On Rad's Radar? - FCC Archives

Cellular Mayhem

2012-05-18T17:46:16Z

Just looking at the news makes me think that the cellular industry is having a week of mayhem. Besides the mess I wrote about earlier this week, "US wholesale player LightSquared has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid efforts to resolve regulatory issues that have prevented it from launching its satellite service," according to Telecoms. "The carrier has been planning to build a ground-based LTE network, supported by satellites, but the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blocked the project, stating that the proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and that there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference." That about spells it all out. Last I read Philip Falcone wants the FCC to give Lightsquared better spectrum.

WISPA stormed DC this week to plead at the FCC and Congress for more unlicensed spectrum. Everyone wants more spectrum, but only WISPA will settle for unlicensed spectrum. WISP's make a lot out of a little. Cellcos make a mess out of an abundance, which just goes to show that when you are too big to fail, you will fumble a lot.

Speaking of fumbling, AT&T is in talks with Leap Wireless. Yeah. AT&T needs to acquire more spectrum. How about you and all the rest of you just deploy the spectrum you already have? How about you have to give it back if it isn't lit in a year?

I like this comparison by the NYT: Sprint as a downer and AT&T Mobility as techno-Pollyanna. Sprint might be right about mobile payments, since I don't trust the cellcos enough to be my wallet. I have a wallet. A leather one. I trust AMEX. I understand the rules of using VISA. I have Paypal. What more do I need? Do I really need to spend my money faster?

The Big 4 Cellco execs riffed at CTIA. Yawn.

AT&T ripped into FCC Chair again and threatened price increases: "In the case of wireless, without additional capacity, which would have been created by our transaction, prices rise," said AT&T Senior Vice President Jim Cicconi." So you mismanage your network, can't buy your competition, whine about the FCC and then raise rates. Awesome! We have names for people like you.

You know I have a problem with Sprint and its CEO, but this headline takes the cake: A Better Network is Coming! Really? Could be get a worse network?

,p>T-Mobile thinks that VZ's deal with SpectrumCo (the cable alliance) is bad for everyone. "T-Mobile USA would like to have a chance to bid on the spectrum Verizon Wireless is looking to buy." Well, make a bid then. Sheesh.

The Union is against the VZW-Cable deal, "could mean the end of a competitive telecommunications landscape, saddling consumers with higher prices and diminished choice." Well, that and the Union doesn't get a piece of the deal. I do agree that this will end all competition, since the competition is a Duopoly. Now they would be working together.

A Game of Risk

2012-05-17T15:20:37Z

Everyone blames the FCC. AT&T blames the FCC for all of its woes after the FCC (and the DOJ) said no to its merger with T-Mobile. Boo-hoo. It was a risk. It didn't work out. You probably shouldn't have given them the smoking gun memo. Not to mention that 4G is the new broadband and we need competition in that sector. You can't agree with the FCC and applaud them when they say that wireless is the future, then get mad when they want to maintain the competitive landscape.

Speaking of the competitive landscape: the FCC can not let VZW and the cablecos work together. The only competition we have is the Duopoly - cable versus telco. Letting the largest cellco joint venture with the top 3 or 4 cablecos will spell disaster for competition.

In the short term, we are talking job losses and rising prices. In the long term, we are talking bankruptcies. None of that is for the good of the consumer.

It's really a 2 horse race in cellular. Sprint sucks. T-Mobile is cutting another 900 jobs. They already have morale issues over there. This will just be another coffin nail.

T-Mobile does have options though. Merger with an ILEC like CenturyLink or Frontier. Merger with US Cellular, which TDS mainly owns and appears to manage well. Leap, Cricket and MetroPCS are all in play. Will it be Sprint or T-Mobile that go there first?

Lightsquared has filed for bankruptcy. It was another risky gamble to buy spectrum and try to use it for purposes other than what it was designated for. You went all in LSQD and you lost. Live with it. Business is a gamble. It's just the first time that the house (the FCC) wasn't totally ~~bought and paid for~~ on your side.

I guess without a stacked deck of cards, the telcos kind of suck at poker.

Robo-Calls

2012-05-11T17:07:27Z

I need to learn not to answer the phone if I don't know the caller. It's always robo-calls. And it is usually a Level3 number! 407-412-9892 was the Florida PAL. When did they start robo-dialing? I don't give money to phone solicitors anyway, but robo-dialing for dollars? How does that work?

469-341-0230 is another Google Local Search results call. I get a lot of those. Does this actaully work? I would guess that it would have stopped if it didn't.

The FCC is useless when it comes to robo-dialing. It really needs to be stopped by our own industry, but there are too many greedy and needy folks in this industry for it to ever stop.

