3/20. AT&T, Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG announced in a release that they "have entered into a definitive agreement under which AT&T will acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in a cash-and-stock transaction" and that this agreement "has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies".

This transaction is subject to numerous regulatory reviews, including antitrust merger reviews by the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The two companies stated that "AT&T commits to a significant expansion of robust 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) deployment to 95 percent of the U.S. population to reach an additional 46.5 million Americans beyond current plans -- including rural communities and small towns". (Parentheses in original.)

This transaction would reduce the number of competitors in wireless voice and broadband access services. However, AT&T asserted that "The U.S. wireless industry is one of the most fiercely competitive markets in the world and will remain so after this deal. The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where a large majority of consumers can choose from five or more wireless providers in their local market."

AT&T added that "This transaction quickly provides the spectrum and network efficiencies necessary for AT&T to address impending spectrum exhaust in key markets driven by the exponential growth in mobile broadband traffic on its network."

The DOJ and FCC have yet to attempt to block a wireless merger.

This transaction may enable the FCC to impose rules, which it may label "voluntary concessions", without a rulemaking proceeding, and which it may lack statutory authority to impose by rulemaking. Numerous companies, interest groups, and others will likely lobby the FCC for imposition of such concessions for their own benefit. Network neutrality rules may be one focus of attention.

However, any such rules or concessions would bind the merged entity, but not other competing wireless service providers. Thus, if this acquisition is consummated, and even if the Court of Appeals does not overturn the FCC's recently promulgated broadband internet access service (BIAS) rules, AT&T and Verizon could be subjected for years to disparate wireless regulatory regimes.

Congressional Reaction. Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV), the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee (SCC), stated in a release that "With every passing day, wireless services are becoming more and more important to the way we communicate. So it is absolutely essential that both the Department of Justice and the FCC leave no stone unturned in determining what the impact of this combination is on the American people. Consumers across the country and at home in West Virginia want lower rates, competition and better coverage. As always in a transaction this large, the Commerce Committee will review the details of the acquisition."

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC), stated in a release that "Consumers have borne the brunt of the increasingly concentrated market for mobile phone service. The explosion of cell phone usage -- especially smart phones -- makes competition in this market more important than ever as a check on prices, consumer choice, and service. That's why the Antitrust Subcommittee will take a close look at what this loss of competition will mean for people who increasingly rely on wireless phone service to connect to friends, family and the Internet."

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, stated in a release that "Competition is essential to promoting a vibrant wireless market, where consumers have a choice in the innovative services and devices available to them. As the FCC and DOJ begin their regulatory and antitrust review, I urge them to carefully examine the proposed transaction."

She added that "it is essential that we conduct oversight hearings and I look forward to leading that process."

Opposition Groups. The Public Knowledge's (PK) Gigi Sohn stated in a release that "The combination of the second-largest wireless carrier, AT&T, with the fourth-largest, T-Mobile is, as former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt once said, 'unthinkable.' We urge policymakers to think similarly today. The wireless market, now dominated by four big companies, would have only three at the top. We know the results of arrangements like this -- higher prices, fewer choices, less innovation."

She added that "The fact that AT&T and T-Mobile would even think of such a combination shows how desperately the U.S. needs both strong network neutrality rules and a competition policy that requires dominant broadband providers to make their networks available to competitors."

The Free Press's Derek Turner stated in a release, "Don't believe the hype: There is nothing about having less competition that will benefit wireless consumers. And if regulators approve this deal, they will further cement duopoly control over the wireless market by AT&T and Verizon."

Turner added that "A market this concentrated -- where the top four companies already control 90 percent of the business, and two of them want to merge -- means nothing but higher prices and fewer choices, as the newly engorged AT&T and Verizon exert even more control over the wireless Internet."

The Media Access Project's (MAP) Andrew Schwartzman stated in a release that "If approved, this deal would further increase costs and decrease choices for the public. Needless to say, it also presages a major confrontation at the Justice Department and the FCC. The FCC’s National Broadband Plan, issued last year, warned about the absence of sufficient competition in the wireless market. The possibility that three players would control nearly three-quarters of that market will surely trigger intense scrutiny by the agencies."

3/17. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) introduced HR 1076 [LOC | WW], a bill to limit federal funding of National Public Radio (NPR), on March 15, 2011. The House passed this bill on March 17 by a vote of 228-192. See, Roll Call No. 192. Republicans voted 228-7. Democrats voted 0-185. The Senate has not passed this bill.

This bill provides in part that "No Federal funds may be made available ... for the acquisition of radio programs (including programs to be distributed or disseminated over the Internet) by or for the use of a radio broadcast station that is a public broadcast station ...". (Parentheses in original.)

Republicans who spoke in the House made the argument that taxpayers should not be subsidizing radio broadcasting, more than the argument that NPR leans to the left ideologically.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) spoke only about the needlessness of taxpayer subsidies.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) stated that this is "a bill to get the Federal Government -- and Federal taxpayers -- out of the business of buying radio programming they do not agree with."

