T-Mobile slammed the joint H block proposal Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Nextel (VSN proposal) submitted to the FCC in Feb. (CD Feb 14 p7), saying the proposal was “not technology neutral” and shouldn’t be adopted.

In an unusual move, the FCC said it will act at its agenda meeting March 10 on a “consent agenda” in which 14 items will be voted on at once rather than be presented individually. Also on the agenda are truth-in-billing and a 3600 MHz proceeding. The meeting is Chmn. Powell’s last in his post.

The FCC said it granted in part and denied in part a Wireless Communications Assn. International (WCA) petition for reconsideration of the Commission order adopting service rules to promote the private sector development and use of spectrum in the 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz and 92-95 GHz bands. The WCA petition focused exclusively on the licensed use of the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz bands. The FCC said its order: (1) Required interference analyses before registering all new or modified links in the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz bands. (2) Eliminated the band segmentation and loading requirements and adopted an efficiency requirement of 0.125 bps/Hz. (3) Modified the interference protection criteria by deleting the minimum 36 dB carrier signal to interference signal (C/I) ratio, and by adopting for receivers employing analog modulation a 1.0 dB degradation limit for the baseband signal-to- noise ratio required to produce an acceptable signal in the receiver. (4) Reaffirmed that the 1.0dB receiver threshold-to-interference ratio degradation limit for digital systems that the FCC had adopted would still apply. (5) Declined WCA request to adopt 36 dB as the maximum required C/I. (6) Adopted a power spectral density limit of 150 mW/100 MHz. (7) Modified the technical parameters to accommodate smaller, less expensive antennas with a minimum antenna gain of 43 dBi and a 1.2 degree half-power beamwidth. The FCC said it declined WCA’s requests to shorten the construction period from 12 months to 180 days; to provide conditional authorization during the pendency of an application for a nationwide, non-exclusive license; and to require automatic transmitter power control for links with effective isotropic radiated power greater than 23 dBW.

The Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) filed with the FCC a consolidated opposition to petitions for reconsideration of the 2.5 GHz order revising rules for ITFS and MDS operators in the 2495-2690 MHz band. The Commission is in the process of revising its 40-year-old rules governing how the spectrum is used. WCA and 2 education groups already asked the FCC to make some key changes to the July order earlier this year (CD Jan 12 p4). The latest petition is “really the last written major part of the process” that builds on the record in the proceeding, WCA Pres. Andrew Kreig told us. The FCC will now decide whether to change parts of its July order, and Kreig said WCA was “hoping that they would make some of these very important adjustments in their original order that will enable the service to achieve what is intended.” WCA said several petitions filed in the record included proposals that weren’t advanced by WCA but made “eminently good sense.” It said in addition to the rule changes suggested in WCA’s earlier petition, the FCC should adopt a number of other proposals, including: (1) Amend Sec. 27.1221(a) to clarify that the height benchmarking rules are applicable to EBS facilities. (2) Revise Sec. 27.53(1) to clarify that where 2 or more contiguous channels are used as part of the same system, all out-of-band emissions limitations should be measured at the outermost edges of those contiguous channels. WCA said it opposed several of the suggestions filed by other parties in their petitions for reconsideration, including: (1) Use of any geographic area for governing transition other than basic trading areas (BTAs). It also said it believed the deadline for filing initiation plans should be extended until 30 months after the effective date of the elimination of the major economic area (MEA), but the Commission shouldn’t extend it any further. (2) The imposition of any ban on 2-way deployments prior to transition. (3) The proposal to require some, but not all, licensees to reimburse transition costs immediately following the transition. (4) Adoption of the proposed expanded MVPD opt-put or alternative band plan for rural areas. (5) The proposal for reinstatement of the former 15-year limit on the maximum term of an EBS excess capacity lease. (6) The ITFS/2.5 GHz Mobile Wireless Engineering & Development Alliance proposals for Commission micro-management of the 2.5 GHz band. WCA also said the rules adopted in the order to govern the licensing and operation of the J- and K-band guard channels shouldn’t be modified on reconsideration. “Those bands are primarily designed to serve as guardbands between low-power, cellular operation in the LBS/UBS and high-power, high-site operation in the MBS, and the proposed revisions to the governing rules would undermine that purpose,” it said.

