FirstNet doesn’t have to cost states all the taxpayer dollars people fear, a telecom consultant argued. He said that’s despite an established belief that the $7 billion in federal money devoted to building the federal public safety broadband network is not sufficient and will hurt the project. Private equity can and should cover the brunt of what will be enormous costs, said Michael Myers, a consultant speaking on a state planning panel Friday afternoon. The FirstNet Oklahoma Panhandle Region Coordination Element (FORCE) has begun holding a series of talks since its formation earlier this year. Its Friday talk centered on how to bring utilities into the picture and emphasized Myers’ plan.

The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment on an LL License Holdings request for a one-year extension to meet its tribal lands construction requirements on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota and the Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska. The FCC gave LL $890,500 in May 2009 through its Tribal Land Bidding Credit (TLBC) program toward LL’s purchase of lower 700 MHz A-block licenses for BEA 115 and BEA 116. That TLBC funding equaled 50 percent of LL’s gross bid for the two licenses, the FCC said. In order to receive that funding, LL agreed to build and operate “a system capable of serving [75] percent of the population of the qualifying tribal land ... for which the credit was awarded.” LL filed its extension request May 11, about a month prior to its June 13 tribal lands construction deadline, citing “current unavailability of LTE equipment and devices for use in connection with licenses in the Lower 700 MHz Band A Block stemming from a lack of interoperability with operations in the Lower 700 MHz B and C Blocks.” The FCC said Friday it set a Dec. 16 deadline for comments on the request, with a Dec. 31 deadline for submission of replies to those comments (http://xrl.us/bnzz9o).

The FCC should deny attempts to rescind the Tribal Government Engagement Obligation Provisions developed during the agency’s work on USF reform, the National Broadband Plan and the Connect America Fund, the National Congress of American Indians of the U.S. (NCAI) said Tuesday in an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bnznyn). The filing occurred after the NCAI adopted a resolution Oct. 26 encouraging the FCC to uphold the Tribal Engagement Provisions, which the FCC’s Office of Native Affairs developed in connection with the Wireline and Wireless bureaus (http://xrl.us/bnznyt). The FCC developed the provisions “with the intent of improving the deployment of telecommunications services on tribal lands,” NCAI President Jefferson Keel said in the filing. The NCAI grew concerned after USTelecom filed a petition that requested reconsideration and clarification of the provisions. NCAI, Native Public Media, the Gila River Indian Community and Gila River Telecommunications filed replies in opposition to the USTelecom petition (CD Sept 28 p6). “Any rescission of the Tribal Engagement Provisions would be an unfortunate set-back in the progress needed to bring digital communications to this country’s least connected peoples and lands,” Keel said Tuesday in the NCAI filing.

Doubt about the proposed FirstNet architecture’s reliability is widespread, the final round of comments to NTIA show. The agency had requested information about a September proposal of the architecture, with comments due Friday. Several state entities expressed concerns about appropriate hardening and requested the early deployment of pilots. The last round of comments also reveal concern about the FirstNet devices, the FirstNet law’s constitutionality and the question of who should access the eventual network.

When it is built, FirstNet must take advantage of commercial infrastructure and “public/private partnerships,” the Association for Public-Safety Communications Officials said in a filing at the NTIA, dated Thursday, which has not yet been posted by the agency. But APCO gave a thumbs down to any proposal built around a partnership with a single national wireless carrier. PCIA - The Wireless Infrastructure Association, meanwhile, stressed the role commercial infrastructure must play in support of the national public safety network.

One key to expanding municipal broadband is promoting “a progressive agenda on a state-by-state basis” and telling “a national progressive narrative,” said Progressive States Network Broadband Policy Advisor Fabiola Carrion. “You must consider it a utility,” she said of community broadband, comparing it to water and electricity. She spoke Wednesday afternoon as part of a Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) panel on the role of community broadband in growing local economies. MAG-Net is an initiative of the Center for Media Justice with more than 100 members. There are 54 U.S. cities that own citywide fiber networks and 79 that own citywide cable networks, the organization said in its panel announcement.

One key to expanding municipal broadband is promoting “a progressive agenda on a state-by-state basis” and telling “a national progressive narrative,” said Progressive States Network Broadband Policy Advisor Fabiola Carrion. “You must consider it a utility,” she said of community broadband, comparing it to water and electricity. She spoke Wednesday afternoon as part of a Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) panel on the role of community broadband in growing local economies. MAG-Net is an initiative of the Center for Media Justice with more than 100 members. There are 54 U.S. cities that own citywide fiber networks and 79 that own citywide cable networks, the organization said in its panel announcement.

The FCC Wireless Bureau scheduled an educational workshop for Tuesday on the Section 106 process for construction of new communications towers and collocation of communications gear on other structures. The workshop is in the Commission Meeting Room, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern. It “will provide guidance to its licensees and their consultants, and for those who construct communications facilities for FCC licensees, on the Section 106 process required by the National Historic Preservation Act and by the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for Review of Effects on Historic Properties for Certain Undertakings Approved by the Federal Communications Commission,” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bnup6w). “Among the topics to be discussed are improvements to the submittal of documentation to the FCC, State Historic Preservation Offices, and to Indian Tribes. A particular focus will be the effects of communications projects on historic and Tribal landscapes and on Tribal religious and cultural properties.”

The following individuals have been added to OFAC's SDN List:

The FCC can improve digital literacy without investing significant funds by adopting a two-pronged approach, Tom Sloan (R), a Kansas state representative, told the commission in a filing on “Digital Literacy Thoughts” (http://xrl.us/bnucfd). First, the FCC could require telecom companies receiving Connect America Fund money to detail their prospective marketing to address the “digital illiteracy” of “hard to convince” prospective customers, he said. Second, in addition to supporting the cable industry’s “Connect to Compete” project, the FCC could facilitate development of a technology-neutral “Connect to Succeed” program that could be supported by wire, fiber, wireless and satellite providers, Sloan said. That would increase the number of potential “salespersons” reaching out to currently unconnected people, he said. Sloan is a member of the FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee, which provides guidance to the commission on issues of importance to state, local and tribal governments.