Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chmn. Inouye (D-Hawaii) ordered FCC to file report with panel on Commission’s role in protecting tribal lands from alleged illegal encroachment by wireless tower companies. Joint hearing with Senate Commerce Committee Tues. began with testimony from FCC Consumer & Govt. Affairs Bureau Chief Dane Snowden, who outlined existing and anticipated FCC initiatives to increase Indian Country access to telecom services. Although most members and panelists focused on issue of low penetration rates and measures being taken to address underserved areas, tone of hearing took abrupt turn. William Day, chmn. of United South & Eastern Indian Tribes’ Culture & Heritage Committee, said he questioned legality of FCC’s allowing cell tower companies to satisfy agency’s tribal governmental consultation obligations. This obligation involves determining the impact of telecom infrastructure on tribal lands, including sacred sites. Day lauded Congress for balancing efforts to spur electronic communications deployment on tribal lands and respect for tribal sovereignty: “Unfortunately, your work has been thwarted -- grossly thwarted -- by the Federal Communications Commission and its allies.”
At least 40 CEO-level executives of broadcast and cable companies and associations are expected at 10 a.m. Fri. at FCC hq for first meeting of FCC’s Media Security & Reliability Council. FCC Chmn. Powell is to participate in meeting, which is to focus on optimizing reliability and robustness of broadcast and multichannel media -- 202-418-2949.
U.S. Supreme Court gave FCC and competitive LECs clean- sweep victory Mon. as it upheld agency’s TELRIC pricing model and its rule requiring Bell companies to bundle uncombined elements when requested by CLECs. TELRIC (Total Element Long-Run Incremental Cost) model guides state regulators in setting prices that ILECs charge when they lease parts of their networks to competitors. Ruling reversed one by 8th U.S. Appeals Court, St. Louis, that had overturned those 2 FCC rules.
Electronic filings will become mandatory May 21 at FCC Media Bureau for change applications (FCC 301-CA), low-power TV applications (FCC 346), FM translator and booster change applications (FCC 349) and applications for translator or booster licenses (FCC 350). Users can access electronic filing system at www.fcc.gov/mb.
FCC Wireless Bureau set Oct. 1 deadline for first annual reports from 700 MHz guard band managers. Those licensees must- provide FCC with information on each license, including: (1) -Call sign and market area. (2) Total number of spectrum users. (3) Number of spectrum users affiliated with guard band manager. (4) Amount of spectrum used by guard band manager’s affiliates in any part of licensed service area and amount of spectrum used as part of agreements with unaffiliated 3rd parties. (5) “General nature” of customers’ spectrum use. (6) Length of term of each user’s agreement. Information must be current as of licensee’s operations on Aug. 1, 2002. To extent that guard band manager doesn’t have spectrum agreements in place, “it should describe its progress toward leasing the spectrum, including but not limited to when it expects to have agreements in place and when equipment will be available,” bureau said.
OPASTCO said bill (S-2075) by Sen. Baucus (D-Mont.) could improve ability of small wireless carriers to participate in competitive auctions if “significantly amended.” Bill would require FCC to award at least one license to rural service area “or similarly sized geographic area” when more than one license in single block of spectrum was available. OPASTCO Pres. John Rose said Mon. in letter to Baucus that while bill promotes small company access to spectrum, it contains loophole that could allow large carriers to own “more than 25% of an auction participant who is a small business, rural telephone company, or a minority or woman-owned business.” OPASTCO recommends Baucus insert requirement in bill that would force FCC to adopt methods preventing such ownership by large companies. Association also would like changes in bill to create 2-phase licensing process similar to what FCC uses for cellular unserved markets. Rose said process would require FCC to determine whether wireless service has been deployed in rural areas during phase I before allowing carrier to deploy in larger market area during phase II.
National Telecom Co-op Assn. (NTCA) says broadband regulatory parity bill (S-2430) by Sen. Breaux (D-La.) and Senate Minority Whip Nickles (R-Okla.) jeopardizes rural carrier eligibility for universal service support. NTCA said Mon. in letter to Breaux and Nickles that although bill doesn’t propose interLATA and unbundling relief to ILECS at expense of small telcos, as Tauzin-Dingell bill (HR-1542) would have accomplished, it still could harm carriers “by reclassifying broadband services as something other than Title II telecommunications services… The legislation would leave the reclassification of broadband services and the future of universal service program and what it will cover to the FCC alone to ponder,” NTCA’s Govt. Affairs Committee said. It said Breaux-Nickles, by removing regulatory distinctions of broadband providers, regardless of technology, places rural telcos “in the position of being brought under obligations their rural exemption currently protects them from.”
Citing new data from Telcordia Technologies, Cingular Wireless and Sprint PCS told FCC Mon. that ancillary terrestrial usage of mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum would eat up capacity of satellite uplink. Carriers said 90- page technical paper they commissioned from Telcordia researcher indicated even “modest” ancillary terrestrial networks “would pose a substantial risk of rendering the satellite incapable of providing any MSS services, including in remote and rural areas.” Sprint and Cingular said only “reasonable conclusion” to be drawn from proposal of MSS licensees is that they don’t plan to share spectrum between ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) and MSS use, but plan to separate MSS band into one segment for ATC and another for MSS operations. Wireless carriers filed late comments to FCC on possibility of using MSS spectrum for terrestrial wireless operations, either by MSS licensees or others. FCC last Aug. adopted notice of proposed rulemaking in response to request by New ICO to develop terrestrial spectrum using bands allocated to MSS (CD April 4/2000 p1). Data from wireless carriers comes as MSS licensees such as Globalstar are urging FCC to allow ATC usage in spectrum as means of keeping their operations financially viable.
Senate Commerce Committee and Indian Affairs Committee witness list for joint panel hearing today (May 14) on tribal telecom issues: FCC Consumer & Govt. Affairs Bureau Chief Dane Snowden, Western Wireless Pres. John Stanton, Mont. Independent Telecom Systems Exec. Vp Michael Strand, United South & Eastern Tribes Culture & Heritage Committee Chmn. William Day, Yurok Tribe Chmn. Sue Masten, National Congress of American Indians Economic Development Consultant Marcia Warren-Edelman. Hearing is 10 a.m., Rm. 253, Russell Bldg.
FCC issued 30-day Special Temporary Authority to replace Intelsat 709 by 705 from date it began to drift because of special circumstances involving satellite anomaly that made 9 of 36 MHz units of C-band capacity in Eastern Hemisphere beam unusable, subject to following conditions: (1) During drift of Intelsat 705 to 50 degrees W from 53 degrees W and Intelsat 709 drift to 55.35 degrees W from 50 degrees W, Intelsat can’t operate communications payload on Intelsat 705 and Intelsat 709. (2) Intelsat must coordinate tracking and control operations with existing geostationary satellites to ensure no unacceptable interference results from tracking operations during drift. (3) Intelsat must operate 709 satellite at 55.35 degrees W. (4) Intelsat must operate 705 satellite consistent with all coordination and operation agreements at 50 degrees W. Relocation of satellite will help Intelsat complement capacity of Intelsat 805 located at 55.5 degrees W. Intelsat 805 is limited to Ku-band capacity. Satellite is expected to be on station May 25.