Members of House Telecom Subcommittee voiced concern Thurs. that wireless carriers and 911 call centers wouldn’t meet Oct. 1 deadline for deploying Phase 2 of Enhanced 911 location capabilities. Ranking Democrat Markey (Mass.) warned “industry should not seek -- nor should the Commission grant -- waivers to rules merely for business convenience.” He cited what he called “manana” syndrome among carriers on implementing E911. “But when it comes to 3G, they want spectrum today. They stipulate that it’s a national priority.” Markey said he backed industry’s quest for more 3G spectrum, but said he would “like to see the same alacrity and aggressiveness” on public safety offerings linked to E911. Hearing focused on thorny implementation issues that face wireless industry less than 4 months before Phase 2 deadline, including equipment availability and readiness of public safety answering points.

FCC is widely expected to issue Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to examine more closely spectrum beyond main MMDS and Instructional TV Fixed Service (ITFS) bands as part of 3rd generation wireless decision-making, several sources said. Among spectrum blocks likely to be rolled into further notice would be mobile satellite services (MSS) issues teed up at Commission in CTIA petition for rulemaking last month asking for reallocation to “more efficient uses” of “underutilized” MSS spectrum at 2 GHz (CD May 21 p5). One source said further notice could come as soon as next month. From outset of 3G decision-making process, FCC has said it would consider broader array of spectrum than just that at 2.5 GHz used by MMDS and ITFS operators, but controversy over incumbents that would be moved from those bands has received most attention in recent months. Meanwhile, Dept. of Defense continued to take hard line against reallocating military spectrum at 1.7 GHz to commercial uses.

Commerce Secy. Donald Evans is to meet with Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS), Instructional TV Fixed Service (ITFS) licensees and others in closed session Wed. to discuss need for 3rd generation wireless spectrum. Meeting will mark first time that Evans, who already has met with commercial wireless carriers on issue twice this year, has sat down with education and MMDS community in such session. FCC has been overseeing evaluation of 2.5 GHz band now used by MMDS and ITFS licensees for advanced wireless services such as 3G , and NTIA has undertaken analysis of 1.7 GHz band now occupied mostly by military users. Evans first met with mobile wireless carriers and other govt. officials in March, with observers at that time saying that he signaled his direct interest in working on 3G spectrum solutions (CD March 31 p1). Representative of one company that will be at June 6 meeting said one message likely to be brought up by industry was that wireless carriers shouldn’t automatically get new spectrum because maturity of mobile data applications still was in early phase. But another source said message of ITFS representatives was likely to be broader pitch about extensive educational uses of existing spectrum and its benefits to community groups and students. Among those expected to attend are Msgr. Michael Dempsey, pres., Catholic TV Network.

FCC proposed modifying band plan in 36.0-51.4 GHz spectrum for satellite and terrestrial operators in rulemaking launched Thurs. Commission said proposed band plan reflects decisions reached at World Radio Conference (WRC) 2000 in Istanbul. Rulemaking would give satellite and terrestrial operators greater certainty about scope of operations in band, along with specific power flux-density (PFD) limits on satellite operations in portions of this band consistent with WRC 2000. FCC said it wanted to modify 37.0-43.5 GHz portion of band plan in effort to harmonize domestic band plan with international sharing agreement to promote spectrum efficiency. Plans call for FCC to designate 40-42 GHz band for satellite services. While proposal would alter layout of satellite and terrestrial service designations, proposed band plan wouldn’t change total spectrum currently designated for use by satellite and terrestrial wireless services. Comment deadline is 60 days after publication in Federal Register, with replies 30 days after that.

It’s “too simplistic” to question whether FCC Chmn. Powell supports telecom competition just because he also advocates deregulation where appropriate, he said in interview with Communications Daily. “Of course we favor competition,” he said. “The policy of the entire country is to favor competition.” What has been misunderstood is more “subtle” question of when intervention is right and when it isn’t, he said. Powell said he didn’t believe in jumping too quickly into new regulations or keeping old ones that no longer are necessary. Telecom Act requires FCC to review regulations periodically and determine whether they still are appropriate, so this isn’t new concept, he said: “There are appropriate places for regulation, but they should be carefully scrutinized and one should be hesitant to interfere with those operations without clear and demonstrable reasons for doing so.”

