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Copyright © 2015 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.

The Telecom Digest for Apr 9, 2015
Volume 34 : Issue 65 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Google as MVNO and int'l data charges (tlvp)
Re: Google as MVNO and int'l data charges (Duncan Smith)
FCC to proceed with "effective competition" review (Neal McLain)
AT&T hit with $25 million fine for privacy sleaziness (danny burstein)

As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it.  - Martin van Buren

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Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2015 20:22:25 -0400 From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Google as MVNO and int'l data charges Message-ID: <b1qjce7t67u.1fdhat7zygjp.dlg@40tude.net> Google's not a MVNO yet but rumors are afloat that when they are they'll be offering worldwide data roaming at no additional charge over whatever their customers' data plans will already cost: proposed details reported at http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-to-offer-free-international-roaming-with-new-mobile-service/. -or- http://goo.gl/ZMxg1y I wonder whether T-Mobile, in particular, will, to remain competitive, restore the free international WAP data they had my two lines on from 2000 up until they decided to start charging $15/MB for that midway into 2009. Cheers, -- tlvp -- Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 2015 10:37:41 -0700 From: Duncan Smith <Duncan@xrtc.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Google as MVNO and int'l data charges Message-ID: <1428514661.1003433.250864601.43BA2ABE@webmail.messagingengine.com> On Tue, Apr 7, 2015, at 17:22, tlvp wrote: > Google's not a MVNO yet but rumors are afloat that when they are > they'll be offering worldwide data roaming at no additional charge > over whatever their customers' data plans will already cost: proposed > details reported at > > > http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-to-offer-free-international-roaming-with-new-mobile-service/. > -or- > http://goo.gl/ZMxg1y > > > I wonder whether T-Mobile, in particular, will, to remain competitive, > restore the free international WAP data they had my two lines on from > 2000 up until they decided to start charging $15/MB for that midway > into 2009. There are plenty of smaller operators that might sell their spectrum licenses to Google, given the right sized check. So I can only interpret their decision to become an MVNO as a sign that they're not intending to engage in the market very much, but rather noodle around and see what's possible as a telco. At least here in the USA, T-Mobile gives its customers free international roaming data and SMS. They provide EDGE speeds on roaming data for free, and have a reasonable fee to upgrade to full-speed data. Where are you operating from? Duncan
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2015 19:16:46 -0700 (PDT) From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: FCC to proceed with "effective competition" review Message-ID: <ac8545b6-1532-441d-862d-f5e31f0f7b02@googlegroups.com> By Brian Santo, CEDmagazine, 04/07/2015 The FCC has denied a petition from the NAB and Public Knowledge to not consider what constitutes "effective competition" in the MVPD market. Current law presumes that cable operators do not face effective competition, making them subject to rate regulation; the burden of proof is on cable operators to demonstrate that they do have competition. This can be a significant burden for smaller cable companies. The FCC was given the opportunity to visit the issue with recent passage of the STELAR Act. The FCC is proposing that the presumption should be that operators do face effective competition, and the burden of proof that they don't would fall on others. The change is justified, the FCC said, because when the question comes up, it almost always rules in favor of the cable operator because of the near-omnipresence of Dish and DirecTV... The NAB and Public Knowledge claimed that STELAR gave the FCC no such authority, and even if it did, the FCC's schedule for the rule-making process is too short. As might be expected, the American Cable Association (ACA), which represents small and mid-sized cable operators, advised the FCC to reject the petition. http://www.cedmagazine.com/news/2015/04/fcc-to-proceed-with-effective-competition-review?et_cid=4504102&et_rid=652835436&location=top -or- http://tinyurl.com/m3a7a2o Neal McLain
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2015 19:14:52 -0400 From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: AT&T hit with $25 million fine for privacy sleaziness Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.1504081913050.13292@panix5.panix.com> [FCC press release] AT&T TO PAY $25 MILLION TO SETTLE CONSUMER PRIVACY INVESTIGATION FCC's Largest Data Security Enforcement Action Washington, D.C. - The Federal Communications Commission has entered a $25 million settlement with AT&T Services, Inc. to resolve an investigation into consumer privacy violations at AT&T's call centers in Mexico, Colombia, and the Philippines. The data breaches involved the unauthorized disclosure of almost 280,000 U.S. customers' names, full or partial Social Security numbers, and unauthorized access to protected account-related data, known as customer proprietary network information (CPNI). This is the FCC's largest privacy and data security enforcement action to date. According to an investigation by the FCC's Enforcement Bureau, these data breaches occurred when employees at call centers used by AT&T in Mexico, Colombia, and the Philippines accessed customer records without authorization. These employees accessed CPNI while obtaining other personal information that was used to request handset unlock codes for AT&T mobile phones, and then provided that information to unauthorized third parties who appear to have been trafficking in stolen cell phones or secondary market phones that they wanted to unlock. ==== rest: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0408/DOC-332911A1.pdf http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0408/DOC-332911A1.docx http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0408/DOC-332911A1.txt - FCC documents are often released in txt, Microsoft Word, and pdf. The URLs are almost identical with the trailing extention pointing to the different formats _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

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