I actually got a call from an agent asking me for phone numbers for his client in Indonesia that needed throw-away numbers for craigslist ads. If he was standing next to me I would have knocked him over for even telling me that he helped that business. He may not hear for a few days though.

If you are in the robo-call business, don't tell me. I'll be too tempted to punch you in the face.

VoIP Termination Squabble

2012-05-07T19:05:35Z

On April 5, 2012, Sprint filed a petition for declaratory ruling raising a number of issues concerning the applicability of tariffed access rates to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-originated calls. (Issues that the FCC should have already put to bed!) Basically, "Sprint is asking the FCC to decide whether it should pay CenturyLink for VoIP long-distance traffic. The question stems from a long-running federal lawsuit - filed in Nov. 2009 - CenturyLink filed against Sprint to enforce access tariffs on VoIP-originated calls." [fiercetelecom]

One of Sprint's points is: "because the VoIP originated traffic is jurisdictionally interstate, intrastate access tariffs cannot impose compensation obligations with respect to that traffic, even if those calls originate and terminate in the same state."

This issue was sort of addressed in 2010.

Kelley Drye explains it: "On February 18, 2010, a federal district court stepped in to fill the gap left by the FCC's silence on the issue of whether transmission of Voice over Internet Protocol ("VoIP")-originated calls is an information service exempt from access charges or a telecommunications service subject to access charges. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia in PAETEC Communications, Inc. v. CommPartners, LLC held that the transmission and net protocol conversion of VoIP-originated calls is an information service not subject to access charges and that a tariff imposing such charges is ultra vires and lacks legal force."

VoIP Logic points out that "the Court supported application of the FCC's $0.0007 reciprocal compensation cap, an amount to be paid for local traffic exchange between networks."

Other rulings have conflicted including the Pennsylvania PUC ruling. More importantly, "U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York reached an opposite conclusion in a suit pitting VoIP provider GlobalNAPs, Inc." against MetTel on March 31, 2010. "While acknowledging the findings in the CommPartners case, the court found that an inability to apply the tariff regime as did not preclude MetTel's entitlement to recover in equity for costs it assumed in terminating Global's traffic, and concluded that GlobalNAPs was not entitled to "unjust enrichment," e.g. was required to compensate MetTel for access." [VoIP Logic] GlobalNAPs petitioned the FCC for a ruling in 2010. The FCC has waffled as per usual.

They even waffled within months of each order. In October of 2011, this order was released with the Connect America Fund order. Then on April 25, 2012, the FCC released a revised Connect America Fund Order that revised the ICC/USF Reform. This order "permits local exchange carriers (LECs) to impose higher charges for originating intra-state toll calls that begin or end in VoIP format. Previously, in its USF/ICC Transformation Order the FCC determined that effective Dec. 29, 2011, originating access charges for such intrastate toll calls would be capped at the level of the LEC's normally lower interstate charges." JDSupra continues to explain, "The FCC's new decision establishes a transitional rate rule, under which intrastate VoIP toll traffic will be subject to intrastate rates for approximately two years." It all comes down to tariff rates, which, contrary to popular belief, can be updated at any time by the carrier and just need to be filed to be effective. (So when they hide behind the tariff, they are just saying they don't want to.)

If you are confused, you are not alone. Hence, why Sprint is petitioning the FCC. Maybe some day it will finally be settled.

US Government Suing AT&T for Fraud

2012-04-26T14:49:58Z

Is Fraud rampant at Ma Bell?

ARS wrote an article titled, AT&T collected millions from taxpayers in fraudulent charges, US says. "AT&T improperly received millions of dollars from a government reimbursement fund by ignoring fraudulent use of the IP Relay call system provided free of charge to hearing- and speech-impaired US residents, the US government alleged this week."

Another item ripped from the headlines:

DOJ Sues AT&T For Not Keeping Scammers Off Deaf Phone Service

CRN reports, "The Justice Department this week filed a lawsuit against AT&T on the grounds that the carrier did not do enough to keep international swindlers from abusing a government-mandated service that allows deaf people to make free calls to hearing people via text message over the Web, Reuters reported this week.... The FCC reimburses carriers for the service, to the tune of $1.30 per minute. However, the Justice Department claims that the vast majority of callers using the service were fraudsters in other countries, and that AT&T did not take measures to stop this from happening."

"This claim was initially made in a whistle-blower lawsuit against AT&T brought by a former call center employee, according to Reuters".

Too big to fail also means too big to know what is going on.

