Utility News

AP via Forbes:

Verizon Communications Inc. and two unions representing 65,000 workers who had threatened to strike within hours agreed Sunday on a new three-year contract that provides 10.5 percent wage increases and changes in retirement benefits.

The pact, which must be ratified by union members, was hailed as a “breakthrough agreement in many ways” by Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen.

No Comments »

The New York Times:

Wired connections to the home — cable and telephone lines — are the major way that Americans move information. In the United States and in most of the world, a monopoly or duopoly controls the pipes that supply homes with information. These companies, primarily phone and cable companies, have a natural interest in controlling supply to maintain price levels and extract maximum profit from their investments — similar to how OPEC sets production quotas to guarantee high prices…

The solution is to relax the overregulation of the airwaves and allow use of the wasted spaces. Anyone, so long as he or she complies with a few basic rules to avoid interference, could try to build a better Wi-Fi and become a broadband billionaire. These wireless entrepreneurs could one day liberate us from wires, cables and rising prices.

No Comments »

The New York Times:

Analysts say consumers are dropping traditional landlines faster than expected…

All of the major telecommunications companies — AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel — are figuring out how to make more money from customers as they spend more time sending text messages or browsing the Web on their wireless phones, rather than talking.

No Comments »

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Besides life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the government should guarantee everyone a high-speed Internet connection, according to a member of the Federal Communications Commission.

“No matter who you are, or where you live, or how much money you make … you will need, and you are entitled to have these tools (broadband Internet) available to you, I think, as a civil right,” said commissioner Michael Copps during a Monday appearance at Carnegie Mellon University.

No Comments »

The New York Times:

The Senate gave final approval on Wednesday to a major expansion of the government’s surveillance powers, handing President Bush one more victory in a series of hard-fought clashes with Democrats over national security issues.

The measure, approved by a vote of 69 to 28, is the biggest revamping of federal surveillance law in 30 years. It includes a divisive element that Mr. Bush had deemed essential: legal immunity for the phone companies that cooperated in the National Security Agency wiretapping program he approved after the Sept. 11 attacks.

No Comments »

USAToday:

Cellphone company T-Mobile USA is set to launch a nationwide service that lets customers place unlimited domestic calls with their landline phones over a broadband connection.

The service, called T-Mobile AtHome, will cost $10 per month when it rolls out on July 2.

No Comments »

The Washington Post:

House and Senate leaders agreed yesterday on surveillance legislation that could shield telecommunications companies from privacy lawsuits, handing President Bush one of the last major legislative victories he is likely to achieve.

The agreement extends the government’s ability to eavesdrop on espionage and terrorism suspects while effectively providing a legal escape hatch for AT&T, Verizon Communications and other telecom firms. They face more than 40 lawsuits that allege they violated customers’ privacy rights by helping the government conduct a warrantless spying program after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

No Comments »

AP via Forbes:

An Oppenheimer analyst said Wednesday he is taking a more cautious stance on shares of rural local exchange carriers because of regulatory concerns.

Analyst Timothy Horan wrote in a note to investors that the Federal Communications Commission’s ongoing Universal Service Fund audit could affect rural carriers throughout the sector.

The service fund subsidizes phone service for rural and low-income customers through a surcharge on almost all long-distance bills. Horan said the FCC is conducting about 400 audits as part of the campaign, up from 50 last year.

No Comments »

Business Week:

For the second year running, the U.S. ranked 15th among the 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development in terms of broadband availability. Denmark ranked first again in the annual OECD survey, followed by a host of European and Asian nations. Indeed, while the number of Americans with access to broadband service rose 20% last year, to nearly 70 million people, the most in the OECD, that amounted to just 23 of every 100 residents. By contrast, the top five countries in the OECD ranking all sport per-capita penetration rates of better than 30%.

No Comments »

USA Today:

Traditional land-line phones, once the bedrock of communications in the USA, are quickly going the way of eight-track tapes as consumers go wireless or choose Internet-based phone calling.

According to a report due to be released Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly one out of every six homes in the USA — 15.8% — had only wireless telephones during the second half of 2007, up from 6.1% during the same period in 2004.

No Comments »