Don’t burden the Emergency Alert System (EAS) with overly prescriptive, one-size-fits-all solutions, wireless firms told the FCC Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee at its inaugural meeting Tues. Carrier sources said afterwards they have few fears because the WARN Act, which created the committee, makes mobile alerts voluntary and carriers can opt out if solutions aren’t practical.
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
FCC Comr. McDowell privately implored AT&T, as well as Comr. Copps and Adelstein, on Fri. to resume talks on the AT&T-BellSouth merger, sources said Mon. McDowell didn’t discuss the substance of the proceeding during those talks, but indicated he was concerned that negotiations had broken down as the parties awaited the decision that McDowell could ethically take part, which came down late Fri. (CD Dec 11 p1).
ANNAPOLIS -- DoD hasn’t committed to dynamic frequency selection (DFS) as a major solution to its spectrum crunch, an official said Fri. after the department’s annual Spectrum Summit here. But other speakers at the summit said DFS will have huge importance over time in ways such as allowing companies to offer services in the TV white spaces. One speaker called a recent test of a sophisticated form of DFS by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Shared Spectrum Co. the spectrum equivalent of the Wright Brothers’ first flight.
Caller ID “spoofing,” in which wrongdoers change the data displayed in a caller ID box to gain access to someone else’s personal information, is the next big threat to wireless and wireline carriers, Sprint Nextel warned Wed. during a D.C. Bar Assn. seminar on Internet and cellphone privacy.
A proposal by the Alfred Mann Foundation (AMF) that the FCC allocate spectrum beyond the 5 MHz planned for a new MedRadio band was supported by other medical institutions in comments filed at the agency. In July, the FCC proposed a new service for medical devices in the 401-406 MHz band, adding 2 MHz to that already allotted to the medical implant communications service (MICS) band. AMF said more spectrum would help stroke and other patients gain the benefits wireless wideband microstimulator systems designed to work as an artificial nervous system (CD Nov 3 p5).
Operators still face heavy time pressures despite the FCC extending to 2010 from 2007 a buildout deadline for wireless communications service (WCS) operators, said Paul Sinderbrand, counsel to the Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA). Before buildout can begin, however, the FCC must release long-awaited rules for digital audio radio service (DARS) repeaters used by XM and Sirius to extend their reach, WCA said. Satellite radio operators and WCS licensees occupy adjoining frequencies.
The Bush Administration rebuffed efforts to participate in the current ITU Plenipot by industry officials who gave to Democrats, multiple sources said. The Bush White House had relaxed pressure to exclude Democrats on such international delegations, but that pressure revived as the election neared, the sources said. Administration insistence on political purity of participants in a nonpolitical conference likely will be the subject of Hill oversight as Democrats resume control of Congress next year.
MSTV asked the FCC to make changes to its Oct. 12 order clearing Qualcomm to offer high quality video on licenses it owns in the 700-MHz band through subsidiary MediaFLO. The filing continues a longstanding conflict between Qualcomm and broadcasters over use of channel 55. Qualcomm declined to respond Thurs., but a company source said it would answer MSTV next week in a filing.
Comr. McDowell expects to be able to work with the new Democratic leadership of Congress, he said, admitting the majority control change “affects everything.” McDowell spoke Wed. to an FCBA luncheon, breaking little new ground. FCBA attendees had only one question for McDowell in Q&A: His view of the Democratic takeover of Congress. “I had originally written a little piece about that in my speech and cleared a joke that my staff made me take out,” he said: “Certainly, a changeover in both houses of Congress affects everything in Washington and we'll take it one step at a time. I've always gone out of my way to work on a bipartisan -- really, nonpartisan -- basis, and I look forward to working with the new leadership in Congress regardless.” Afterward, he had no comment for reporters on the status of his recusal on the AT&T-BellSouth merger.
Verizon Wireless is pushing the FCC to move up the starting date for the 700 MHz auction, which could effectively kill a Cyren Call proposal for a wireless broadband network serving public safety using 700 MHz spectrum, sources said. Meanwhile, even though the FCC had held it cannot reallocate the spectrum without Congressional action, the agency has been inundated with comments in recent days in support of the Cyren plan.