This is but a symptom of how poorly managed these big companies are. It's all about the stock price. When you have $64 Billion in debt, you need to watch the stock price or your debt starts costing more. One percent is $640 million extra. But you can be a slave to it or everything else falls apart.

AT&T is facing competition from VZW and the cablecos. If the SpectrumCo deal gets approval from the FCC, VZW will be co-marketing (read colluding with) three MSO's to take revenue from AT&T. All the mass markets are flat: voice, TV, cellular and broadband. It's a game of take-away now. That's expensive. So customer acquisition costs increase. Subsidies on cell phones go up. Everything goes up except ARPU! Do you see the problem?

If any other cellco - T-Mobile, Sprint, MetroPCS or even Tracfone - could get its act together, it would add pressure. The MSo's have their act together and are winning the battle for the SMB space under $500. The CLEC's used to own this business, which meant wholesale revenue for the ILEC's (Qwest, VZ, ATT), but even that revenue will start to decline as less T1's are sold by the CLEC's.

Wireline revenues, especially DSL, are in decline. Where does the new revenue come from?

Windstream and CenturyLink made big moves to counter their wireline shortfalls. What have the RBOC's done? Mainly gone cellular including spectrum acquisitions. Comcast bought content (NBCU). It's a race.

Short note for CLEC's: if wireline is declining and the sub-$500 customer is going to cable, what are you going to do?

One last note: VZ already had a union strike and had to settle. ATT is in the midst of negotiating a CWA union contract. How does that help or hinder future growth? For VZ, VZW and FiOS are non-union shops.

USTelecom Wants Forbearance for all ILECs

2012-04-09T18:36:04Z

We once fancifully debated if the ILEC's would LET the cablecos get ahead just so they could get out from under regulations. This was 2006. Apparently, that was the plan.

USTelecom is an organization made up of ILEC's. The org has filed for forbearance at the FCC on behalf of its members. Not certain THAT is legal.

The petition [pdf] comes from the ILEC executives "essentially telling the FCC that it's time to wake up and smell the coffee--"many rules were adopted in a different era, long before the advent of broadband networks or the creation of the public Internet."," as JSI describes it. JSI continues with, "it might be time for a new regulatory regime as even the 96 Act is becoming less and less relevant with each new cord cutter and cross-platform conglomerate. The petition is also in line with the White House and Congress' push to get the FCC to clean house, and "the Commission's commitment to eliminate unnecessary regulatory requirements.""

The petition states, "Forbearance is warranted because the rules have been rendered obsolete by technological and market changes. From a technological standpoint, the Commission's legacy telecommunications regulations are ill-suited to facilitating, and in fact hamper, broadband deployment." I'm not sure that's true. It hasn't hampered DSL; the LEC's have by not deploying, switching to fiber and, quite frankly, arrogantly thinking that they were still a Monopoly. In every respect, the trouble with ILEC's is NOT the federal (or dwindling state) regulations. The trouble with the ILEC's is a Monopoly Mindset.

They don't choose the best technology nor do the deploy technology well. Mismanaged spectrum just being a symptom.

FiOS failed because the numbers forecast was wrong. Basing it on 50% penetration was a mistake. Not considering that it would take 2 techs all day (or longer) to install triple-play FiOS. Thinking that the CPE - all 4 pieces of equipment - would be cheap to install.

Let's also look at three bigger problems for ILEC's Pensions, Unions, and USF. By shifting to a cellular and entertainment companies, the RBOCs - AT&T and Verizon - are moving toward a non-union shop. AT&T is dealing with CWA union contracts right now - and VZ had to deal with them last year (along with a strike). They want to eliminate the union. Cellular, entertainment, cloud and outsourced services mean less Union liability - and less pension liability. The ILEC's - Embarq, VZ, ATT, Qwest - are sitting on a chunk of pension payments. It's just another example of bad planning by the executives running these corporations. I know in my life time I will see one of these companies file BK papers. With all the debt they have - $109B just for the Big 2 - mixed with declining revenues, pension payments, probably healthcare costs, union troubles and hyper-competition, the C-Suites at the ILEC's - all of them - are as ill-suited to run them as Hesse is to turn Sprint around.

A Forbearance petition is nice, but it won't solve any of their problems.

With USF Reform, the RLEC's - and even some ILEC's (FFW+C) - will be in even more trouble. Not just competition and dwindling access lines, but decreasing government subsidies for those access lines PLUS a requirement to build out broadband, which means CAPEX! It is not a pretty horizon.

As I read this paragraph all I can think is: Monopoly MIndset is the problem, not FCC regulations. And claiming that it is regs that have created the current quagmire is sticking your head in the sand.

