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FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker

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International Girls in Information and Communication Technologies Day

Posted April 27th, 2011 by Meredith Attwell Baker

Tomorrow, Thursday, April 28th, 2011, is the first annual International Girls in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Day.  Girls in ICT Day is an international initiative launched with the idea of creating a global environment that will empower and encourage girls and young women to consider careers in the field of information and communication technologies.  The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has called upon all ITU member countries to celebrate International Girls in ICT Day on the fourth Thursday in the month of April.

Also tomorrow, the FCC is holding its Career Day at the Commission, where we invite employees to bring their children to work with them and experience a day in the life of an FCC employee.  In connection with both FCC Career Day and International Girls in ICT Day, I encourage all of our ICT stakeholders to open their doors tomorrow in recognition of this important initiative for young women.

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The Tools We Need As Consumers

Posted March 10th, 2011 by Meredith Attwell Baker

A few months ago in this space I started a list of the new vocabulary in the telecommunications field that we all need to know.  A couple of words to add are ‘megabyte’ or “MB’ and ‘gigabyte’ or ‘GB.’  Smartphones and tablets now offer consumers HD-quality video and games, with streaming music, and lightning-fast downloads of web-content, file attachments and photos.  Many of us first encountered GB in deciding which smartphone or tablet to buy in the first place.  Do I need an 8 GB or 16 GB iPhone?  How many songs and apps do these phones hold?    

Carriers are rolling out new offerings that set limits on data usage like 200 MB or 2 GB a month.  This just reinforces we all need to understand what these terms means.  Knowing which plan is right for you depends in large part on understanding your device and your personal data usage – really knowing just how many megabytes your daily email messages and Tweets take up.  Few of us can intuitively gauge these sorts of things. And even if we could keep track of how many TV shows we download, and how many emails we send and receive on a daily basis, virtually none of us could estimate with any degree of certainty how many megabytes or gigabytes that constituted per month. 

I am happy to report that wireless carriers are stepping up and providing consumer-friendly tools to help consumers pick the plan that best fits their usage patterns.  Each company has its own tools and approach, and I applaud these important and necessary efforts to educate consumers about a new and confusing space.  

Let’s take a look at one of them to show you what I mean.  This post could be about any number of carriers, but let’s look at T-Mobile’s website, which I think is a great example.  T-Mobile allows consumers (even if not current subscribers) to estimate their monthly web usage with an amazing interactive feature.

Users move the sliders to correspond to, for instance, how many emails they send/receive per day, how many minutes of streaming video they watch, and how many web pages they view daily. T-Mobile then calculates their predicted monthly usage, allowing consumers to pick the data plan that best fits their needs and avoids overage charges. 

This easy-to-use interface is a great educational tool that helps demystify what can be a complex issue.  It teaches us that a minute of streaming video is about 3 MB compared to 1 MB for a minute of streaming music.  Allowing users to see their usage in understandable increments offers consumers a meaningful way to appreciate how much data they use monthly.  Carriers are also rolling out apps to track usage in real-time.  So, carriers keep up the good work, and make sure consumers get the education they need and the tools they need to navigate next-generation wireless services.

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Close Title II, Today.

Posted December 14th, 2010 by Meredith Attwell Baker

 

Close Title II, Today.
 
We are a week away from the Net Neutrality vote.  Given the apparent decision not to use Title II to justify Net Neutrality rules, the Chairman should close Title II today.  If not, the Commission should provide a public rationale to consumers and investors why such a jobs-killing proposal remains open.
 
In June, the Chairman initiated a proceeding to determine if broadband should be classified as a Title II service.  Today, broadband is a Title I service.  I still believe that even proposing to reclassify and regulate an entire sector of the Internet under Title II—the most intrusive regulatory tool available to the Commission—was wrong.  The threat of Title II has been an economic drag on the entire industry for the summer. 
 
The National Broadband Plan released in March asks broadband providers of all sizes to expand their service, deploy to more homes, and then in June we undercut their ability to raise the capital necessary to do so.  Specifically, Title II’s highly prescriptive, rate regulation approach to networks —treating today’s networks as if they were 19th century common carrier offerings—would stifle investment.  Title II would harm the incentives for investment in broadband infrastructure and make providers and investors alike think twice about moving forward with network investments. 
 
