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<br />8A <br />Page 18 <br /> <br />TELECOM IN THE NEWS <br /> <br />Verizon Letter-Writing Campaign Raises <br />Suspicions <br /> <br />The mayor of Red Bank, N.J., Edward J. <br />McKenna, thought it was odd that he received <br />about 100 unsigned letters from Verizon last fall, <br />all supporting more competition in cable televi- <br />sion. His suspicions proved correct. Letters <br />were found sent in peoples' names without per- <br />mission and some without names at all. <br /> <br />Apparently Verizon isn't sure how so many <br />letters could have been sent, and has started an <br />internal investigation to uncover what happened in <br />regard to its grassroots campaign for cable <br />franchise reform. <br /> <br />For the complete story, visit www.berQen.com <br />and search for the article titled "Verizon Cam- <br />paign Raises Questions." <br /> <br />Telecom Advances Impacting Cities <br /> <br />As Internet technology advances, combining <br />phone and video services, local governments are <br />concerned about the potential for regulatory <br />changes that will restrict their ability to protect the <br />"time, manner and place" of the use of public <br />rights-of-way, as well as their ability to charge <br />fees and taxes to pay for related local services. <br /> <br />For the complete story, visit <br />www.pasadenastarnews.com and search for the <br />article titled "Telecom Upgrades Test Cities' <br />Laws: <br /> <br />Lawmaker Urges Due Telecom Diligence By <br />Cities <br /> <br />At a winter meeting of the U.S. Congress of <br />Mayors, John Dingell, the top Democrat on the <br />House Energy and Commerce Committee, <br />cautioned that rewriting the Telecom Act would <br />have an adverse effect on municipal interests. <br /> <br />Mayors commenting on the topic included <br />John Hickenlooper from Denver, who stated that a <br /> <br />loss of franchising authority would impact local <br />govemments' ability to address the "digital divide" <br />between low-income and wealthy neighborhoods. <br /> <br />For the complete story, visit <br />www.nitelecomuDdate.com and search for the <br />article titled "Dingell Warns Telecom Rewrite <br />Could Hurt Municipal Interests." <br /> <br />DirectTV and EchoStar Team Up for Nation- <br />wide Wireless Broadband Service <br /> <br />Looking to mimic its peers in the cable TV <br />and telecommunications industries, DirectTV has <br />plans to partner with EchoStar to provide a <br />nationwide wireless broadband service using <br />WiMax. <br /> <br />To read two articles on the issue, visit <br />www.thestreetcom and search for the artile titled <br />"DirecTV, EchoStar Bundle Up," and visit <br />www.techdirt.com and search for the article titled <br />"As If Throwing Up A WiMax Network Were <br />That Easy." <br /> <br />Assault on Local Cable Franchises Heats Up <br /> <br />AT&T (formerly SBC) and Verizon Corp. have <br />begun their push to eliminate local franchise <br />agreements in the United States. Bills have been <br />introduced in New York, New Jersey, Indiana, <br />North Carolina, Virginia, and Missouri over the <br />past few weeks, advocating for replacing local <br />franchise agreements with statewide franchise <br />agreements that many cities fear would signifi- <br />cantly reduce their ability to manage local rights <br />of way and ensure that build-out of services <br />occurs without discriminating among neighbor- <br />hoods. <br /> <br />For the complete story, visit www.mml.ora <br />and search for the article titled "League Legisla- <br />tive Link." <br /> <br />Visit the League's Official Website--www.cacities.org <br /> <br />PRIORITY FOCUS - PAGE 3 <br />February 3,2006 -Issue IS <br /> <br />. '.. ._,... <br /> <br />---"-'-"'--'-----" ,--,--,------,-_........ <br />