"Indeed, the most recent survey by the Center for Disease Control (which has been relied upon previously by the Commission) has found that more than 32 percent of households have completely "cut the cord" and have abandoned their wireline phone altogether. .... At the same time, incumbent carriers compete against a host of providers, including cable companies that offer service to at least 93 percent of American households, already serve approximately 20 percent of the residential voice market, and are the primary provider of residential broadband. Under these competitive circumstances, the current outdated regulatory regime imposes unnecessary costs on a limited subset of competitors to the detriment of these competitors and consumers alike." Plus it's a Duopoly. There isn't much competition in the Broadband space. It's DSL, cable or 3G.

Comments or Oppositions Due: April 9, 2012 TODAY>

And of course COMPTEL has filed opposition.

Category 10 (Service Discontinuance Approval Requirements); Category 9 (Rules Governing Notices of Network Changes); and Category 2: (Open Network Architecture and Comparably Efficient Interconnection Requirements, All-Carrier Computer Inquiry Rules and the Structural Separation Rule) would really make CLEC life miserable.

Think about this when thinking about regulations being the issue: "According to the Telecommunications Industry Association, wireless has become the preferred voice-services option. Wireless revenue in 2012 is forecast at $335 billion, while all other forms of fixed network voice revenue will only total $176 billion ($132 billion for wireline, $38 billion for broadband access and $6 billion in cable/television revenue)." Is it regulations doing this or our mobile culture? De-regulating ILECs will mostly hurt SMB who are the profit center of ITSP and CLEC businesses.

One last point: voice is being replaced by Skype, G+, Facebook, IM, chat, SMS, and other types of communications. These innovations were NOT brought to you by the telcos NOR will any innovation because they have a Monopoly Mindset. And that mindset screams: "We want to make more money off our old plumbing without having to morph, change or innovate!"

There's no fixing that.

T-Mobile Layoffs Called FCC's Fault

2012-03-26T14:34:58Z

This makes me laugh. AT&T's SEVP for external and legislative affairs, Cicconi, wrote a post for AT&T's Public Policy blog last week that again attacked the FCC. AT&T blames any T-Mobile Layoffs on the FCC.

Really?

It's not the fault of T-Mobile management who have not steered the ship in 2 years?

It's not the fact that once the LOI was signed, the culture at T-Mobile - already at a low - went down the drain and the smart people left in droves? That's the FCC's fault?

It isn't AT&T's fault for lying to the US government for why they wanted to buy T-Mobile?

It wasn't the fault of both corporate cultures that had such poor customer service and shoddy network service that a merger would have been a horrible prospect for any and all customers?

Really?

AT&T mismanaged its network, didn't acquire enough spectrum, and didn't plan ahead. So it's the FCC's fault? The ONE time the FCC (and the DOJ) says No to you, AT&T, (the ONE time) and you whine like the spoiled brat that you are, Cicconi? Grow up.

The monopoly mindset of your company is the biggest threat that your stock faces, right next to that huge pile of debt - $69 Billion - hanging over your head.

Your stock is screwed. But blaming the FCC won't help. Triple play is expensive to deploy and deliver and that pie is flat or declining, just like wireline revenues. Now your savior - wireless - is facing a similar fate: expensive to deploy and flat revenues in a pie that is flat. Meanwhile, VZW is eating your lunch and conspiring with SpectrumCo to really kick your ass. Great planning by the way. I wouldn't let a SVP at AT&T plan my birthday party.

You can always work out a deal to wholesale from CLEAR - or maybe call Charlie at DISH, since he just got FCC approval.

What a Crazy Monday

2012-03-19T18:02:05Z

So Zayo is buying AboveNet for $2.2B.

Avaya bought RADVision for $230M. Conferencing is making a lot of noise. As David Byrd points out, "It is clear that video conferencing is growing in importance in the market.... is the market big enough to support them and others attempting to stake out market share. Vidyo, ooVoo, Skype, Polycom, ShoreTel and others are all battling it out to deliver video conferencing either as a desktop offering or major telepresence in conference rooms." Byrd forgot Google, who has made video chat with G+ Hangouts stupid easy. Easier than Skype, since there isn't any software to download.

AT&T quietly settles the iPhone data cap case. Quietly because they don't want a rash of these lawsuits, even if it only costs $900 to settle. Will there be a rush to the small claims courts?

