The FCC Wireless Bureau announced last week the shifts in responsibilities among its staff members as part of its recent reorganization into 6 new divisions. A bureau spokeswoman said the legal advisers and deputy bureau chiefs generally had shifted the divisions they supported. The bureau chief’s office added Aaron Goldberger as a legal adviser to provide support to the Public Safety & Critical Infrastructure Div. (PSCID) and to coordinate with the FCC Office of Engineering & Technology. The bureau named Lauren Patrich as special counsel for media and outreach. It announced 2 reassignments in the chief’s office: (1) Chief Engineer Thomas Stanley will be responsible for wireless technology and engineering policy on licensing or sharing wireless services. (2) Chief Economist Walter Strack will be policy and technical adviser on economic issues concerning regulatory policy, spectrum policy and auctions. In other areas, the Bureau said: (1) Deputy Bureau Chief Catherine Seidel is supporting the bureau’s new Broadband Div. and the PSCID. (2) Deputy Bureau Chief Gerald Vaughan is supporting the Spectrum & Competition Policy Div. and the Spectrum Management Resources & Technology Div. (SMART). (3) Acting Deputy Bureau Chief Peter Tenhula provides support to the Mobility Div. and the Auctions & Spectrum Access Div. Tenhula also directs the agency’s Spectrum Policy Task Force. Margaret Wiener, chief of the bureau’s Auctions & Industry Analysis Div., becomes chief of the new Auctions & Spectrum Access Div. The new Broadband Div., which has taken on some policy areas that had been in other divisions, is headed by Joel Taubenblatt, who was deputy chief of the former Policy Div. and a legal adviser to the bureau chief. The Div.’s policy areas include Multipoint Distribution Service/ITFS, advanced wireless services, 70-80-90 GHz, Local Multipoint Distribution Service, 24 GHz and 18 GHz issues. D'wana Terry, who headed the previous iteration of the Public Safety Div., becomes chief of the new Public Safety & Critical Infrastructure Div. William Kunze is heading the Spectrum & Competition Policy Div., responsible for Spectrum Policy Task Force implementation, secondary markets. His division also will include competitive reviews of proposed transactions. Elsewhere, John Chudovan is heading the SMART Div., which covers all the bureau’s information technology, licensing support, auctions support and outreach functions.

Attention turned in recent months in the 800 MHz proceeding to the question of how to value spectrum at 1.9 GHz under a rebanding proposal by Nextel and others, FCC Wireless Bureau Chief John Muleta said after the Commission’s Thurs. agenda meeting. But he said that didn’t mean the agency had zeroed in on the “consensus plan” to mitigate interference to public safety at 800 MHz. Other FCC officials acknowledged they faced budgetary belt-tightening in 2004 and said a must-carry decision might be a way off.

Connexion by Boeing said it planned to expand beyond aeronautical mobile satellite service (MSS) to high-speed satellite broadband for the maritime industry. The date of the launch, details of the system and service pricing weren’t announced, but Connexion Pres. Scott Carson said the company had “actively engaged in discussions with several of the leading maritime operators, as well as potential distributors,” about the service. Connexion said its existing satellite and ground networks would provide coverage over the N. Atlantic, with plans for Pacific coverage to be announced. A spokeswoman said Boeing wouldn’t need additional FCC authorization to provide the maritime service because it would operate the service with authorizations from the flag nations, adhering to the recently adopted international rules on earth stations aboard vessels. The company currently has an aeronautical mobile satellite service authorization in the 14-14.5 GHz and 11.7-12.2 GHz bands using AMC 4 at 101 degrees W and Telstar 6 at 93 degrees W.

Boeing urged the FCC not to adopt a lower stationkeeping tolerance value for geostationary satellite orbit (GSO) mobile satellite service (MSS) satellites “because such a rule is unnecessary for the safe and effective operation of GSO MSS spacecraft and will significantly increase the cost of operating GSO MSS satellites.” The company is among several expressing concern over the Commission’s pending action on orbital debris. Boeing said the proposed adoption of a 0.05 degrees longitudinal stationkeeping tolerance for MSS satellites -- rather than the existing 0.1 degrees tolerance -- could require 6 times as much onboard propellant and decrease the anticipated 12-year life of Boeing’s 2 GHz MSS spacecraft by 50%: “The severe negative impact of a 0.05 degrees… tolerance results from a combination of factors within the overall available longitude budget, including in particular the significant area-to-mass ratio of Boeing’s spacecraft and its use of a slightly inclined orbit.” Boeing said that although the Commission had adopted the lower tolerance value for GSO fixed satellite service (FSS) satellites, it “was adopted solely ‘for the purpose of avoiding harmful radio interference’ between FSS satellites,” an interference risk that didn’t exist for MSS birds. Separately, Inmarsat told the FCC that if it adopted changes for East-West and North-South stationkeeping, the changes shouldn’t apply to MSS satellites already in orbit or under construction. In a presentation, the company said the standard 2.4 degrees-3.4 degrees inclination in which its satellites operated would make it difficult to maintain the proposed 0.05 degrees tolerance “because of the significant increase in the number of required” maneuvers. It also would reduce the lives of 4 Inmarsat 2 satellites by 2.5 years each, Inmarsat said. As for a proposal to increase the de- orbit height to 300 km, instead of the existing 192 km, Inmarsat said each of its satellites would experience a 2-3 month reduction in its expected life. Meanwhile, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) plans to begin studying space debris, Xinhuanet reported. CNSA will launch 3 programs to monitor, prevent and curb the movement of waste left mostly by space research activities. Xinhuanet said the programs would be used between 2006 and 2020.

