FCC

The embattled wireless company LightSquared formally asked the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday to develop standards that would require global positioning system manufacturers to ensure their devices are compatible with transmissions from other networks.

LightSquared's bid to build a nationwide wireless network with spectrum near that used by GPS has been on hold after tests indicated its transmissions could interfere with the navigation systems. The company says the problem lies with GPS devices that should have been designed to filter out neighboring signals.

"It has become apparent that the commercial [GPS] industry has failed to design receivers that communicate with the U.S. GPS system in a manner that is compatible with the authorized use of adjacent spectrum bands," LightSquared wrote in documents filed with the FCC on Tuesday. "This failure has inhibited the deployment of licensed services in adjacent bands that would provide significant public interest benefits, such as increased competition."

While the FCC has traditionally relied on market forces to keep competing spectrum users from overlapping, LightSquared says this method has failed.

GPS manufacturers say it should be up to LightSquared to fix the problem because GPS devices were built with the expectation that the adjacent bandwidth wouldn't be used for a land-based network like LightSquared has planned.

"This latest filing yet again proceeds from the same false premises and claims that LightSquared has repeated ad nauseum in its ongoing effort to deny its obligation to avoid harmful interference to millions of government and private GPS users," Jim Kirkland, vice president at the GPS manufacturer Trimble, said in a statement. "LightSquared's continuing efforts to move the goal posts are too little, too late."

On Wednesday the House Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation plans to hold a hearing which could include the potential impact of LightSquared's plans on aviation navigation systems.

Where do you get your news and do minorities have enough access to the public airwaves? The Federal Communications Commission wants to know.

First off, the FCC wants to review any studies on media access and ownership, the agency says.

"Section 257 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, mandates that the Commission review and report to Congress on (1) efforts to identify and eliminate regulatory barriers to market entry in the provision and ownership of telecommunications services and information services, or in the provision of parts or services to providers of telecommunications services and information services by entrepreneurs and other small businesses and (2) proposals to eliminate statutory barriers to market entry by those entities, consistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity," it says.

A top consumer protection official at the Federal Communications Commission is stepping down, the agency said on Thursday.

Joel Gurin, chief of the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, oversaw efforts to crack down on abusive robocalls; companies that sneak unauthorized charges onto customers' bills, also know as "cramming;" and unclear billing practices known as "bill shock." He also worked on programs to help people with disabilities take advantage of modern communications.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Gurin helped use technology to empower consumers as the communications market rapidly evolved. "We'll miss Joel's dedication as a stalwart advocate for consumers, working to solve real problems in smart ways," Genachowski said in a statement.

Kris Monteith, currently a deputy chief in the FCC's Media Bureau, will serve as acting bureau chief.

Gurin, a former science and medical journalist, joined the commission in 2009 after serving as acting president of NARSAD, a non-profit charity now known as the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. He also spent almost a decade as vice president of Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports.

It's been a month since its bid to buy T-Mobile USA went south, and AT&T made clear Thursday that it hasn't forgotten the Federal Communications Commission's role in the deal's demise.

The two sides clashed Thursday after AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson complained that the FCC is taking too long and using inconsistent standards to decide spectrum transactions and other deals.

"This industry continues to see just explosive mobile broadband growth and it's providing one of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy. But I think we all understand this growth cannot continue without more spectrum being cleared and brought to market," Stephenson said on a conference call Thursday morning to discuss the company's earnings report. "Despite all the speeches from the FCC, we are all still waiting. The last significant spectrum auction was nearly five years ago now and this FCC has made it abundantly clear that they will not allow significant [merger and acquisition] to help bridge their delays in freeing up new spectrum."

AT&T reported a $6.7 billion loss in the last quarter of 2011 in large part because of the break-up fee it must pay after its bid to buy T-Mobile failed. The company dropped its bid for T-Mobile last month after both the Justice Department and the FCC objected to the deal.

Stephenson complained on Thursday that the FCC used differing sets of standards related to how much spectrum AT&T can hold in each market for evaluating its bid for T-Mobile and in its recently cleared purchase of a swath of spectrum from Qualcomm.

