Senate committee calls for new emergency-communication funds 

By: By Donny Jackson

The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee members yesterday approved a bill that would provide $400 million in state grants during fiscal year 2006 to improve the resilience and compatibility of first-responder communications systems...

Senate panel focuses on power-grid impact on communications 

By: By Donny Jackson

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, members of the Senate Commerce Committee expressed concern about power, security, spectrum availability and network reliability during a hearing today on “Communications in a Disaster"...

FCC’s Martin calls for new public-safety bureau 

By: By Donny Jackson

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin yesterday proposed establishing a new bureau within the FCC focused on public safety and homeland security after commissioners listened to three hours of testimony about communications struggles related to Hurricane Katrina....

House committee unveils Telecom Act rewrite draft 

Staff members for the House Energy and Commerce Committee today released draft legislation to revamp the 1996 Telecommunications Act that includes language that effectively would require voice-over-IP service providers to contribute to 911 and E911 funding....

FCC moves Katrina-focused meeting to Atlanta 

The FCC today announced that it will conduct its scheduled meeting tomorrow at BellSouth’s offices in Atlanta instead of Washington....

Iridium usage skyrockets in Katrina-affected region 

By: By Donny Jackson

Satellite phones from Iridium Satellite have been increasingly popular tools for first responders working in the Gulf Coast areas where the effects of Hurricane Katrina have rendered other communications systems useless, an Iridium official said today....

Copps says FCC needs to help public safety more 

By: By Donny Jackson

DENVER--Federal regulators should do more to aid public-safety communications, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said last night in a keynote speech during the gala event that closed this year’s Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) annual conference...

M/A-COM receives federal homeland security designation 

M/A-COM announced that its NetworkFirst land mobile radio interoperability solution has qualified as an anti-terrorist technology under the 2002 SAFETY (Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies) Act...

FCC paves road for June 2006 auction 

The Federal Communications Commission last week announced its intention to auction 90 MHz of advanced wireless spectrum in the 1.7 GHz and 2.1 GHz bands as early as June 2006...

Key VoIP providers subject to CALEA 

Interconnected voice-over-IP (VoIP) providers will be required to adhere to legacy telephone wiretap rules designed to help law-enforcement officials conduct surveillance activities, the Federal Communications Commission ruled last week...

Sprint, Nextel secure FCC merger approval 

FCC commissioners yesterday granted regulatory approval to the merger of Sprint and Nextel Communications to form the third-largest nationwide wireless carrier...

FCC postpones meeting 

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday changed its scheduled meeting for today to Friday...

GOP nominations to FCC coming soon? 

President George W. Bush is expected to name a current aide for at least one of the one of two Republican nominations for the Federal Communications Commission, according to numerous media and analysts reports...

Telecom bill could undermine government networks 

By: By Donny Jackson

A telecom deregulation bill introduced this week by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) would prohibit local John Ensign from unilaterally trying to offset costs associated with wireless broadband networks by selling excess capacity to consumers...

APCO executive director resigns 

John Newman, international executive director of APCO for the past year, is resigning due to personal health issues. His resignation will be effective mid-August...