Policy

The White House's Office of Management and Budget has signed off on the Federal Communications Commission's Net neutrality rules, which means the rules could go into effect in two to three months' time--barring legal challenges.

The OMB signed off on Friday, Reuters reports. The next step will be publication in the Federal Register, which usually takes anywhere from one to three weeks. The rules would then kick in 60 days later.

Soon after the FCC's late December passing of the rules, Verizon Communications sued the agency in federal court, saying the FCC had overstepped its authority. But … Read more

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has thrown out Verizon and MetroPCS' suits challenging the Federal Communications Commission's new Net neutrality rules.

The appeals court said in its order today that the suits filed in January by Verizon Communications and MetroPCS were premature. Specifically, the court said that Verizon and MetroPCS needed to wait until the FCC's Net neutrality rules are posted to the Federal Register before they could file their suits.

The suits, which the broadband providers filed separately, accused the FCC of overstepping its jurisdiction in adopting new rules that would … Read more

ORLANDO, Fla.--While many gadget fans will be looking for the latest smartphones and cool services coming out at this week's CTIA 2011 trade show here, policy wonks will be looking for news in the heated battle between the wireless industry and TV broadcasters over spectrum reallocation.

In recent weeks, the National Association of Broadcasters has called into question the Federal Communications Commission's plan to reallocate spectrum, much of which will come from unused broadcast licenses that have been voluntarily given up. The NAB has called many current spectrum holders, which have participated in previous spectrum auctions, hoarders. … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission is a step closer to approving the $37 billion joint venture between Comcast and General Electric's NBC Universal.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave his blessing today to the new joint venture, which was announced a year ago. He circulated an order among the four other FCC commissioners stating that he believes the venture, which will be controlled by cable giant Comcast, will be in the public interest, paving the way for the full FCC to approve the marriage between the two companies.

That full FCC approval isn't expected until January. The deal must also … Read more

European telcos say companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook should pay to help them keep up with growing demand for data on their networks, according to an article published by Bloomberg today.

France Telecom-Orange, Telecom Italia, and Vodafone Group would like to charge content providers fees linked to usage to help cover the cost of upgrading wireless broadband networks.

France Telecom-Orange Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard discussed the issue at the "Le Web" conference in Paris Wednesday. Richard said the current mismatch between revenue and investment for Internet infrastructure providers is not sustainable.

"Service providers are flooding … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission is set to finally vote on rules this month that will keep the Internet open, but the fight may continue as neither side in the Net neutrality debate is expected to be completely satisfied with the outcome.

As expected, early Wednesday, the FCC staff circulated an agenda for the agency's December 21 meeting stating that it would be voting on an order that adopts "basic rules of the road to preserve the open Internet as a platform for innovation, investment, competition, and free expression."

Chairman Julius Genachowski gave a preview of the new … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission wants to bring the 911 emergency service into the 21st century with new technologies such as text messaging and automatic alerts.

In a speech Tuesday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said it "is time to bring 911 into the Digital Age." He said this was important, as more and more people in the United States use cell phones. Text messaging, in particular, is an important feature to add to 911 call centers, he said.

About 70 percent of 911 calls already come from mobile phones, he said. And as more people text instead of talk … Read more

CHICAGO--Telecom policy experts say it is time for the Federal Communications Commission to put Net neutrality issues to rest so that the agency can move on to addressing other items on its agenda, such as implementing the National Broadband plan.

A representative from AT&T was joined by former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and other policy wonks here on a panel at the 4G World trade show to discuss the FCC's progress on implementing the National Broadband Plan.

Robert Quinn, senior vice president of regulatory affairs for AT&T, said progress on achieving goals set out in … Read more

American wireless customers are paying less for cell phone service than they did a decade ago, but they have fewer choices of carriers, a report from the Government Accountability Office said Thursday.

The GAO is the audit arm of Congress, and in the report there was both good and bad news for consumers. The good news is that the average price for wireless services declined each year from 1999 to 2008, the GAO said, citing Consumer Price Index data. In fact, average prices in 2009 were half the prices in 1999, the report said.

"This illustrates that consumers are … Read more