This headline killed it this morning: "Bernstein Downgrades Sprint, Notes Bankruptcy Risk". It being Sprint's stock, which dropped. Is Sprint in risk of BK? Not in the near term (2012 or 2013). Maybe in 2014 if it has to pay Apple for unused iPhones. See Bernstein thinks that the iPhone 5 which will utilize the 4G network will hurt Sprint who doesn't yet have a nationwide 4G network. Why not? Sprint just opted out of the LightSquared deal that the federal government all but kaboshed. Clearwire can't get it's act together. (Even with a deal with NetZero for free 4G data!) Bernstein stated that Sprint didn't have spectrum for 4G, which isn't true, since Clearwire has Sprint's spectrum combined with others to have a big chunk in most markets. Also, with roaming agreements in place, Sprint can use AT&T or other 4G carriers, although that will be costly. Sprint has a Brand isuue. Not to mention an under-utilized fiber network. BTW, CNET has a story about the 4G spectrum issues.

LightSquared has chosen to yell at the FCC and demand replacement spectrum. LightSquared said that the FCC action violates its constitutional property rights. What a bunch of BS!! The DOD said you can't use the spectrum. Period. You don't OWN the spectrum. You have a license to USE the spectrum - as it was deemed in said license. The LightSquared spectrum was licensed for satellite usage, not terrestrial broadband usage. "LightSquared's spectrum holdings (between 1525MHz and 1660.5 MHz) are close to the GPS satellite signals," reported ARS. And even more about the challenge that LightSquared faces from the Laws of Physics. LightSquared has offered to swap spectrum with the Dept. of Defense.. Corporate welfare clowns annoy me.

Creditors Want Zenith Infotech to Liquidate

Are Telcos Outside Their Delivery Zone?

2012-03-12T13:52:44Z

The ILEC's were really good at delivering a monopoly TDM-based dial-tone product. And later got very good at T1 and T3. Was that the extent of the research that the old AT&T Labs could provide? DSL, while slower than cable modem service, does provide for good, cheap broadband, despite its limitations in distance and speed.

Now the ILEC's are going Cloud with Terremark, Savvis, and roll your own. This is shocking to me, since I was there in 2001 when BellSouth (and other ILEC's) first attempted data center and e-Commerce. At the time, BellSouth had partners like EMC to deliver the managed servcies and IBM for the data center. But this isn't something they knew how to sell or how to market. Certainly, the market has changed to make it easier to sell, but are the ILEC's the right partner for Cloud?

I look at how they are struggling with declining wireline revenue (and mounting debt). They have been grasping at TV for consumer triple-play; tech support for broadband customers; and managed services. A managed router from AT&T is configured and managed in Singapore! The slight time difference affects support. Plus it is by email mainly.

Is that what Enterprise customers want?

Then I look at the Telecom Subpanel talks on Cybersecurity, in which reps from AT&T, Comcast, Century Link and MetroPCS were featured speakers in front of The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing Wednesday morning on the cybersecurity threat to the nation's communications networks. The hearings are about regulation of security of the communications infrastructure - who will have oversight, what will be required, and the like, to be added to a bill. Like that will help. Sheesh!

And, of course, the carriers do NOT want to be regulated. In fact, CenturyLink is petitioning the FCC to forbear from "dominant carrier regulation and the Computer Inquiry tariffing requirement with respect to its packet-switched and optical transmission services" for those services subject to the regulations. "CenturyLink states that, because of recent mergers, its enterprise broadband services are subject to different regulations depending on which CenturyLink affiliate - Qwest, Embarq, or CenturyTel - previously provided (or didn't provide) those services." Whatever. They do what they want anyway. There isn't any FCC enforcement (of merger conditions or forbearance conditions).

That sentiment brings me back to cybersecurity and regulations. It would be kind of joke really. The FCC took over 10 years to come to grips with VoIP, how would it ever regulate something as fluid as security? And what would enforcement look like? Would it be something like CPNI?

There are over 1000 VoIP providers in the US plus the numerous LEC's, cablecos and cellcos. Does anyone really think that enforcement is a priority at the FCC?

So back to telco cloud services.

On the one hand, I like that Savvis is still Savvis and Terremark is still Terremark (without any telco infection, no offense). In fact, "Savvis is poised to lead in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure as a Service in addition to Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service and Web Hosting," according to Seeking Alpha. Given that every data center company from TELX to QTS have launched Cloud services, not to mention every CLEC, TWC (via Navisite) and most VAR's, would you rather sell IT services from an IT company or IT services from a telco?

The whole "I don't want to be regulated, I don't want to be a common carrier" is fine if you understand that to stop being a monopoly, you have to stop acting like one! You HAVE to provide customer service. You can't finger point when handling Managed Services or Cloud Services. You have to ANSWERS to solve problems for your customers.

