The FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is seeking further input on the band plan for spectrum to be freed up through the planned voluntary incentive auction of TV broadcast spectrum. That auction will give TV broadcasters the option of relinquishing spectrum in the 600 MHz UHF...Learn More

Incumbent local exchange carriers will have to comply with fewer regulations as the result of an order adopted by the FCC last week. The commission also issued two notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that could lead to a further reduction in incumbent telco regulatory requirements....Learn More

A report issued by the Federal Communications Commission last week recommends a substantial reduction in the rate of return that the nation’s smallest telephone companies earn through the inter-carrier compensation (ICC) system. Since 1990 that rate has been 11.25% but if the recommendations made by...Learn More

Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt hopes this week’s acquisition of tier 2 cable company NewWave Communications by investment firm GTCR will be “the first of many.” Telecompetitor spoke this week with Hundt, who headed up the FCC during the Clinton administration and is now an...Learn More

There has been some tension in the marketplace regarding broadband and voice service, particularly in rural markets. It stems from growing consumer demand for standalone broadband – that is subscribing to broadband without the requirement for an accompanying voice line (sometimes referred to as naked...Learn More

The FCC on Friday proposed a trial that would enable telecom service providers to replace traditional wireline phone service with wireless service. In addition the commission proposed two separate but related trials – including a VoIP interconnection trial and a trial of next-generation 911 emergency...Learn More

Mignon Clyburn has been the strongest advocate for mobile device interoperability on the Federal Communications Commission and now that she has been appointed acting chairwoman – a position she could hold for several months – AT&T saw fit to reiterate its arguments against interoperability in...Learn More

The man who was charged with crafting a plan to bring broadband to all Americans isn’t happy about the way that plan is being implemented. Currently with the Aspen Institute, Blair Levin headed up the team at the FCC that three years ago created the...Learn More

Former telecom trade association chief and current venture capitalist Tom Wheeler, nominated yesterday to replace Julius Genachowski as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has been hailed for his industry expertise. In a blog that he has written regularly since joining Core Capital Partners several...Learn More

The funding that low-income people receive to help cover the cost of phone service could be used to cover broadband if a bill introduced in the House of Representatives this week becomes law. Congresswomen Doris Matsui and Anna Eshoo, along with Congressman Henry Waxman, introduced...Learn More

When the FCC determines how much support to offer price cap carriers to bring broadband to areas that do not have broadband today in Phase 2 of the Connect America Fund program, the funding offered will be calculated based on the assumption that the carrier...Learn More

CenturyLink, Frontier and Windstream made another attempt Friday to persuade the FCC to release Phase 1 Connect America Funds for broadband construction projects in rural areas that currently do not have broadband service. The carriers are now offering to match whatever funding the commission releases...Learn More