The nation’s second largest mobile wireless provider AT&T announced yesterday a $39 billion cash and stock transaction deal to buy third-ranked mobile carrier T-Mobile, a move that would vault AT&T to the top slot of wireless companies with a combined market share of around 44%. Upon the deal’s completion, the U.S. commercial wireless market will be dominated by two companies, Verizon and AT&T, which will lay claim to more than a combined 70% market share.

Although the ramifications of the deal for the utility industry are still emerging, at first blush the merger could increase the availability of LTE service, reduce the number of towers and collocation sites that the two separate carriers now use and alter the dynamics of the ongoing debate surrounding the 700 MHz D Block of spectrum. In addition, utilities could be able to negotiate cellular service contracts with AT&T that cover wider geographic expanses than is currently the case even though the reduced competition might alter the price, terms and conditions of those contracts. Read more »

(Washington, DC)  As utilities grapple with a wave of federal-level cyber security requirements, it’s not always clear whether compliance with these emerging mandates actually equates to improved security of the nation’s electric grid, according to a trio of cyber security experts speaking here today at UTC’s Board meeting.  “We can actually comply or over-regulate ourselves and chase action after action,” Pat Hoffman, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Electricity Delivery and Reliability at the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

“Just having a certificate that on January 1, you have met x, y or z does not often equal true security,” Jeff Greene, Counsel for the Senate Homeland Security Committee said.  Through comprehensive cyber security legislation, which is unlikely during the upcoming lame duck session of Congress but a virtual certainty during the next Congress, “we’re looking at some way to create consistency,” Greene said. Read more »

(Washington, DC)  This week’s election, which shifted control of the U.S. House of Representatives to the GOP, will alter the energy industry's legislative landscape in that chamber while leaving priorities mostly unchanged in the still Democratic-controlled Senate, top Congressional and Senate staffers told UTC’s Board of Directors here today.  “A lot of water has gone over the dam since Tuesday,” John Jimison, Counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Committee said.  “It will take some time sorting out” how the House will proceed under the Republicans.

A lot depends on who takes control of the Energy and Commerce committee.  One leading candidate for Chairmanship is Fred Upton (R-MI), who was fully supportive of the bi-partisan Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense act, passed by the House earlier this year.  “If he becomes chairman, there will be considered legislative activity focused on continuing that work,” Jimison said. Read more »

(Washington, DC)  The Department of Energy’s (DOE) examinations of two big smart grid-related issues, consumer data access and privacy and utility communications needs, are now complete, DOE General Counsel Scott Blake Harris said today in announcing the top-line findings of these wide-ranging examinations.  Both of the DOE proceedings on this topic stem from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) National Broadband Plan, released last spring, which asked the DOE to dig deeper into the central questions of consumer energy data usage and the future of utility communications in the smart grid era.

Data Access and Privacy

Speaking at a forum hosted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Harris outlined the major conclusions of the DOE’s report on smart grid data access, third party use and privacy issues.  In general, the various commenters in the data access and privacy proceeding were in very broad agreement, Harris said.  Among the areas of agreement for the various utility, telecom, technology, government and public interest groups who filed comments are: Read more »

Utilities generate up to an estimated $12.4 billion in the sale of wholesale and retail communications services, according to UTC’s latest research report Utility Telecom Services:  A Comprehensive Analysis of Communications Services Offered by Utilities.  Based on a survey of our utility members, the analysis shows that over two-thirds, or around 2,226 utilities, sell some form of communications service to homes and businesses in their service areas. Read more »

(Washington, DC) Utilities and telecom providers should establish a more productive dialog in order to better build the complex communications networks needed for the smart grid to emerge. That was one key message coming out of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) roundtable discussion held here as part of DOE’s RFI on utility communications needs.

“It has occurred to me that we’re not on all the same page,” DOE General Counsel Scott Blake Harris said, urging utilities and telecom providers, as well as regulators, to work together to make smart grid benefits a reality. “The goal is to open up a dialog.”

Lynne Ellyn, Senior Vice President and CIO, DTE Energy, discussed the benefits of new technologies and grid automation, which have “the potential to make us more reliable, more responsive.” DTE Energy spends a lot of time with their telecom partners, although utilities have exacting requirements, she said. “Make no mistake about it. This is tricky stuff.” Read more »

UTC and Verizon will officially announce tomorrow a joint study of the communications needs of utilities. This timely and innovative analysis will identify the unique communications requirements of the utility industry to ensure safe, reliable and cost-effective energy grids for the 21st Century.

The study, which will kick off next week in Washington with a focus group of UTC member company representatives, is designed to encompass a wide range of factors that should be considered when designing and delivering the critical communications that will fuel the nation's smart grids. UTC members should find the study to be useful in not only articulating their own detailed communications requirements for internal purposes but also in communicating these requirements to technology partners. Read more »