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FCC
Sets Rules for Auction of Wireless Broadband
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On July 31st,
the Federal Communications Commission adopted an
order setting the rules for licensees of the 700
MHz spectrum to be auctioned in January of 2008.
The spectrum, which is a sliver of airwaves
enabling wireless services to operate, is being
vacated as TV broadcasters move to digital and
high definition broadcasts. The rules create a
partnership between public safety needs and the
private sector by requiring commercial licensees
to build out a nationwide, interoperable network
to link police, fire departments, first
responders, and other public safety officials in
the event of an emergency. The commercial
licensee then has access to the spectrum when
it's not needed for public safety. The shared
infrastructure prevents build-out of two
separate networks for the public and private
sectors and gives public safety officials
maximum access to the broadband spectrum.
In addition to the innovation of the
public/private partnership set forth in the
order, the FCC also required licensees of a
large portion of the soon-to-be-auctioned
spectrum to provide an "open-platform" allowing
different devices and applications to run on it.
Today, wireless service providers control which
devices and which applications work with their
networks, after testing and approval. The open
platform is closer to the Internet where various
devices, content, and applications are welcomed,
which is expected to spark innovation and
competition in the wireless arena.
Per the Digital Television and Public Safety
Act of 2005, the FCC must auction the available
spectrum by January 28, 2008.
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California
Continues to See Higher Rates |
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AT&T 's second rate increase within the past
year for California residents with land-line
phone service went into effect July 15th.
The company raised the price on caller
ID, call waiting and other a la carte
features.
The increase may entice more people
to opt for bundled services, such as phone
and internet, in an effort to lower their
monthly bill. While their overall cost may
be lowered, the amount they spend with AT&T
will go up.
Two-thirds of AT&T's customers already have
bundled services, which are not subject to the
rate hikes.
Verizon Communications Inc. has also been
increasing rates for stand-alone services.
Verizon controls approximately 18% of the
state's telephone access lines.
Since January, the phone companies' rates
for certain features have risen as much as
350% for those who are not subscribing to
bundled services. Many customers paying
$6.17 for caller ID just six months ago will
now pay $9, following an interim price hike.
An unlisted number now costs $1.25 per
month, up 346% over the previous charge of
28 cents.
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FCC Releases
Subscribership Report |
The FCC recently released its latest report
on telephone subscribership in the United
States.
The survey shows that in March of this year,
telephone subscribership penetration was
94.6%, up 1.8% from a year earlier. This
represents all types of phone service,
including cellular. The state with the
lowest rate was Alabama, the highest was
Washington with a 98.3%.
The penetration rate for households with
income levels below $20,000 was at or below
92.3% while the rate for households with
incomes above $100,000 was 98.6%.
Rates for households headed by young people
under 25, were at 89.3% compared with over
95% for households headed by a person over
55.
The report is update three times a year and
is available for download at
http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/stats.
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Product Spotlight
Tele-Jurisdiction Database
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Tele-Tech
Helps Customers Program PBXs
Today's PBXs make it easy to route calls to
various carriers or trunks based on whether
the connection is local, intraLATA, or long
distance. There are some that allow
international calls to be least-cost routed,
based on the terminating country. While
programming software for a PBX is readily
available and simple to use, the data needed
for the most effective call routing is not
always easy to obtain. If you're installing
PBXs in five different cities, how can you
be certain which calls are local from each
location?
Tele-Tech's Tele-Jurisdiction database is a
simple alternative to plowing through phone
books, browsing unreliable websites, or
struggling to get current information from the
service providers.
Each Tele-Jurisdiction data set is specific
to the NPA-NXX where the PBX is installed.
The simple, flat file format gives all
terminating NPA-NXXs, with a code assigning
the correct jurisdiction to each. You'll
know with certainty which calls are local,
intraLATA, interstate, and more.
Stop guessing at the jurisdiction of calls,
or relying on out-dated information to
program your PBX. Contact Kimberly Russo at
800-433-6181 x7103 or
krusso@telecomdb.com.
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NPA Updates
New Exhaust date for 304
NANPA recently notified the West Virginia Public
Service Commission that the 304 area code is now
projected to exhaust in the third quarter of 2008,
rather than the third quarter of 2007 as originally
anticipated. This revised projection reflected new
numbering data provided by the Pooling Administrator
as a result of the implementation of number pooling
in several West Virginia rate centers.
Utah Public Service Commission Orders
Area Code Overlay
The Utah Public Service Commission opted to bring on
the new 385 area code through an overlay, rather
than through a geographic split of the existing 801
area code. In 2000, the Commission implemented
successful telephone number conservation measures
which postponed the need for change until now. The
overlay will become effective in 2008.
The 385 area code will be assigned to new phone
numbers throughout the five-county Wasatch Front
region after the 801 code is depleted.
The overlay method was supported by the state
Division of Public Utilities and the Utah Committee
of Consumer Services.
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