Verizon drops DSL fee after US FCC pressure
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Verizon Communications Inc. VZ.N   said on Wednesday it had dropped a surcharge for high-speed   Internet service after U.S. regulators questioned whether the   No. 2 U.S. telephone carrier was following truthful billing   practices.
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Verizon and Sprint have decided to eliminate or reduce a 40-cent-per-line monthly charge imposed to allow customers to transfer their phone numbers to new carriers.-The Washington Post
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The US government has asked the Supreme Court to reverse an appeals court ruling that could lead to heavier regulation of cable companies&#39; high-speed Internet service.
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WASHINGTON Aug. 20, 2004 - Federal regulators Friday imposed a six-month freeze on the rates regional phone companies may charge their competitors to use networks to provide local service.
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After having mounted what appeared to have been a serious legal challenge to the US Federal Communications Commission's right to impose rules for bidders in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction without legislative authority, Verizon yesterday formally withdrew its FCC complaint from the D.C. District Court of Appeals.
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(InfoWorld) - Verizon Wireless has encountered strong opposition for its request that an appeals court overturn U.S. Federal Communications Commission auction rules on a portion of wireless spectrum. Verizon Wireless, in a brief filed Monday, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the FCC's decision to require so-calledÂ open-access rulesÂ on about a third of the 62MHz of spectrum in theÂ 700MHz band scheduled to be auctioned in January. The FCC voted in July to require that the winner of 22MHz of spectrum allow any wireless devices to connect to the network, meaning wireless telephone customers could bring their handset devices from other carriers. The FCC also prohibited the winning bidder on the 22MHz block of spectrum from blocking or slowing wireless and Web content from competitors. Those rules are "arbitrary, capricious, unsupported by substantial evidence and otherwise contrary to law," Verizon Wireless said in its brief. Verizon spokeswoman Debra Lewis said the company will let the brief "speak for itself." Media reform group Free Press, a supporter of the open-access rules, accused Verizon Wireless of sending "lawyers, FUD and money" in an attempt to overturn the FCC's decision. The FCC's open-access rules were a "small step on the long road to breaking up the anticompetitive, anticonsumer oligopoly that controls almost every level of the wireless marketplace," Free Press said in a statement. Frontline Wireless, another supporter of the open-access rules, said in a statement that Verizon's lawsuit "throws a wrench into the auction to promote competition and innovation for consumers." Google also criticized Verizon's lawsuit. The open-access rules are "a big step for consumer choice and competition," Chris Sacca, Google's head of special initiatives, wrote on Google's public policy blog. "Apparently, one of the nation's major existing wireless carriers doesn't think consumers deserve more choices." The wireless spectrum is a valuable public resource, Sacca added. "The nation's spectrum airwaves are not the birthright of any one company," he wrote. The 700MHz spectrum is being abandoned by U.S. television stations after Congress has required them to move from analog to all-digital broadcasts by February 2009. Many tech, broadband and wireless vendors are eyeing the spectrum for next-generation wireless and broadband services; wireless signals can travel about four times farther in the 700MHz band as signals in higher bands. Many groups calling forÂ net-neutrality laws for broadband providersÂ have suggested that the 700MHz band is the best chance in the coming years for a third broadband service that competes with cable and telecom providers. The open-access rules, similar to net-neutrality rules, could help foster a third competitor, but many open-access supporters wanted the FCC to also require the winning bidding to provide wholesale access to competitors at wholesale prices. Verizon Wireless and other critics have suggested the open-access rules will limit the options for the spectrum. The rules could drive down the price the U.S. government gets for the spectrum, and they could discourage the winning bidder from rolling out innovative new services on the spectrum, critics have said.
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Following a similar move by Verizon Wireless in January of last year, AT&T said Wednesday that it will change its policies to reduce early termination fees and change their contracts without penalty.
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Last week, customers of Verizon's ISPs in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin learned of an interesting alteration to their Internet service: The company is experimenting with what it's calling an "Advanced Web Search" page, which its DNS servers will distribute in response to non-resolvable or perhaps malformed URLs.
