As I wrote back in November, AT&T’s decision to upgrade its network from tradition phone technology (called “TDM”) to an all Internet protocol (IP) system has enormous implications for every aspect of our voice communication system in the country. To provide the right framework for the transition, Public Knowledge submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) our proposed “Five Fundamentals” Framework: Service to All Americans, Interconnection and Competition, Consumer Protection, Network Reliability, and Public Safety.
Month: January 2013
AT&T to FCC: “I double dare you to show you’re serious about wireless competition.”
Rarely do you see companies double-dare the FCC to back up their brave talk about promoting competition. That is, however, what AT&T has just decided to do – with a little help from Verizon. After gobbling a ton of spectrum last year in a series of small transactions, AT&T announced earlier this week it would buy up ATNI, which holds the last shreds of the old Alltel Spectrum. To top this off, Verizon just announced it has selected the purchaser for the 700 MHz spectrum it promised to sell off to get permission to buy the SpectrumCo spectrum. And guess what? The purchaser of the bulk of Verizon’s 700 MHz licenses, which Verizon promised to divest to promote competition – is AT&T!
In the last few months, we have seen billions of dollars in new investment as a result of the FCC’s decision to deny AT&T/T-Mo, force Verizon to divest in VZ/SpectrumCo, and otherwise draw some lines in the sand against further consolidation and to promote competition. For reasons I explain below, this transaction crosses just about every single red line the FCC (and Department of Justice (DoJ)) have ever indicated they had about wireless spectrum concentration. The question is — will the FCC (or DoJ) actually do anything about it?
Apologies for the spam
A few minutes ago, a bunch of alert emails went out for old posts on Harold’s Tales of the Sausage Factory Blog. This was caused by my editing a bunch of posts to fix some settings, and not realizing that the “send alerts” box was checked (which it shouldn;t be for old posts).
The plugin responsible for this has been turned off.
Moving into a new home
We’ve moved Wetmachine to a new server. There may be some glitches along the way, including emails to John. Hopefully, as the internets catch up on the DNS change, and any minor wrinkles get worked out, we’ll have a much more stable platform.
Rest In Peace, Andreas Raab
What you’ve tried to teach me:
- Do the simplest thing that can possibly work.
- Be fearless in programming — except in matters of security.
- You should be able to write one single sentence of documentation for each method.
- Tell people when a colleague does good work.
- Do what you want or must, but maintain control over yourself.
Wikipedia – David – Yoshiki – Memorial
SOPA Blackout, One Year Later
A number of folks are celebrating the one year anniversary of the Great Sopa Blackout as Internet Freedom Day. I’m glad, because it deserves celebrating and remembering.
In the first place we ought to remember how the broader Internet community came together and shifted SOPA from “unstoppable” to “dead” in a week. As I noted at the time, the cynical “will have all manner of sensible explanations for what ‘really’ happened and why what we did didn’t ‘really’ make a difference.” As time goes on, and it turns out that corruption continues to corrode our political system, the siren call of the cynics likewise corrodes the will to resist despite the evidence of our own experience. It’s important, therefore, to remember what we achieved and to realize that we can therefore achieve it again.
Nor was SOPA the one-time event some seem to believe. True culture change takes time and persistence. SOPA/PIPA was not an aberration, it resulted from the normal way of doing business in Washington, where legislators and policymakers treated copyright and Internet issues as industry food fights, brokering backroom compromises between lobbyists without concern for the public or the public interest. So yes, CISPA passed the House — after Republican House leaders rushed the vote to outrun public protest. But as I observed at the time, this was a sign of weakness, not strength. Despite industry buy in, public resistance from the “Internet constituency” killed the bill in the Senate.
CNET, CBS and the Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rules
I don’t do much by way of media ownership these days, but the recent mess of CBS meddling with CNET’s decision to award a ‘Best In Show’ to DISH’s new Hopper DVR constitutes another little reminder as to why we care about media cross-ownership in a consolidated world. Given that the FCC appeared at one point poised to significantly relax the rule, this reminder bears highlighting.
