WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. regulators are looking for ways to accelerate the use of drones and other aerial technologies to restore communications after disasters like 2005′s Hurricane Katrina, which knocked out phone service for more than 3 million people.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said this technology would have been remarkably useful after Hurricane Katrina, which also crippled 38 emergency call centers in the New Orleans area.

The FCC on Thursday voted 5-0 to explore how airborne technologies, already used by the U.S. military, could bring temporary communications systems to disaster-struck areas.

“If you imagine a cell tower that’s floating or flying in the sky, that’s what this technology is…,” Genachowski told the agency’s monthly open meeting.

Restoring communications in the first 72 hours after a disaster can save lives, protect property and expedite the recovery process, the FCC said.

The agency is seeking comment on what technologies are already in use and what is being developed, and on whether the technologies can work across a common network accessible by all agencies, first responders and the public.

The agency is also concerned about the ability to prioritize service on and access to these temporary networks if there are limits on the amount of traffic the systems can handle.

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, hoping to spur U.S. innovation in the explosive field of mobile communications, on Wednesday ordered all major federal agencies to make many more of their services available on mobile phones within the next year.

“Americans deserve a government that works for them anytime, anywhere, and on any device,” Obama said in a statement.

His administration is eager to hasten government adoption of new technology since showing itself to be highly tech-savvy after running a 2008 election campaign that was widely praised for the innovative way it used the Internet and social media.

Analysts welcomed the move, but voiced scepticism it could be effective unless Obama also freed up more government broadband spectrum to the private sector.

“American citizens won’t be better served by government technology and digital services unless more government spectrum is made available to enable these technologies and services,” said Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter.

His coalition includes AT&T Inc, Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile, Cisco Systems Inc and Qualcomm Inc .

The presidential order tells each agency to make at least two services relied upon by the public available on mobile phones within 12 months.

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) – The National Association of Broadcasters has asked a federal appeals court to block new rules that would force broadcasters to reveal online who is paying for political campaign ads and just how much they are shelling out.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted the rules last month in an effort to provide insight on campaign spending ahead of November’s congressional and presidential elections.

NAB filed a petition for review on Monday with the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, charging that the rules are arbitrary, capricious, violate free speech protections in the U.S. Constitution and go beyond the FCC’s statutory authority.

The trade group said the requirement to publish political advertising contracts and the rates stations charge online would “directly and adversely impact NAB and the broadcasters whose interests it represents.”

During the FCC’s rulemaking process, NAB had cited the “fundamental unfairness” of leaving their cable and Internet competitors unaffected by the new rules.

Broadcasters unsuccessfully tried to get the then three-member FCC to support a compromise proposal that would have allowed them to leave out specific ad rate data but disclose the aggregate amount of political spending by buyers.

Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell sympathized with the broadcasters’ arguments that the FCC order would unfairly expose their advertising rates to rivals, but his dissent to portions of the order was not enough to keep the rules at bay.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Dish Network Corp (DISH.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) told U.S. communications regulators on Thursday that their proposed timetable for Dish’s planned wireless network was unrealistic and carried too harsh a penalty for failing to meet requirements.

The second-largest satellite TV provider in the United States proposed that it have four years to reach an initial milestone, instead of the three years proposed by the Federal Communications Commission.

That initial phase would reach 60 million people under the Dish proposal, rather than the 30 percent of the U.S. population that the FCC proposed, roughly 90 million people.

Dish also urged the FCC to adopt more flexible sanctions for failing to meet buildout milestones, “rather than requiring a draconian outcome such as automatic license termination,” the company said in a filing with the regulator.

Dish is seeking to diversify its business beyond pay TV. The company spent more than $3 billion last year to buy spectrum from DBSD and TerreStar.

The FCC in March approved Dish’s license to acquire the spectrum, but denied the company’s request for a waiver to allow it to build a terrestrial wireless network.

Instead the agency opted to initiate a rule-making process, proposing a path for making the satellite airwaves that Dish acquired available for mobile broadband use.

NEW ORLEANS/WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) – The top U.S. communications regulator on Tuesday defended his opposition to AT&T Inc’s failed bid for T-Mobile USA last year and fired back at claims that the decision caused price increases for the wireless carrier’s customers and more inefficient use of wireless spectrum.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski blasted AT&T for suggesting that U.S. regulators worsened the spectrum crunch or prompted higher prices, during a keynote speech at the CTIA annual wireless industry conference in New Orleans.

The U.S. Justice Department and FCC both challenged late last year AT&T’s attempt to add capacity to its network through a $39 billion plan to buy smaller rival T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom.

The government said the deal would reduce competition and lead to higher wireless prices for consumers and businesses.

AT&T gave up its bid in December, but its chief executive, Randall Stephenson, has repeatedly sharply criticized the FCC after the decision.

“Some have recently argued that the government’s review of transactions in the wireless space – or, let’s be frank, review of one specific transaction – is somehow causing a shortage of spectrum and leading that company to raise prices for consumers,” Genachowski said. “The overall amount of spectrum has not changed.”

He also lashed out at the notion that the country’s spectrum could be used more efficiently if the market had fewer bigger competitors who could invest more in their networks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Myspace social network has settled charges that it misled millions of users about sharing personal information with advertisers, part of a larger U.S. government effort to crack down on companies that cash in on consumers’ data without their consent.

The settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced on Tuesday will require the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based company to create a comprehensive program that protects consumers’ information and bars Myspace from misrepresenting how it protects its users’ privacy.