Wide array of wireless, GPS, satellite and air transport interests urged FCC Chmn. Powell Fri. to subject ultra wideband (UWB)devices to licensing regime apart from Part 15 rules. Test results to date, according to letter obtained by Communications Daily, demonstrate that UWB devices have “unique transmission characteristics” that produce intentional transmissions that pose interference risk to GPS, wireless services such as PCS, satellite services such as DARS. Group wrote that because proposed UWB signals varied from characteristics of unintentional transmitters, operation of those devices should be limited to spectrum above 6 GHz and shouldn’t be allowed to operate in any restricted bands. Letter’s signatories included Air Transport Assn. of America, Aircraft Owners & Pilots Assn., Astrolink International, AT&T Wireless, Ericsson, Lockheed Martin, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel, Qualcomm, Satellite Industry Assn., Sirius Satellite Radio, Sprint PCS, U.S. GPS Industry Council, WorldCom, XM Radio. Letter marks latest go-round in UWB proceedings at FCC in which device developers such as Time Domain have said test results from NTIA and elsewhere on GPS and non-GPS bands confirmed compatible operation of their devices with existing services. But GPS, fixed and mobile wireless interests and others have pointed to some of same test results as bolstering their concerns that UWB devices would create harmful interference. Many of same companies had written jointly to Powell in March, recommending that Commission not take final action on UWB equipment under Part 15 without issuing further notice of proposed rulemaking first (CD March 28 p1). While coalition still backs further notice, Fri. letter provides details of stipulations that companies would like to see on Commission’s approval. Letter suggested that Commission identify “specific categories of UWB devices” and establish proposed rules for licensing those categories based on tests of individual UWB waveforms or measurements using UWB simulators. It proposed that in separate licensing regime outside of Part 15, FCC: (1) Identify spectrum higher than 6 GHz and in unrestricted bands where UWB devices could be used without “creating harmful interference.” (2) Define categories of UWB devices, along with technical and operational characteristics for each. (3) Identify areas where more tests were needed. (4) Device specific rules for each UWB device category. Rules should cover mode of operation of UWB devices, by providing allowable average and peak power levels, allowable ranges of pulse characteristics in time domain, allowable spectrum masks and “other appropriate limits.”

With nod to growth of high-speed wireless devices in unlicensed spectrum, FCC unanimously approved further notice of proposed rulemaking at Thurs. agenda meeting to update its Part 15 rules for spread spectrum systems. Changes, sought by group of companies including 3Com, Cisco and Texas Instruments, would reduce amount of spectrum that must be used for frequency hopping spread spectrum systems at 2.4 GHz. Proposal responds to petition for partial reconsideration or clarification filed by 3Com and others over Aug. 2000 decision. That order had altered Commission’s Part 15 rules spectrum to allow spread spectrum devices in 2.4 GHz band to use wider frequency hopping channels for first time. Proposal adopted by FCC Thurs. also would eliminate processing gain requirement for direct sequence spread spectrum systems and would allow new digital transmission technologies to operate under same rules as spread spectrum systems. In general, proposal appears to update Part 15 rules to allow operation of technologies that employ smart hopping techniques to avoid interference in band. In general, changes aim to address coexistence of increased applications in 2.4 GHz, including by wireless technologies based on Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and HomeRF wireless networking systems.

FCC is attempting to decide spectrum-sharing plan for nongeostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) and fixed satellite service (FSS) and to determine intraservice rules for new services. Commission in notice of proposed rulemaking Thurs. said new rules were expected to promote competition between existing satellite and terrestrial services through opportunities for new entrants, quicker licensing process, incentives for faster rollout of services using state-of-the-art technology. As expected (CD May 3 p3), FCC said it would license all 5 companies with NGSO FSS applications -- Boeing, Denali, Hughes, Skybridge, Teledesic and Virtual GEO -- to provide high-speed Internet, online access, data, video and telephony services in Ku-band. Hughes has filed 2 applications for licenses and spectrum. Comments are due by June 18, reply comments July 19.

Multichannel Video Distribution & Data Services (MVDDS) could cause “significant interference threat” to DBS services unless “wide variety of mitigation techniques” are used, according to independent Mitre report released by FCC late Mon. Report said mitigation techniques, if applied properly under appropriate circumstances, could greatly reduce potential MVDDS interference impact upon DBS. Report stopped short of endorsing Northpoint or supporting DBS claims (CD April 9 p6). Instead it left final decision up to FCC, but did provide technical assessment of issues surrounding interference. “MVDDS/DBS bandsharing appears feasible if and only if suitable mitigation measures are applied,” report said: “Different combinations of measures are likely to prove best for different locales and situations.” Supporters of DBS and Northpoint claimed victory following release of report.

While differing on some details, wireless carriers and equipment makers in comments last week urged FCC to make additional spectrum available for 3rd generation and advanced services. Among most pointed recommendations were those of equipment vendors such as Ericsson, Motorola and Qualcomm, which pointed FCC toward spectrum now occupied by federal govt. users in 1.7 GHz band as ideal for 3G. Motorola urged Commission to alter auction process so that part of proceeds could be used to help pay for relocating incumbents. In move that may require legislative change, Motorola said that would avoid pitfall of current system “where the true costs of relocating incumbents only becomes known to successful bidders after the auction.” Several commenters stressed need for FCC to make more spectrum available on faster timeline than that laid out under several agency proposals.