Commerce Secy. Donald Evans sent FCC Chmn. Powell letter late Fri. asking for 60 additional days to complete analysis of ultra-wideband (UWB) systems, Commerce Dept. source said. Evans believes 60 more days are needed to complete evaluation of UWB systems to ensure protection of critical govt. operations and safety of life services, source said. Letter comes after Deputy Defense Secy. Paul Wolfowitz asked Evans to advocate delay in final regulatory decision until at least Feb. (CD Nov 29 p1). NTIA officials and engineers are meeting on accelerated basis with other govt. agencies and FCC to try to reach unified govt. position on UWB, several sources said. Wolfowitz letter to Evans had indicated that DoD review of preliminary draft of FCC’s UWB rules found “they will not provide adequate protection for GPS and other critical DoD systems.” Wolfowitz had asked Evans to seek additional 60 days from time that final FCC draft is ready for review by other govt. agencies. Several sources have said item on UWB began circulating on 8th floor at FCC last week. But how Evans’s letter may affect timing of UWB placement on agenda for FCC’s Dec. 12 meeting wasn’t clear at our deadline. Powell had told House Appropriations Subcommittee earlier this year that FCC could issue UWB rulemaking by year-end, although at time it was awaiting final govt. evaluation of interference issues. Wolfowitz letter had pointed out that NTIA, Transportation Dept. and industry tests had concluded UWB devices could cause significant harmful interference to GPS and other key DoD systems. Goal of Evans seeking more time from FCC before final decision is to “find a solution that takes into account the importance of bringing new technologies like UWB to the market without compromising critical life systems related to public safety and national defense,” Commerce Dept. source said. “The analysis we are doing is based on facts and it is extremely complex and time-consuming.” Docket at FCC on UWB proceeding (98-153) has attracted nearly 780 filings. UWB developer Time Domain told Commission in recent ex parte filing that it believed testing had shown UWB could operate at levels set in FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking without causing harmful interference to existing services. FCC spokeswoman said Commission wasn’t releasing letter Mon. and had no comment on request for additional time.
FCC asked for comments by Dec. 14 on Verizon petition for pricing flexibility for special access and dedicated transport services in certain geographic areas. Replies are due Dec. 24.
FCC rejected petition for reconsideration by Primosphere to construct, launch and operate Satellite Digital Audio Radio satellites, Commission said Nov. 30. Agency also denied Primosphere applications to overturn decisions granting CD Radio and American Mobile Radio licenses to build, launch and operate SDARS satellites. Commission dismissed earlier petition from Primosphere because company was unsuccessful bidder in auction and there were no SDARS licenses available.
FCC extended to Dec. 7 deadline for nominations to fill 3 vacancies to its Local and State Govt. Advisory Committee (LSGAC). Two of vacancies are to be filled by elected municipal officials (mayor or council member) and one by local govt. attorney (elected or appointed). Nominations were to close Nov. 30.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Judge’s order late Fri. permitting bankrupt @Home Corp. to cut cable modem service to 14 of its 15 cable partners set off 2 scrambles -- one by cable lawyers vowing to seek U.S. Dist. Court stay before weekend and other by @Home and cable operators to negotiate, under 12-hour deadline, sweeter revenue cut for @Home. At stake was: (1) whether more than 3 million residential customers would lose their high-speed access -- and with it access to e-mail and in some cases their own Web pages; (2) how much blame cable operators would catch; and (3)how much @Home might be worth coming out of bankruptcy sale or reorganization.
