US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE LETTER TO FCC WRONG ON FACTS OF AT&T/T-MOBILE MERGER

According to press reports, more than 70 Democrats have signed a letter to the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department touting the alleged benefits of AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile.

While it does not endorse the merger, the letter claims the deal would bring the benefits of broadband to rural communities that would otherwise not have access. This is untrue: On June 10, AT&T reported to the FCC that, even without the merger, it plans to deploy next generation "4G service to 97 percent of the population by the end of 2012."

The letter also suggests AT&T's takeover will result in billions of dollars in additional investment and the creation of thousands of jobs. But AT&T has told Wall Street the merger will result in less investment and more layoffs.

Free Press Action Fund Research Director S. Derek Turner made the following statement:

“Members of Congress should be more careful about signing any letter that AT&T puts in front of them. This letter is riddled with misleading and factually inaccurate statements that contradict what the company is telling investors and regulators. It is simply wrong on the facts.

“This letter cites promises from AT&T to bring wireless broadband to 97 percent of the country, including areas where it claims Americans may not otherwise see the benefits of broadband. But the truth is that it won’t take a merger to get next-generation mobile broadband to rural and underserved communities. AT&T has already publicly committed to expanding its 4G coverage to the same 97 percent by 2012 without the merger, and Verizon has done the same.

“The letter is also dead wrong when it suggests that AT&T's takeover will result in billions of dollars in additional investment and the creation of thousands of jobs. AT&T has already told Wall Street that it expects to spend at least $10 billion less in capital investment over the coming years. This drop in investment will unquestionably lead to fewer jobs. And the only benefits tens of thousands of T-Mobile workers will see from this deal are unemployment benefits.

“If the members of Congress who signed this letter had taken the time to examine the public record, they would have seen right through AT&T's phony promises. We expect the Justice Department and FCC will be much more skeptical of AT&T's claims and conclude based on the evidence that this merger's only 'benefit' will be fattening AT&T’s bottom line at the expense of American workers and consumers.”

VERIZON ADDING LOCATION TRACKING WARNING STICKERS TO PHONES

In an effort to be “clear and transparent” with its customers and the government, Verizon Wireless has sent a letter to Congress detailing plans on how it will better inform consumers about location data collection on their smartphones. The wireless carrier will soon apply a removable stickers to its devices with the following warning:

“This device is capable of determining its (and your) physical, geographical, location adn can associate location data with other customer information. To limit access to location information by others, refer to the User Guide for Location settings and be cautious when downloading, accessing, or using applications and services.”

Verizon Wireless will also issue alerts more clearly in its V CAST applications, some of which can be used to track family members or friends voluntarily. It confirmed that it does not sell or rent out personal user information, and that user habits are only used for internal marketing purposes. Verizon says it only collects location data for “various service and operational purposes,” and that it uses the data to ensure customers have solid call and data quality.

XPERIA PLAY COMING TO VERIZON

According to Wirefly Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play, aka Playstation Phone, is coming to Verizon exclusively. On a page comparing the iPhone 4 to the Play, it states Verizon will be the carrier for the Play.

We expect to get the official lowdown on Sunday February 13th when Sony Ericsson has a press event at Mobile World Congress.

FCC TO DISCUSS NET NEUTRALITY ON DECEMBER 21ST

According to the tentative agenda of the FCC's December 21st meeting, net neutrality will be one of the topics.  From the agenda description:

Open Internet Order: An Order adopting basic rules of the road to preserve the open Internet as a platform for innovation, investment, competition, and free expression. These rules would protect consumers' and innovators' right to know basic information about broadband service, right to send and receive lawful Internet traffic, and right to a level playing field, while providing broadband Internet access providers with the flexibility to reasonably manage their networks.

According to the AP, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will outline his net neutrality proposal in a speech on Wednesday, with plans to bring the new rules to a full vote before the end of the year and ahead of the newly elected Republicans taking their seats in the House.

The AP has also recieved an advance copy of Genachowski's speech showing some highlights.

• Wired broadband providers will be required to let subscribers access all legal content, applications, and services with the flexibility to manage network congestion and spam as long as they publicly disclose their network management approach. Broadband providers would also be allowed to experiment with dedicated networks to route traffic from specialized services like smart grids and home security systems as long as they "don't hurt the public internet."

• Wireless providers would also be required to disclose network management practices and be prohibited from blocking access to web sites or competing applications like cellphone VoIP services. However, they'd be given more flexibility to manage traffic due to relative bandwidth constraints. In other words, wireless networks will still be special under the FCC proposal, just not as special as the plan pitched by Google / Verizon (which only required transparency) over the summer.

• The proposal would leave the FCC's regulatory framework for broadband unchanged as a lightly regulated "information service," not as a "common carrier" as Genachowski had wanted. 

We should stress that the agenda is tentative and subject to change and we are sure the lobbyists will be out in Congress and at the FCC in full force. [Engadget]