ANAHEIM -- FCC Media Bureau is on verge of sending report and order (R&O) to 8th floor that will propose new rules to limit extent cable companies can grow, Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree said Wed. Speaking on FCC panel at Western Show here that drew 35 people, Ferree said he hoped to have R&O before commissioners before end of year. “We're close, we're very close,” he told us later.
Country of origin cases
Hearing certification request by EchoStar and Hughes “is nothing more than a posturing tactic related solely to their contract,” National Rural Telecom Coop (NRTC) told FCC Tues. NRTC said “the applicants seek to have the best of both worlds” by submitting amendment to original application and request for certification nearly simultaneously. NRTC said “substantive details” about pricing and services of proposed New EchoStar have not been provided and “new-found sense of urgency” is to protect themselves from their own deadline. FCC Enforcement Bureau submitted its own opposition Mon. and said no hearing was needed if amended application were accepted and, if rejected, applicants would defend amended application, not original. “Certifying the question, at this time, is unnecessary and a waste of Commission resources,” agency said.
ANAHEIM -- Regulators shouldn’t be too quick to set rules for broadband services because those technologies still are in nascent stages, cable attorneys said on panel at Western Show here Wed. Speaking to audience of 30 on legal issues facing cable operators, NCTA Senior Vp-Law & Regulatory Policy Daniel Brenner said he hoped FCC won in case before 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, in which Media Access Project, Brand X and others challenged Commission’s decision to declare cable modem “interstate information service.”
More than 3 million cable modem units were shipped in 3rd quarter, 19.4% increase over same period last year, Gartner Dataquest said. Motorola topped companies with 32.6% market share, doing well in Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) units. Toshiba displaced Terayon for 2nd with 11.8% market share. Demand for cable broadband services continued strong in N. America and shipments of cable modems reflected that trend, said Patti Reali, Gartner Dataquest principal analyst. She said U.S.-based vendors would face more intense competition for low-end, simple functionality modems from Asian manufacturers that would result in continued decline in prices. New broadband cable markets and migration of dial-up users to broadband will continue to spur calls for cable modems. Gartner said it expected market to shift away from recognized retail brands to those produced by original design manufacturers.
Under nearly continuous questioning by 2 U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., judges, FCC attorney spent more than 30 minutes Thurs. morning defending way Commission wrote revisions in its payphone rules last year. All of parties at oral argument -- Sprint, which challenged ruling, FCC and judges - - agreed Commission probably should have published notice of rulemaking (NPRM) in Federal Register. Question was whether lack of NPRM was enough to require vacating rules.
Future of DTV set-top box market isn’t as rosy as originally thought, In-Stat/MDR said in report. It pointed out that pay DTV services in U.K. and Spain were going out of business, and DTV deployment schedules worldwide were slowing because of weakening economy. DTV set-tops were expected to generate $2.4 billion revenue in 2005, In-Stat said, but real figure probably wouldn’t reach $1.4 billion until 2006.
Amended application by EchoStar to acquire Hughes and subsidiary DirecTV submitted to FCC Wed. differs little from one offered nearly year ago, officials confirmed. Biggest difference is mention of Cablevision, industry sources said. “EchoStar and Hughes want to show that they can empower a competitor by selling and leasing spacecraft and turning over channels to them to provide viable nationwide service,” said Timothy Logue, senior analyst at Coudert Bros.
“The Asia-Pacific region is poised to overtake Europe as the world’s largest [mobile] market during 2002, although mobile penetration is still below 10%,” ITU said in new report. It said effects of 2001 global economic slowdown were milder in that region and strong economic growth and greater consumer spending power contributed to positive growth in telecom services. Of 10 most profitable public telecom operators, 7 originate in Asia, and 2 of top 3 mobile economies worldwide (Taiwan and China and Hong Kong) are in that region, report said. It said mobile technologies contributed to raising total teledensity in many developing countries “that might otherwise have expected to remain locked into low levels of access.” Report said Asia-Pacific region, which has 160 million Internet users, accounts for 1/3 of total Internet users worldwide, more than any other region. Innovative schemes for community access, such as Indonesia’s warung internets (warnets), “have boosted Internet usage, as have prepaid cards and the boom in online gaming and e-government,” report said. Asia-Pacific also leads in broadband Internet with 5 Asian economies among top 12 worldwide in penetration, report said: “Capacity on Internet bandwidth has leapt eightfold over the last 2 years from 8 GBS at the end of 2001.” Report said Asia-Pacific region also distinguished itself in technology deployment and innovative and flexible nature of its policy models. It said in 2001 “the region emerged as the world’s largest telecommunication market,” and had added more than one new telephone user every second for last decade. S. Asia, currently least developed subregion with teledensity of 4 in 2001, “could provide the next great spurt of growth for the region as this is where the potential for ‘catch-up’ is greatest,” report said. It said Japan and S. Korea continued to be leaders in commercial deployment of 3G networks, but small countries such as Bhutan and Tonga also had “leapfrogged to leading edge technologies” such as wireless LAN and all-IP networks. Singapore, Hong Kong and China, report said, withdrew exclusivity of their operators’ licenses to introduce competition in international services, and Thailand and Vietnam found ways to introduce alternative suppliers and foreign investment into their markets. Author of report, Michael Minges, said Asia-Pacific region “continues to push the envelope of universal service. For those Asian countries that have crossed a threshold of 30 telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants, the focus has shifted to providing service directly to the home and on keeping phone service affordable as cross-subsidies disappear.” Co-author Tim Kelly said: “The developing nations of Asia represent the real test of the potential of mobile communications to extend access to telecommunications services.” ITU’s Telecom Development Bureau Dir. Hamadoun Toure said: “The real reason for confidence [about Asia’s success] lies not so much in the numbers of telephone, mobile and Internet subscribers in the region, but rather the digital opportunities represented by the large numbers of those still waiting to be connected.”
FCC is expected to act by mid-Dec. on interim changes aimed at improving way carriers make contributions to Universal Service Fund (USF). Sources said Commission had planned to act by end of Nov. but decided to delay action until Comr.-Designate Jonathan Adelstein was sworn in.
FCC said Qualcomm could use its auction discount voucher (ADV) for payment of outstanding auction obligations rather than solely for future auctions. ADV, worth $125 million, was given to Qualcomm after U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., in 1999 ordered FCC to grant pioneer’s preference to Qualcomm. Qualcomm had appealed Commission decision to dismiss all pending pioneer’s preference applications, but court overturned decision. Because spectrum Qualcomm initially sought had been auctioned to another licensee, FCC and Qualcomm in 2000 agreed on ADV instead. Agency said in order issued Nov. 27 that it would be fairer to let Qualcomm use money for pending obligations while still meeting court mandate, change that Qualcomm had sought. Original agreement required Qualcomm to use ADV by June 8, 2003.