WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) – The United States continues to lag behind other countries in broadband adoption and download speeds, according to a report released by the Federal Communications Commission on Friday.

Based on broadband data from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries, the United States ranked ninth out of 29 countries for mobile broadband adoption on a per capita basis, and 12th out of 33 countries for percentage of households with fixed broadband, the FCC said.

The United Kingdom, South Korea and Iceland were among countries to top the United States’ 63 percent broadband adoption rate.

Extending affordable Internet access to all Americans is a priority of the FCC. The agency released its National Broadband Plan last year, a blueprint for expanding coverage, making more airwaves available for mobile services and upgrading Internet speeds up to 25 times the current average.

Consumers in some large European and Asian cities reported faster download speeds than consumers in comparable U.S. cities, the report released Friday said.

For instance, average download speed was found to be 11.7 Mbps in New York with a population of nearly 8.4 million people compared with 35.8 Mbps for the 10 million residents of Seoul, South Korea, the report said.

But the agency acknowledged that gaps and variations in data collection methodologies across countries prevent any definitive conclusions from being made.

WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) – Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker will leave the agency for a new post at Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Comcast said on Wednesday that Baker will join the company as senior vice president of government affairs for NBC Universal.

The Republican commissioner will be lobbying for a unit that she, along with three of the four other FCC members, voted to allow Comcast to acquire four months ago.

The FCC and the Justice Department approved Comcast’s $13.75 billion purchase of a majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in January.

The announcement marks the second high-profile hire for Comcast; it snagged Kyle McSlarrow, former head of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, as president of Comcast/NBCUniversal for Washington, D.C.

Baker, who will leave the FCC on June 3, also will be the second former communications regulator to shift to lobbying for the industry they once regulated. Former FCC Chairman Michael Powell joined cable TV’s lobbying arm in March as president and chief executive of NCTA, replacing McSlarrow.

Public interest group Free Press blasted Baker’s move to Comcast as the latest and possibly most blatant “example of a so-called public servant cashing in at a company she is supposed to be regulating.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The impact of AT&T Inc’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile on competition, pricing and consumer choice will be examined at a congressional hearing on Wednesday where top executives are due to appear.

AT&T has touted fewer dropped calls and faster data speeds to entice consumer and policymaker support for its $39-billion bid to take over Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA.

AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson and T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm are scheduled to appear before the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee to defend the deal that would concentrate 80 percent of U.S. wireless contract customers in just two companies — AT&T/T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.

Congress has no direct role in reviewing the merger, but has oversight of the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department. Those two agencies are expected to take a year to complete their reviews.

A congressional staffer said lawmakers were looking for AT&T to address concerns about potential harms to competition and the threat of job losses brought on by the merger.

The deal’s potential to expand faster 4G wireless services to more parts of the country, and to provide a short-term solution to the spectrum crunch threatening voice and data services in high-density areas, were appealing considerations that the subcommittee would also address, the staffer said.

AT&T’s Stephenson said in prepared testimony that the merger will allow AT&T to improve its services, handle more data traffic and bring mobile Internet to 55 million more Americans than it could have done on its own.

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) – A senator is asking AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and T-Mobile about their commitment to lower-priced plans and to maintaining current employment levels ahead of a congressional hearing on their proposed merger.

Senator Amy Klobuchar sent a letter to the companies raising a series of concerns about the deal prior to the May 11 hearing by the Senate Judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee.

“AT&T and T-Mobile ought to be forthright and transparent with their customers about the potential effects the merger might have on prices and the quality of service,” Klobuchar said in a separate statement.

AT&T announced plans in March to acquire Deutsche Telekom AG’s (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) T-Mobile USA in a $39-billion bid.

The deal would concentrate 80 percent of U.S. wireless contract customers in just two companies — AT&T/T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile carrier, has argued the merger would spur innovation, improve the quality of its services and expand wireless service to 97.3 percent of Americans. The combined companies would overtake current industry leader Verizon.

Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat and member of the antitrust panel, sent her letter to AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson and T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Antitrust law was inadequate to preserve the openness of the Internet and to allow innovation to flourish, the top U.S. communications regulator said on Thursday, defending Internet road rules adopted last year.

“Antitrust enforcement is expensive to pursue, takes a long time and kicks in only after damage is done,” Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski told a congressional hearing.

The FCC adopted the contentious Internet order in December, banning service providers like Comcast Corp, AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc from blocking traffic on their networks. The so-called net neutrality rules, that have not yet gone into effect, would still allow companies to “reasonably” manage their networks.

Republican legislators have challenged the agency’s authority in regulating Internet traffic, and pushed a measure through the House last month that would overturn the order and prevent the FCC from adopting any rules related to it.

But the chances of successful congressional action against the Internet order look slim with no similar measure pending in the Senate. President Barack Obama’s advisers have also recommended he veto any such resolution.

Members of the House Judiciary subcommittee that oversees competition and the Internet asserted at the hearing on Thursday that federal antitrust laws could handle net neutrality issues, without what they view as the heavy-handed regulatory approach of the FCC.

