Nextel made proposal at FCC Wed. for spectrum swap that would realign frequencies at 700, 800 and 900 MHz bands, in part by more than doubling public safety’s current allocation of 9.5 MHz of noncontiguous spectrum at 800 MHz. Nextel said proposal, text of which it hadn’t made available by our deadline, would separate channel blocks used by cellular and other wireless providers from of public safety systems. As we reported earlier, public safety users would have access to 20 MHz of contiguous spectrum in lower 800 MHz band, prospect that some public safety officials have lauded because it would align that spectrum with public safety spectrum at 700 MHz (CD Nov 19 p4). Under white paper submitted to Commission, Nextel said it would exchange 16 MHz of its spectrum to make realignment work. It would swap 4 MHz in 700 MHz band, 8 MHz of specialized mobile radio spectrum in lower noncontiguous channels of 800 MHz and 4 MHz of spectrum at 900 MHz. To pave way for public safety users to implement proposal, Nextel said it would contribute up to $500 million to cover re-tuning costs that incumbent users would face.
FCC asked for comments by Dec. 3 on Sprint petition for pricing flexibility for special access and dedicated transport services. Replies are due Dec. 13.
FCC Chmn. Powell now is followed around Washington on his official and unofficial duties by govt. security personnel -- and has been since Sept. 11. His protection isn’t result of his govt. position and is provided by State Dept. -- not Secret Service -- because he’s son of Secy. of State Colin Powell. Another measure taken at FCC in name of security is that taxis and private cars no longer can pull into turnaround at FCC 12th St. entrance to discharge passengers.
VoiceStream told FCC it planned to submit petition for “limited relief” of priority access service (PAS) rules so it voluntarily could offer priority services to national security and emergency personnel. Information came in comments VoiceStream submitted on Verizon Wireless waiver request to FCC for implementing wireless PAS, in which Verizon said commercial, off-the-shelf technology wasn’t available that met agency guidelines. National Communications System (NCS), which issued request for immediately available PAS capability for Washington, N.Y. and Salt Lake City, had indicated earlier this month that Verizon would be tasked to provide short-term capability. VoiceStream Vp-Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Brian O'Connor told us this week that carrier was surprised to read earlier this month that Verizon Wireless had received contract from NCS for initial PAS rollout. (Both Verizon and NCS later had softened their statements to indicate that Verizon had been chosen but final agreement was still in works.) VoiceStream understands that award to Verizon won’t be exclusive, O'Connor said. “We will also have our opportunity to pursue the government contracts,” he said, noting that when press first reported award to Verizon, carriers such as VoiceStream still were in discussions with contract manager DynCorp on parts of process such as obtaining FCC waivers and required govt. clearances, O'Connor said. VoiceStream said it supported ability of wireless carriers “to obtain expeditious waivers of the Commission’s requirements under the present circumstances to respond to urgent government needs.” It said it was “more important than ever at the present time to maintain the voluntary provisioning of priority access by CMRS operators that wish to provide such service to the government.” Carrier asked FCC not to take steps that would result in promulgation of “specific technical solutions and administrative requirements” with which all participating wireless carriers must comply. VoiceStream said it had provided proposals to NCS using GSM technology for Washington and N.Y. on both immediate basis, meaning within 60 days, and near term, meaning by end of next year. VoiceStream said after meeting with its vendors that it had determined it immediately could roll out “more full-featured priority access capability” than it had proposed originally. VoiceStream has system, Enhanced Multi-Level Precedence and Preemption (eMLPP), that provides lineups of priority calls “for the next available resource when radio or network resources are not available.” VoiceStream said it would offer that on subscription basis. Once subscriber has activated account, that offering won’t require carrier to do anything in case of emergency because service would be “always on.” Users that have handsets with those signaling capabilities will be able to select particular priority level on per-call basis. Handsets aren’t yet available commercially although VoiceStream said it expected them soon from Ericsson. Until then, callers can use precedence level stored in their SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card in particular phone.