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(InfoWorld) - One provider's planned in-flight Wi-Fi and voice services may arrive a bit later than expected, but U.S. business users should keep their eyes open for possible good news, too: competition. AC BidCo LLC won a U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction earlier this year for 3MHz of radio spectrum to be used for in-flight communications services. The company's affiliate, AirCell Inc., said Wednesday its offer of Wi-Fi hotspots and other services on airliners should get off the ground commercially in early 2008. That's later than the forecast it gave in June, when it said commercial service would go live in 2007. AirCell is working to complete the FCC licensing process and expects to get its license, for which it bid US$31.3 million, in the next 30 days, according to a company statement. The company changed its forecast just to give it more breathing room and may still go live in late 2007, said Tom Myers, director of marketing. Despite a brave effort by The Boeing Co.'s Connexion by Boeing unit, which said last month it would shut down after failing to attract enough users, personal in-flight communication has had a bumpy ride. For more than 20 years, Verizon Communications Inc. offered its Airfone service, which uses wired phones in seatbacks, but that expensive service wasn't widely used and last month was discontinued on airlines. In 2004, the FCC gave Verizon a non-renewable five-year license and moved to auction off the 4MHz radio spectrum that had been used for Airfone's air-to-ground links. AC BidCo got 3MHz of the spectrum, while JetBlue Airways Corp. subsidiary LiveTV LLC got 1MHz. The companies expect other North American countries to make similar spectrum changes in the next few years that will allow them to expand across the continent. AirCell plans to set up 802.11b/g access points in planes for Internet access that will look to passengers like DSL (digital subscriber line) broadband, Myers said. They could even make VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) calls if an airline allowed it, though AirCell can shut down that capability at an airline's request. The company will use EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) third-generation cellular technology to link the plane to base stations on the ground. Lower equipment costs and lower weight will allow for a service priced significantly below Connexion, Myers said. AirCell would like to offer cellular data services as well, but those await more regulatory changes, he said. LiveTV currently offers TV, satellite radio and other services on a variety of airlines. It is focused on using its spectrum for low-cost or free services featuring entertainment, on regional airlines, according to Scott Easterling, director of sales and marketing at LiveTV. The company has paid for its license and expects to go live in the fourth quarter of 2007. The narrowness of LiveTV's 1MHz licensed band -- which cost it about $7 million -- wouldn't allow many passengers to simultaneously use a regular Wi-Fi broadband service, so that would probably carry a premium price if offered, Easterling said. But there may be ways for travelers to keep on top of business for free, such as through e-mail, he said. "We can give away a connectivity experience that would be very acceptable to people," Easterling said.
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No break for DSL subscribers on their bills as a fee used to fund the Universal Service Fund is eliminated.
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Cingular Wireless has urged U.S.  communications regulators to reject a request by rival Nextel  Communications Inc. NXTL.O to lower the cost of its plan to  swap airwaves with the government, which is aimed at reducing  interference with public safety communications.
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A Manhattan federal judge has ordered Visa USA to stop charging a special fee that penalized debit card issuers for jumping to smaller rival MasterCard Inc. .
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AT&amp;T (T) and Internet telephone provider Vonage said Thursday they are cutting prices for their residential Internet calling services by $5 a month, the strongest signs yet of a price war in the nascent market.
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The European Commission said Wednesday it had dropped its antitrust investigation into mobile phone roaming prices charged by operators in Britain and Germany after new EU rules forcing telecom companies to cut the cost of using mobile phones abroad.
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The cost of broadband internet access is likely to fall after Ofcom ordered British Telecom to cut the amount it charges internet providers.
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Verizon Wireless set off a stampede to unlimited voice plans among U.S. mobile operators on Tuesday.After the carrier said it would let subscribers talk for as long as they want within the U.S. for $99.99 per month, rivals AT&amp;T and T-Mobile USA followed suit. Sprint Nextel, which offers 2,000 anytime minutes per month for $99.99, did not.Verizon&#39;s unlimited individual plan, as well as a shared family plan starting at $199.98, is available now.T-Mobile&#39;s plan, becoming available Thursday, will allow unlimited voice as well as messaging. That carrier, which targets youth as a key demographic, has been offering several plans for big talkers, including an Individual Ultra plan with 2,500 minutes for $99.99 and Individual Supra with 5,000 minutes for $129.99. AT&amp;T likewise had offered such plans, including a 6,000-minute service for $199.99.The major U.S. carriers haven&#39;t traditionally offered unlimited minutes. The rush to match Verizon&#39;s plan indicated the level of competition in the mobile market, where carriers are now pushing e-mail, Web access, and other data services as the price of voice minutes has fallen.But the new plans will probably appeal to only a small segment of the market, analysts said. Realtors and small-business owners who spend a lot of time on the road might find it useful, they said. Most carriers already offer free calls on nights and weekends and plans that include free calling to frequent contacts or people on the same network. Mobile data services such as Verizon&#39;s BroadbandAccess 3G (third-generation) will cost extra. And the $99.99 unlimited products are separate from family plans with shared minutes, which cost more.Also Tuesday, Verizon revamped its data offerings to reach different types of customers. A $39.99 plan will allow for 50MB of data traffic per month, and a $59.99 offering will cover 5GB. The new data plans will become available March 2.Sprint offers unlimited data on its EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) network, which is similar to Verizon&#39;s, for $59.99 per month. There are some uses that aren&#39;t allowed, including continuous heavy data traffic and Web hosting. AT&amp;T places a 5GB limit only on plans for mobile data cards to be used in notebook PCs, not on phone plans. Verizon and some other carriers have been criticized in the past for advertising unlimited data while actually cutting off users who went over a certain limit.
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Verizon Communications Inc. said yesterday that it was dropping a "supplier surcharge" on its high-speed Internet service for retail customers, less than a week after the Federal Communications Commission wrote the company, asking it to explain the reasoning for the charge.