I think that Cloud is going to be a bust for telcos, in general. They have been the pipe, the plumbers, for so long -- and even if you want to reach up to Layer 7 (to grab the money) doesn't mean you have the ability or will be able to deliver on it. Going into cellular was just another Layer 1 project.

Let me point out a few things. Many fiber companies (or divisions) can't find or price out their fiber. A cellco has mismanaged its network to the point of disrupting users and its 4G future. An ILEC has done such a poor job planning Metro Ethernet that it has run out of VLAN's in two major metros!

Cloud may turn out like FTTH and Telco TV: an investment that didn't work out. Or it may work out despite what I think will be glaring holes.

ITU Wants to Control the Internet

2012-03-05T04:29:35Z

FCC Commission McDowell is in Barcelona talking about the issue of the UN sponsored ITU wanting to control the governance of the Internet. I think we can all agree that the UN is any more efficient than any government on the planet and has even less enforcement power than the American FCC.

"We are at a crossroads for the Internet's future. One path holds great promise, while the other path is fraught with peril," stated Comm. McDowell. "The promise, of course, lies with keeping with what works, namely maintaining a free and open Internet while insulating it from legacy regulations. The peril lies with changes that would ultimately sweep up Internet services into decades-old ITU paradigms. If successful, these efforts would merely imprison the future in the regulatory dungeon of the past. Even more counterproductive would be the creation of a new international body to oversee Internet governance." [RWW]

T-Mobile's Next Move

2012-02-24T15:49:41Z

T-Mobile to Pump $4 Billion Into Network, 4G LTE Buildout. This is T-Mobile's next move on the heels of getting fiber and billions in cash from AT&T after the merger was nixed by the government agencies.

I have to laugh at this because Clearwire has clearly (heh) spent more than $4B to only partially build out a nationwide 4G network. How will T-Mobile do it for $4B?

Google is cutting its losses and selling its stake in Clearwire for $47 million, a tenth of the price it originally paid. What does that say?

AT&T's CEO had his pay cut over the debacle of the merger. Across the board - and it pains me immensely to say this - only VZW seems to have a clear cut strategy that they are executing on. Sprint and AT&T need new management. I have said it before and I will state it again: Hesse is not helping Sprint at all. He has had ample time to fix Sprint -- yet he has not. Like IBM bring in Lou, Sprint needs an outsider to come in and shake it up to make it competitive.

Rumors this morning are that Sprint was in talks to acquire MetroPCS. Bloomberg, Reuters and others reported that the Board vetoed the deal as a sign that they have lost faith in Hesse. Uh, hello! That's what I have been saying.

I'm shopping for a new cell phone (to replace my Blackberry) and friends pointed out that Sprint hasn't had a new phone since the iPhone. And subsidizing the iPhone is hurting all 3 carriers in the wallet. Devices are what drive cellular sales. Smartphones, tablets, netbooks, data cards, Mi-Fi hotspots -- all contribute to sales and ARPU increases. When you have a tired inventory, retention and acquisition of customers is challenged.

What else?

There's still DISH out there with its spectrum and desire to build out a 4G network. One has to wonder if DISH will hire Nokia Siemens Networks or Ericcson to build and manage its 4G network.

Don't forget LightSquared. LSQD is cutting staff - all but the lawyers, those they are doubling down on to sue the FCC and the DOD.

A scandal surrounds the Obama Administration for perhaps helping LightSquared to the detriment of OpenRange - at least that's what HotAir is saying. I don't think another extension would have helped OpenRange get out of its massive debt.

Peak and MetroPCS are still in play. Who will play with them? As I mentioned above about the devices driving sales, Peak, MetroPCS and US Cellular have been to the FCC to complain about the big 3 locking them out of the hottest devices. While there has been talk about Peak and MetroPCS being bought, US Cellular is 81% owned by TDS, so they aren't in play.

VZW will be fighting to the cable spectrum, since T-Mobile and others think that the deal is too good for VZW+cable, bad for everyone esle. For one thing, the deal creates a joint venture corporation that allows the 4 companies - BHN, TWC, VZW, Comcast - to spend a lot of time together (and that can't be good for competition - what little there is).

Why the FCC will likely say yes anyway: Because they have to.

All this activity doesn't make it easy to sell these carriers. It makes the bankers happy though -- and that's not usually a good thing.

One final cell story: AT&T lost a small claims court case against an iPhone user for throttling. AT&T is appealling. Apparently, it can't afford any losses for this network management strategy. I think it is a case of false advertising across the board. Like everything else about broadband, it's never what is advertised and you are always stuck in a box due to ridiculous contract terms.

