**As published in RCR Wireless News**

LOS ANGELES – Kicking off the final day of the cable industry’s big soiree, Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski tried to dampen obvious concerns in the room over his latest regulatory plans. After duly applauding the cable industry for the massive investment it put into building broadband infrastructure, even going so far as to call it a “great American success story,” he pointed out how badly the country is lagging on rate of innovative change.

Whether or not those in the audience shared his sentiment, Genachowski said his core goal is to drive faster connections and reap the rewards that will flow from greater broadband deployments and innovation. He believes broadband capacity, penetration and the nation’s access to the Internet as a whole will be one of, if not the, largest driving factor in job growth and social change for the country at large. Read the full story

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

LOS ANGELES – Media moguls from cable operators, networks and studios met on stage Wednesday morning with a former Federal Communications Commission chairman and a venture capitalist to hold court on the rapidly changing business models facing the industry and how alternative screens are playing a role in that.

“Every single piece of technology that’s come into being has been a friend to content,” said Les Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corp. It’s hard to imagine him saying that even just a few short years ago, but he shows every indication of being on board now. Read the full story

**As published in RCR Wireless News**

Depending on your locale, they may be more hidden or disguised, but make no mistake – cellular towers continue to multiple at a heavy rate. Providing the equivalent of a lifeline by which the entire wireless industry flows to and from, cell towers remain as controversial as ever.

Whether it’s a perceived blight, unmitigated environmental impacts, radiation concerns or a general opposition from local zoning boards, cell tower developers often face a tall order before they can even dream of breaking ground.

It’s not the only bottleneck in the tower development cycle, but many delays can occur at the ground level, where approval is required from local zoning authorities. In rare and the most ridiculous cases, developers and carriers have been tangled up in bureaucratic red tape for five years or even longer. Read the full story

While Verizon Wireless may have been the first carrier out of the gates with a major announcement leading up to CTIA in San Diego, AT&T Mobility didn’t wait long to throw its hat into the ring.

Just hours after Verizon Wireless announced some bold plans for a new partnership with Google — one directly aimed at Apple and AT&T nonetheless, AT&T said that it will no longer prevent VoIP apps from running on its network, the The Wall Street Journal reports.

Apps that were previously stripped-down to appease AT&T’s wishes can now be made to actually do what they were first intended to: make voice calls over the Internet. AT&T’s about-face on the issue will surely leave many iPhone users hoping for better apps from VoIP providers like Skype, however AT&T’s decision alone doesn’t not guarantee that Google Voice will ever have its day as an app on the iPhone. Apple has already admitted that it chose not to approve the Google Voice application on its App Store for its own reasons. Read the full story

**As published by RCR Wireless News**

On the surface, there isn’t much to suggest that this newly Democratic-led FCC will make any radical regulatory changes in the wireless industry. There is a loud camp cheering for new FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to take a more heavy-handed approach in wireless affairs, but popular opinion inside the Beltway paints a different picture.

While the President Obama appointee is digging into wireless matters such as competition, innovation and third-party application control perhaps more swiftly (and publicly) than his predecessor, the Federal Communications Commission is only asking questions at this point. Questions are cheap. Policymaking is an entirely different matter that must measure political fallout against results. And more important: the nation is still digging out of the greatest economic challenge since the Great Depression. Read the full story