Groups Seek Public Hearings From FCC Regarding AT&T/T-Mobile Takeover

By David, Managing Editor June 29, 2011 12:20 pm EST 69 Comments

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In a letter to the FCC a number of consumer activist and watchdog groups requested that public hearings be held across the country to “hear from the people who could be most affected by the merger.” Groups including Consumers Union and Public Knowledge (we love them) sent the letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski expressing the deal as “a matter of great public concern.” Other groups who lent support to the letter include Free Press, Media Access Project, Future of Music Coalition, National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Open Technology Initiative of the New America Foundation.

There is precedent for hearings of this kind as last year saw a public forum held in Chicago to examine the Comcast Purchase of NBC.

Would you attend a public hearing? I would…with cowbell.

Boston.com

T-Mobile Claims Right to Censor Text Messages

T-Mobile told a federal judge Wednesday it may pick and choose which text messages to deliver on its network in a case weighing whether wireless carriers have the same "must carry" obligations as wire-line telephone providers.

The Bellevue, Washington-based wireless service is being sued by a texting service claiming T-Mobile stopped servicing its "short code" clients after it signed up a California medical marijuana dispensary. In a court filing, T-Mobile said it had the right to pre-approve EZ Texting's clientele, which it said the New York-based texting service failed to submit for approval.

EZ Texting offers a short code service, which works like this: A church could send its schedule to a cell phone user who texted "CHURCH" to 313131. Mobile phone users only receive text messages from EZ Texting's customers upon request. Each of its clients gets their own special word.

T-Mobile, the company wrote in a filing (.pdf) in New York federal court, "has discretion to require pre-approval for any short-code marketing campaigns run on its network, and to enforce its guidelines by terminating programs for which a content provider failed to obtain the necessary approval."

Such approval is necessary, T-Mobile added, "to protect the carrier and its customers from potentially illegal, fraudulent, or offensive marketing campaigns conducted on its network."

It's the first federal case testing whether wireless providers may block text messages they don't like.

The legal flap comes as the Federal Communications Commission has been dragging its feet over clarifying the rules for wireless carriers. The FCC was asked in 2007 to announce clear rules whether wireless carriers, unlike their wireline brethren, may ban legal content they do not support. The so-called "network neutrality" issue made huge headlines last month, when Google, along with Verizon, urged Congress not to bind wireless carriers to the same rules as wireline carriers.

EZ Texting claims it will go out of business if a judge does not promptly order T-Mobile to transmit its texts. T-Mobile accounts for 15 percent of the nation's wireless subscribers.

A similar text-messaging flap occurred in 2007, but ended without litigation, when Verizon reversed itself and allowed an abortion-rights group to send text messages to its supporters.

Switch to Digital TV Delayed 4 Months

American TV viewers have four extra months to get ready for the day their local stations shut down their analog transmitters, thanks to a delay in the digital TV transition approved by Congress Wednesday. The government's fund to give people $40 coupons to help buy converters ran out of money in recent weeks. The House, by a vote of 264 to 158, passed a Senate bill that would reset the death of analog TV to June 12, a measure President Barack Obama is expected to sign.

An estimated 6.5 million homes -- including many elderly, poor and disabled Americans -- would lose TV service after February 17 without the delay, supporters argued. People who pay for cable or satellite TV service will be unaffected by the change. The delay was opposed by Republicans who said the government has already given people years to prepare for the switch to digital TV. "If you didn't know this date is coming up, you're probably not watching television," said Rep. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican. "And if you're not watching television, you probably won't know on February 18 whether it occurred or not."

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Groups Urge FCC to Keep the Internet Open

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission needs to take steps to keep the Internet free of interference from broadband providers, such as the slowing of peer-to-peer traffic and the tracking of subscribers' Web habits, several witnesses told the FCC at a hearing Monday.

The FCC should take fast action against broadband providers that block access to legal online applications, especially those who don't notify their subscribers, said Marge Krueger, administrator of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) for the district covering Pennsylvania and Delaware.

read more | digg story

Nationwide SMS Alert System

The FCC, in an effort to increase the ability to share time sensitive information, is expected to create a nationwide SMS-based alert system. The alert system will most likely be adopted by the major US cell phone carriers. Alerts, relating to natural disasters, attacks, child abductions, etc. will be sent to your cell phone or mobile device by text messaging. The time frame on this alert system is to be up and running within a 10 month timeframe. Additionally, details have been released stating that disabled users can get the alert via special vibrations or audible alerts. As of now an undetermined government agency will send a message to all voluntary message carriers, who will then forward the message to individuals.

“A nationwide alert system will use cell phones or other mobile devices to send text messages to Americans when an emergency occurs, the Federal Communications Commission will announce Wednesday, according to an FCC representative. The representative said cell phone companies that voluntarily opt into the system would send text-based alert messages to subscribers in response to three types of events:

- A disaster that could jeopardize the health and safety of Americans, such as a terrorist attack; these would trigger a national alert from the president of the United States.

- Imminent or ongoing threats such as hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes.

- Child abductions or Amber alerts.”

To read more on this topic, please click here.

FCC Wireless Spectrum Auction

According the Friday’s Wall Street Journal, Google broadcasted they will make a bid for a 700 MHz wireless spectrum at a Federal Communications Commission auction. To simplify the wireless spectrum being auctioned, the 700 MHz frequency is what is used to carry signal to those old “rabbit ears” television sets. The auction price is estimated to reach $4.6 billion. Other members participating in this auction are most likely going to be the major wireless carriers, Verizon, AT&T and Vodafone. Winning the bid for a wireless license will provide Google a chance to become the newest member in the market of mobile phones and Internet services.

According to an article released by CNet News, Google wants the FCC to agree to its four "open" platform recommendations, which include: open applications for users; open devices that will work with whichever network provider customers choose; open services that would allow for third-party resellers to acquire wireless services on a wholesale basis; and open networks, which would allow third parties, such as Internet service providers, to interconnect at any feasible point within the 700MHz licensee's wireless network. If Google indeed wins the auction, the purchase of the 700MHz wireless spectrum will provide cell phone users access to an “open” platform. This means that cell phone users would be free to choose their service provider and still have access to the wireless spectrum. With a large player such as Google jumping into the mobile provider industry, they will definitely stir up the competition. Increasing competition and easier access to wireless services could create a major overhaul to how mobile providers price their phone and data plans.

On a side note: Resulting from the sale of the wireless spectrum on February 17, 2009, the FCC has mandated that all television channels must be cleared from the “over-the-air” analog spectrum and switched to a digital signal.