The nightmarish world of mobile digital rights management may have taken a small step toward sanity.Microsoft Corp. scored a big win last week, agreeing to license its PlayReady anti-software piracy to Nokia Corp. The world's largest handset manufacturer plans to embed the technology on...
The Federal Communications Commission scored one for the little guys last week, essentially saying that nationwide operators have to strike roaming agreements with smaller carriers. The commission did not dictate prices for roaming service, but noted that reasonable deals must be made and carriers...
TIER-ONE CARRIERS IN THE FALL OF 2004 committed that they would be fully MMS-interoperable, enabling U.S. consumers to send photos, video clips and other goodies to users on any other nationwide network.We're still waiting.U.S. network operators generally claim to be fully interoperable with their...
THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION LAST WEEK approved 700 MHz rules to foster the creation of a nationwide public-safety/commercial broadband network and introduce new devices and applications in a wireless space tightly controlled by four national operators.The FCC designated for auction a nationwide 10-megahertz spectrum...
Congress approved legislation that frees up $43.5 million for upgrades to 911 call centers. The measure, included in the 9/11 Commission Recommendations bill and funded by proceeds from the upcoming 700 MHz auction, is now headed to the White House.Under current law the $43.5...
Dear Editor,After Hurricane Katrina devastated southern Mississippi in 2005, more than $110 billion in federal assistance poured into the region, spurring reconstruction. Yet most funds needed for this rebuilding-which remains ongoing-are coming from private sources.Gulf Coast reconstruction efforts underscore the critical role that public-private...
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN KEVIN MARTIN could face trouble securing support from the agency's two Democrats for a key component of his 700 MHz plan, but the draft rule could entice Verizon Wireless to become more serious about a possible partnership with public safety.I'm...
"Serenity now!" yelled the character George Costanza in one episode of the 1990s sitcom, "Seinfeld."Costanza's anguished cry underscored the unbridgeable gap between his desperate need for serenity and the angst that gripped his soul.A roughly analogous gap may yawn between the public serenity of...
The public-safety community appears to be gathering behind the 700 MHz plan floated by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, a stark contrast to the volatile reaction to his attempt to impose an open-access-like condition to a third of the 60 megahertz to be...
WHILE FRONTLINE WIRELESS L.L.C., Congress and the mobile-phone industry sound off in the final throes of a testy, high-profile 700 MHz debate, the steady, low-key diplomacy of the public-safety community could prove decisive in determining whether the Federal Communications Commission approves for auction a...
Almost half of early adopters in the United States planning to replace their cellphones want Wi-Fi capability, according to a recent survey by In-Stat. The market research firm noted that there are numerous dual-mode phones in the pipeline to meet this demand and that...
Stalwarts in media are increasingly bullish on driving their audience's eyes and ears to just about every channel imaginable. But just as these powerhouses are finally finding their online groove, they're efforts are being re-doubled on the next frontier in media-mobile phones. Fox Interactive...
Cyren Call Communications Corp., unable to convince policymakers to divert half of the auction-bound 700 MHz spectrum for a national public safety/commercial wireless broadband system, is exploring various options that could still make it a player long after bidding ends. The strategy pivot could...
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 notion that government intervention should be an act of last resort when markets fail has gained popularity among economists and policy-makers in recent decades. It was Milton Friedman's credo. There is less certainty about what to do about government failure. The laissez-faire legacy...
The Justice Department said it picked General Dynamics Corp. to deploy a wireless network to be shared by three federal agencies, the selection coming just weeks after the department's inspector general issued a scathing report on Bush administration problems in getting the network off...
To accelerate adoption of DVB-H-based mobile TV services, Nokia Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will work on interoperability of their devices that run on that standard, the two companies announced.The vendors will work in tandem to support solutions based on the OMA BCAST...
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...
A conglomeration of major players in the wireless industry is putting their collective weight behind a mobile TV profile that supports fast implementation and ensures interoperability in Europe. The new profile simplifies the Open Mobile Alliance Mobile Broadcast Services Enabler Suite (OMA-BCAST) to achieve...
With the intractable Iraqi war having become so divisive after four years and ironically so devastatingly disruptive to the once-overarching homeland security framework for nearly all public policy, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) statement honoring National Public Safety Telecommunications Week (April 4-18) probably doesn't...
EMI Group has become the first major music label to offer digital music tracks without anti-piracy software. The move has some claiming digital rights management (DRM) software is slipping precariously close to its demise, while others are holding out to see what kind of...
The growing pool of federal dollars for interoperable public-safety communications grants could get even bigger, even though the nearly $3 billion spent to date has largely failed to improve first- responder communications around the country.Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, an independent Democrat...
It's over. There will be presidential statements and appearances, congressional hearings where FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will continue to be roughed up, and all the other familiar trappings of government at work. With the 2008 White House sweepstakes already in high gear, government-as-usual has...
Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) plans to offer a bill mandating a federal standard for interoperable public-safety communications if one cannot be achieved voluntarily. But emerging technological solutions appear to be altering the broader debate over first-responder spectrum and interoperability and disrupting the competitive landscape...