Given the grave consequences of a Title II approach, I am pleased to see the Chairman has apparently rejected using Title II to support his Net Neutrality rules.  In announcing his intent to move forward with Net Neutrality rules, the Chairman said last week that his approach “would increase certainty in the marketplace, and spur investment both at the edge and in the core of our broadband networks.” 
 
Part of that certainty to the marketplace must be an end to the Title II docket.  What certainty can the Commission provide industry if there remains an open and active docket under which three Commissioners—at any time—could flip a switch and treat broadband as a monopoly-era service?  By closing Title II, the Chairman can signal definitively to the Internet sector that our widely successful pro-growth, pro-investment approach to broadband under Title I remains the right policy for today and tomorrow’s Internet.   
 

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Today’s Number is 41.

Posted November 29th, 2010 by Meredith Attwell Baker

 

Today’s Number is 41. 
 
This month is Sesame Street’s birthday:  41 years ago, Big Bird made his first waddling stroll across television screens nationwide.  I myself was always partial to Cookie Monster.  The influence of Sesame Street is likely hard to appreciate in an era of 100 plus channels.  Today, of course, there is a whole host of television shows directed at young viewers, but in the four channel environment of the late 1960s, Sesame Street offered something completely unprecedented.
 
After its debut, President Nixon aptly described Sesame Street as “one of the most promising experiments in the history of that medium.”  The creators took the risk that educational children’s programming could attract viewers, and we learned that children’s television could be more than a block of cartoons on Saturday morning.  A decade later, Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel followed with dedicated channels focused on children.  In more recent years, we have seen even more targeted channels focused on particular age groups ranging from older boys (Disney XD) to kids under five (Nick Jr.).
 
Children today have over 10 hours of media exposure every day.  The biggest changes in the last few years have come from multitasking: simultaneous viewing of content on the TV and computer, which reflect the rise in broadband content and proliferation of video games.  With that statistic, the challenges are obvious – kids get access to content in more forms and sooner than ever before.  We all need to do a better job establishing and enforcing media limits, and seeking out high-quality content.
 
The opportunities are clear as well.  The variety of available children’s content is remarkable. “Dora the Explorer” and “Ni Hao, Kai-Lan” have helped teach an entire generation of children the importance of learning new languages. With a focus on art and music, “Little Einsteins” has stoked the creative sides of kids.  There are countless more examples of high-quality kids programming.  Those same trusted sources of content and messages on the TV are increasingly available on multiple platforms.  Sesame Street is now not only in 120 countries, it is online and on the phone with apps—helping parents better manage and use the four screens now available to children of all ages.
 
So Happy Birthday to Bert, Ernie, Oscar and the whole gang.  We look forward to seeing the next generation of children’s programming and content, and we hope to enlist Sesame Workshop and the other major kid programmers to join us in helping parents parent across video platforms and providing positive messages and content for our kids. 

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A Wireless Vocabulary

Posted November 17th, 2010 by Meredith Attwell Baker

 

A Wireless Vocabulary
 
In August 2010, the Oxford English Dictionary added more than 2,000 words to its authoritative book.  Words like “chillax” and “bromance” made the cut thanks to their widespread popularity.  Technical words have also weaved their way into the mainstream lexicon.  OED added “WiFi” in 2006 and “defriend” and “tweetup” this year.  As technology evolves, so does the English language.  Today’s technical mumbo jumbo may soon be spoken at your dinner table.  So what are the words in the world of telecommunications soon to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue?
 
Femtocell or Microcell: Like a miniature indoor cell tower, this new technology has the potential to make cell phone dead spots in your home or workplace a thing of the past.  Femtocells, also billed as microcells, hook up to your existing home broadband connection and provide better indoor cellular coverage.  The major U.S. cell phone companies are starting to make wider use of the technology, and deployment is expected to accelerate in the next few years.
 
Cell Extender: Like femtocells, cell extenders boost your indoor cell phone reception. But whereas femtocells typically use your own home broadband connection to work, cell extenders use the same wireless frequencies as your wireless provider.  You just need an antenna near a window connected to a booster unit.  Major U.S. cell phone companies are exploring this technology, but consumers need to beware of knockoff boosters not endorsed by their wireless provider.  Knockoff boosters boost almost all frequencies, including those not associated with your cell phone.  This means lots of harmful interference that can adversely affect both you and your neighbors’ wireless devices.   
 
