"We intend to issue shortly a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to propose and seek comment on additional steps the Commission might take to further implement the Call Home Act and thus further reduce the cost to military personnel of calling home."

So the Federal Communications Commission declared on January 18th of last year. As the first anniversary of that promise approaches, LLFCC can find no sign that it will be kept. A spokesperson for the FCC contacted by this blog declined to comment on when such a proceeding might begin.

To recap: Congress passed the Call Home Act in December of 2006: "A bill to direct the Federal Communications Commission to make efforts to reduce telephone rates for Armed Forces personnel deployed overseas."

The FCC initially followed through on the mandate by permitting phone companies not to charge Universal Service Fund (USF) and Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) tolls on Armed Forces personnel collect calls, or those made with pre- and post-paid calling cards. The USF funds telephone service for low income families; TRS finances and regulates telecommunications services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

Residential Consumers and Businesses to be Hit by Substantial Increases in Monthly Telecom Bills

This just in from the anti-forbearance guys. The whole study is available at http://www.xo.com/QSI_Study_FF102907.pdf —LLFCC

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Verizon’s bid for local deregulation will trigger $2.4 billion in higher charges for customers in six major mid-Atlantic and Northeastern cities if granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), finds a new study by leading market research organization, QSI Consulting.

The QSI Study, “An Analysis of Verizon’s Petition for Forbearance: A Quantification of the Impact of Forbearance,” presents the first in-depth examination of the damage that would result from a grant of Verizon’s petitions for forbearance from the pro-competitive local loop and transport unbundling obligations of the 1996 Telecom Act.

QSI tracks the chain reaction of economic harm that would result from forbearance in six cities targeted by Verizon for regulatory forbearance: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Virginia Beach and Providence.

Everybody had something to tell the Federal Communications Commission about so-called "white space" or "unlicensed" devices last week, including Cox Communications and the "Open Mobile Video Coalition."

The chatter culminated in Friday's decision by the FCC to initiate a new round of tests of the machines: cognitive receivers that can tap into unused television frequencies, or "white space," and use them for broadband purposes: video, streaming audio, extended LANs or "community mesh networks."

"The Commission is committed to working with all parties to continue the process of investigating the potential performance capabilities of TV white space devices in an open and transparent manner," the agency announced on October 5th. "To that end, the Laboratory will be conducting additional laboratory and field testing of prototype devices."

The prototypes come from Microsoft and Phillips, big boosters of the technology and leaders of the "White Space Coalition," which also includes Google, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel.

Their FCC filings promise that "unlicensed devices operating in the TV band will offer longer transmission ranges using the same power, less risk of signal attenuation or harmful interference, and less power consumption at the same range than Wi-Fi."