Rural broadband for all means satellite for some under big telcos’ plan
Good news, Federal Communications Commission watchers. According to the agency's schedule, most of the proceedings for the FCC's National Broadband Plan are up and running. Questions are being asked, issues are being debate...
Sprint deal moves LightSquared a step closer to entering 4G market
LightSquared has entered into a new agreement with Sprint Nextel that will allow the open access satellite/4G LTE broadband company to accelerate its deployment and stay ahead of the Federal Communication Commission's 2015 rollou...
New white space standard: up to 22Mbps over 12,000 square miles
The new IEEE 802.22 standard has been published and will finally allow manufacturers to start producing standardized devices that will use the white space vacated by analog TVs over two years ago. The standards will provide netw...
Congress goes after unlicensed wireless "free riders" (like Google and Microsoft)
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is holding a hearing on Friday on spectrum and public safety communications issues. In advance of the event, key Republican lawmakers have circulated a discussion draft of new spectrum au...
US: LightSquared 4G would have "severe operational impact" on GPS
The US Department of Commerce's telecommunications division has released an assessment of problems that the LightSquared 4G service might create for commercial and government Global Positioning System services (GPS), and the co...
Half of US twenty-somethings have no landline
The shift away from landlines continues, as 24.9 percent of all American adults now live in homes with wireless-only voice connections. Among younger adults aged 25 to 29, the numbers are twice as high; more than half have only...
FCC Leaks Apple’s New AirPort Extreme — Release Imminent?
A newly published FCC filing prematurely confirms the release of Apple’s new AirPort Extreme wireless base station, indicating the launch of the device could be just hours away. Engadget points to the FCC filing which quotes a model number of A1408. Though any other details...Has the Internet "hamsterized" journalism?
Hey there newspaper reporter—has your broadband-powered job got you filing not only conventional stories, but blogging, video blogging, Facebooking, podcasting, picture posting, and Tweeting? If so, you'll be happy to...
Against the rules? No 4G tethering apps for Verizon phones
Tethering—connecting your mobile phone to some other device for broadband access—could become the next battlefront at the Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Division. That is, if the FCC listens to a new com...
The National Broadband Map: a $350 million "boondoggle"?
The United States government's National Broadband Map has been out for three months and hasn't generated much heat—until now. Suddenly advocates from the New America Foundation are posting commentaries calling the project...
AT&T/T-Mobile merger on the hot seat as Sprint files to block it
Looks like the Federal Communications Commission wants a lot more data from AT&T before the agency will green light its bid to acquire T-Mobile. The FCC has posted no less than 50 questions for the...
