The FCC’s excuse for delaying the AT&T/Qualcomm spectrum deal was to work on the AT&T/T-Mobile deal. The latter has been withdrawn, so what’s the excuse now?
AT&T and Sprint both get bad reviews. Sprint’s Nextel deal went through. AT&T’s T-Mobile deal is getting blocked. Hmm. Looks shady, which is why I support Chuck Grassley’s push for FCC transparency involving LightSquared, even though so far their claims on spectrum make sense to me and John Deere and the GPS industry are getting rural pushback against their LightSquared opposition.
Yeah, I never thought I’d mention John Deere in Tech at Night, either.
Fortunately Republicans are carefully monitoring the FCC processes involved and are questioning the appropriateness of FCC’s reasons to attack AT&T. If FCC stands in the way of spectrum acquisition, then we have a problem. Our spectrum needs are increasing, not staying the same.
Want a laugh? Lawsuits were filed against USF reform, as the old rural phone subsidy became an Internet access subsidy, and the old subsidy recipients are mad they’re losing out. I’m rooting for injuries here.
Twitter to be blamed for terrorism! Give me a freaking break. I’m reminded of when UK Members of Parliament wanted a Blackberry kill switch during the riots over there.
Oh and get this: the radicals now claim Net Neutrality is a failure. Pass the popcorn. Apparently now it’s not enough that the Internet is regulated, but now wireless carriers must be mandated to support specific services on their phones, as with Verizon and Google Wallet. Slippery slopes are real, folks.
Sprint vs AT&T. GM vs Toyota. Solyndra and solar vs oil. Again and again, the Obama administration is accused of picking sides in industry. Now House Republicans are threatening to join int he act with SOPA, choosing Hollywood over the Internet with the selective Internet kill switch bill.
We’ve got two security bills up in the House. I hope Dan Lungren’s is the model, because I can see nothing wrong and a whole lot right about the government acting as a clearing house of information to secure our Internet resources. It’s a passive role that serves a national defense function without trampling on anyone.
Surprise of the day: Democrats push for greater media regulation, having… yup… government choose winners and losers in mass media ownership. Funny how that keeps popping up.