F.C.C. to Weigh Allowing Cellphone Use on Flights

Any change, which was placed on the agenda for the commission’s Dec. 12 meeting, is still months away, requiring a public comment period of weeks and a final draft of the rules. But it would constitute a major shift for airline passengers.

The use of cellphones during flights has been vigorously opposed by many passengers and by flight attendants, although some airlines in Asia and Europe already offer cell service. In the United States, the flight attendants union immediately urged the F.C.C. not to proceed with the proposal.

An F.C.C. official said airlines in the United States would be given the option of outfitting their planes with equipment that would allow the use of cellphones once a plane climbed above 10,000 feet, but the airlines would not be required to provide the service.

Tom Wheeler, the F.C.C. chairman, said the new rules, if adopted, would “expand consumer access and choice for in-flight mobile broadband,” meaning the commission thinks both Wi-Fi and wireless cellphone data plans could be used.

“Modern technologies can deliver mobile services in the air safely and reliably, and the time is right to review our outdated and restrictive rules,” Mr. Wheeler said in a statement. “I look forward to working closely with my colleagues, the F.A.A. and the airline industry on this review of new mobile opportunities for consumers.”

A swift negative reaction came from the Association of Flight Attendants, a union representing airline workers.

“Flight attendants, as first responders and the last line of defense in our nation’s aviation system, understand the importance of maintaining a calm cabin environment,” the union said in a statement. “Any situation that is loud, divisive and possibly disruptive is not only unwelcome but also unsafe.”

The union said polls and surveys conducted over many years found that “a vast majority of the traveling public wants to keep the ban on voice calls in the aircraft cabin.”

“In far too many operational scenarios, passengers making phone calls could extend beyond a mere nuisance, creating negative effects on aviation safety and security that are great and far too risky,” the union said.

Several airlines already provide in-flight Wi-Fi service, enabling passengers to use the Internet, email and text messaging. The F.C.C. measure would allow voice calls through the use of what is called a picocell, a small cellular base station that would be installed on a plane, collect all cellphone activity during the flight and send it down to the ground.

Airlines in the United States already have the technical ability to allow in-flight phone calls using voice connections over an onboard Wi-Fi network, but so far none have done so.

It is all but certain that vast waves of airline passengers in the United States will tell the F.C.C. their feelings about the proposal. Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration changed the rules to permit airlines to allow the use of electronics during takeoff and landing, and passengers generally rejoiced at the ability to be able to read an e-book or play a game on their tablet or smartphone.

But sitting next to someone who is chatting away for hours could quickly outweigh the common complaint of sitting next to a crying baby for the duration of a flight.

“I don’t want to have to sit next to someone who is talking on their phone the entire flight,” said Greg Pritikin, a screenwriter who lives in Los Angeles. “That would be a nightmare.”

On Twitter, people also complained about the potential new rule.

“Really bummed to hear that news,” wrote Randi Zuckerberg, author of the book “Dot Complicated” (and sister of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook). “Airplanes were the last socially acceptable place to require people to unplug.”

The F.C.C. proposal would permit calls and data connections, which would allow people to surf the web on their smartphones and other devices. Airlines and a number of companies, including Gogo, have spent millions of dollars outfitting planes with Wi-Fi connections, and that business could suffer with the allowance of cellphone traffic.

But Steve Nolan, a spokesman for Gogo, said the company’s business would not be affected by the change. It already has the ability to provide in-flight phone service through its Wi-Fi connections, he said, but the commercial airlines have not permitted it so far. Gogo provides the service on some private jets.

If the F.C.C. approved the use of the cellphone equipment on airlines, the F.A.A. would still have to permit the equipment installation to ensure it did not affect passenger safety, officials said.

If the F.C.C. goes ahead with its plan on Dec. 12, it will solicit public suggestions on the proposed new rule.

After reviewing the comments, the commissioners will decide whether to approve the new regulations, either as proposed or with revisions.

The initiative comes less than three weeks after Mr. Wheeler took over as chairman of the F.C.C., but it has been in the works for months, agency officials said.

Intel Is Said to Weigh Sale of Online Cable TV Venture

It is possible that Intel will forge ahead with OnCue through a partnership with Verizon, or a pact with some other company, but a purchase by Verizon is most likely, according to the people, who insisted on anonymity because the talks were supposed to be private. A deal will most likely be struck by the end of the year.

OnCue, as envisioned by Intel, would take the traditional cable television bundle and make it more consumer-friendly by transmitting it via the Internet. The company’s technology has impressed many, but channel owners have been reluctant to make the necessary licensing deals, stirring speculation that Intel might not move forward.

The other big roadblock has been an internal one. When a new chief executive, Brian M. Krzanich, took over the company earlier this year, he expressed skepticism about the television project because it was not a core part of Intel’s business, and directed the project leaders to seek partnerships for it.

Earlier this fall Intel executives privately acknowledged that they would fall short of their widely publicized goal of introducing OnCue to the public in time for the holiday season.

