FCC Debuts Public Safety Bureau, with Moran as Acting Chief

Chmn. Martin said after the meeting he didn’t have time to make a decision on a permanent chief. “We had just gotten final approval from the Senate and House appropriations committees in the last few weeks,” Martin said: “We are going to look at some outside folks, but I am confident that Ken Moran will be able to do an excellent job for us. He’s been doing a great job working on these issues.”

Some safety officials hoped the first bureau chief would come from their world, with direct experience in public safety communications. Career civil servant Moran joined the agency in 1978. Most recently, he headed a homeland security office within the Enforcement Bureau.

“I find it odd they would take Ken and make him acting,” a regulatory attorney said: “Martin has had plenty of time to find the person he wanted.” A 2nd lawyer said: “When this is the Commission’s number one priority, it’s remarkable that they couldn’t put someone in the job on a permanent basis.”

Other bureau managers named Tues. include Lisa Fowlkes, formerly of the Enforcement Bureau, and Dana Shaffer, formerly of the wireline bureau, now deputy chiefs. David Furth of the Wireless Bureau was named associate chief, as was Joseph Casey of the Enforcement Bureau. Moran also will serve as the 3rd deputy chief in the bureau.

Comr. Copps hopes the bureau will offer “much more than a mere reshuffling of resources” in improving public safety communications, he said during the meeting. “I see this action as marking a far-reaching commitment to ensure the safety of our citizens through a functioning and a resilient communications system,” he said: “My hope is that when history looks back on this reorganization, it will be seen as the first step in putting the FCC out front -- where it long should have been - in providing communications security for all Americans.”

Among the bureau’s first tasks will be completion of the 800 MHz rebanding process, Martin said. “The bureau will also serve as an informational clearinghouse for public safety and emergency response issues as they relate to Commission initiatives,” he said: “It will work to ensure robust and reliable communications services by reaching out to stakeholders in order to encourage best practices, develop preparedness plans, and promote network reliability. And in times of emergency the bureau will lead the Commission’s efforts to expedite relief and ensure that communications in effected areas are quickly restored.”

“It is NENA’s sincere hope that placing a single bureau in charge of all 911 issues will enhance the FCC’s continuing efforts to expedite the national deployment of E911 for all technologies,” said NENA Pres. Bill Munn.

“What the Commission has done is terrific,” Bob Pepper, a former FCC official now with Cisco, said in an Aspen Institute panel discussion on public safety communications later Tues. “They now have the ability to look at these issues on an integrated basis,” he said. “It’s not going to be siloed. It also become a point for people in industry, the public safety community, the states and localities to have a place to go and talk to people who actually know about their issues.”

Moran generally is well regarded, several sources said. “Ken Moran is a true professional,” Scott Harris, first chief of the International Bureau, said: “He knows the issues and is a fabulous choice to lead the bureau, particularly getting it off the ground.” -- Howard Buskirk

FCC Meeting Notes…

The FCC is close to adopting rules defining what phone companies must do to guard sensitive subscriber data from “pretexters”, Chmn. Martin said Tues. in a post-meeting press scrum. “We initiated a notice of the beginning of the year,” he said: “I'm hopeful that the Commission will be able to adopt some additional rules and some additional protections.” Martin refused to comment on whether all 5 commissioners are likely to vote on the AT&T-BellSouth merger. “I've been focused mostly on the items we had up here today,” he said. By some accounts, Comr. McDowell could have to sit out a vote owing to having lobbied for CLEC trade group CompTel. “The Commission has a goal of trying to do the merger reviews within the 180 days,” Martin said: “We could stop the clock, obviously, and we don’t always make the 180 days… but that’s our goal.”

--

Wireless competition seems to thrive despite the sector’s consolidation in recent years from 6 to 4 major carriers, said the FCC’s 11th annual report to Congress on CMRS competition. During 2005 U.S. wireless subscribers hit 213 million, up from 184.7 million a year earlier, for a nationwide penetration rate of 71%, the FCC said. One sign of declining prices - revenue per min. fell 22% in 2005 from 2004, to $0.07. Comr. Copps said CMRS reports are improving, but should give a more complete snapshot of competition. “The need for a clearly-stated, objectively-measurable definition of ‘effective competition’ gets more compelling every year,” Copps said. The report is the first on CMRS competition after the Sprint-Nextel merger, he said: “Our conclusion that competition remains effective post-merger would be more credible if we had defined that term ahead of time and then assessed whether current competition data meets our definition.”

--

NRIC may or may not meet in 2006, officials with the new Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau said Tues. In 2005- 06 most FCC attention in regard to public safety issues has been on the Hurricane Katrina Independent Panel, Lisa Fowlkes, a deputy bureau chief, said: “Now that the bureau is launched, we will be focusing on the other federal advisory committees. I can’t tell you a specific date as to when any of the federal advisory committees will be meeting.” NRIC formally met 3 times in both 2004 and 2005, most recently Dec. 16, 2005.