Net Neutrality Update in US House

Earlier this week a US House subcommittee met to talk further on Net Neutrality. I have to admit, I just couldn’t watch the whole thing this time around but secondary research tells me that it’s pretty much the same as previous meetings. I did listen to the introductory remarks - which we interesting in that they specifically addressed the bill. Well, it specifically poked holes in or uplifted the bill. But the content was similar to previous meetings.

The ISPs don’t want regulation. They feel regulation will squelch the entrepreneurial spirit that has allowed the Internet to take off as it has. The content providers want regulation or they feel that the ISPs will become the information gatekeepers.

Support for the bill runs down party lines. The 2006 version of the bill was not passed due to Republican Majority. But the landscape has changed in two years and this bill is softened from the original. So, it seems more likely to pass this time.

The big issue is the P2P activity online – but no one really knows how big that activity is or how much of that activity is legal. My guess is that no matter how big it is today, it’s going to be bigger in the future. It just seems that anything that helps consumers become producers is a winner.

Senate Network Neutrality Hearing Recap from Benton

The Benton Foundation has done a great job of tracking Tuesday’s US Senate Meeting on the Future of the Internet.

The main topic was Net Neutrality. FCC Chairman Martin stands firm on the FCC’s responsibility to ensure that the public and full and unfettered access to the Internet to pursue legal activity. Senator Daniel Inouye (who introduced the Broadband Data Improvement Act) is optimistic about recent activity around Net Neutrality. People seem to be working together. And then lots of content providers came out in favor of Net Neutrality and the network providers came out against that barrier on their business plans.

The full story (from Benton) includes a link to Justine Batemen’s testimony (that would be Mallory Keaton to many of us).

Rehash of the Spectrum Auction

Earlier today, I watched the Energy and Commerce hearing on the Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission – the 700 MHz Auction. It was long. I tried to link to prepared speeches when I could and otherwise keep my observations at a very high level. But this is still a long post but I hope this will help you either find the video or save you from having to watch it. If you do watch - fast forward to the last 20 minutes for the exciting part where Dingell grills the Cyren Call folks.

Google on the Spectrum Auction

It’s Friday night in Dublin - but I wanted to send a quick heads up on Google’s Policy Blog and their perspective on the FCC Spectrum Auction. Here’s a excerpt:

Google’s top priority heading into the auction was to make sure that bidding on the so-called “C Block” reached the $4.6 billion reserve price that would trigger the important “open applications” and “open handsets” license conditions. We were also prepared to gain the nationwide C Block licenses at a price somewhat higher than the reserve price; in fact, for many days during the early course of the auction, we were the high bidder. But it was clear, then and now, that Verizon Wireless ultimately was motivated to bid higher (and had far more financial incentive to gain the licenses).

As I’ve said before I have a love/hate relationship with Google. I’m delighted that they posted anything on the behind-doors action but I also wonder what isn’t being said.

FCC Chairman Says No to Skype

Sorry I will be posting a few things today. I tried to combine them and I just couldn’t do it. There have been a few newsworthy events in the last 24 hours and they just aren’t relate-able.

First FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said at the CTIA Conference that he does not support Sykpe’s petition for Carterfone regulation that would force operators to connect any device provided it doesn’t do any harm to the network.

Martin insists that regulation is not necessary because (quoted from the San Francisco Chronicle) Verizon Wireless announced last year it would open its network to outside devices and applications, provided they pass their certification process. Sprint and T-Mobile have also embraced openness through Google’s Open Handset Alliance, which calls for similar open access.

Before I make any comment I must admit that I love Skype. I use it almost daily to call home. OK sometimes I use it to make work calls – but really it lets me call family back in the US at any time. It makes me feel so much closer than I ever felt living overseas 15 years ago when I could call on Sunday only.

So, I am sad at this unofficial decision. As a consumer, I feel as if maybe the vendors do just the bare minimum to get by. Sure they say that they’re all over innovation that will happen tomorrow but I don’t see anyone embracing the innovation today.

I think that hesitation to innovate is part of what’s keeping the US out of the top technology ranking on a worldwide basis. As we work to maintain the status quo – the rest of the world is playing as if they have nothing to lose and we’re eating their cyber dust.

Comcast Opens Lanes for All Traffic

Thanks to Ann Higgins to sending me the heads up on shift of winds at Comcast (Comcast to stop hampering file-sharing). Comcast got into trouble for throttling customer traffic based on usage. One of the big examples was cutting off BitTorrent users.

Well, faster than prom dates are made and broken at this time of year – Comcast and BitTorrent are friends. They are going to work together to find a better way to manage the traffic so that all users get the bandwidth they need.

It sounds as if they are hoping to have some solutions in place by the end of the year. It will be interesting to see how if this has any effect on the FCC meetings. I think that the fact that the vendors have worked on a solution together will demonstrate that a light touch in regulation can work. (That’s not a vote one way or another from me – just an observation.)

