In its March 18th meeting, the Board of FirstNet, the first nationwide interoperable wireless broadband network, approved the hiring of the first General Manager, but the selected person’s identity was kept confidential while the Board Chairman Sam Ginn performs the necessary background check processes, given the importance of the position for national public safety.
Led by Chair Ed Chau, the California Assembly Select Committee on Privacy conducted a hearing today on the collecting, sharing and tracking of personal information on-line and in the mobile app ecosystem. Industry advocates discouraged new "static" state laws that might inadvertently stifle the fast moving, innovative and growing mobile app economy, while consumer groups advocated for laws that protected a user’s right to know what personal information is being shared, how it will be used, and having a right to meaningfully opt out of data collection.
Before a standing room only audience, the California Broadband Council (CBC) today adopted by consensus a statement on broadband in education calling for five changes:
Chairman Greg Walden (OR-R) of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology has ordered a hearing titled "Oversight of FirstNet and Emergency Communications" on March 14, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern at 2123 Rayburn House office Building. The hearing will be webcast online at http://energycommerce.house.gov.
On Monday, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, announced the FCC will hold workshops designed "to analyze successful gigabit network deployments and to provide information on how industry local and state leaders can meet the goals of the Gigabit City Challenge." The first workshop is scheduled for March 27th hosted by the Wireline Competition Bureau at the FCC’s Commission Meeting Room at 445 12th Street, SW, Room TW-C305, Washington D.C. 20544.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held a field hearing on network resilience and reliability at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California on Thursday. This was the second national field hearing, with a prior set of field hearings held in New York City and Hoboken, New Jersey relating to Superstorm Sandy on February 5th. This field hearing had a decided California flavor. The focus of this hearing was on innovative network technologies, smart power solutions, social media and mobile applications might do to improve communications network resiliency in times of disaster.
Wednesday’s hearing on the Broadband Stimulus grants before Chairman Greg Waldon (R-Ore.) and the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology in Washington was marked with specific allegations of overbuilding in areas that already had broadband and improper purchasing practices by one project. Most of the allegations were brought to light in the first panel, where Lawrence Strickling, Asst. Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the Department of Commerce, and John Padalino, Acting Administrator, Rural Utilities Service (RUS), of the US Department of Agriculture appeared.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced its panels of speakers for the February 28 Field Hearing on Network Resilience and Reliability at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Among the speakers will be Senator Alex Padilla, Chair of the California Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee, in addition to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and FCC Commissioners Robert McDowell, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced its second National Field Hearing on Thursday, February 28th, from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time, at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, to examine challenges to the nation’s communications systems during natural disasters and other times of crisis. An agenda has not yet been released. This FCC public hearing is one of the first times in recent years a national hearing on reliability and resilience of communications systems is being held on the West Coast.
The Federal Communications Commission took two actions on Tuesday, both which benefit wireless users with smartphones or laptops that rely on wireless connections to the Internet. First, the FCC approved an order to enhance wireless coverage for consumers by adopting new rules for signal boosters, while protecting existing wireless networks from interference. Second, the FCC issued a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to open new parts of the 5 GHz spectrum for unlicensed uses by wireless devices. The 195 megahertz of additional spectrum will help encourage new Wi-Fi technology that can offer faster speeds of one gigabit per second or more, increase overall capacity and reduce congestion at Wi-Fi hotspots.
At its February 12th Board meeting, the First Responder Network Authority made clear its intention to allow seven regional wireless connectivity projects – including the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) and the San Francisco Bay Area Wireless Enhanced Broadband (BayWEB) System projects – to move forward as test sites for the 700 MHz public safety Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks. The FirstNet Board authorized board member Sue Swenson, the leader of its BTOP working group, to negotiate spectrum lease agreements in the next 90 days with seven BTOP public safety grant recipients to use the 700 MHz public safety broadband spectrum. If approved by the Board, these agreements would enable these grantees to lease access to FirstNet’s spectrum and provide the basis for the suspension of the BTOP funds to be lifted.
At the end of January, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the federal Department of Commerce released an update of the National Broadband Map. This searchable map is a public database of information compiled from 20 million records gathered by the states, and shows broadband Internet availability across the United States. The database is updated every six months, and the current map contains data as of June 20, 2012. The Broadband Map is also accessible by mobile devices.
A flurry of this week’s headlines caught my eye, apparently generated by Washington Post reporter Cecilia Kang’s February 3rd story stating that, "The federal government wants to create super WiFi networks across the nation, so powerful and broad in reach that consumers could use them to make calls or surf the Internet without paying a cellphone bill every month. . . But public WiFi could allow many consumers to make free calls from their mobile phones via the Internet. The frugal-minded could even use the service in their homes, allowing them to cut off expensive Internet bills."
What if you held an auction, but there was nothing to sell? Luckily, back in 1994 when I was a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the FCC had inventory to hold the first spectrum auctions for Personal Communications Services. We had a fascinating time setting the auction rules, followed by establishing individual service rules for the many innovative communications and video services, such as the FastTrak, and direct broadcast satellite (DirecTV and Dish).
On January 18th at a meeting with the US Conference of Mayors, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued the "Gigabit City Challenge." Chairman Genachowski called for at least one gigabit community in every state by 2015, in order to "accelerate the creation of a critical mass of markets and innovation hubs with ultra-fast Internet speeds." He said, "If we build it, innovation will come." Quoting a Fiber to the Home Council report, the FCC asserted only 42 communities in 14 states have gigabit level speeds.