Ultra-wideband (UWB) developer XtremeSpectrum said it disagreed with recent letter by Deputy Defense Secy. Paul Wolfowitz on regulatory restrictions DoD was advocating be placed on technology. XtremeSpectrum CEO Martin Rofheart said company agreed with Wolfowitz that “rules can be crafted to allow this technology to move forward.” Rofheart said: “We strongly disagree, however, with the unnecessarily stringent technical limitations that the Deputy Secretary proposes, outside the GPS bands. Not only would those limitations deprive consumers and public safety users of valuable UWB applications, but there is absolutely nothing that justifies them in the very extensive technical record compiled by the FCC in this three-and-one-half-year-old proceeding.” Wolfowitz told Commerce Secy. Donald Evans that he advocated delay in final regulatory decision on UWB until “at least February.” Expectation is that UWB could be on agenda for FCC’s Dec. 12 meeting, although timing wasn’t clear late Fri. Wolfowitz said DoD review of preliminary draft of FCC’s UWB rules indicated that they wouldn’t provide adequate protection for GPS and “other critical DoD systems” (CD Nov 29 p1).
Clarification of what constitutes broadband service and infrastructure is critical to laying groundwork for effective govt. policy, FCC Chmn. Powell said at ALTS conference in Arlington, Va., Fri. He said broadband Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was on horizon at Commission, measure that he said was necessary to correct what thus far had been govt. policy of “lurching and reacting” to unanswered questions about broadband. He lamented pervasive references to broadband as “simple incremental advance from telephone service.” Debate over this evolving area of communications “continues to be hobbled by no uniform definition or understanding” of what broadband represents: “In my view, broadband is not some simple high-speed pipe. It is a convergence, a fusing, of communications power, with computer power, with content. If any one of those key pieces are missing, I don’t think you have broadband.”
Latest FCC telephone subscribership report shows 94.6% of U.S. households had telephone service in March, 2001, same as year earlier. Phone penetration rate was much lower, 79%, for households with incomes below $5,000 while rate for those with incomes above $75,000 was 98.5%. Mississippi had lowest rate, 87.8%, and New Hampshire was highest with 98.2%. Report is updated 3 times per year and is available in variety of ways, including www.fcc.gov.
Pending FCC inquiry into technical and operational issues involving deployment of Enhanced 911 has taken on “new urgency,” public safety groups told agency’s Wireless Bureau Chief Thomas Sugrue Nov. 29. Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, National Assn. of State Nine-One-One Administrators and National Emergency Number Assn. cited recent decision by FCC to name former Office of Engineering & Technology Chief Dale Hatfield to head inquiry. “The promised review has taken on a new urgency with the recent disclosures from several wireless carriers that they are unable to meet the performance benchmarks of their newly granted waivers of the Phase 2 requirements in the wireless E911 rules,” groups wrote. FCC recently opened comment period for petitions filed by Cingular, Nextel and Verizon Wireless seeking reconsideration of certain parts of orders on their E911 Phase 2 waiver requests. Petitions contend that Commission improperly adopted strict liability standard for future compliance.
Pa. PUC proposed rescinding April order to require that Verizon create functionally separate wholesale and retail divisions within current operating company as it finalized proposed rules to provide comprehensive set of competition safeguards. Rules are intended to ensure that Verizon and other incumbent telcos don’t use their local market power to unfairly favor or promote their own retail services over those of competitors through wholesale discrimination, cross- subsidies, other abuses. PUC said functional separation no longer was needed because Verizon in its successful Sec. 271 long distance case proved to PUC and FCC that it was providing nondiscriminatory wholesale service to its competitors. Proposed rules would explicitly prohibit cross- subsidizing competitive services with revenue from noncompetitive services and bar telco technicians repairing service on behalf of CLEC from telling customer that problem would have been fixed faster had user stayed with incumbent. Rules would bar employees of telcos’ wholesale service divisions from sharing with retail marketing division proprietary customer information they received when accepting service change orders from CLECs, to ensure against launch of win-back efforts by incumbent even before carrier changeover was made. Rules would prohibit one telecom provider from claiming its services were superior to those of another unless claim was supported by fact. Comments on proposed rules will be due 30 days after their official publication in Pa. Bulletin. PUC agreed unanimously to put proposed rules out for comment. Agency disregarded call by CLEC interests to have PUC Vice Chmn. Robert Bloom recuse himself from proceeding for allegedly violating state sunshine laws by sending memo to other PUC members proposing changes such as rescinding functional separation that CLECs said would greatly weaken rules.