Verizon is close to meeting key competitive requirements of Bell Atlantic-GTE merger, Carol Mattey, deputy chief of FCC Common Carrier Bureau, said in letter to Verizon released Mon. Mattey confirmed Verizon’s view that it had to spend only $11.6 million more for facilities-based projects to meet cutoff for offering promotional discounts to competitors for certain unbundled loops and resold services. She said Verizon had to meet 2 requirements for closing “offering window” for these promotional discounts -- it must spend: (1) At least $250 million toward provision of competitive local service out of its region. (2) $125 million on specifically facilities-based local competition projects. Monetary figures represent half of total Verizon is required to spend under merger conditions. Conditions allowed carrier to close discount window when it reached halfway mark. It has proposed accounting $297.4 million toward total local competition requirement, she said. That figure represents Verizon’s acquisition of competitive carrier OnePoint in Dec. 2000. Mattey said Verizon also had spent $113.4 million on facilities-based projects, leaving only $11.6 million (CC Doc. 98-184).
FCC late Mon. proposed performance measurements that would evaluate how well ILECs provided special access services. Proposal is similar to one initiated Nov. 8 for unbundled network elements (UNEs) (CD Nov 9 p3). At that time, Commission had said 2nd proposal would come soon for special access. Special access services connect end users to CLECs and long distance providers. “Numerous competitors have alleged that the incumbent LEC provisioning of these services is characterized by delay, poor quality and discrimination,” FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) said. Also as it pledged to do earlier this month, Commission released NPRM on UNE performance measures at same time as new special access NPRM.
FCC has clarified that it hasn’t taken “definitive” position that Sec. 253 of Communications Act bars municipalities from charging rights-of-way (ROW) fees that exceed costs. Clarification came in response to concerns raised by municipalities that footnote in amicus brief filed by Commission with 2nd U.S. Appeals Court, N.Y., in City of White Plains v. TCG suggested that ROW fee requirements that exceeded cost recovery violated Sec. 253. In letter to Kenneth Fellman, chmn. of Commission’s State & Local Govt. Advisory Committee (LSGAC), FCC Gen. Counsel Jane Mago said agency was involved in case to express its position that “costs imposed on new entrants, but not incumbents, are not ‘competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory’ under Sec. 253(c) of the Communications Act.” Footnote in brief was not intended to “represent a definitive FCC position that Sec. 253 precludes any compensation above cost recovery,” she said. As for LSGAC’s suggestion that Commission either withdraw brief or at least “offending” footnote, Mago said while agency was concerned that “others” were misrepresenting language of brief, “we believe that the best approach to dealing with this problem is to allow the brief to remain filed with the court as written.” She said Commission had taken care to avoid taking firm position on revenue-based fees and when parties reviewed it they would see that that was case. If Commission were to withdraw brief or footnote, “we believe that action could similarly be misconstrued,” she said. Attorney Nick Miller, who represents members on LSGAC, said: “The General Counsel’s letter puts to rest the big lie many of the industry advocates have been telling legislators, regulators and courts around the country.” He said “big lie” was that FCC has taken stand on this ROW compensation issue.
Nitu Arora promoted to regional vp-Midwest region, Leap Wireless International… Clear Channel announced Don Perry would remain vp-gen. mgr. of recently acquired KMOL-TV (Ch 4, NBC) San Antonio… David Fiske named dir., FCC’s Office of Media Relations; he had been acting dir. since Jan… FCC Comr. Martin speaks Dec. 11 at by-invitation Media Institute lunch, St. Regis Hotel, Washington… J Chapman promoted to dir.-sales, Emmis Communications Corp.’s Indianapolis radio cluster… Perry Cole, senior vp-sales, Touch America, moves to senior vp-revenue.
Qwest’s wholesale service quality is “comparable or better” to SBC on key performance measures, indicating it’s close to point where it can apply for FCC approval to offer long distance service in its states, company announced. Comparing itself to SBC’s performance in Mo. and Ark. where SBC recently gained FCC Sec. 271 authority, Qwest said, for example, that both companies were meeting measurements for gateway interfaces and CLEC provisioning commitments at 99% or above.
Correction: In story on FCC concerns about SBC’s DSL provision (CD Nov. 20 p2), Comr. Abernathy’s explanation of SBC’s services wasn’t portrayed accurately. She said that SBC didn’t offer resale on 2 of its services because it considered one of them wholesale telecom service and other retail information service. We said both services were wholesale information services, which was wrong.