4G: We hear a lot about 3G or Third Generation wireless today.  The jump from 2G to 3G wireless transformed your phone being a great device for email and texts to one that works for apps of all kinds.  4G will provide a wireless experience that mirrors what many of us expect from a home broadband connection.  LTE or Long Term Evolution is the primary 4G wireless technology that will be rolled out in the United States. Some carriers are also investing in Wi-Max technology that also offers the promise of 4G.  Both national and regional providers are aggressively investing in 4G technologies, and we will start seeing great new 4G-powered devices and services more widespread next year. 
 
Bandwidth and throughput:  These two terms answer a big question:  just how fast is my Internet connection?  Bandwidth, also known as “maximum throughput,” is the most amount of information that can be sent over the network at one time.  It is measured in megabits per second, or Mbps.  Throughput, also measured in Mbps, is the average rate of successful delivery of information sent over the network.  Throughput can be affected by the number of users using the facility at a given time, technology used to transmit the information, and the type of connection to the Internet (most importantly wireless vs. wireline. To boil it down, bandwidth is the outer bounds of what your broadband connection can achieve, and throughput is how fast your broadband connection actually is.
 
And this is just the beginning! We still have to talk more about megabits, gigabits, and megahertz. All of this reinforces how much great investment and innovation is ongoing in the wireless space, and the steep learning curve both policymakers and consumers will have to better understanding how all these technologies work. 

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Bringing New Voices to our Industries

Posted November 12th, 2010 by Meredith Attwell Baker

 

Bringing New Voices to our Industries
I am excited for today’s “Capitalization Strategies Workshop,” hosted by the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities (OCBO).  Geared toward helping minorities, women, and small businesses enter into the telecommunications and broadcasting fields, the event represents an important step in fostering new entrants and new opportunities.  The central challenge for any new business – particularly in capital-intensive industries like those we regulate – is access to the start-up financial resources needed to open the doors.  Today’s Workshop is focused on the issues entrepreneurs face in obtaining public and private-sector financing.  In breakout sessions with venture capitalists and industry groups, one-on-one counseling will be available for participants to hone their business and capitalization plans.  I appreciate greatly these experts providing their counsel and advice today, and am hopeful that we will see some successful new companies sprout out of today’s effort.
I am a big supporter of this annual event, but our engagement should, and must, be more than one day per year.  Given the power and reach of the Internet, we should work toward serving as an online repository of government grant and support programs, as well as private opportunities, for telecom and media industries.  Surveys show that minorities are more likely to look to the Internet for information about starting a business, reinforcing the importance of expanding online initiatives.  We should also reach out proactively with private equity investors in our space to make sure we understand any concerns they have that may inhibit their willingness to invest aggressively in both new entrants and incumbent licensees.
Today’s event is a great example of the steps we can take to work in a collaborative manner with industries and entrepreneurs to serve the public interest.  I hope we see more such events in the near future.

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Election Night: a Telecom Perspective

Posted November 2nd, 2010 by Meredith Attwell Baker

 

