RAA Group

Lawmakers Float Bill to Boost Rural Broadband
By Kenneth Corbin
November 6, 2009

Lawmakers are set to consider a measure next week to reform the federal subsidy paid to telephone companies to provide service to low-income and rural households to include broadband service.

Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) this morning released draft language of a bill that aims to curb waste in the Universal Service Fund (USF) and shift money from phone to Internet service in areas on the wrong side of the digital divide.

“The Universal Service Fund is broken,” Boucher and Terry said in a statement. “The measure will expand who pays into the fund, cap the growth of the fund and modernize the fund by allowing its use for the deployment of high-speed broadband service.”

Boucher issued a nearly identical statement when he and Terry introduced a previous version of the USF reform bill in 2006.

The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, which Boucher chairs, is set to consider the measure at a hearing Nov. 17.

The drive to reform the USF revisits a long-deferred item on the policy agenda at the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that oversees the fund.

The FCC is currently working to develop a national broadband strategy due to Congress in February. At a conference in Washington yesterday, Brian David, a director of the FCC’s National Broadband Task Force, hinted that USF reform would likely be included in the plan’s recommendations.

David also floated the idea of a federally recognized digital outreach service to speed adoption of broadband technology similar to the AmeriCorps program, as well as an education campaign similar to the media blitz the FCC spearheaded in advance of the digital television transition.

“We are one of the last of the major countries to do this sort of plan,” David said. “We are at a point in this technology … where we are close to if not past the tipping point where it is no longer just an advantage to be online. It has become — in our view, in my view — a disadvantage fundamentally to not be online.”

Boucher and Terry’s bill echoes complaints that the USF has failed to keep pace with the evolving demands of the telecommunications landscape, where

Just yesterday, the leading lobby of the cable industry released a petition it submitted to the FCC calling for USF reform, claiming the program wastes as much as $2 billion annually funding telephone companies in areas where non-subsidized companies already offer service.

The bill also drew early praise from AT&T (NYSE: T). Tim McKone, the telecom giant’s executive vice president of federal relations, said the measure “recognizes that we cannot accomplish President Obama’s goal of universal and affordable broadband for all Americans without also fixing the federal universal service fund.”

Under the bill, recipients of Universal Service funding would be required to provide high-speed Internet service within five years of its enactment, aiming to do for broadband what the fund did for telephone service. Broadband, defined by the bill as access with a download connection speed of 1.5 megabits per second, would be classified as a universal service, and the USF bidding process would be opened to wireless providers.

“This bill brings the fund into the 21st century by modernizing it and allowing it to play a role in our country’s plan for eventual ubiquitous broadband,” Terry said.

The Facts About FM Radio In Mobile Phones

FM Radio Receivers in Mobile Phones

There is a strong belief among many in the radio industry that FM radio receivers should be incorporated into virtually all mobile devices, including mobile phones. Such a move helps to perpetuate the ubiquitous nature of radio and to provide a communication lifeline during times of crisis or natural disaster. Some may wonder why FM radio receivers are necessary when many mobile devices already have access to radio through internet connections. When radio is needed most it’s least likely to be available through an internet connection on a mobile device and only available when a mobile device has an FM receiver built-in.

Radio’s Importance in Times of Crisis

In January 2009, parts of the Midwestern United States were struck by a voracious winter storm. Combinations of snow and ice virtually paralyzed many areas. Owensboro, Kentucky was one area struck exceptionally hard and declared a federal disaster area. Residents were without power, land line communication, mobile phone communication and cable television. The only functioning source of information was “over the air” broadcasting. A nearby radio station run by the Cromwell Group was broadcasting. However, residents could only tap into the radio station with a radio receiving device that did not require an external power source (such as a battery-operated or crank radio, or a mobile phone with a built-in FM receiver).

Mobile phones were incapacitated because the mobile phone infrastructure was not working. That means internet access over the mobile phone network was also incapacitated. Access to information using a mobile phone was only possible if the mobile phone contained an FM receiver.