The FCC released a notice of proposed rulemaking on sharing between satellite services -- including nongeostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) and geostationary satellite orbit (GSO) fixed satellite service (FSS) operations -- and 3 other services -- fixed services (FS), broadcast auxiliary services (BAS) and cable TV relay services (CARS). The final rules would apply in the 7 GHz, 10 GHz and 13 GHz bands, the Commission said: “We undertake this proceeding to facilitate the introduction of new satellite and terrestrial services while promoting interference protection among the various users in these bands.” The Commission proposed the following: (1) NGSO FSS downlink operations sharing with FS operations in the 10 GHz band based on a Growth Zone Proposal by SkyBridge/Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC). It suggested identifying FS growth zones based on geographic areas where “FS use is high and growth is most likely to occur.” The Commission’s proposal would qualify counties as growth zones “where at least 30 FS frequencies are licensed to transmit in the 10.7-11.7 GHz band.” Zone determinations would be made individually, rather than every 6 months, as NGSO FSS earth station applications were submitted to provide a “near real- time” element to the process, the FCC said. Coordination also would adopt proposals determining where the earth stations should be located, who would be protected from interference and how coordination would be determined. (2) Coordination between NGSO and GSO FSS earth stations and mobile BAS and CARS operations in the 6875-7075 MHz and 12750-13250 MHz bands. The Commission said it would apply existing coordination rules from Parts 25 and 101 of its rules to the bands and consider additions or modifications. It said it also would determine whether additional rules needed to be applied separately to FSS coordination with mobile or fixed BAS/CARS operations. Comments are due 30 days from publication in the Federal Register, replies 45 days from publication.

Only 6 of 27 total applications for participation in the multichannel video distribution & data service (MVDDS) auction were accepted for filing, the FCC said. The accepted applicants, including MDS America subsidiary MDS Operations, will become qualified bidders once they submit upfront auction payments for requested licenses, the Commission said. Five of the 6 applied for licenses in all DMAs. The FCC said applications deemed incomplete could be resubmitted with corrections and upfront payments by the Dec. 8 deadline. Winners of the auction, scheduled for Jan. 14, will get licenses to operate in the 12.2-12.7 GHz with DBS operators.

The FCC opened an inquiry and adopted a proposal on a controversial “interference temperature” model for quantifying and managing interference among different services, potentially paving the way for new licensed and unlicensed services in existing bands. But several commissioners said that concept requires a cautious approach. Comr. Adelstein said he was worried it was “premature” to move forward with proposed rules “when we haven’t even engaged in a preliminary discussion on the interference temperature approach as a whole.” The proposal called for testing the model on a limited basis at 6 GHz and 12 GHz.

The Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA), in a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.), disputed Northpoint Technology statements about its treatment by the FCC. SIA disputed Northpoint’s claim that it was at a regulatory disadvantage to satellite providers. In an Oct. letter to McCain, Northpoint said Multichannel Video Distribution & Data Services (MVDDS) should be exempt from spectrum auctions because they would provide a competing service to satellite DBS providers (CD Oct 30 p14). Northpoint is lobbying for amendments that would grant such an auction exception. One such amendment was added to the Senate Commerce Justice State appropriations bill (S-1585). “Northpoint’s assertion contrasts sharply with the position of the Honorable [FCC] Chairman Michael Powell, who indicated in an October 23, 2003, letter to you that the last decade has seen ‘explosive wireless growth, innovation and competition,'” the Nov. 11 letter said. SIA also said that while the FCC hadn’t held an auction for domestic DBS licenses in more than 6 years, the Commission had auctioned satellite licenses in another domestic satellite service, including the Digital Audio Radio Satellite (DARS). The FCC also will auction several DBS orbital positions soon, the letter said. SIA said Northpoint also was wrong when it said the FCC had given Boeing spectrum without auction. The FCC didn’t give Boeing spectrum in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band, as SIA said Northpoint reported, and the spectrum award was analogous to satellite earth stations, which also aren’t auctioned.

The FCC International Bureau’s recent decision on KaStarCom World Satellite “provides a clear precedent, even in the era of strict enforcement, for reinstating TMI’s 2 GHz [mobile satellite service (MSS)] authorization,” the companies said. The FCC had revoked TMI’s authorization in Feb. after deciding the company hadn’t entered into a noncontingent satellite manufacturing contract (CD Feb 21 p10). A recent order saying KaStarCom had satisfied its construction commencement milestone (CD Oct 29 p10) established that 3rd party contracts satisfied the initial construction milestone, “even though the licensee is not a signatory to the… contract and the assignee is not under common ownership at the time the milestone falls due,” the companies said. ICO also recently challenged the bureau’s KaStarCom decision on its contract with Mobile Communications and Constellation Communications (CD Nov 6 p14).

BOSTON -- “The challenge to policymakers is what all of you are doing,” acting NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher told a room full of engineers Thurs. Improvements in “computer processing, battery power, nanotechnology -- which leads to miniaturization on an unbelievable scale -- are revolutionizing communications [and] will be the basis of new economic growth,” he said in a keynote at the Next Generation Networks show here.