She continued that this bill "does not defund public radio stations. They still may use Federal funding to operate their stations or to produce their own programming. Public radio stations may also continue to purchase programming from NPR or other sources, just not with Federal taxpayer dollars. Also, this bill has no impact ... on public television."

Rep. Lamborn offered this summary of the bill: "First, it prohibits public radio stations from using Federal funds to purchase programming. Current Federal law requires that about 26 percent of Federal grants to public radio stations be used for the production or acquisition of programming. Many stations use these restricted grants to purchase programming from NPR. These programming fees are the largest single source of NPR revenue at $56 million in fiscal year '10. Second, H.R. 1076 prohibits stations from using Federal funds to pay NPR dues: in fiscal year '10, over 400 member stations paid a total of $2.8 million in dues to NPR. Third, my bill prohibits direct Federal fundings of National Public Radio."

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee (HCC), and other Democrats praise NPR. Rep. Waxman stated in the House that "This bill will cripple National Public Radio, public radio stations, and programming that is vital to over 27 million Americans. We are now voting to deny the public access to one of our Nation's most credible sources of news coverage."

The HCC's Democratic staff wrote a memorandum [PDF] that states that this bill "would have a significant impact on public radio stations across the country, eliminating all funding for NPR through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Hundreds of stations rely on CPB funding as a major source of funding, especially rural stations and minority stations."

The memorandum adds that "the legislation did not go through the normal Committee process, there have been no hearings, testimony, or expert review, and members have little information about its impact."

It also lists subsidies by Congressional district in 2009. Stations in the at large district for the state of Alaska received the largest total subsidy -- $5,033,526.00. Rep. Don Young (R-AK) did not vote on this bill.

On March 15, 2011, the House passed HJRes 48, a three week continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through April 8. The Senate passed it on March 17. President Obama signed it on March 18. It is now Public Law No. 112-6.

Rep. Lamborn stated in a release on March 17 that HJRes 48 "contains $50 million in cuts for NPR's parent organization, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). H.R. 1, the CR passed by the House last month, rescinded all federal funding for CPB through the end of this fiscal year. The Senate rejected that funding bill and has yet to offer an alternative." He added that he "will continue to push for the elimination of taxpayer dollars for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through the annual appropriations process."

3/17. President Obama nominated Lisa Monaco Assistant Attorney General (AAG) in charge of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) National Security Division (NSD). See, White House news office release and release.

The NSD has responsibilities with respect to wiretaps, electronic surveillance, and accessing stored data, under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Monaco is currently Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General at the DOJ. She has worked at the DOJ or the DOJ's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 1998. She was Counsel to former Attorney General Janet Reno. She worked for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. And, she was Chief of Staff to FBI Director Robert Mueller.

If confirmed by the Senate, Monaco would replace David Kris, who announced his departure in January, after serving for two years.

The House will be in recess Monday, March 21 through Friday, March 25. It will next meet on Tuesday, March 29.

The Senate will be in recess Monday, March 21, through Friday, March 25. It will next meet at 2:00 PM on Monday, March 28.

9:30 - 11:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host a discussion of the book [Amazon] titled "The Great Stagnation", by Tyler Cowen (George Mason University). The speakers will be Cowen, Rob Atkinson (ITIF), and Edward Luce (Financial Times). See, notice. Location: ITIF/ITIC, 1101 K St., NW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The New America Foundation (NAF) will host a discussion of the book [PDF] titled "World Wide Mind: The Coming Integration of Humanity, Machines and the Internet", by Michael Chorost. The speakers will be Chorost and Andres Martinez (NAF). See, notice. Location: NAF, 1899 L St., NW.

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC). See, notice in the Federal Register, February 22, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 35, at Pages 9765-9766. Location: American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Ave., NW.

TIME? The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (OUSTR) will hold a hearing regarding preparation of its 2011 Special 301 report, regarding countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on IP protection. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 30, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 250, at Pages 82424-82426. See also, story titled "OUSTR Seeks Input for Special 301 Report" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,191, January 3, 2011. Location: OUSTR, 1724 F St., NW.

TIME? The National Science Foundation (NSF) will host an event titled "Assumption Buster Workshop: Defense-in-Depth Is a Smart Investment for Cyber Security". See, notice in the Federal Register, February 7, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 25, at Pages 6637-6638. Location?

9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. Day two of a two day meeting of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC). See, notice in the Federal Register, February 22, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 35, at Pages 9765-9766. Location: American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Ave., NW.

12:15 - 1:45 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "An End to the Kludge?: Potential Issues in the Transition to IPv6". The speakers will be Robert Cannon (FCC), Bobby Flaim (FBI), Doug Montgomery (NIST Advanced Network Technologies Division), and Bill Woodcock (Packet Clearing House). See, notice. The price to attend ranges from free to $15. For more information, call 202-626-3463. Location: Dow Lohnes, 8th floor, 1225 New Hampshire Ave., NW.

