WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) – U.S. regulators cleared the way
for satellite broadband start-up LightSquared, owned by
billionaire investor Philip Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners
fund, to lease its airwaves to traditional mobile phones.

LightSquared requested the waiver in November to modify
conditions around its current wireless spectrum licenses in
order to offer terrestrial wireless broadband services.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – MetroPCS Communications became the second company to challenge the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s new Internet traffic rules, following Verizon Communications’ appeal last week.

MetroPCS, the fifth-largest U.S. wireless carrier, said on Tuesday it had filed its appeal in the same court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Verizon Communications took the Federal Communications Commission to court on Thursday over its recently issued Internet traffic rules, arguing the regulator had overstepped its authority.

The filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia fulfilled the predictions of many industry analysts that the FCC’s split vote last month to impose the rules would be swiftly challenged.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. regulators approved Comcast Corp’s purchase of a majority stake in NBC Universal with the requirement that NBC give up day-to-day control of popular online video site Hulu.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice approved the deal more than a year after the companies announced it. When it closes, it will create a media powerhouse that will control not just how television shows and movies are made, but how they are delivered to people’s homes.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Industry and public interest groups this week stressed the need to rein in Comcast Corp’s power over programing and pricing if it is allowed to buy a majority stake in General Electric Co’s NBC Universal.

In a letter to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Media Access Project’s Andrew Jay Schwartzmann detailed “necessary” conditions on the proposed merger that public interest groups, companies and trade associations presented to FCC Commissioner Michael Copps this week.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Global competitiveness in the U.S. telecom and media sector will hinge on making more airwaves available to keep pace with the booming wireless market, government and industry officials agreed on Wednesday.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said U.S. spectrum infrastructure is being outstripped by consumer demand for new wireless devices, threatening U.S. global leadership in wireless innovation.

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) – U.S. regulators face their
first test of recently adopted Internet traffic rules as public
interest groups urge them to look into a wireless carrier they
say is blocking certain content under some of its data plans.

The groups have accused low-cost wireless carrier MetroPCS
Communications Inc (PCS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) of discriminating against some
Internet content, applications and websites — an apparent
violation of Internet rules that will soon come into effect.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A booming wireless market threatens to overload U.S. airwaves if the government fails to act swiftly, the nation’s top communications regulator said in remarks prepared for a speech on Friday.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski warned that if network congestion continues to grow, “consumer frustration will grow with it.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. regulators are asking software developers in an “Open Internet Challenge” to create apps that let Internet users know when their service provider — fixed or mobile — is interfering with content.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is trying to get consumers to help police Internet service providers for network management abuses such as slowing bandwidth-hogging content from movies.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A divided Federal Communications Commission banned Internet service providers like Comcast Corp from blocking traffic on their networks, provoking warnings the rules would be rejected in the courts and threats from Republican lawmakers to overturn them.

The 3-2 decision on Tuesday highlighted a huge divide between those who say the Internet should flourish without regulation and those who say the power of high-speed Internet providers to discriminate against competitors needs to be restrained.