Policy & Regulation

Calling for a more concerted effort by governments to bring broadband Internet access to remote and disadvantaged populations, the International Telecommunications Union issued a goal of giving one-half of the world’s population access to broadband service by 2015. That ambitious goal would require a huge buildout of high-speed connections not only in poor and developing nations, but in the rural ...

Several federal lawmakers plan to tackle – for the second time in several years – a rewrite of the Communications Act.Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on Monday said they’ll start holding bipartisan meetings in June to develop proposed updates to 1996 Telecom Act. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the communications subcommittee and Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., ...

If you thought the U.S. wireless industry was competitive, the Julius Genachowski-led FCC says, think again. For the first time in seven years, the agency has concluded that mobile competition in America is, as Commissioner Michael Copps put it, “seriously endangered” by consolidation. Several carriers since 2003 have gone through intense M&A, among them AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ). ...

Verizon Wireless reportedly plans to bring 4G service to rural America but the Rural Telecommunications Group (RTG) is, by its own admission, skeptical. The Wall Street Journal said on Thursday that Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest wireless service provider, is in talks with rural counterparts to license to them some of the 700MHz spectrum it bought in 2008. That way, ...

The controversial Verizon-Frontier landline deal has cleared a major hurdle as the companies seek to close their $8.6 billion transaction. Regulators in West Virginia on Thursday blessed the sale, closing the book on any chance that the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union might can Verizon and Frontier’s plans. Union members fear the spinoff will create job losses and 5,000 ...