"We are literally sitting here in a situation where we don't know how much spectrum we are allowed to hold...who we are allowed to do business with, and so forth," he said.

The FCC fired back Thursday afternoon noting that the commission has approved more than 150 commercial mobile transactions in the last year, including AT&T's Qualcomm deal.

"Unfortunately, these facts were completely ignored in the conference call," FCC spokesman Neil Grace said in a statement. On the AT&T-T-Mobile deal, Grace added that, "The DOJ and FCC staffs concluded that this action would violate the antitrust laws and result in higher prices for consumers, and less innovation and investment in the marketplace. Those conclusions surely disappointed AT&T executives, but they followed directly from the facts and the law."

It wasn't always this way between the telecom operator and its regulator. Just over a year ago, AT&T was among the few broadband providers to endorse the FCC's controversial open Internet order. Then again both sides got something out of it. For AT&T, the order's most controversial provisions did not apply to the growing wireless broadband market. At the same time, the FCC gained the support of one of the biggest broadband providers in the country.

AT&T's CEO complained about FCC regulation in discussing the company's $6.7 billion loss in the last quarter of 2011, which stemmed primarily from the break-up fee the company paid as part of its failed bid to buy T-Mobile USA, Information Week reports.

Despite a big jump in new customers from a year ago, the Wall Street Journal says AT&T is still attracting fewer new customers than rival Verizon Wireless.

Facebook has hired Bloomberg's former social media director to work as the social networking service's managing editor, Business Insider reports.

The Sunlight Foundation examines why Congress has such a hard time understanding technology.

Google says it will now allow teenagers to sign up for its social networking service Google +, Fox News reports.

Read all of today's e-Reads on our Tech page.

What were they thinking?

That was the sentiment expressed by the head of a key House subcommittee Wednesday when asked about how the Federal Communications Commission handled LightSquared's quest to build a nationwide wireless network.

"I am trying to figure out how the cart got so far ahead of the horse," Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee, said during a news conference to discuss his 2012 agenda. Walden said he plans to hold a hearing on the controversy this year but didn't give a specific date.

Tests indicate that LightSquared's proposals would interfere with global positioning systems. LightSquared says it has solved the interference problems, but representatives of nine federal agencies concluded on Jan. 13 that no practical measures can allow LightSquared to overcome interference with GPS.

The finding, a significant blow to LightSquared's case, prompted a furious response from the beleaguered wireless startup, which accused the government panel of "a systematic disregard for fairness and transparency."

Walden said he has met with representatives from both GPS companies and LightSquared in hopes of figuring out if there is an "engineering answer here." He said he got two different answers.

The FCC says it will not give LightSquared final approval until tests show that the network can be safely built, but the agency has come under fire for its handling of the process.

Walden questioned how the FCC could allow Light Squared to obtain spectrum that it is now being told will interfere with GPS systems. "How did it get to this point?" asked Walden, a former radio broadcaster who has had to bid for spectrum licenses.

The FCC says it did nothing unusual in working with LightSquared, and has repeatedly said it will not give the company approval until all problems have been resolved.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said on Monday he plans to reform a program designed to subsidize phone service for help low-income Americans to provide broadband access.

The FCC's Lifeline program provides up to $10 in discounts on monthly telephone service for people who are at or below 135 percent of the poverty level or are covered by one of several assistance programs, such as Medicaid or food stamps.

As part of a broader effort to reform the Universal Service Fund, which was designed to help develop phone networks in rural or other areas, Genachowski said he will unveil an order switching Lifeline to broadband and enacting measures to reduce fraud and waste on Tuesday.

"These are vital programs, grounded in a longstanding national commitment to the idea that essential infrastructure and platforms--electricity, highways, telephone service, and now broadband--should be available to all Americans, and that we all benefit from universal service," Genachowski said in a speech at the Third Way on Monday.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee, praised the plan, noting that Lifeline has been beset by problems for years.

"It's time to modernize the program by bringing it into the 21st Century, with support of broadband access for low-income Americans," she said in a statement.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski named Zachary Katz as chief of staff on Thursday, to succeed Eddie Lazarus who leaves at the end of January. Genachowski also named a new chief counsel and senior legal adviser, promoting Sherrese Smith from senior counsel.