“Antitrust law provides a time-tested and predictable system for preventing providers from engaging in anticompetitive blocking or discrimination,” subcommittee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said.

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) – Mobile privacy safeguards should also extend to third-party application developers, two lawmakers said after reviewing the practices of four major U.S. wireless carriers.

Representatives Edward Markey and Joe Barton, co-chairs of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, released on Thursday letters they received from Verizon Wireless (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and T-Mobile in response to their inquiries last month about the collection, use and storage of location data.

The letters showed the wireless carriers generally asked customers before accessing their location data.

But developers of popular mobile phone applications were less than forthcoming about their tracking.

“Third-party developers can access the location of customers any time they want,” Barton said. “They shouldn’t have free reign over your location data and personally identifiable information.”

Markey echoed this sentiment, saying consumer privacy protections must apply “across the entire wireless ecosystem – from wireless carriers, to mobile handset makers, to application developers.”

Markey and Barton grew concerned about location tracking after media reports found that Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) tracked the exact coordinates of a German politician using its service over a six-month period.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Mobile privacy safeguards should also extend to third party application developers, two lawmakers said after reviewing the practices of four major U.S. wireless carriers.

Representatives Edward Markey and Joe Barton, co-chairs of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, on Thursday released letters they received from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile in response to their inquiries last month about the collection, use and storage of location data.

“After thoroughly reviewing the responses from the wireless carriers, I am left with a feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty,” Barton said in a statement.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, while AT&T has bid $39 billion to buy T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom AG.

While receiving customer consent before accessing location data was common practice among the wireless carriers, Barton said there was a disconnect for third-party applications.

“Third-party developers can access the location of customers any time they want,” Barton said. “They shouldn’t have free reign over your location data and personally identifiable information.”

Markey echoed this sentiment, saying consumer privacy protections must apply “across the entire wireless ecosystem – from wireless carriers, to mobile handset makers, to application developers.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers extended their probe into location tracking on mobile devices this week, asking Apple Inc and other developers to divulge how they use location data and scheduling a separate hearing on mobile privacy.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to top mobile device operating system developers on Monday seeking information on the location data used by their smartphones, tablets and other wireless devices.

Lawmakers in the Senate will take on mobile privacy concerns in a hearing on May 10 slated to be the first topic the new judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law will tackle.

“The same technology that has given us smartphones, tablets and cell phones has also allowed these devices to gather extremely sensitive information about users, including detailed records of their daily movements and location,” said Senator Al Franken, chairman of the new subcommittee.

Franken has asked representatives from Apple and Google Inc to testify at the hearing.

Mobile privacy was explored by the last Congress, but the issue took the spotlight recently when reports revealed the latest versions of Apple’s mobile operating system — iOS version 4.0 and later — might track users’ movements.

In a letter to Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, House lawmakers sought a better understanding of reports that suggest a history of locations visited by iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users is compiled and stored on their devices, as well as in the backup files created when syncing with iTunes.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lawmakers extended their probe into location tracking on mobile devices this week, asking Apple Inc and other developers to divulge how they use location data and scheduling a separate hearing on mobile privacy.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to top mobile device operating system developers on Monday seeking information on the location data used by their smartphones, tablets and other wireless devices.

Lawmakers in the Senate will take on mobile privacy concerns in a hearing on May 10 slated to be the first topic the new judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law will tackle.

“The same technology that has given us smartphones, tablets and cell phones has also allowed these devices to gather extremely sensitive information about users, including detailed records of their daily movements and location,” said Senator Al Franken, chairman of the new subcommittee.

Franken has asked representatives from Apple and Google Inc to testify at the hearing.

Mobile privacy was explored by the last Congress, but the issue took the spotlight recently when reports revealed the latest versions of Apple’s mobile operating system — iOS version 4.0 and later — might track users’ movements.

In a letter to Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, House lawmakers sought a better understanding of reports that suggest a history of locations visited by iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users is compiled and stored on their devices, as well as in the backup files created when syncing with iTunes.

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) – AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) told communications regulators its $39-billion bid to buy Deutsche Telekom AG’s (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) T-Mobile USA would let it build high-speed wireless services reaching more than 97 percent of U.S. users.

In a filing seeking the Federal Communications Commission’s approval of the deal, AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile carrier, argued that the merger would spur innovation and economic growth by allowing it to improve the quality of its services.

AT&T has already filed papers with the Justice Department seeking antitrust clearance for the deal that would make the combined operations the largest U.S. mobile service.

The promised network reach of 97.3 percent was slightly higher that the 95 percent promised when the deal was announced last month.

Fewer dropped calls, fewer failed call attempts and better data throughput are among the benefits customers would experience from the merger, Joan Marsh, AT&T’s vice president of federal regulatory affairs, told reporters.

“It will address capacity constraints facing both companies that will enable the combined company to provide higher quality services in many urban, suburban and rural markets,” she said.

No. 3 mobile operator Sprint Nextel (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) opposes the deal on the grounds that it would stifle innovation and competition.