More below . . .
Lessons From The Derecho 9-1-1 Failure: When Industry Self-Regulation Is Not Enough.
The FCC released a fairly thorough report on the widespread 9-1-1 failure that followed the June 2012 “derecho” windstorm. For those who don’t remember, the derecho differs from most weather events by coming up almost without warning. According to the report, carriers had approximately two hours of warning from the time the derecho started in the Ohio Valley to when it hit the D.C. Metro region.
As a consequence of the damage done by the derecho, Northern Virginia experienced a massive failure of its 9-1-1 network, leaving over 1 million people with working phones (at least in some places) but no access to 9-1-1. West Virginia experienced systemic problems as well, as a did a scattering of locations in other states impacted by the derecho. Verizon maintains the network in Northern Virginia, while West Virginia is managed by Frontier.
In both cases, the report concluded that both Verizon and Frontier failed to follow industry best practices or their own internal procedures. To be clear, this was not a massive dereliction of duty. But the accumulation of some corner cutting over here, some poor practice over there, meant that when the unpredicted crisis hit the system suffered critical failures precisely when most needed. Unlike just about every other part of the network, where providers balance the cost of hardening a network against potential events with a number of other factors, the core 9-1-1 system is explicitly supposed to remain operational in even the most extraordinary circumstances. It is the foundation of public access to emergency services. As long as I can contact the phone network, I should be able to get 9-1-1 service. Public safety responders rely on the public reporting emergencies so that they can efficiently deploy resources as much as the public depends on its ability to contact emergency services through 9-1-1.
Farewell Aaron, and thank you
On behalf of the Wetmechanics of Wetmachine, I express our condolences to the family and friends of Aaron Swartz. I did not know the man, but I know of his work, for which I am deeply grateful. Aaron’s contributions benefited me personally, because I cherish and depend upon a free and open Internet, and he championed the same causes that we tend to champion here on Wetmachine. But in a much larger sense his work benefited everyone who believes in democracy, fairness, and civilized society. He was evidently not a perfect man, which should come as no surprise, since as far as I know there is no such thing. But he fought the good fight in search of a more just world. His heart was good, and he was effective. By that I mean he was a doer, not a pundit. We need more people like him.
Cory Doctorow has written a very beautiful and nuanced remembrance of Mr. Swartz. I recommend you take a few moments to read it if you haven’t done so already.
We wish for the family and friends of Aaron Swartz whatever solace they may find in the knowledge that he was loved and appreciated by people of goodwill all over the earth.
Ergen Makes Bid For CLWR After All, What’s Up With That?
Last Sunday, I noted that while Ergen was a potential bidder on Clearwire’s (CLWR) 2.5 GHz spectrum, it seemed unlikely given the fact that Sprint would still own a majority stake in CLWR and that governance issues would make this a very messy fight that would potentially tie up DISH assets when they are needed for its own network deployment and for a potential H Block Auction bid. I also noted a lot of other issues that make a purchase by anyone other than Sprint less attractive — such as the cost of network buildout — that cast serious doubt on Crest’s valuation of CLWR’s spectrum at $30 billion.
48 hours later, Ergen makes a bid for CLWR valuing CLWR at at $3.30 a share (a reasonable enough premium over Sprint’s offer to require serious consideration). Mind you, nothing in the bid (what details there are can be found here) contradicts anything I said previously. As noted by CLWR in it’s press release, the proposed deal comes with a bunch of conditions and caveats that reflect Sprint’s ownership and the cost of building out a network that would integrate with Ergen’s AWS-4 spectrum. Which naturally raises the question of why Ergen decided it was worth it to make the bid anyway. Making a serious tender offer — even if you think it will ultimately be rejected — is a non-trivial process that incurs expense. Before dismissing this as mere payback for Sprint’s (successful) push to amend the AWS-4 rules to protect H Block (creating delay in the approval and potential issues for deployment), it is worth considering what the potential upsides are to DISH that justify the cost.