Telecom Tidbits on Presidents Day

2012-02-20T19:22:10Z

On a LinkedIn group we are discussing SLA (service level agreements) and how they do not represent uptime. If you need uptime, you need redundancy. You need to build a resilient network. Netwolves has a solution called Bonded Broadband. "NetWolves consolidates the best carriers through their Bonded Broadband product by combining four circuits of diverse types from different carriers. It supports DSL, Cable, Fixed Wireless and VSAT (and even a T-1, etc.) simultaneously. It will to operate, though at lower speed, even when it loses one of the underlying circuits. It provides a level of high availability with diversity that is unique and valuable. Bonded Broadband always includes 1 static IP for the virtual circuit."

Conferencing is a different kind of sale. It's good that InterCall has added some scripting into their FAQ. By that I mean, by provided answers to questions that come up in sales meetings, like "The majority of our meetings are audio only, how can Unified Meeting add value to those meetings?" More companies should do that.

Aastra IP phones are not widely supported by Broadsoft based VoIP providers. Aastra gets a lift since Metaswitch based EarthLink selected 6700i SIP phones for EarthLink Complete™ (hosted VoIP service).

Analysts are raving about Rogers Communications in Canada launching One Number by utilizing Counterpath's Bria softphone. Now the customer has one number on any platform - PC, Mac, mobile, etc. Rogers mentions IMS, that long ago over-hyped architecture that was supposed to solve the telecom world's many problems, as the underlying network piece. The other is the Bria software, which presents an almost Google Voice like service. "Rogers, however, isn't simply re-branding the Bria Android and iPhone clients. It's doing something far more sophisticated. It's using the underlying Bria technology to power a web-based portal that can make and receive phone calls and send text messages to any Canadian number as well as video chat with other Rogers One Number users - all at no charge and with no penalty to a customer's voice minute or SMS caps," writes GigaOM. Jon Arnold has a good look at the service on his blog too, including a post about the beta launch.

AT&T partnered with VMware to launch AT&T's "Virtual Private Cloud". I have a blog coming up about telcos and Cloud. Watch for it this week.

New to the American market but not new to the global telecom industry, One Access

They make CPE for CLEC on multi-access platforms.

Looking for a white-label VoIP company? Flat Planet Phone Company is looking for a few select partners that want to own a VoIP business and the healthy (40%) margins that come with it.

I get press releases because PR folks like to make me annoyed daily. What really gets me is how many make outrageous claims like free calls and no more cell charges: "Zipring works with every phone and turns any smartphone into a free or cheap calling phone. It supports all SIP-enabled devices and does not handcuff users to Zipring software. It also turns any iPod Touch into a smart phone."

Carbonite has some cool new ads to sell online backup [from Adweek]

XO Communications Inc. launched a three-year strategic plan in 2012 that involves streamlining its product offering, including eliminating most TDM services.

The FCC has a lot on its plate and wants to close some dockets. FCC's Genachowski Tells Congress He Will Consider Closing Title II Docket, which proposed to reclassify Internet access service as a telecommunications service subject common carrier regulations.

I emailed my list this post from L3 this morning. How Kodak is just like POTS.

Has Verizon Stopped Repairing Copper?

2012-02-17T21:08:18Z

Over and over, I am hearing that Verizon has given up on copper. From repair issues to DSL to stripping copper out when FiOS is installed, the story seems to point to VZ looking to forget its copper plant.

in a discussion on LinkedIn about SLA's, one agent had this to say, "The absolute WORST cases I have seen have all been in the northeast where Verizon's copper is concerned. Verizon seems to have made the decision to put all efforts and funds behind their fiber build out (a good thing) but have completely sacrificed the quality behind their copper services such as T1. If your copper T1 goes down in New York, you might has well throw your hands up in prayer, because that's the only thing that will get it fixed."

Another commenter wrote, "Verizon in some places is actively ripping up copper as they lay fiber because they are not required to resell fiber to CLECs and ISPs at wholesale rates." This has been widely reported, because VZ doesn't want the expense of running to networks - copper and fiber. Plus the fiber doesn't have to be shared and the copper does. The copper means competition. Fiber means they just have to worry about cablecos, who quite frankly are kicking their butt.

Wholesale used to be a healthy business for ILEC's. Today, neither cablecos nor ILEC's want to wholesale anything. In fact, clients of mine in VZ regions have a lot of issues.

For example, "We had an outage about 3 weeks ago that lasted more than three days. This also affected [another local ISP] as I spoke him last night about the current outage. We [both have] a bunch [of customers still] out of service as well. They have been out of service since Monday. The last outage caused an exodus of customers and this one will do the same. Our guys have put in tickets, called to escalate many times. .... no one at VZ will listen. Ever. They simply close the tickets that we open."

