FCC unanimously approved Deutsche Telekom’s (DT) merger with VoiceStream and Powertel, imposing no special conditions on $34 billion deal and provoking renewed commitment from Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.) to seek restrictions on foreign govt. ownership in U.S. telecom companies. FCC adopted order 4-0, with Comr. Furchtgott- Roth dissenting in part on separate deal on national security issues between federal agencies and companies. Order, approved Tues., is expected to be released as early as today (Thurs.) Commission said in news release it found DT would “have neither the incentive nor the ability to engage in unfair competition, specifically predatory pricing, in the U.S. domestic mobile telephony market.”

FCC should heed Mitre study released Tues. (CD April 25 p5), Rep. Oxley (R-O.) said Wed. after study showed land-based communications system proposed by Northpoint posed significant interference threat to satellite TV signals (CD April 25 p5) without safeguards. Northpoint seeks access to 12.2-12.7 GHz band used by DBS services, but satellite providers say Northpoint service would interfere with their signals. Study didn’t give clear-cut answer to FCC on whether it should grant license, but recommended steps Commission could take to prevent interference. “People pay good money for a clear satellite signal,” Oxley said. “If they wanted snow, they could go back to rabbit ears.”

Wireless carriers lined up at FCC to oppose petition by Richardson, Tex., which wants agency to clarify process by which requests for Phase 2 Enhanced 911 service are made by public safety answering points (PSAPs). Richardson, in petition filed earlier this month, wants Commission to confirm that PSAP makes valid request for such service by informing carrier that necessary equipment upgrades for Phase 2 service will be finalized before delivery of E911 data by carrier and by having adequate cost- recovery mechanism in place to upgrade equipment. Echoing comments of other carriers, Verizon Wireless urged FCC this week to deny petition. PSAPs must be able to receive and use E911 data as condition of valid request, Verizon argued. PSAP must have capability to receive this enhanced location information at time that it makes request to carrier, Verizon told FCC. In part, Verizon said Richardson’s petition doesn’t acknowledge that FCC requirements “balanced the objective of rapid E911 deployment with that of mitigating carrier’s costs and ensuring that PSAPs timely upgrade their own networks.” CTIA also urged Commission to reject Richardson request. “Richardson’s request should be denied because it is bad public policy, it conflicts with the Commission’s rules and the Commission already has addressed the matter.” CTIA argues in comments that policy based on PSAPs’ intention to upgrade their equipment would be faulty, because sometimes such plans don’t materialize and carriers are left sorting through requests from agencies that both have and haven’t completed upgrades.

LAS VEGAS -- Whether to begin producing programming in HDTV is “bet-the-business decision” but it “has to happen,” CBS Vp- Operations Barry Zegel said. CBS realizes that “content had to come first” in DTV transition, he told NATPE-sponsored panel here Wed. on DTV programming, indicating that content would drive other parts of DTV transition.

AOL’s claim of security and privacy concerns for its refusal to make its instant messaging (IM) services interoperable with competitors gained “sympathetic ear” at FCC but company provided “zero evidence” to support that claim, FCC Chief Economist Gerald Faulhaber told American Enterprise Institute seminar on “Instant Messaging and the AOL-Time Warner Merger” Wed. All that Commission heard from AOL on issue was that “you don’t want dirty pictures coming up before your kids.” FCC would have liked to have seen more evidence on switching costs and concerns about spamming and viruses, but AOL didn’t submit such material in record, he said. In absence of evidence to support claims of security and privacy risks to customers and switching costs, Commission concluded that IM market had tipped toward AOL. AOL’s argument that its competitors’ market share had grown was compelling, he said, but that argument against tipping was relevant only in mature market. Although IM has seen rapid growth, market was far from mature, Faulhaber said. Remedy FCC had adopted in requiring interoperability before AOL offered advanced IM services wasn’t focused on existing IM but on underlying Names and Presence Database (NPD) input and its use in advanced IM, Faulhaber said. Company could have dealt with security and privacy issues by having 2 services -- one that was interoperable and other that wasn’t, he said.

