Two medium-sized West Coast cities have taken very different approaches to zoning proposals for controlling wireless telecom tower siting, with Cal. city’s plan almost certain to end up in court if adopted, while Ore. city’s plan appears to be proceeding with hardly ripple.

Palm, citing sluggish sales of high-end Tungsten handheld PCs, warned Mon. it expected shortfall in forecast sales for 3rd quarter. Handheld PC maker said revenue for quarter end Feb. 28 would be $205-$208 million, down from earlier projections of $230-$250 million. Palm also cut 19% of work force in quarter and said it expected to take $2.7 million charged related to settlement of 2 legal matters, which it didn’t disclose. While worldwide shipments of handheld PCs slumped 9% in 2002 to 12.1 million units, sales of Palm products were down 12% to 4.4 million units, Gartner Dataquest said. At same time, Palm said demand for low-priced models such as Zire ($99)and midrange devices met expectations in U.S. and were strong across Europe. However, sales of Tungsten model fell short of expectations even after Palm trimmed price 20% in early Feb. Palm, which previously announced $40-$45 million in charges related to severance and real estate, said it would take an additional $100 million noncash charge to reduce carrying value of 39 acres of land in San Jose where it had planned to build new hq. Meanwhile, Sony Ericsson joint venture was expected to introduce new color screen mobile phone on Tues., Swedish news service reported. T310 is expected to ship in 2nd quarter as follow-up to T300 that Sony Ericsson began selling last year. Company also will be introducing T610, cellphone with built-in camera, news service Mobil reported.

FCC set schedule for migrating private land mobile radio service (PLMRS) systems below 800 MHz to more efficient narrowband technology. Commission agreed with industry feedback that current approach of encouraging spectrum efficiency in those bands based on equipment certification wasn’t enough by itself to shift to more efficient technology. FCC also approved further notice seeking comment on other efficiency issues. Order, adopted Feb. 12 and released Tues.: (1) Barred applications for new operations using 25 kHz channels, starting 6 months after order is published in Federal Register. (2) Prohibited changes that would expand authorized contour of existing station if bandwidth for covered transmissions were greater than 12.5 kHz, within 6 months of order’s being published. (3) Didn’t allow certification of equipment in 25 kHz mode starting Jan. 1, 2005. (4) Barred manufacture and import of 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz equipment that could operate on 25 kHz bandwidth starting Jan. 1, 2008. (5) Set deadlines for migrating to more efficient 12.5 kHz technology for private wireless systems at 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz. Deadline is Jan. 1, 2013, for nonpublic safety systems and Jan. 1, 2018, for public safety. FCC asked whether equipment certification provision of existing rules would promote migration to one voice path per 6.25 kHz bandwidth or equivalent technology and whether such migration should be mandatory. American Mobile Telecom Assn. (AMTA) had proposed to Commission that certain PLMRS licensees be required to use new spectrum- efficient technologies. It wanted nonpublic safety licenses between 222 MHz and 896 MHz either to be required to use technology with twice capacity of most current operations or to accept secondary status. Existing rules stipulate FCC will certify increasingly efficient equipment only in those bands, allowing 25 kHz capability to be included in more efficient narrowband 12.5 kHz or 6.25 kHz equipment to allow backward compatibility. Among changes were different nationwide mandatory migration dates for nonpublic safety and public safety systems to give consideration to budget constraints of state and local govts. Aside from deadlines, FCC said other “incremental changes” involving narrowband technology didn’t alone guarantee more spectrum efficiency but would “serve as catalysts toward employment of 12.5 kHz technology and encourage licensees to begin their conversion to narrowband technology prior to the mandatory migration dates.” Commission in further notice tentatively concluded similar steps were warranted to ease migration to 6.25 kHz technology, which is seen as ultimate goal after transitioning to 12.5 kHz. If migration to 6.25 kHz were adopted, FCC asked what compliance dates should be set.

Spending in U.S. telecom industry will rise 8% to $736 billion in 2003, led by specialized services spending, new “2003 Telecommunications Market Review and Forecast” study by TIA said. It said total spending in U.S. telecom industry in 2003-2006 would increase at 9% compound annual rate, rising to $963 billion from $681 billion in 2002. In 2002, spending in telecom sector rose 3.5% over 2001, with double-digit increases in wireless services, services in support of equipment and high-speed Internet access offsetting 15.4% drop in equipment spending, report said.

NARUC’s telecom and consumer affairs staff subcommittees advanced 6 policy resolutions for consideration by NARUC’s Telecom & Consumer Affairs Committees at group’s winter meeting in Washington, which continues through Wed. They addressed wireless broadband, Internet telephony, spam, consumer education, carrier changeovers, wireless number portability.

Three Va. telecom bills saw action in legislature. Bill to prohibit municipalities from cross-subsidizing their telecom services with contributions from municipal taxes, other utility services or in-kind support cleared Senate committee process and headed to chamber floor. Under HB- 2397, municipally owned telecom carriers would have to file annual report with Va. Corporation Commission showing they had separately accounted for all telecom-service revenue and expenses and that they had received no monetary or in-kind support from municipality, such as free access to municipally owned land. Bill also would prohibit municipal telecoms from denying for-profit telecom carriers access to their poles and conduits if any space was available. It would allow state regulators to deregulate rates for specific categories of customers in competitive markets. Va. bill for state no-call telemarketing list was defeated in House Commerce & Labor Committee. Failed measure (HB-2311) would have had list administered by state Office of Consumer Affairs and enforced by civil lawsuits brought by state or individuals. Va. House Science & Technology Committee knocked down another Va. telecom bill that would have designated central coordinating agency for all public-sector broadband implementation efforts. Committee voted to indefinitely table HB-1816, which would have designated Va. Center for Innovative Technology as broadband coordinator. Tabling action effectively kills bill.

Both U.K. and U.S. spectrum policies are far from perfect and need lot of work, speakers said at Center for Digital Economy Washington conference on spectrum policy reform in U.K. and U.S. Speakers called FCC Spectrum Policy Task Force Report (SPTF) “not aggressive enough” and said U.K. spectrum policy “is a mess.”

Preliminary ultra-wideband (UWB) test results from FAA indicated ground-penetrating radar device caused “very, very severe” interference to aircraft at certain distances, officials said Wed. In tests on airborne helicopter at distance of 100 feet from GPR device, “it totally blocks the communications,” FAA Program Mgr. George Sakai told us. He stressed test results were preliminary and that there would be follow-up round before formal report was given to NTIA in May.

Critics of 800 MHz rebanding proposal crafted by Nextel and public safety and private wireless groups told FCC this week that Nextel’s pledge of $850 million to help relocate displaced incumbents wasn’t likely to be enough. Comments were due Mon. on revised 800 MHz reconfiguration blueprint designed to help mitigate interference to public safety operators. Wireless carriers, some private wireless operators and others stepped up criticism of revamped joint plan submitted late last year to Commission. But Nextel defended plan, saying $850 million commitment was enough to “fund all reasonable relocation costs.”

Telecom bills advancing around country address municipal broadband, deceptive spam, telemarketing, carphone safety, 911, telecom taxation, other topics.