Recently in the Telecommunications Category

Guest Blogger: Lynn Bunim

Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) and AT&T hosted an interactive Consumer Education Briefing on May 26, 2011.  The face-to-face briefing attracted nearly thirty San Francisco Bay area leaders from organizations such as Renaissance Entrepreneurship, CAMEO, the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women, the Latino Community Foundation, and the Community Technology Network.  The briefing covered WirelessED, a new educational program created by Consumer Action and sponsored by AT&T.  
 
WirelessED is designed to educate wireless users about how best to utilize their wireless devices and services.  It also offers other tools and resources to help consumers manage their usage to avoid unanticipated charges.  For additional information please check out the WirelessED website.
 
Attendees also learned about California's LifeLine program, designed to provide discounts on basic telephone service to eligible low-income households.  You can learn about this program at the following webiste: www.att.com/Lifeline.
 
Also covered was an educational program known as Smart Controls.  Smart Controls is an all-in-one destination for consumers to receive the most from AT&T services for mobile phones, computers and television.  Check it out at: www.att.net/smartcontrols.
 

Interesting news today on AT&T's announcement of its intent to acquire T-Mobile USA and one that stands to serve consumers and small businesses well.  Small businesses need a reliable and dependable network to conduct businesses and, as indicated in its Economic Blueprint (www.wipp.org), greater accessibility and affordability.  Mobile usage is growing rapidly, but frankly, as technology and the use of the internet evolve, growth is only in its early stages -  we can only speculate on the resources needed to satisfy consumer demand.  I'm hoping to see AT&T's commitment to an expanded 4G network and increased accessibility come to fruition with this acquisition.

Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) is urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to empower consumers with educated choices and take a cautious approach to the issue of bill shock. The FCC is debating regulations that would require wireless carriers to provide customers with a standardized alert of overages. Consumers would be notified of overage or usage charges electronically in real time rather than being surprised to see them when their bill arrives. Yesterday WIPP submitted its comments to the FCC as part of the government agency's rule making process.

"My company could not survive without the services provided by wireless technology," said Karen Maples, Founder and President of Myutiq LLC, an innovation strategy consulting firm. "It's also imperative to manage our costs. We do that by understanding our typical monthly usage and making sure we subscribe to plans that match our needs. Overregulation is not the solution. Education and access to usage management tools that allow us to make informed decisions is what we want."

WIPP believes that the best course of action is to educate consumers with informed choices rather than impose regulations that could have unintentional consequences for small businesses and consumers. Given the frenetic pace at which wireless technology, devices and service plans are evolving, the rules that the FCC is proposing could end up being a bigger problem than bill shock. Empowering consumers with knowledge of the issue is the best way to regulate wireless carrier behavior.

Recently, the FCC released a common sense proposal regarding the Internet that would restore certainty to the broadband market and allow the Commission to move on to other important communications objectives.

For this reason, WIPP is launching an ACTION ALERT, urging the small business community to contact Commissioners Copps and Clyburn to reiterate the proposed solution is the right one and that it will free up resources that will enable the FCC to pursue the National Broadband Plan's objective of universal broadband access and adoption.

Background:

- The FCC proposed a common sense solution to resolve the net neutrality debate
- WIPP has been an active participant in the net neutrality debate and supports the resolution of this issue
- The proposed solution would restore certainty to the broadband market - promoting small business growth and job creation, while maintaining certain levels of investment

Click here to take action NOW!

A little over a week ago, we touched on the Federal Communications Commission's pursuit of net neutrality regulation and questioned the need of regulation for "regulation's sake." At the time of our blog, we did not have concrete statements from the Commission - just speculation from credible media sources, however, much of our concerns and questions were and still are about how potential regulations could impact wireless technology and innovation. 

Yesterday, we got some clarification regarding some of the substance of the proposed net neutrality regulation order. In a press conference, Chairman Genachowski outlined what his vision is for net neutrality regulatory policy. 

In his speech, he detailed a proposal that would preserve the original net neutrality framework's four principles as applied to wired broadband.  The rules for wireless broadband, an area of previous concern, are different because as the Commissioner acknowledged in his speech - there are differences between fixed and mobile broadband and mobile is at an earlier development stage.  Additionally, the draft order would include a transparency requirement so that consumers and innovators have the information they need for decision-making - a requirement that we have been in support of as long as it is applied equally to all actors in the Internet ecosystem.

Overall, there was a lot to be cautiously optimistic about based on Chairman Genachowski's statements.  We believe this proposal, based on our understanding of the content thus far, provides a workable policy framework that is very similar to Representative Waxman's proposed legislation.  Moreover, because we still feel that Congress should take action and be involved in the discussion, we appreciate Chairman Genachowski's statement affirming that this policy does not preclude congressional action and he would "welcome the opportunity for the Commission to serve as a resource to Congress [on an update to the Communications Act]."

There is expected to be a lot more information about the net neutrality proposal as more details leak out over the next few weeks and as the Commission works to prepare a final draft order for its December 21st meeting.  We will remain committed to the process and hope that final draft is an accurate reflection of what we heard yesterday so that in the coming year, our nation's policymakers can return their attention to broadband deployment and adoption efforts and economic growth and job creation policies.