On November 2, 1920, Pittsburgh’s KDKA became the world’s first radio station.  KDKA also offered the world’s first political broadcast by beginning its scheduled programming with returns from the 1920 elections. 
As Americans head to the polls today, it’s timely to observe how far we’ve come since that early, fuzzy broadcast.  While voters still rely on radio and television broadcasts for information, they’ve come to supplement – and often times supplant – those news sources with a wealth of dynamic, personalized sources of news and information.  Real Clear Politics and other sites provide polls and data to overwhelm even political junkies.  Rather than relying on the trickle of election return tidbits that are sprinkled throughout election night programming, news consumers today can just as easily follow a Twitter feed dedicated to exit polls, or around the clock coverage on 24/7 cable news.
To truly appreciate just how much the news environment has changed, one need only consider the reach of KDKA’s original broadcast.  For one, the signal was transmitted at a meager 100 watts. Today, KDKA transmits at 50,000 watts.  Much more telling than the broadcast’s weak signal strength, though, was that very few people even had radio receivers to hear the broadcast.  The vast majority would only learn of election results in newspapers the following morning.
With broadcast and cable TV, newspaper apps, news aggregators, blogs, and podcasts, that’s hardly the state of things today.  Pundits abound on a variety of media platforms, and news consumers can keep abreast of developments throughout the day.  Cable news might have given rise to the ‘24-hour news cycle,’ but the Internet and new media have made that news cycle more accessible, more global and more mobile.  Apps like ElectionCaster let users get updated news, commentary and poll results by entering their zip code on their smartphones.  And, an app called Elections, popular during the 2008 season, delivers data directly from Gallup and Pollster.com.  Those wary of exit polls even have real-time results at their fingertips, as states like Washington have developed smartphone apps that relay vote tallies as soon as county elections officials update them.
To be sure, some commentators have reacted cynically to these developments.  They point to the tendency of these new outlets to contribute to short attention spans, enflame political passions, and present incomplete accounts of issues and events.  Those risks are all real, but I like to focus on the positive: innovations, like elections, usher in new and often unforeseen developments and opportunities.  We now have access to in-depth information, data, and analysis from across the street and around the globe.  In fact, I will actually be monitoring results in a way unimaginable even four years ago from Japan where I am representing the FCC at APEC TEL Ministerial in Okinawa.  By the end of tonight, bombarded by results, analysis and exit polls, we may well look longingly at the days when election results weren’t known until the next day’s afternoon edition. 
And, by the way, in case you were wondering, KDKA was reporting that Harding won in 1920. 

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A Public Safety Opportunity

Posted September 13th, 2010 by Meredith Attwell Baker

The recent observation of the ninth anniversary of September 11, 2001 and the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is an appropriate time to assess our progress towards providing a national, interoperable broadband network for public safety.  Those tragic events demonstrated that our first responders and other public safety officials must have access to state-of-the-art interoperable communications networks.  While our collective efforts to date earn an unfortunate incomplete grade, I am optimistic that recent technological and regulatory developments offer the promise of a breakthrough.    

A significant step forward occurred last June when we completed our nation’s transition to digital television.  This freed up Congressionally-mandated spectrum in the 700MHz band for use by public safety and also commercial entities.  I am pleased that I was able to play a role in freeing up this spectrum for public safety while I was at NTIA.  In recent years, the government has been presented with a number of proposals to make use of that freed spectrum and fund the deployment of public safety networks.  Each proposal has attempted to address the very complicated issues that result from the 700MHz band plan and the way the spectrum has already been allocated, including the use of spectrum adjacent to current public safety allocations.  Each has also attempted to deal with the equally complicated issues related to funding, priority access, interoperability and other critical operational considerations.  None have been perfect; but, none have been wholly unreasonable or without merit.
 
One of the recommendations of the National Broadband Plan that all five Commissioners are on the record as supporting is the auction of the so-called D-Block, subject to interoperability and priority access requirements with separate funding for a nationwide-interoperable public safety wireless broadband network.  I felt this approach represented a viable way forward and would not disagree today.  More recently, interesting proposals have surfaced on Capitol Hill that would reallocate the D-Block to public safety and, among other things, create funding opportunities for public safety through the commercial resale of capacity on networks built in that spectrum.  This approach could be made to work as well, and I look forward to learning more.  Under any scenario, funding remains a real concern.  Estimates for capital expenditures for the initial network deployment begin at $6.5 billion and funding for operational expenses must be secured as well. 
 
The imminent commercial deployment of next-generation 4G networks underscores the pressing need for decisive governmental action sooner rather than later.  The most efficient and cost-effective means for taxpayers to deploy a next-generation public safety network is to leverage these commercial deployments that will begin in earnest next year.  4G technologies offer the real power to transform public safety communications, offering tremendous throughput, quality of service flexibility and prioritization previously unheard of on today’s wireless networks.  
 
The best tribute we could offer the men and women we lost on 9/11 and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is to ensure that we have taken meaningful and substantial steps to deploy the wireless broadband network we desperately need before the tenth anniversary of that tragedy is upon us next year.  Let us together roll up our sleeves, choose a funding and spectrum allocation path forward, and provide our public safety community with the broadband network it so clearly needs and deserves.

