Federal Communications Commission

Hurricane Sandy Takes Out 25 Percent Of Cell Towers

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Federal regulators say Hurricane Sandy knocked out a quarter of the cell towers in an area spreading across ten states, stretching from Virginia to Massachusetts. And the situation could get worse before it gets better, according to an Associated Press report.

Many cell towers that are still working are doing so with the help of generators and could run out of fuel before commercial power is restored, the Federal Communications Commission says.

Just how widely residents of the East Coast dependency on high speed mobile communications is illustrated in a map, developed as part of the FCC’s Eight Broadband Progress Report, released in June 2011. The map shows census block areas of the U.S. with access to mobile services of at least 3 Mbps download and 768 kbps upload (in dark green) and areas with or without services of at least 768 kbps download and 200 kbps upload (in orange.)

View the full map

The landline phone network has held up better in the affected area, the FCC says, but about a quarter of cable customers are also without service

 /  Published October 31, 2012 at 10:00 AM

Tripling Of Mobile Attacks Prompts GAO Call For Stronger Safeguards

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Citing a near tripling in the number of malicious software programs aimed at mobile devices in less than a year, a Congressional report is recommending the FCC and other federal agencies take a greater role urging private industry to develop stronger mobile security safeguards.

Cyber criminals are taking increasing advantage of inherent weaknesses in mobile devices and the applications that run on them, said Gregory Wilshusen, director of information security issues for the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress.

Wilshusen, who oversaw the just-released report, said that in less than a year, the number of variants of malware programs has risen from about 14,000 to 40,000, or about 185%, according to figures supplied by Juniper Networks. These threats and attacks exploit vulnerabilities in the design and configuration of mobile devices, as well as the ways consumers use them.

Attacks against mobile devices generally occur through four different channels of activities, the report found: Keep reading →

 /  Published September 25, 2012 at 12:45 PM

First Public Safety Broadband Demo Shows LTE Potential

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Police and other emergency management officials in four cities around the country got a glimpse of what the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN) might look like once the infrastructure begins to take root.

Five months after Congress passed a law that granted public safety organizations the much-needed mobile broadband spectrum (the so-called D Block in the 700 MHz band), Melbourne, Fla.-based Harris Corp. conducted the first live test of a real-time first responder network. The test, conducted July 12, spanned four states and leveraged 700MHz band LTE (Long Term Evolution) technologies. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 20, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Verizon Chief Calls On DoD To Explore Sharing Wireless Spectrum

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Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam urged the federal government and the Defense Department to explore options for the sharing of wireless spectrum by the public and private sectors to meet the needs of mobile consumers.

“Government and industry must work together to find ways to use spectrum more efficiently so that we are all truly connected, especially in times of need,” McAdam stated, speaking at the Defense Information Systems Agency’s annual Mission Partner Conference, held in Tampa last week. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 14, 2012 at 2:49 PM

National Public Alert System For Mobile Phones Goes Live

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A new, first-of-its-kind, national alert system in the U.S. that allows the public to receive major emergency alert notifications on their mobile phones without having to sign up or pay for them went live this past weekend, according to a report from Government Technology.

The new Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) was developed through a partnership between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Federal Communications Commission and wireless phone carriers in what is seen as an important step forward to increase public safety nationwide, according to FEMA officials. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 11, 2012 at 11:36 AM

FCC Chairman Warns Hackers Gaining Means To Shut Down The Internet

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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski today called upon the nation’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to “take concrete steps” to improve Internet security for consumers and critical infrastructure, warning that a failure to do so could slow broadband adoption and threaten the nation’s economy.

With more than $8 trillion exchanged electronically every year, Genachowski warned that sophisticated hackers are gaining the expertise to “shut down the Internet…shut down our economy [and] compromise our growth engine.” Keep reading →

 /  Published February 22, 2012 at 4:42 PM

FCC Mobile App Allows Broadband Testing

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The Federal Communications Commission has released the FCC Mobile Broadband Test App, which measures mobile data connection quality and speed.

According to USA.gov, the Federal Communications Commission mobile application allows consumers to test the upload speed, download speed, and latency of a mobile broadband connection and share results via email export. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 27, 2011 at 10:00 AM

FCC Names SBA Administrator Robbins As Managing Director

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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski (pictured) has appointed David B. Robbins to be the FCC’s new managing director, effective September 12, 2011. He will succeed Steve VanRoekel, who left the agency earlier this year for a post at USAID before being named U.S. chief information officer earlier last month.

Robbins joins the FCC from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), where he served as associate administrator for the Office of Management & Administration, leading a number of the SBA’s core functions, including human capital management, facilities management, security, records management, executive secretariat, administrative services, and grants management, according to an FCC statement. He also served as director of the Loan Management and Accounting Systems Modernization Program. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 6, 2011 at 11:56 AM

The Next Chapter: Considerations For The New Federal CIO

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COMMENTARY:
With the announcement of Steven VanRoekel as the new Federal Chief Information Officer, many are wondering how the 25-point plan will continue, and what new initiatives will be evaluated as we embark on a new era of IT within the federal government.

Rather than to launch major new initiatives, Steven VanRoekel has already made it known that his main goal during his tenure as Federal CIO is to continue momentum surrounding the programs already in development by his predecessor, Vivek Kundra. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 12, 2011 at 4:01 PM