Oh yeah, I should also talk about some consumer stuff and broader stuff as well. Horse race is all well and good, but there are a lot of industry folks that do that better than I do.
More below . . . Continue reading
-
AT&T to FCC: “I double dare you to show you’re serious about wireless competition.”
Rarely do you see companies double-dare the FCC to back up their brave talk about promoting competition. That is, however, what AT&T has just decided to do – with a little help from Verizon. After gobbling a ton of spectrum last year in a series of small transactions, AT&T announced earlier this week it would buy up ATNI, which holds the last shreds of the old Alltel Spectrum. To top this off, Verizon just announced it has selected the purchaser for the 700 MHz spectrum it promised to sell off to get permission to buy the SpectrumCo spectrum. And guess what? The purchaser of the bulk of Verizon’s 700 MHz licenses, which Verizon promised to divest to promote competition – is AT&T!
In the last few months, we have seen billions of dollars in new investment as a result of the FCC’s decision to deny AT&T/T-Mo, force Verizon to divest in VZ/SpectrumCo, and otherwise draw some lines in the sand against further consolidation and to promote competition. For reasons I explain below, this transaction crosses just about every single red line the FCC (and Department of Justice (DoJ)) have ever indicated they had about wireless spectrum concentration. The question is — will the FCC (or DoJ) actually do anything about it?
Apologies for the spam
A few minutes ago, a bunch of alert emails went out for old posts on Harold’s Tales of the Sausage Factory Blog. This was caused by my editing a bunch of posts to fix some settings, and not realizing that the “send alerts” box was checked (which it shouldn;t be for old posts).
The plugin responsible for this has been turned off.
Moving into a new home
We’ve moved Wetmachine to a new server. There may be some glitches along the way, including emails to John. Hopefully, as the internets catch up on the DNS change, and any minor wrinkles get worked out, we’ll have a much more stable platform.
Rest In Peace, Andreas Raab
What you’ve tried to teach me:
- Do the simplest thing that can possibly work.
- Be fearless in programming — except in matters of security.
- You should be able to write one single sentence of documentation for each method.
- Tell people when a colleague does good work.
- Do what you want or must, but maintain control over yourself.
Wikipedia – David – Yoshiki – Memorial
SOPA Blackout, One Year Later
A number of folks are celebrating the one year anniversary of the Great Sopa Blackout as Internet Freedom Day. I’m glad, because it deserves celebrating and remembering.
In the first place we ought to remember how the broader Internet community came together and shifted SOPA from “unstoppable” to “dead” in a week. As I noted at the time, the cynical “will have all manner of sensible explanations for what ‘really’ happened and why what we did didn’t ‘really’ make a difference.” As time goes on, and it turns out that corruption continues to corrode our political system, the siren call of the cynics likewise corrodes the will to resist despite the evidence of our own experience. It’s important, therefore, to remember what we achieved and to realize that we can therefore achieve it again.
Nor was SOPA the one-time event some seem to believe. True culture change takes time and persistence. SOPA/PIPA was not an aberration, it resulted from the normal way of doing business in Washington, where legislators and policymakers treated copyright and Internet issues as industry food fights, brokering backroom compromises between lobbyists without concern for the public or the public interest. So yes, CISPA passed the House — after Republican House leaders rushed the vote to outrun public protest. But as I observed at the time, this was a sign of weakness, not strength. Despite industry buy in, public resistance from the “Internet constituency” killed the bill in the Senate.
CNET, CBS and the Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rules
I don’t do much by way of media ownership these days, but the recent mess of CBS meddling with CNET’s decision to award a ‘Best In Show’ to DISH’s new Hopper DVR constitutes another little reminder as to why we care about media cross-ownership in a consolidated world. Given that the FCC appeared at one point poised to significantly relax the rule, this reminder bears highlighting.
More below . . .
Lessons From The Derecho 9-1-1 Failure: When Industry Self-Regulation Is Not Enough.