A takeover of OnCue could position Verizon to sell a cablelike television service across the United States through existing broadband pipes or through its Verizon Wireless business. Its current eight-year-old television subscription service, FiOS, has five million subscribers and is growing steadily, but it is available in only about 15 percent of American homes because it is delivered over a proprietary fiber-optic network. Verizon said last year that it did not plan to expand that fiber-optic network much more.

But a Verizon television service could potentially reach many more people if it were not linked to the fiber-optic network and were made available through any broadband connection. Alternatively, it could be sold as an optional mobile TV upgrade for the Verizon Wireless unit’s roughly 100 million monthly subscribers.

Verizon is in the process of gaining full ownership of the wireless unit, having announced last month a $130 billion acquisition of Vodafone’s 45 percent stake. “We don’t comment on speculation,” a Verizon spokeswoman said on Wednesday after the online technology site AllThingsD published an article on the talks with Intel. An Intel spokesman declined to comment.

DealBook: SoftBank and Sprint Weigh Alternatives to a Deal

Yoshikazu Tsuno/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMasayoshi Son of SoftBank, left, and Dan Hesse, chief executive of Sprint Nextel, announced their companies’ deal last October.

Eight months ago, Sprint Nextel’s path to recovery seemed clear: a sale to SoftBank of Japan and a deal to buy full control of the wireless network operator Clearwire.

Now that road appears significantly muddier, only days before shareholders are scheduled to vote on the two transactions, leaving both Sprint and SoftBank to weigh backup plans.

Much of the confusion has arisen because of Dish Network, which has bid for both Sprint itself and for Clearwire. Nearly two weeks ago, Dish raised its offer for Clearwire to $4.40 a share, stirring doubt that Sprint can prevail at a Thursday vote with its current bid of $3.40 a share.

Sprint directors have been waiting for Dish to formalize a $25.5 billion takeover proposal for Sprint itself. If that appears, it would top SoftBank’s $20.1 billion bid.

Sprint shareholders are scheduled to vote on the SoftBank offer on Wednesday, though the meeting may be postponed to give Dish more time to make its bid formal. Clearwire shareholders are set to vote on Sprint’s bid on Thursday.

SoftBank and its chief executive, Masayoshi Son, desire Sprint, the cellphone service company, as the cornerstone of a plan to challenge AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the United States. For Sprint, buying the roughly 50 percent of Clearwire that it does not already own would provide crucial extra bandwidth to build out a next-generation data network.

But Charles W. Ergen, the chairman of Dish, has managed to upend the carefully laid out plans of Sprint and SoftBank. Dish’s cash-and-stock bid for Sprint is worth about $7 a share, compared with SoftBank’s offer of roughly $6.45 a share.

Dish has sought a cellphone network partner that can help it take advantage of its big wireless spectrum holdings, helping transform the satellite television company into a provider of broader wireless services.

Still, people close to Sprint and SoftBank have expressed bewilderment at the moves by Mr. Ergen, a onetime professional gambler. Dish surprised many with the unveiling of its bid for Sprint in April, then embarked on an unusually pointed campaign aimed at raising national security concerns about the SoftBank deal. (The transaction eventually won clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which oversees the review process.)

Dish first bid for Clearwire earlier this year, then went silent for months before raising its offer two weeks ago.

SoftBank has staunchly defended its bid for Sprint, repeatedly assailing Dish’s offer as unworkable, and won the conditional support of an influential shareholder advisory firm. The Japanese company has argued that it can close its deal by next month, while its rival would need much more time, costing Sprint shareholders money.

But SoftBank has been laying the groundwork for a potential backup plan: It has been in talks with Deutsche Telekom about potential options for the German telecommunication concern’s majority stake in T-Mobile US, according to a person briefed on the matter.

SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom were in talks even before the Sprint deal was announced last fall, and the two have kept in regular touch since, this person said. The Japanese company has stressed that it wants to find an entry point into the United States market, even if its bid for Sprint fails.

Word of SoftBank’s interest in buying Deutsche Telekom’s 74 percent stake in T-Mobile US, however, may simply be an attempt to sway recalcitrant Sprint shareholders.

Sprint shares closed on Friday at $7.24, more than 12 percent above SoftBank’s bid. Shareholders have argued that SoftBank must offer more for Sprint, especially in light of Dish’s higher bid.

Shares in Clearwire closed on Friday at $4.40, the clearest sign of investor dissatisfaction with Sprint’s latest bid.

Sprint has challenged the legality of Dish’s bid for Clearwire, contending that it violates an existing shareholder agreement. Dish has argued otherwise.

But Mr. Son of SoftBank has publicly said that he would be satisfied with Sprint owning less than 100 percent of Clearwire. Existing pacts with other big shareholders would furnish Sprint with more than 65 percent of Clearwire.

Still, Dish could prove a formidable hindrance to Sprint if it becomes a big minority shareholder in Clearwire, possibly forcing the company into a partnership or an expensive deal to buy out its unwelcome dance partner.

That is, if Dish doesn’t buy control of Sprint.