennium, most policy makers agree.The Federal Communications Commission already is changing the way it conducts business; that is, the way...
WASHINGTON-A wild flurry of lobbying on telecom appropriations bills late last week ended with Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) withdrawing an amendment to relax the spectrum cap and House subcommittee members deciding against bankruptcy changes advocated by the Federal Communications Commission and approved by the...
WASHINGTON-What began this spring as a congressional effort to restructure the Federal Communications Commission in the post-telecom act era could end up as a major rewrite of wireless policy.Wireless lobbyists and others see FCC reform as a vehicle to secure the kind of deregulation...
Poor Tom Daschle.First, the Senate minority leader from South Dakota is handily rebuffed by the GOP in a high-profile fight over managed health-care reform. A big sticking point: Liability protection for HMOs. Sound familiar?Then Daschle gets deluged with criticism from D.C. and surrounding local governments,...
WASHINGTON-Legislation to extend the digital wiretap act grandfather date to June seems to be on a fast track to nowhere because proponents don't have a strategy to get it passed by the Senate and signed by President Clinton.The House of Representatives July 13 passed...
I say ol' chap, want to know how you rate as a reporter of mobile phone health & safety issues in the United Kingdom? Ring up the Federation of the Electronics Industry. Not that they'll tell you, but the folks at FEI are following...
MIAMI-The market opportunity for international roaming is clear, present and growing, but domestic U.S. carriers so far have been focused on tapping the large and more immediate potential posed by the burgeoning data traffic at home."Many of the U.S. carriers I follow have not...
WASHINGTON-The close of the six-year, US$27 million Wireless Technology Research program in the United States has re-energized a public debate about whether mobile telephones cause cancer or pose other health problems to the nation's 70 million wireless subscribers. Indeed, WTR Chairman George Carlo claims...
NEW YORK-Exxon Corp., Irvine, Texas, has posted signs at its domestic filling stations requiring customers to turn off their wireless phones before filling their cars' gas tanks due to the slight chance the devices could ignite a fire.Esso Sekiyu K.K. and General Sekiyu K.K.,...
WASHINGTON-As industry opposition to Pentagon spectrum bills mounts, the Federal Communications Commission confirmed last week it is prepared to suspend the normal regulatory process for deciding how to auction 36 megahertz from TV channels 60-69 if Congress votes to hold the wireless license sale...
WASHINGTON-To the delight of the wireless industry, the Federal Communications Commission last week declared that if and when calling-party-pays service is authorized, it will be a nationwide optional service. It is seeking comment on exactly what role states will play-particularly in protecting consumers.The notice...
WASHINGTON-The close of the six-year, $27 million Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. program has re-energized a public debate about whether mobile telephones cause cancer or pose other health problems to the nation's 70 million wireless subscribers.Indeed, WTR Chairman George Carlo claims new studies suggest a...
WASHINGTON-State regulators are concerned the Federal Communications Commission this week will adopt an item suggesting calling party pays is a commercial mobile radio service exempt from state regulation.There is nothing new about state regulators not wanting to be pre-empted by the FCC. But the...
WASHINGTON-Two powerful telecommunications lawmakers have brought the wireless industry into the debate about the amount of funding for Internet connections for schools and libraries, known as the e-rate.Reps. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, and Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the...