FCC defended efforts to seek specific information from cable operators about their current system capacity, plans for future capacity and retransmission consent deals covering digital programming while it conducts more general DTV survey of broadcasters. In response to recent letter from NCTA, Cable Bureau Chief Deborah Lathen said Commission sent detailed DTV survey only to MSOs because “we believe broadcasters that advocate dual carriage have an incentive to provide us with information in an effort to justify such a requirement.” Noting that agency tentatively decided against imposing dual-carriage obligations in Jan., Lathen said that “the onus is on those who favor mandatory dual carriage to provide the necessary information to overcome this existing presumption.” Moreover, she wrote, questions posed to cable operators in survey “are more objective and suitable for tabulation than the questions we might pose to individual broadcast stations.” She said questions in DTV must-carry further notice of proposed rulemaking that seek specific information about broadcasters’ DTV programming and formats should “help to focus commenters on the Commission’s need for specificity in the record.”

Mo. PSC told FCC it continued to support Southwestern Bell Telephone’s entry into interLATA long distance market and assured Commission that it would act “expeditiously” to meet its commitment to set permanent rates for wholesale services telco provides to CLECs. PSC, in Mon. filing ahead of Tues. deadline for state and 3rd party comments on SBC business unit’s Sec. 271 long distance application for Mo., described SBC unit’s compliance with 14-point open-market checklist. Agency also described how company won PSC’s support in late March by revising its interim wholesale service rates and terms to be similar to those FCC approved in SBC’s successful long distance bids for Kan. and Okla. Mo. PSC supplied FCC with its procedural schedules for addressing permanent, cost-based rates and terms for colocation, unbundled network elements, digital subscriber line (DSL) loop conditioning and DSL line splitting and line sharing. PSC said it planned to hold hearings on SBC’s wholesale services at various times from Aug. through Dec. FCC must rule on SBC’s Mo. application by July 3.

Commerce Secy. Donald Evans met with wireless industry executives again Tues. to discuss spectrum issues, following up on similar session last month on 3rd-generation wireless challenges. CTIA Pres. Tom Wheeler said Evans met with executive committee of association, which stressed international ramifications of U.S. spectrum needs and “spectrum gap” in U.S. compared with other countries. Wireless executives also emphasized need for plan that “identifies and delivers harmonized spectrum and does that in a very expeditious way.” Wheeler said, “he is very aware of the fact that this is something that has to be resolved at a principals level,” referring to need for discussion among top- ranking officials of different federal agencies. In general, one challenge of Bush Administration has been that some of principals still needed to be in place to begin carrying out discussions, including head of NTIA, which hasn’t yet been named. “He’s very interested in seeing things happen,” said one source. To that end, Evans has discussed spectrum issues with Defense Secy. Donald Rumsfeld and “both Powells,” source said, meaning Secy. of State Colin Powell and FCC Chm. Michael Powell.

Multichannel Video Distribution & Data Services (MVDDS) could cause “significant interference threat” to DBS services unless “wide variety of mitigation techniques” are used, according to independent Mitre report released by FCC late Mon. Report said mitigation techniques, if applied properly under appropriate circumstances, could greatly reduce potential MVDDS interference impact upon DBS. Report stopped short of endorsing Northpoint or supporting DBS claims (CD April 9 p6). Instead it left final decision up to FCC, but did provide technical assessment of issues surrounding interference. “MVDDS/DBS bandsharing appears feasible if and only if suitable mitigation measures are applied,” report said: “Different combinations of measures are likely to prove best for different locales and situations.” Supporters of DBS and Northpoint claimed victory following release of report.

Three communications lobbyists have written how-to guide FCC Lobbying: Handbook of Insider Tips and Practical Advice. Authors Erwin Krasnow, David Siddall and Michael Berg practice at Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand. Book published by Telecommunications Reports International is $199 in print, $179 on Internet -- www.tr.com or 800-822-6388.