12:15 - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Homeland Security and Emergency Communications Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "Public Safety Interoperability".  The speakers will include Robert Pavlak (Office of the Chief Technology Officer, District of Columbia), Genaro Fullano (FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau), Chris Essid (Director of the DHS's Office of Emergency Communications), and Morgan Wright (Alcatel-Lucent). Location: Mintz Levin, Suite 900, 701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

No events listed.

Supreme Court conference day (discussion of argued cases, and decision on cert petitions). Closed.

8:00 AM - 5:30 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Board's (NSB) Task Force on Data Policies. The agenda for this meeting includes discussion of "Data-Intensive Science" and "High Performance Cyberinfrastructure". See, notice in the Federal Register, March 21, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 54, at Pages 15349-15350. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 1235, Arlington, VA.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) [31 pages in PDF] regarding how dynamic access radios and techniques can provide more intensive and efficient use of spectrum. The FCC adopted and released this NOI on November 30, 2010. It is FCC 10-198 in ET Docket No. 10-237. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 28, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 248, at Pages 81558-81559. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM and NOI on Spectrum Innovation" 2,168, December 4, 2010.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding extending to June 30, 2012, the current freeze of jurisdictional separations category relationships and cost allocation factors. This NPRM is FCC 11-34 in CC Docket No. 80-286. The FCC adopted and released it on March 1, 2011. See, Federal Register, March 14, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 49, at Pages 13576-13579.

3/17. The Senate confirmed Amy Jackson to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court (DC) by a vote of 97-0. See, Roll Call No. 45, and Congressional Record, March 17, 2011, at Page S1878.

3/17. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) approved the nomination of Philip Coyle to be an Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). See, Congressional Record, March 17, 2011, at Page S1826.

3/17. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) approved the nomination of James Cole to be Deputy Attorney General, by a partisan vote of 10-8. See SJC release. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the Chairman of the SJC, praised Cole, and summarized bipartisan support for his nomination. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the SJC, stated that "I have serious concerns with the nomination of James Cole" because of his "views on national security and terrorism". Sen. Grassley discussed a 2002 opinion piece written by Cole about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and concluded that "it appears that if given a choice of prosecuting high ranking terrorists in civilian courts or military commissions, Mr. Cole would likely favor civilian courts".

3/17. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) approved the nomination of Edward Chen to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court (NDCal), by a partisan vote of 10-8. See, statement of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) in support of Chen. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the SJC, predicted that "there will be considerable debate" on the Senate floor.

3/17. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) held an executive business meeting for which numerous judicial nominees were on the agenda. The nomination of Caitlin Halligan (currently General Counsel in the New York County District Attorney's Office) to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) was not on the agenda. However, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the SJC, spoke about her in the context of Democrats' dilatory tactics that prevented two of former President Bush's nominees for the DC Circuit from coming to a vote in the Senate -- Miguel Estrada (now at Gibson Dunn) who was filibustered by Senate Democrats in Bush's first term, and Peter Keisler (now at Sidley Austin), who was effectively blocked by the Democratic controlled SJC in Bush's second term. Sen. Grassley said that "Keisler waited 918 days for some committee action, which never came". See also, story titled "Obama Nominates Caitlin Halligan for DC Circuit" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,138, October 4, 2010.

3/17. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) held an executive business meeting at which it held over consideration of the nominations of Gordon Liu to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (9thCir), Kevin Sharp (USDC/MDTenn), Roy Dalton (USDC/MDFl), and Claire Cecchi (USDC/DNJ).

3/16. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (SHSGAC) approved the nomination of Heather Higginbottom to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by a vote of 6-4. See, SHSGAC release and Congressional Record, March 16, 2011, at Page S1750.

3/16. President Obama nominated Mary Lewis to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. See, White House news office release and release.

3/16. President Obama nominated Jane Margaret Milazzo to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. See, White House news office release and release.

3/14. President Obama reappointed Dan Arvizu (head of the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory) and Alan Leshner (CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) to be members of the National Science Foundation (NSF) National Science Board (NSB), for terms expiring on May 10, 2016. See, White House news office release.

Tech Law Journal publishes a free access web site and a subscription e-mail alert. The basic rate for a subscription to the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert is $250 per year for a single recipient. There are discounts for subscribers with multiple recipients.

Free one month trial subscriptions are available. Also, free subscriptions are available for federal elected officials, and employees of the Congress, courts, and executive branch. The TLJ web site is free access. However, copies of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert are not published in the web site until two months after writing.

For information about subscriptions, see subscription information page.

Tech Law Journal now accepts credit card payments. See, TLJ credit card payments page.

TLJ is published by David Carney
Contact: 202-364-8882.
carney at techlawjournal dot com
P.O. Box 4851, Washington DC, 20008.

Privacy Policy
Notices & Disclaimers
Copyright 1998-2011 David Carney. All rights reserved.