The FCC released a fairly thorough report on the widespread 9-1-1 failure that followed the June 2012 “derecho” windstorm. For those who don’t remember, the derecho differs from most weather events by coming up almost without warning. According to the report, carriers had approximately two hours of warning from the time the derecho started in the Ohio Valley to when it hit the D.C. Metro region.
As a consequence of the damage done by the derecho, Northern Virginia experienced a massive failure of its 9-1-1 network, leaving over 1 million people with working phones (at least in some places) but no access to 9-1-1. West Virginia experienced systemic problems as well, as a did a scattering of locations in other states impacted by the derecho. Verizon maintains the network in Northern Virginia, while West Virginia is managed by Frontier.
In both cases, the report concluded that both Verizon and Frontier failed to follow industry best practices or their own internal procedures. To be clear, this was not a massive dereliction of duty. But the accumulation of some corner cutting over here, some poor practice over there, meant that when the unpredicted crisis hit the system suffered critical failures precisely when most needed. Unlike just about every other part of the network, where providers balance the cost of hardening a network against potential events with a number of other factors, the core 9-1-1 system is explicitly supposed to remain operational in even the most extraordinary circumstances. It is the foundation of public access to emergency services. As long as I can contact the phone network, I should be able to get 9-1-1 service. Public safety responders rely on the public reporting emergencies so that they can efficiently deploy resources as much as the public depends on its ability to contact emergency services through 9-1-1.
Farewell Aaron, and thank you
On behalf of the Wetmechanics of Wetmachine, I express our condolences to the family and friends of Aaron Swartz. I did not know the man, but I know of his work, for which I am deeply grateful. Aaron’s contributions benefited me personally, because I cherish and depend upon a free and open Internet, and he championed the same causes that we tend to champion here on Wetmachine. But in a much larger sense his work benefited everyone who believes in democracy, fairness, and civilized society. He was evidently not a perfect man, which should come as no surprise, since as far as I know there is no such thing. But he fought the good fight in search of a more just world. His heart was good, and he was effective. By that I mean he was a doer, not a pundit. We need more people like him.
Cory Doctorow has written a very beautiful and nuanced remembrance of Mr. Swartz. I recommend you take a few moments to read it if you haven’t done so already.
We wish for the family and friends of Aaron Swartz whatever solace they may find in the knowledge that he was loved and appreciated by people of goodwill all over the earth.
Ergen Makes Bid For CLWR After All, What’s Up With That?
Last Sunday, I noted that while Ergen was a potential bidder on Clearwire’s (CLWR) 2.5 GHz spectrum, it seemed unlikely given the fact that Sprint would still own a majority stake in CLWR and that governance issues would make this a very messy fight that would potentially tie up DISH assets when they are needed for its own network deployment and for a potential H Block Auction bid. I also noted a lot of other issues that make a purchase by anyone other than Sprint less attractive — such as the cost of network buildout — that cast serious doubt on Crest’s valuation of CLWR’s spectrum at $30 billion.
48 hours later, Ergen makes a bid for CLWR valuing CLWR at at $3.30 a share (a reasonable enough premium over Sprint’s offer to require serious consideration). Mind you, nothing in the bid (what details there are can be found here) contradicts anything I said previously. As noted by CLWR in it’s press release, the proposed deal comes with a bunch of conditions and caveats that reflect Sprint’s ownership and the cost of building out a network that would integrate with Ergen’s AWS-4 spectrum. Which naturally raises the question of why Ergen decided it was worth it to make the bid anyway. Making a serious tender offer — even if you think it will ultimately be rejected — is a non-trivial process that incurs expense. Before dismissing this as mere payback for Sprint’s (successful) push to amend the AWS-4 rules to protect H Block (creating delay in the approval and potential issues for deployment), it is worth considering what the potential upsides are to DISH that justify the cost.
Oh yeah, I should also talk about some consumer stuff and broader stuff as well. Horse race is all well and good, but there are a lot of industry folks that do that better than I do.
More below . . . Continue reading