Nextel said Thurs. it expects to spend $900 million in 2005 as it begins to implement the 800 MHz rebanding plan, approved by the FCC last year, which will eat up much of the company’s projected $2 billion free cash flow. About $600 million will be spent on new capacity sites, filters and working with public safety radio systems and $300 million to relocate broadcast auxiliary users and microwave incumbents from 1.9 GHz to 2.1 GHz, Nextel officials said on a call with analysts discussing 4th- quarter results.

An auction of 306 fixed wireless licenses in Canada brought in $45.4 million, Industry Canada announced. Canada sold licenses in the 2.3 and 3.5 GHz bands to be used for wireless broadband across the nation. Bell Canada was the largest bidder by far, bidding $45.4 million during the 17 day auction for 55 licenses. Telus Mobility came in 2nd, bidding $7 million for 130 licences. A numbered company bid $6 million for 25 licences. Rogers Wireless bid $3.8 million for 40 licences. Industry Canada said 8 other firms also bought licenses.

ICO Satellite Services asked the FCC Mon. to approve its 4th milestone condition of constructing and launching 2 non-geostationary satellites by the Jan. 17 deadline, even though the first of the 2 birds, F1, was destroyed when the launch vehicle malfunctioned March 12, 2000. The 2nd satellite, F2, was successfully launched June 19, 2001. In addition to F1 and F2, 6 other satellites have been nearly fully assembled and tested, and significant assembly has been completed for 4 more satellites, officials said in the filing. As a result of the progress, ICO previously certified well ahead of schedule with the first 3 milestones, ICO said. To date, ICO has invested almost $4 billion in its 2 GHz mobile satellite service system infrastructure, $1.2 billion of which has been invested in the last 5 years, the company said. Should the Commission determine that meeting the milestone requires both the launch and operation of the 2 satellites, ICO wants a waiver. The company said neither the FCC’s rules nor the letter of intent authorization defines the term “launch.” The company notes that under similar circumstances, the Commission has granted milestone waivers to licensees that have made substantial progress toward completing their systems.

With interest in ultra wideband (UWB) on the rise in the U.S. and parts of Asia, Europe is wrestling with whether and how to regulate the new technology. The most vexatious issue -- how to prevent UWB frequencies from interfering with existing services on the same frequencies -- is under study by several groups and the UWB industry is pressing the European Commission (EC) to act, sources said. However, they said, resistance to UWB from some quarters, and the fact that the technology isn’t a top priority for the EC, has left UWB’s status in Europe unsettled.

Vonage said it exceeded 400,000 lines on its network, doubling its subscriber base in less than 6 months. It said it ended 2004 with more than 390,000 lines in service having added 115,000 lines in the 4th quarter alone. Vonage also announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Wed.: (1) It has teamed with UTStarcom to introduce a Wi-Fi handset, F1000, configured with Vonage’s VoIP services. It said the product will be available to Vonage subscribers during spring or summer for 802.11b networks nationwide. (2) It has extended its relationship with Texas Instruments (TI) to include TI VoIP software and semiconductors in new Vonage-compatible communications products available from Viseon and VTech Communications. The 2 new devices include a digital home telephone from Viseon and a cordless broadband telephone system from VTech and are expected to be available in 2005. (3) It has joined with VTech to develop a 5.8 GHz expandable broadband phone system configured with Vonage’s service. It said the product, configured with the TI TNETV1060 VoIP chipset, will be available at over 8,000 retail locations nationwide during spring-summer.

The boards of Sprint and Nextel unanimously approved a $35 billion “merger of equals,” which company officials said they expected would get quick regulatory approval. The new company, to be called Sprint Nextel, would spin off to its shareholders Sprint’s local telecom business after the merger and likely would lay off workers. Officials also outlined the company’s network transition path.