Information security teams generally lack knowledge and tools to detect security incidents involving mobile devices and fix the problem before major damage occurs, said AccessData and Gigaom Research Tuesday in a report. A “significant” percentage of entities take almost no steps to ensure company-issued or employee-supplied mobile devices are secure when interacting with corporate data, the report said, citing an InformationWeek survey that found only 46 percent of entities required employees using their own devices for corporate purposes to run a MDM client on the device. Fewer entities have procedures to adequately respond to a security incident involving mobile devices, the report said. AccessData and Gigaom recommended information security teams expand their training and tools to deal with mobile device-related incidents (http://bit.ly/1nzZzq4).
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has a “keen interest” in improving the environmental compliance and historic preservation review process that’s critical to the buildout of wireless facilities, FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman said in brief remarks at the start of an FCC workshop Tuesday. Sherman said the issues “span many bureaus” and must be addressed “agency-wide.” The FCC sees National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rules as “important legal obligations” and the FCC intends to meet its obligations “in a manner that best advances our primary mission of making communications services available to the public,” he said. Wheeler wants FCC staff to look for ways “we can streamline, expedite and simplify” enforcement of the rules, he said. “Stay tuned for developments in this area.” Sherman said the FCC has relied on two key programmatic agreements for more than 10 years on compliance with the NHPA, covering collocation of wireless antennas and telecommunications projects (http://1.usa.gov/UGFVR2). The programmatic agreements “turned what had been a completely disorganized mess into a basically functioning series of steps,” said Jeffrey Steinberg, deputy chief of the bureau’s Spectrum and Competition Policy Division. The workshop updated various siting topics, including the Antenna Structure Registration Process and communications towers and archeology. Roger Kirchen, compliance manager at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, said, given the layers of history in the state, carriers face “a really complex environment” as they build out facilities. The state alone has 122 Civil War battlefield study areas, covering 1.2 million acres, he said. “That leaves probably about 10 acres in which you can build cell towers in Virginia,” Kirchen joked. Joelle Gehring, an FCC biologist, said the agency is required to look at endangered plants as well as animals as it reviews siting applications.
Ketchikan, Alaska, was granted a waiver by the FCC Wireless Bureau to allow licensing of a Common Carrier Fixed Point to Point Microwave Station in the 6425-6525 MHz band, said a bureau order released in Tuesday’s Daily Digest (http://bit.ly/1iu8gVB). It said Ketchikan demonstrated it has no reasonable alternative to using frequencies in the 6425-6525 MHz band.
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved two waiver requests from Sprint allowing the carrier to deploy 800 MHz wideband operations in parts of Northern California and Nevada National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) regions before the ongoing 800 MHz band reconfiguration is completed there. Granting the waivers “will permit LTE deployment in most of the counties within the Northern California and Nevada NPSPAC regions, providing Sprint’s subscribers access to these valuable broadband wireless services while protecting the remaining public safety entity from harmful interference,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1v2e3BV), saying taking the step is in the public interest. The 800 MHz rebanding is complete in both regions, except for two sites licensed to San Bernardino County in Northern California and one site licensed to the county in Nevada, the bureau said.
The FCC Technological Advisory Council Tuesday asked for expressions of interest from anyone interested in serving on a working group “committed to exploring multilayered solutions to mobile device theft.” Applications to join the group and nominations of potential members are due at the FCC July 8, said a public notice (http://bit.ly/1rvkYTP).
The FCC fined Indigo Wireless $39,000 for failing to offer to consumers the required number or percentage of hearing-aid compatible handsets in 2009. In December 2010, the FCC issued a notice of apparent liability for that amount against the carrier. In a response, Indigo questioned whether it was in violation and argued that the amount of the fine was “excessive, arbitrary, and would cause financial hardship to the company,” said an Enforcement Bureau order released Friday (http://bit.ly/1rqvI5W). The bureau said it found “no basis for cancellation or reduction of the proposed forfeiture.” The bureau disputed Indigo’s contention that any violation was not willful. “Willful noncompliance is not predicated on a finding of knowledge or intent to violate the law,” the bureau said. The fine is not out of line, said the bureau: “A carrier’s failure to offer the requisite number or percentage of digital hearing aid-compatible handset models can never be regarded as a minor violation, given the significance of the requirement.” Indigo had no comment.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Monday asked for comment on a public trial of Comsearch’s TV white spaces database. The trial ended April 9. Comsearch told the FCC in a June report that during the 45-day trial, 63 different parties visited its site, with seven offering comments (http://bit.ly/1j8b85e). Comments to the FCC are due July 8, replies July 15, OET said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/1pbzvXL).
LTE subscribers use “dramatically larger amounts of data than 3G subscribers,” Mobidia Technology said Monday in a report. LTE subscribers in Hong Kong averaged nearly 100 percent more data consumption than 3G subscribers during the first four months of 2014, the period covered by the report. LTE subscribers in Japan, South Korea and the U.S. had the top average data usage per subscriber, with subscribers in Japan using 3 GB per month during the study period, Mobidia said. LTE subscribers are also becoming increasingly reliant on Wi-Fi, with 75 to 90 percent of all mobile data usage from LTE phones occurring on Wi-Fi networks in major LTE markets (http://bit.ly/1izWbOr).
The FCC asked for comment on a Land Mobile Communications Council proposal that the agency extend conditional licensing authority to applicants for Part 90 site-based licenses in the 470-512 MHz and 800/900 MHz bands. But the Wireless and Public Safety bureaus refused to give LMCC a waiver it also sought pending the completion of a rulemaking (http://bit.ly/1nx8Ted). The LMCC asked for the change in a May 15 petition, arguing that it would provide greater flexibility for applicants “without compromising the quality of service available in T-Band or in the 800/900 MHz bands” (http://bit.ly/V64jw2). If approved, applicants could start using the spectrum while their applications are before the FCC, provided certain conditions are met, the LMCC said. The bureaus said Monday most applicants seeking a new station or to modify an existing public land mobile radio (PLMR) station below 470 MHz are permitted to operate the proposed station during the application’s pendency for a period of up to 180 days, stating 10 days after the application is submitted to the commission. This flexibility is not allowed for applicants in the PLMR bands above 470 MHz. LMCC said in its petition the distinction no longer makes sense. Comments are due July 23, replies Aug. 7.
Carriers need certainty on when post-auction payments are due following the AWS-3 auction, CTIA said in reply comments to the commission. Uncertainty makes planning for the auction difficult for carriers likely to spend “millions, or even billions of dollars” for AWS-3 licenses, CTIA said Monday in a filing in docket 14-78 (http://bit.ly/1lLh1JV). “Uncertainty regarding payment deadlines could complicate and/or determine how capital is raised, how cash flow is managed, and how financials are reported,” CTIA said. “With such obstacles, full auction participation may be discouraged.” Specifically, the FCC should clarify that down payments and final payments are both due in 2015. The auction is to start Nov. 13. CTIA said auctions like the AWS-3 auction generally run one or two months.