(Reuters) – Mobile phone carriers received more than 1.3 million requests last year from U.S. law enforcement agencies for their customers’ phone records and the requests are on the rise, according to data gathered as part of a congressional inquiry into cell phone surveillance. Representative Edward Markey released data on Monday from nine wireless carriers […]
U.S. weighs aircraft for post-disaster communications
(Reuters) – U.S. regulators are looking for ways to accelerate the use of drones and other aerial technologies to restore communications after disasters like 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, which knocked out phone service for more than 3 million people. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said this technology would have been remarkably useful after Hurricane Katrina, […]
AT & T says FCC ”cherry-picks” facts in T-Mobile spat
AT&T Inc accused the U.S. communications regulator of being one-sided and cherry-picking facts when it issued a stinging rebuke of the company’s plan to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom. The scathing Federal Communications Commission staff report, released earlier this week, said AT&T’s $39 billion proposal to purchase T-Mobile would lead to higher prices for […]
House panel to meet on spectrum bill December 1
A bill to create a wireless network for public safety and make more airwaves available to bandwidth-hungry communications companies, will be considered by a House of Representatives committee next week. The communications subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled a December 1 meeting on the legislation that is partly aimed at meeting […]
Cheaper broadband coming to low-income families
Cable companies will offer high-speed Internet service to low-income families in the United States at around a fifth of the national average price, the top communications regulator said on Wednesday. Families who qualify for free school lunches will be able to sign up for $9.95 a month high-speed Internet services from top cable providers. Further, […]