Capacity and Bandwidth: Over the Air Radio Versus Internet-Based Radio

What about cases in which the mobile networks are still functioning? Mobile networks are built assuming that only a percentage of users will use the network at the same time. On occasions in which usage begins to exceed capacity, the networks begin to exhibit stress (we’ve all experienced the “all circuits are busy” message from time to time). In times of crisis when all other means of communication have been disabled, usage of the network to talk and to access information using a mobile internet connection has been shown to skyrocket. Will networks be able to handle the burden and still be able to support access to critical information from radio broadcasts over mobile internet connections? With FM receivers in mobile devices one would not need to worry about this issue. Essential information would be available from nearby radio stations via “over the air” signals that are unaffected by network burden.

Bud Walters, owner of Cromwell Group, summed it up succinctly after January’s Midwestern storm by saying, “If there ever was a case for FM radio receivers in cell phones, this is it. Everyone has a cell phone, now useless. The cell phone would not be useless if it had an FM radio in it.”

The Current State of FM Radio Receivers in Mobile Devices

Why not add an inexpensive analog FM radio receiver into all mobile devices? It provides essential access to critical information over the air during times of crisis using a device that consumers will already be carrying.

Broadcom recently announced an integrated circuit device that combines WiFi, Bluetooth and FM on a single “chip,” making it easier for manufacturers to integrate essential functionality in one chip.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile are including FM radio-capable handsets in their offering and the radio industry is working on getting Apple on board as well. In fact, the Apple iPhone 3GS includes the Broadcom chip described above which has FM receiver capability. It is not a current function of the 3GS but can be easily included in a future upgrade since the FM-capable device is already present in the current design.

Nokia has sold more than 700 million devices with built-in FM radio receivers worldwide, demonstrating consumer recognition of the value.

What Can You Do?

Tell us your thoughts on this initiative by visiting www.radioheardhere.com/fmchip. Spread the word among your radio industry colleagues and ask them to do the same. Spread the word to listeners over the air and on your radio station website and ask them to voice their support for FM radio on cell phones. Together, we can mobilize this initiative throughout the industry and the listening population to demonstrate the fundamental necessity for FM radio receivers in mobile devices.

After a long period of planning and deployment, Miami Beach (Florida) has launched its citywide free Wi-Fi service. The network provides free Wi-Fi access with 95% outdoor coverage and 70% indoor coverage up through the second floor of buildings. The city is also using the network for public safety and other municipal departments, allowing employees to use laptops and handheld devices to perform tasks that include building inspections, public works and code compliance.

Miami Beach is one of the few cities that offer free citywide Wi-Fi service. Others have abandoned their projects after private companies such as EarthLink left the business. Municipalities, such as St. Cloud in Florida, are struggling to maintain free Wi-Fi access in the face of budget cuts. St. Cloud’s city council had initially voted to shut down the public access side of the network, but fierce opposition from residents, many of whom use the network because they cannot afford to pay for Internet access, has forced the city to keep the network open.

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Report on the WiMAX Band (2.5 GHz) after the FCC auction is now available. Click here to find out more and to purchase the report.

Amtrak has released a five-year strategic plan that includes improved customer service, new trains and aggressive passenger growth and revenue goals.

It also is working with individual states as they apply for federal grants to develop high-speed rail corridors.

Amtrak has set a goal to increase ridership by 15 percent in the next five years, from 27.2 million in fiscal 2009 to 31.4 million by the end of 2014. It also hopes to grow revenue by 20 percent, topping $2 billion by 2014.

To do that, it will have to attract more passengers by improving customer service.

Amtrak will move forward with plans to add Wi-Fi service, initially on its Acela high-speed rail trains and eventually on other service. It will upgrade its reservations systems, including e-ticket options that will let passengers retrieve tickets on mobile devices. And, it says it will improve food and drink choices on its trains.

It also will replace aging locomotives and coaches, modernize car interiors and make stations, platforms and trains more handicapped accessible.

Amtrak also says passengers can expect to see more security, “with greater emphasis on random and unpredictable patrols, baggage screenings and other activities” in stations and on trains. It will also expand its K-9 explosives detection teams, it says.