FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly asked the Federal Transit Administration to step in to make sure riders on the Washington Metrorail system can make calls on their cellphones while in the system. The Department of Transportation in an Oct. 9 letter assumed direct control over safety on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority rail system.

The FCC released documents Monday on the proposed sale of 11 700 MHz licenses by Bluegrass to AT&T. The licenses, four in the B-block and seven in the C-block, cover parts of Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, the FCC said. Bluegrass doesn't have any customers using the spectrum, the agency said. The FCC established a pleading cycle. Petitions to deny are due Oct. 26, oppositions Nov. 2 and replies Nov. 9. “The Applicants maintain that the proposed transaction would provide AT&T with additional spectrum that would enable it to increase its system capacity to enhance existing services, better accommodate its overall growth, and facilitate the provision of additional products and services in eight Cellular Market Areas,” the FCC said. As a result of the deal, AT&T would be assigned 12 to 24 MHz of spectrum in a total in 51 counties, the agency said. “Post-transaction, AT&T would hold 103 to 165 megahertz of spectrum in total, including 43 to 55 megahertz of below-1-GHz spectrum, in these eight CMAs.” Under FCC spectrum aggregation rules, the deal would be subject to increased scrutiny because of AT&T’s low-band holdings in seven of the CMAs. The FCC sent questions to both carriers. Bluegrass was asked in a letter whether it explored selling the spectrum to a carrier other than AT&T. AT&T was asked to provide detail information on its build-out plans, including how it will use the spectrum to offer a “10x10 megahertz LTE network, on a standalone basis and/or in conjunction with any other of the Company’s spectrum holdings.”

Comments are due Oct. 26, replies Nov. 24, in the FCC's latest IP transition rulemaking, the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice posted Friday in docket 13-5. The Federal Register published a summary of the agency's Further NPRM Friday, triggering 30-day and 60-day comment and reply deadlines. The commission adopted the further notice and an accompanying IP/fiber transition order Aug. 6, and it released the 179-page text of the item Aug. 7 in which it proposed to codify general telecom service discontinuance standards under Section 214 of the Communications Act (see 1508060044 and 1508100019). The FCC specifically sought comment on its tentative conclusions that the criteria should include, among other things: “(1) network capacity and reliability; (2) service quality; (3) device and service interoperability, including interoperability with vital third-party services (through existing or new devices); (4) service for individuals with disabilities, including compatibility with assistive technologies; (5) PSAP and 9-1-1 service; (6) cybersecurity; (7) service functionality; and (8) coverage.”

The NG9-1-1 Institute said it's seeking candidates for open positions on its board. Nominations are due Sept. 16. Six positions are open -- one education professional, one representative of a small telecom carrier/company, two representatives of vendor/integrator/software companies, one representative at large and one representative at large representing public safety/public health. “The Institute shares and enhances the mission of the Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus to promote education regarding and the advancement of emergency services nationwide,” the group said. New board members are to be seated Oct. 21.

Staffers on Capitol Hill foresee a tall order in the 911 legislative recommendations that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler laid out last week at APCO’s conference (see 1508190056), which aren't yet manifested in any package or set for the fall agenda to anyone’s knowledge. Several Hill staffers weren't familiar with outreach from the FCC on the legislative package that Wheeler described, which he said would be critical for the implementation of Next-Generation 911 and should factor into the congressional calendar in future months. Former FCC officials agreed the issues deserve serious and expedient Hill attention.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs and Public Safety bureaus' joint workshop Aug. 27 on promoting wider accessibility and increased use of the emergency alert system (EAS) (see 1508040030) will have three sessions, hear from Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson, and include state and local officials, the FCC said in a public notice. The workshop will include a panel on ways to improve alert accessibility, such as synchronizing EAS audio and visual crawls, with Christian Vogler, director of Gallaudet University's Technology Access Program; Lillian McDonald, managing director of Twin Cities Public Television/Echo Minnesota Partnership; Charles McCobb, a program manager of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS); and Zainab Alkebsi, policy counsel at the National Association of the Deaf. A panel on promoting EAS use will be Jay English, APCO director-Comm Center & 9-1-1 services; Wade Witmer, IPAWS deputy director; Steve Souder, director of Fairfax County, Virginia's Department of Public Safety Communications; and Suzanne Goucher, Maine Association of Broadcasters CEO. The 1 to 4:30 p.m. workshop will be in the commission meeting room and streamed live at the FCC website. To register: John Evanoff, Public Safety Bureau attorney, at john.evanoff@fcc.gov or 202-418-0848.

The FCC issued its IP technology transition order and Further NPRM Friday, fleshing out specifics of what commissioners adopted 3-2 Thursday (see 1508060044). The 179-page text sets “rules of the road” for telecom carriers retiring copper-based networks and services. The commission often agreed with competitive LECs and their allies and disagreed with incumbent LECs on basic policies, though it declined to accept various proposals of both CLECs and ILECs.

House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., lauded the actions the FCC took at its meeting Thursday. “This week the FCC took a series of important steps to free up valuable spectrum for licensed and unlicensed use; ensure access to 9-1-1 during power outages; and advance our country’s transition to an all-IP world in which competition, public safety and consumer protection are preserved,” she said in a statement Friday. “In preparing for the world’s first voluntary incentive auction, I commend the Commission for strengthening wireless competition and expanding the nationwide availability of unlicensed spectrum. Ultimately, success of this auction should be measured not just by the revenue raised but by achieving these core policy goals embedded in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.”

Telecom carriers support streamlining network outage reporting rules, while opposing some FCC-proposed changes, replies in docket 15-80 indicate. AT&T, CenturyLink and Verizon said the FCC should make the Part 4 rules simpler and/or more targeted to maximize the production of useful information while limiting industry costs and burdens. But some carriers and groups voiced concern that various commission proposals could do the opposite: impose undue new burdens without yielding much useful information.

APCO told the FCC that, now that comments are in, it should move forward with the agency's proposal to end a requirement that nonservice-initialized (NSI) handsets -- cellphones no longer connected to a carrier network -- still must be able to connect to 911. In reply comments, carriers and public safety advocates lined up in opposition to dropping the requirement, largely as they had in the initial comment round (see 1506080043).