The $6.5 billion in deficit reduction estimated by the Congressional Budget Office for Senate spectrum legislation (S-911) failed to win over at least two of four Commerce Committee Republicans who voted against the measure in markup. However, a recent statement by Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., may imply that Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is reconsidering her opposition. Meanwhile, lobbyists are debating the accuracy of the CBO estimate Wednesday that S-911 would reduce net direct spending by $6.5 billion from 2012 to 2021 (CD July 21 p1).

More resources for federal agencies could help smooth reallocation of government spectrum, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said at a hearing Wednesday afternoon on federal spectrum. While reallocation has been called a win-win, Strickling said not all federal agencies see “what the win is for them.” Subcommittee members of both parties said reassigning government spectrum for commercial use is one key in efforts to prevent a spectrum crunch.

Pay-TV interests ratcheted up criticism of terrestrial broadcasters Monday, in a fight over whether the FCC should change rules on retransmission consent deals. Terrestrial TV is archaic, a “needless expense” that’s “propped up” by outdated rules for a technology with a “brilliant run to obsolescence,” wrote an economist who often opposes regulation. The paper, heavy with historical reviews of regulation and technology, was paid for by pay-TV companies and others seeking retransmission-consent changes. In it, George Mason University Professor Thomas Hazlett backed reallocating TV stations’ frequencies for newer technologies like mobile broadband. The NAB, which along with its members has said retrans works, criticized the paper, while the CEA said it offered some good points on reallocating spectrum.

Directors of the ITU Radiocommunication and Development Bureaus solicited proposals for a meeting on participation of countries, particularly developing countries, in spectrum management, a letter to ITU members said. The meeting June 6 and 7 will examine national frequency allocation tables and spectrum redeployment, spectrum fees and the use of market mechanisms to allocate frequency bands, and accountability. The work, which was prompted most recently from the 2010 World Telecommunication Development Conference, is expected to result in a revised spectrum fees database for bands between 29.7 to 30 GHz considering new applications, results of auctions and “beauty contests,” a meeting document said. The work also aims to develop guidelines for putting frequency allocation tables in place, setting up spectrum fees for new applications and procedures for implementing market mechanisms in spectrum management, the document said. Guidelines also will be drafted for carrying out spectrum redeployment operations.

Feb. 7 FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski speaks on universal service overhaul, 10:30 a.m., ITIF, 1101 K St. NW, Washington -- www.itif.org

Industry players on all sides expressed general support for FCC efforts to add spectrum for wireless backhaul. But reply comments on proposals to change FCC rules (CD Aug 6 p5) expressed reservations about several of the measures, especially one to allow fixed service (FS) operations to share several spectrum bands now used by the Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS) and the Cable TV Relay Service. Several of the proposals grew out of the National Broadband Plan.

Industry commenters saw potential problems in various proposals by the FCC to change its rules to push more use of spectrum for wireless backhaul, as proposed in part in the National Broadband Plan. Comments on the Aug. 5 proposals were due this week. The comments said more use of wireless backhaul could both cut the cost of CMRS service and mean better coverage in rural areas (CD Aug 6 p5). The NBP proposed extensive spectrum sharing among the Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS), the Cable Television Relay Service (CARS) and the Fixed Service, sought comment on the use of adaptive modulation and on a Wireless Strategies proposal to allow FS licensees to coordinate primary and multiple auxiliary links.

The Wireless Communications Association asked the FCC in a petition to amend its rules governing out-of-band emission (OOBE) limits for mobile digital stations in the 2.5 GHz band, to allow for the use of the wider channel bandwidths. Specifically, the group asked the FCC to relax the OOBE limits for mobile digital stations in Section 27.53(m)(4) of its rules from 43+10 log (P) dB to 40+10 log (P) dB at the channel edges and to impose a 43+10 log (P) dB attenuation factor beyond 5MHz from the channel edges, and a 55+10 log (P) dB attenuation factor at “X” MHz from the channel edges where “X” is the greater of 6 MHz and the actual channel bandwidth. WCA also asked the FCC to allow a resolution bandwidth of 2 percent for mobile digital stations in Section 27.53(m)(6). “Amending the OOBE limits in the 2.5 GHz band as requested is necessary to realize the full benefits of 4G technologies and better align the Commission’s rules with the approach of the global 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and future WiMAX standards applicable to the 2.5 GHz band,” WCA said in the petition. “Providing for operation of wider channel bandwidths will promote efficient use of the spectrum and help achieve the goals of the National Broadband Plan for mobile broadband."

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on a waiver request by Ocean Signal Ltd. for dual-band Radar Target Enhancer devices to increase the visibility to radar of small ships they're used on. The devices operate in the S-band (2.9-3.1 GHz) and the X-band (9.3-9.5 GHz). Comments are due Sept. 6, replies Sept. 23.

HOUSTON -- The FCC is showing more willingness to consider the reallocation of the 700 MHz D-block as an alternative to the commission’s proposed plan for a national wireless broadband network for public safety, APCO President Richard Mirgon told us as the group’s national meeting neared its end. Public safety’s focus has shifted from the FCC to Capitol Hill, where legislation that would give public safety the D-block appears to be gaining support, he said. Mirgon noted that legislation by Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., in the House and Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and John McCain, R-Ariz., would reallocate the key band. Plus, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Commerce Committee, appears committed to offering legislation.