It's a systemic problem - widespread - from the C-Suite down - the story has been that every company -- even wholesale customers - are the enemy and the Union and on-union workers must do everything they can to make it uncomfortable unless you are a direct VZ customer.

We have the case of a BK CLEC who had recorded conversations with VZ employees soliciting a customer who was down saying that it wouldn't happen if they were with VZ. [This has been a problem with both RBOC's since I got into telecom in 1999.]

Verizon faces up to $400,000 in fines after New York's Public Service Commission accused the company of not making service repairs in a timely fashion.

What do you do when the RBOC doesn't want to wholesale, doesn't want to repair, and just looks at the bottom line and the few metrics that Wall Street analysts can understand??

Many states don't even regulate the ILEC any more, so what do they do? It becomes the job of the FTC, the FCC and the court system. Talk about a deck stacked against the customer!

When our underlying telecommunications structure suffers, so too does our economic growth.

here's 2 problems with a fiber only strategy for an ILEC:

One, fiber goes out with power, so no 911 or dial-tone when the lights go out.

Two, the installation period for fiber is wicked long. Copper can be installed within two weeks. Fiber takes months. That hurts businesses. I have one moving in 3 weeks and to get 20MB of bandwidth he has to wait months. That won't work.

Ever think that just nothing in this country makes sense any more?

In the discussion about SLA's, the conclusion is to convince your clients to buy redundancy: 2 pipes. That's nice in theory but not in reality. The thing is that you have to set the expectation that if Internet or VoIP is integral to their business operations, no SLA is going to save them, redundancy and business continuity planning will. Otherwise, an outage will be a disaster that they have not planned for. It is not IF, it is WHEN.

Robocalls on Notice

2012-02-16T13:30:48Z

YEAH!!! FCC Strengthens Consumer Protections Against Telemarketing Robocalls

'Unwanted telemarketing calls and texts were consistently in the top three consumer complaint categories at the FCC in 2011." I get about 3 per day mainly from Google Local (SEO) shops.

"The new rules reduce regulatory uncertainty with minimal burden on industry and maximize consistency with those of the Federal Trade Commission."

"Requiring telemarketers to obtain prior express written consent from them, including by electronic means such as a website form, before placing a robocall to a consumer;

"Eliminating the "established business relationship" exemption to the requirement that telemarketing robocalls to residential wireline phones occur only with prior express consent from the consumer";

"Requiring telemarketers to provide an automated, interactive "opt-out" mechanism during each robocall so that consumers can immediately tell the telemarketer to stop calling".

The FCC RoboCall info page

The FCC also voted unanimously to establish a consistent regulatory approach to reining in telemarketing calls and texts (so-called robocalls) to both wired and wireless phones, including requiring written consent of the subject of those calls, giving them an easy opt-out during a call, and clarifying that computer calls or text like usage reports or school closings would not be affected. Written consent can include web site forms and e-mail.

The FCC move essentially harmonized FCC rules with FTC actions under the "do not call" enforcement regime.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/480606-FCC_Votes_to_Require_VoIP_Outage_Reporting.php

What Twitter Told Me This Week

2012-02-10T16:11:39Z

I get a lot of articles off twitter. Too many to write about all of them so I am just going to drop some on you here.

Please be advised that the FUSF rate for Q1 of 2012 has increased from 15.3% to 17.9%. For further information regarding FUSF Fees and rates please see the FCC website.

RebTel is #2 behind Skype with 15M users doing 2 billion minutes of international calling. [venturebeat]

Both Florida state and federal lawmakers are trying to overturn the NFL blackout rules. Main argument is those stadiums were paid for with public tax dollars. [tbo]

Besides the M5-ShoreTel deal, I saw 2 other acquisitions occur. [radinfo]

Your open wi-fi access point leaves you open to lawsuits. Awesome! [radinfo]

FCC Eyes Google Voice’s Rural Call Blocking - just a part of the whole FCC Rural call completion review and the inter-carrier compensation issue. BTW, it's AT&T that keeps poking Google in the eye at the FCC about this.

It's Halftime America!

EarthLink is still utilizing the AX platform from New Edge Networks (now named EarthLink Business). XCast just set up an NNI (an inter-connection) with that platform for better performance. The AX platform allows cloud providers to connect to EarthLink's nationwide MPLS network for better quality to the users.

TELX is building another data center in NYC, land of not much commercial space for sale.

MITEL has achieved CLEC status in all 50 states. Maybe that's to help it deliver Hosted MITEL UC service to its customers.