Genachowski Offers Some Compromise on 700 MHz Waiver Order
FCC Commissioners Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai are raising concerns about a draft order circulated by Chairman Julius Genachowski that would terminate all 20 current 700-MHz band waivers to build out public safety systems ahead of a nation network in the 700 MHz band (CD July 13 p1). A major sticking point, agency officials said, is language in the order which they said would make it extremely difficult to get approval for a new grant of special temporary authority (STA) to build a system under a waiver. Discussions are ongoing and Genachowski offered some changes aimed at a compromise late Friday, agency officials said.
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The commission’s three Democrats, Genachowski, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, have all voted to approve the order, though it remained unclear as of late Monday whether McDowell or Pai would dissent, officials said. McDowell appeared more inclined to concur in light of improvements made in the draft order, officials said.
The revised draft includes language making clear that information already filed by each waiver applicant will remain in the record, lowering the filing burden, officials said. Additional information submitted will be treated as a supplemental filing.
Genachowski was less willing to compromise on a key issue, the standards for granting an STA, officials said. They said the proposed rules set out numerous, subjective criteria rather than treating each application as a separate filing -- examining the merits of each, something McDowell has called for publicly. While Genachowski’s office has offered some revised language on this standard, officials said it may not go far enough to win a yes vote from the two Republican commissioners. The standard would apply to the 20 previous waiver recipients as well as the 36 waiver applicants pending before the agency.
The previously granted waivers were already set to expire Sept. 2. Few waiver recipients have advanced very far toward the build out of systems to serve first responders in advance of the proposed FirstNet, which was approved and partly funded by February’s spectrum law. But some waiver recipients said they were making good progress on networks when the NTIA temporarily suspended funding a few months ago because of the new spectrum law (CD July 19 p4). The FCC has faced particular pressure from officials in Louisiana (CD April 3 p3) and Oklahoma (CD Feb 2 p3), who say they are ready to build out systems once waivers are approved.