Public Safety Spectrum No Go

As I wrote the other day, the 700 Mhz Spectrum is closed but one auction did not meet its minimum – the spectrum to build the public safety network.

So, what happens now? The Congress is planning to hold meetings to decide just that. Maybe they’ll hold another auction. Maybe they’ll get rid of the minimum bid requirement. Maybe they’ll decide not to privatize the building of the safety network.

I wrote a lot about the public safety spectrum last spring:

More on the Public Safety Broadband Networks
Debate on the Emergency Broadband Network

The questions are similar to the questions floating around community access to broadband – how much should be left to the market and how much should government get involved?

Cyren Call is a company that approached the FCC in 2006 (I think) to take over the spectrum (for free) and build a safety net – but that didn’t work out. Last fall, they become advisors on the public safety spectrum. I didn’t find much info from them post Spectrum bidding.

700 Mhz Spectrum, and the winner is…

Yesterday the FCC announced the results of the recent Spectrum Auction. The quick facts:

There were 214 qualified bidders
101 bidders won 1090 licenses
One auction didn’t get the necessary bid, which I thought meant they wouldn’t share info on the other auctions but apparently that isn’t the case.

Verizon/Vodafone was the big winner. They got 6 of the biggest licenses and many of the smaller licenses. They spent $9.63 billion.

AT&T didn’t win any of the big licenses but they did win a lot (227) of the medium licenses. They spent $6.64 billion.

Google won nothing. Although many people point out that they won the moment the FCC added the open access conditions into the bidding requirements. The comments on the Google policy blog might second that:

While the Commission’s anti-collusion rules prevent us from saying much at this point, one thing is clear: although Google didn’t pick up any spectrum licenses, the auction produced a major victory for American consumers.

DSL Reports has a nice story on the Auction (Verizon Nabs Most Valuable 700Mhz Spectrum) but the most interesting reading there is comments from readers. One feels let down by Google. One suggests that the winners this time around should not be allowed to bid next time. (I didn’t know a next time was in the works.)

Hearing on Net Neutrality and Free Speech on the Internet

First, for those in Minneapolis – here’s a heads up on the Senate committee meeting this afternoon: Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 3:00 PM Room 123 Capitol

Committee on Energy, Utilities, Technology and Communications
Chair: Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon

Agenda:
S.F. 2866-Prettner Solon: Broadband service statewide inventory and mapping requirement.
S.F. 3520-Prettner Solon: Wind energy easement provisions modification.
S.F. 3605-Prettner Solon: Legislative energy commission establishment.
S.F. 2996-Rummel: Biomass definition expansion for renewable energy objectives; metropolitan area water supply advisory committee expiration date extension.
S.F. 3528-Rummel: Solar produced energy under renewable energy standard requirement.

I finally got a little (OK lot) of time to watch the Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force Hearing on Net Neutrality and Free Speech on the Internet. Below are my notes:

FCC 700 Mhz Spectrum – The Fat Lady is About to Sing

The FCC 700 Mhz Spectrum auction opened at the end of January. I followed it for a few days and realized that it made watching paint dry seem useful. Well, I’m starting to see sings of life in the world of the spectrum again probably because it seems as if the end is near. Apparently the bidding continues until interest wanes to point of stopping.

Many of the auctions are over and done. It looks like North and South Dakota are still in the hopper. (It sounds like gym class – where the mightiest are chosen first.)

The bidding has already raised about $20 billion. (Twice what they predicted.)

DSLReports has been keeping a good eye on the auction. They suggest that while we might not be too interested now that “interest could re-ignite when bidders are announced”.

C|net suggests that the auction may be ending soon – but we won’t see a difference for years. They follow research from 4 universities where students took on identities of four companies with a stake in the auction outcome–Google, Intel, AT&T Mobility and Vulcan Capital.

Here’s a look at some of the other predictions. The Google team, made up of students from University of Chicago, predicted that the search engine giant will partner with a leading wireless service provider, possibly AT&T. And the group believes that it will share 20 percent of its advertising revenue with whoever owns the licenses. Separate from the auction, the group also predicts that Google’s new Android handset software will run into resistance among chipmakers and handset manufacturers, who have different business interests than Google.

The Northwestern group, which took on the identity of Intel, believes the chipmaker will attack the wireless broadband market through its WiMax initiative. The company will likely work with PC makers to embed WiMax chips and help them shrink their devices to compete directly with smartphones, the students said.

The teams also said that adult content was likely to be the killer application that will drive wireless broadband adoption.

The Washington Post reports that the general auction has gone well – but the D-block, the one reserved for an interoperable public safety network likely won’t meet its minimum bid requirement. It will be interesting to see what happens there. One clause that makes the safety-net even more interesting - the FCC won’t reveal winners of any of the other blocks until it decides what it will do with the D-block.