Congress should outlaw pretexting by passing a law as soon as possible to prevent future corporate scandals like the Hewlett-Packard (HP) debacle, said House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) and other members at a Thurs. hearing. Barton scolded 10 witnesses, including top HP officials, who are involved in an investigation using pretexting -- getting people’s personal information using false identifies.
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
NARUC Gen. Counsel Brad Ramsay said he sees little chance of compromise with wireless carriers on state wireless preemption while the Senate version of broad telecom reform containing preemption language is still alive. Ramsay predicted CTIA may be willing to discuss a compromise with NARUC, but not until after a likely lame duck session of the Congress ends.
Sprint Nextel is making curbing the costs of special access its top priority on Capitol Hill and at the FCC. The carrier is taking on the fight reluctantly, but has no choice given the disappearance of the 2 biggest advocates of special access price controls, MCI and the premerger AT&T, said Robert Foosaner, Sprint chief regulatory officer. “This is not just a Sprint Nextel issue,” Foosaner said: “This is a big issue for all business… We're the ones who are willing to take the battle on.”
Many of the most significant policy fights of tower companies are at the state and local level, PCIA Pres. Mike Fitch told us in an interview ranging across many topics. Critical issues do face tower operators at the FCC and FAA, but he spends much of his time on local matters with potential national implications, said the former FCC bureau chief: “We spend more time on zoning than anything.”
The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy joined designated entities (DEs) in questioning the need for the major rule changes for DEs that the FCC approved before the recent AWS auction. In a filing on a further notice of proposed rulemaking on future auction rules, the Office suggested the FCC had already gone too far.
The Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials said the group is “very disappointed” about Sprint Nextel’s suggestions (CD Sept 21 p4) that the movement of public safety licensees to other bands in phase 2 of the 800 MHZ rebanding process be suspended so all systems can be moved at one time. Sprint put out a clarification.
NASHVILLE -- The FCC’s just-ended AWS auction and the upcoming 700 MHz auction guarantee a bright future for the tower industry, the CEOs of the 4 major companies agreed Wed. in a keynote panel at the PCIA conference. The CEOs also agreed that tower siting and wireless carrier consolidation present question marks, but strong growth should continue for several years. The AWS auction ended Mon. with $13.7 billion in bids.
Shared Spectrum Co. said Mon. tests conducted at Fort A.P. Hill in Va. demonstrated that other radios can share military frequencies without causing harmful interference to the military systems, using a complex version of dynamic frequency sharing. The tests were conducted under the neXtGeneration Communications (XG) program financed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). More tests are planned over the next year.
A growing number of small carriers are warning the FCC they're having trouble finding hearing aid compatible handsets required by the agency, and will miss a deadline. The Commission has ordered carriers to offer at least 2 compliant handsets in stores by today (Mon). A carrier that offers both CDMA and GSM service needs 2 handsets available for each.
Sun. marked 6 months since an FCC order creating the Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau. The FCC seems close to opening the bureau, probably with a chief hired from outside the Commission staff. An FCC official said Fri. the Commission received approval from House appropriators in late Aug. to open the bureau and from Senate appropriators last week. The Commission has already worked out any union issues and a formal opening is likely this month, the source said. Sen. Nelson (D-Fla.) asked Chmn. Martin for an update on the bureau in written questions after his Commerce Committee confirmation hearing last week. “What is the status of that bureau and will that bureau be charged with addressing all or some of the ongoing 911 issues at the FCC, or will some issues remain in existing bureaus?” Nelson asked. A regulatory lawyer said creating the bureau has taken longer than expected. “But I don’t know what all they had to go through with the union and the Hill,” the source said: “It may be that’s the best they can do because of factors that aren’t under their control.” When the FCC voted to approve the bureau, officials indicated start-up would likely take about as long as the last major reorganization. That was less than 3 months.