Myspace will be subject to independent reviews of its privacy program for the next 20 years.

The FTC in 2010 settled with Twitter over failures to safeguard users’ personal information. Last year it also found that Facebook and Google Inc engaged in deceptive privacy practices. Facebook and Google’s settlements stipulate 20 years of audits to ensure consumers’ privacy is protected, while Twitter is subject to 10 years of audits.

There is growing consumer concern about how Internet giants collect and trade in vast amounts of detailed information about their users’ online activities and real-life identities.

The White House and FTC have unveiled privacy guidelines to address privacy violations, but they rely heavily on voluntary commitments by Internet companies and advertisers.

Lawmakers have used the specter of legislation largely to encourage self-policing, as a significant crackdown would face a difficult path through the divided U.S. Congress.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) – Allowing proposed multibillion-dollar airwave deals between Verizon Wireless and several cable operators could mean the end of a competitive telecommunications landscape, saddling consumers with higher prices and diminished choice, the largest union for telecoms workers told U.S. regulators.

Communications Workers of America has been a vociferous opponent of Verizon Wireless’s plan to buy about $3.9 billion worth of wireless airwaves from cable companies including Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc.

The union met with Federal Communications Commission staff last Thursday and sent a 16-page filing to the agency late Monday detailing its worries over the deals that it has argued would create allies out of former rivals, to the detriment of consumers.

Debbie Goldman, CWA’s telecommunications policy director, told Reuters that the alliance between the nation’s largest wireless carrier and the top cable companies would essentially end competition in the telecommunications arena.

“The detail of how it will do that is in these commercial agreements that are behind a firewall that the public cannot see,” Goldman said of the largely redacted documents submitted to the FCC for review by Verizon Wireless and the cable operators.

Marketing agreements accompanying the spectrum sale would create a joint entity and allow the cable operators to resell Verizon’s mobile service as part of the deals.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc.

By Jasmin Melvin and Yinka Adegoke

(Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch faces limited risk of losing News Corp’s broadcast permits in America, even amid screaming headlines in Britain that the media mogul is unfit to run a major company.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has the power to deny a license renewal if it finds the license is not being used by people of good “character” who will serve “the public interest.”

But former FCC officials and other experts say the agency has been loath to use that power in the past, and is highly unlikely to challenge News Corp’s 27 Fox U.S. television licenses despite calls from a Washington-based ethics watchdog to do so.

“As a result of Reagan-era deregulation and broadcaster-friendly legislation in 1996, it is very, very hard for the FCC to take away a license,” said communications lawyer Andrew Schwartzman.

Last week, a British parliamentary report scolded News Corp’s British newspaper arm for misleading a five-year investigation into the hacking of the phones of politicians, murder victims, soldiers and celebrities, and said Murdoch was “not a fit person” to oversee a major international company.

The report dropped a heavy hint to British communications regulator Ofcom, which is investigating whether satellite TV provider BSkyB is a “fit and proper” broadcaster. News Corp has a 39 percent ownership stake in BSkyB.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate confirmed President Barack Obama’s picks to fill vacant seats at the Federal Communications Commission, ending a months-long wait for the nominees, who found themselves tangled in wireless startup LightSquared’s fight for survival.

The Senate on Monday unanimously approved Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, and Ajit Pai, a Republican, to serve as commissioners and return the panel to its full five-member strength.

Nominated in November and despite cruising through a Senate Commerce Committee hearing with little criticism, their confirmation was stalled by a hold placed by Senator Charles Grassley.

Grassley blocked the nominees after the FCC refused to hand over a copy of all communications between the agency and stakeholders in hedge fund manager Philip Falcone’s LightSquared [MOSAV.UL.

The agency has since proposed stripping LightSquared of authority to use its satellite spectrum for a ground-based wireless network due to interference with the Global Positioning System used by airlines, the military and others. Certain documents have also been made available, prompting Grassley to lift his hold last week.

Rosenworcel, former senior communications counsel for the Senate Commerce Committee, will fill the seat left vacant when former FCC commissioner Michael Copps retired.

Pai will take the place of Meredith Attwell Baker, who left the agency to join Comcast Corp as senior vice president of government affairs for NBC Universal, only months after the FCC and Justice Department approved Comcast’s purchase of a majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co .

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The National Association of Broadcasters said on Thursday it was dropping its court challenge of rules that allow the unlicensed use of empty airwaves between existing broadcast channels.

These airwaves, called “white spaces,” allow signals to travel faster, penetrate walls more easily and cover larger geographical areas than the current spectrum used for WiFi.

Tech companies have lobbied to deploy a new, super WiFi system using these airwaves, saying it would boost Internet speeds in homes, businesses, schools and municipalities, help bring broadband to rural areas and improve connectivity for mobile devices.

Device makers such as Dell Inc and Nokia also stand to profit from the Federal Communications Commission’s 2008 decision to approve the use of unlicensed wireless devices in the idle white spaces.

Broadcasters feared using the spaces could interfere with their channels and filed suit in 2009 with the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit.

The court held that challenge in abeyance to give the agency time to review petitions for reconsideration. The FCC completed the process last month, adopting modified rules that addressed concerns filed by wireless providers and other critics.

“NAB still has concerns related to possible interference to broadcasting from unlicensed devices, but we felt this petition was no longer necessary,” said Dennis Wharton, NAB’s executive vice president of communications.