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Report from the Field—Austin, Texas

Posted August 17th, 2010 by Meredith Attwell Baker

Hot Sun, Cowboy Boots…and lots of Free WiFi

During the dot-com boom and bust of the 90s, many referred to Austin as “Silicon Hills.” These days it’s the second most wireless city in the country and home to Dell’s headquarters, along with a plethora of high tech satellite offices, the most recent being Facebook. Notable, too, is the IC2 Institute (Innovation, Creativity & Capital) at the University of Texas. The Institute’s Austin Technology Incubator has an arm devoted to wireless technology; the Wireless Incubator works to test and create entrepreneurial ventures, as well as connect established industry experts to their developing counterparts.   
A variety of viewpoints stream through my office, but there’s something uniquely productive about meeting with people on their turf, outside of what my Dad calls the “Logic-Free Zone” of Washington. Such trips breed some of the most sincere conversations about the accomplishments and challenges facing the players in our industry, and I welcome them when my schedule ever permits.
This attitude, and a speaking invitation from the Texas Association Broadcasters, led me to Austin for a few days last week. I hadn’t been to Texas on business since the Broadband Field Hearing last September, so I was eager to touch base with the residents of sunny Silicon Hills. The few days that I spent in Austin were busy and insightful, not to mention sweltering (the ten degree difference between 90 and 100 degree heat is surprisingly brutal).
What I Saw and Heard
I enjoyed speaking with the Texas broadcasters about their plans for Mobile TV and continuing programs designed to serve their local communities. Hurricane season approaches, and broadcasters are poised to relay critical information to their communities. Texas broadcasters are setting a great example in the public safety community by offering constructive help with outstanding regulatory issues related to next generation EAS (Emergency Alerting System).
Other meetings focused on wireless endeavors, particularly those linked to TV white spaces. White spaces technology could bring affordable, pervasive broadband to much of our country, particularly to the places that need it most. Alongside the excitement is, however, serious concern about our regulatory time frame. Innovators are worried that slow movement on our part could allow foreign countries to bolt ahead of us, thereby foreclosing our ability to lead by example (as we have with semi-conductors). Inaction means losing our momentum and the ability to shape the next generation of standards.  
What I Learned
My trip leaves me with several key takeaways, beginning with the recognition of how much the Austin-Round Rock area is accomplishing in this dynamic technology space. I trust that Austin will remain at the forefront of high tech innovation, and I look forward to visiting organizations nationwide that are working to implement—and innovate beyond—the regulations we craft in Washington.
The second lesson directly relates to the first: we need to move forward with clear, reasoned policies for the sake of innovation and investment. Conversations like the ones I shared in Austin highlight the need for predictability. Last of all, though perhaps most important: never visit Texas in August if you can help it. You’ll melt, faint—or both—and the only benefit will be your increased appreciation for Washington’s summer weather.

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All EARS: NSF’s Promising Commitment to Wireless Research

Posted August 5th, 2010 by Meredith Attwell Baker

Yesterday I visited the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Enhancing Access to the Radio Spectrum (EARS) workshop in Arlington, Virginia. The EARS program was recently established by the NSF to bring together a diverse group of spectrum experts from across the country to leverage synergies to accelerate development of advanced technologies, including cognitive radios, nanotechnologies and advanced air interfaces, that can help address our nation’s spectrum needs. A particular priority is basic research. This is a terrific project that warrants greater attention, focus, and hopefully funding. 

One of the central tenets of our spectrum policy—and an underlying theme in the National Broadband Plan—is that we need to fundamentally rethink how we use spectrum to ensure more efficient and more robust use of spectrum.  While there is a great deal of investment and innovation in applied research, we as a nation are lacking a central effort at basic long-term research to help achieve more efficient spectrum usage. I think EARS focus on basic research efforts is important and much needed if we are going to meet our nation’s spectrum requirements. 
 
I particularly like EARS’ promotion of collaboration across the broad groups of spectrum stakeholders. We need to do to all we can to encourage more interaction and collaboration between spectrum users.   These relationships and efforts are critical to ensure that we all view other spectrum users as potential partners not adversaries.   EARS is a perfect place to develop them.
 
My remarks can be found at http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/baker/speeches.html, and kudos to the National Science Foundation for a great event.

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