Amy Levine, currently a special counsel, will move to Smith's job and will keep her responsibility for the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, and Office of Engineering and Technology.

Michael Steffen will move to Genachowski's office as legal adviser from the Office of General Counsel.

"The agency is fortunate to have an extraordinarily accomplished senior team to lead an ambitious policy agenda as we start the new year. Building on the successes of the past few years, this team will be focused on unleashing the benefits of broadband, driving economic growth, and opportunity for all Americans," Genachowski said in a statement.
Katz helped create the FCC's Connect America Fund, a $4.5 billion plan to subsidize rural broadband that the agency says will bring broadband to 7 million people over the next six years.

Katz came to the FCC from the White House Counsel's office and was a lawyer at Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles.

Before joining the FCC, Smith was vice president and general counsel at Washington Post digital.

In addition, the FCC said Josh Gottheimer, currently senior counselor to Genachowski, will direct a new team on public-private initiatives, including a plan to bring call-center jobs back to the United States.

AT&T says it hopes to quickly finalize a $1.9 billion spectrum deal with Qualcomm after the Federal Communications Commission approved it on Thursday.

"This spectrum will help AT&T continue to deliver a world-class mobile broadband experience to our customers," AT&T Senior Vice President Bob Quinn said in a statement. "We appreciate the FCC Chairman, the Commissioners and their staff for completing its review before the holidays."

For just over $1.9 billion AT&T will buy 700 MHz spectrum licenses covering more than 300 million people. AT&T said the two companies will close the deal "in the coming days."

AT&T, which called spectrum the "lifeblood" of the wireless industry, had been seeking more spectrum resources through the Qualcomm deal as well as a mega-merger with rival T-Mobile USA.

The merger with T-Mobile fell through on Monday after regulators at the FCC and Justice Department moved to block it.

The Qualcomm buy was panned by groups that also opposed the T-Mobile merger. Free Press argued that by giving AT&T access to more of the high-quality 700 mHz spectrum, the FCC is potentially harming competition.

The Federal Communications Commission has a little holiday present for everyone -- it announced on Thursday that it has voted to move forward with media ownership rules that would ease restrictions on owning newspapers, TV, or radio stations in the same markets.

Similar rules, enacted in 2007, were struck down by a federal appeals court in July because the FCC did not allow enough time for public comment.

Among the proposed changes is a so-called "cross ownership" rule, which would lift some restrictions on owning a TV station and a newspaper in any of the nation's top 20 markets. Another proposal would do away with rules governing how many radio and TV stations can be owned in one market.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking approved by the commission is not a final order. Rather, it begins a 75-day period of public comments and responses. A final order would be drafted and voted upon after that.

All four members of the commission approved portions of the proposals, but Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps dissented on some parts that he said are based on too many assumptions about the power of new media.

"Simply put, what we currently have is an illusion of plenty," he said in a statement. "The barriers to self-publish have never been lower, but the majority of eyeballs and clicks are still focused on too few small players."

Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell, meanwhile, concurred with the proposals but said he was disappointed that the commissioner didn't loosen restrictions further; a sentiment echoed by broadcasters.

"Given the explosion of media outlets, we believe nearly 40-year-old ownership rules that restrict free and local broadcasting ought to be reformed to reflect today's hyper-competitive marketplace," National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith said in a statement.

Free Press President Craig Aaron attacked the FCC for proposing rules that are "strikingly similar" to earlier controversial regulations.

"The FCC must be having a Yogi Berra-moment, because it's déjà vu all over again on the failed policies of the previous administration," Aaron said in a statement.. "Those policies were resoundingly rejected by the public, Congress, and the courts. The FCC should be working to remedy the mistakes of past administrations - not repeating them."

Thursday's vote was taken by circulation, rather than in a public meeting. Copps, who has been a vocal voice on media ownership issues, is leaving at the end of the year and would miss the next public meeting.

The proposed rules are a result of the 2010 quadrennial review of media ownership, which only recently concluded.