Telecoms Tech

Three of the largest Belgian internet service providers (ISPs) have not been paying “copyright levies” according to authors’ association Sabam, whilst still offering access to protected materials.

Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator of the United Kingdom, has called for a pilot of an innovative new batch of “white space” devices utilising gaps in the radio spectrum.

Last month, Neelie Kroes used her MWC 2013 speech to call for a single Telecoms market, which as Vice President of the European Commission for the Digital Agenda holds some amount of weight, so how has the industry reacted?

We have previously reported on the FCC’s campaign to stamp out cell phone jamming devices. It turns out that the Commission has apparently found some guerilla allies in that campaign. In two recent Notices of Apparent Liability, two companies have been whacked with six-digit fines – $126,000 in one case, $144,000 in the other – for operating jammers. Both times the Feds were called in by anonymous tipsters.

Back in 2011 the FCC began collecting real-world user broadband data from customised routers, then issuing reports on which ISPs were failing to deliver advertised speeds. It's one of the few FCC policies in recent years that has truly paid dividends for consumers.

Infonetics Research released excerpts of the findings that resulted from its latest global market study, which analyzed wireless communications radio frequency spectrum allocation and needs in the world’s top economies.

ARCEP, the French communications regulator, has announced that from October 1, 2013 Bouygues Telecom will be permitted to refarm its spectrum in the 1800MHz band in order to provide 4G services. The regulator has decided to lift the GSM restrictions from Bouygues’ 1800MHz license, provided that it relinquishes a certain amount of its holding beforehand.

The majority of US citizens aren’t using mobile banking services because they simply don’t need it, and their banking needs were being adequately met without the use of mobile banking. That’s the big takeaway from the Federal Reserve (FRB), who has brought out a mammoth 79-page document on how consumers interact with mobile financial services.