Allowing mobile satellite operators such as ICO to have terrestrial relay component is key to their financial viability, 4 members of Senate Commerce Committee said in letter to FCC Chmn. Powell. Sens. Hollings (D-S.C.), Stevens (R-Alaska), Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Dorgan (D-N.D.) said terrestrial component would aid coverage in rural areas, so FCC should “decide the issue as quickly as possible.”
FCC said it wouldn’t extend deadline for comments on relocating TV stations now assigned Ch. 52-59 until after auction of Ch. 60-69 -- now scheduled in Sept. Delay had been sought by Paxson, which said auction of higher channels would provide “valuable experience.” FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering & Technology said in joint order that delay wouldn’t allow Commission to meet statutory auction deadlines. Comments in Ch. 52-59 rulemaking (GN 01-74) are due today (Tues.).
If FCC decides to act on network affiliates’ petition it should do so in context of rulemaking, Big 4 networks said in latest letter to FCC Chmn. Powell. Networks repeated claim that original Network Affiliated Stations Alliance (NASA) filing and latest letter (CD May 4 p9, March 9 p2) were flawed and created “confusion.” Networks also repeated that they had violated no FCC rules in their relations with affiliates.
CTIA asked President Bush to give Commerce Secy. Donald Evans “sufficient time” to complete 3rd-generation wireless spectrum assessment by delaying pending auctions. Govt. has been working toward July 31 deadline that FCC faces for spectrum allocation decision under timelines set out by President Clinton in executive memorandum last Oct. Request to Bush came as speculation has grown that Commerce Dept. wouldn’t necessarily be prepared to craft 3G decisions within tight schedule of executive memorandum anyway. Last week, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R- Mich.) said panel’s hearings on issue were delayed because department wasn’t ready to unveil its “game plan” (CD May 14 p1). “Previous Administrations ignored this [3G] issue until it finally reached crisis proportions, leaving your Administration to inherit the crisis and make the tough decisions,” CTIA wrote Bush.
Long-time FCC staffer Jane Mago was named agency’s gen. counsel, FCC Chmn. Powell announced Mon. Mago, who joined Commission in 1978, has been acting gen. counsel since Jan. Before that she was deputy chief of Enforcement Bureau, senior legal adviser to then-Comr. Rachelle Chong and to Powell when he was commissioner. Other FCC appointments announced Mon.: (1) Martha Johnston, ex-assoc. dir. of Assn. of Trial Lawyers, as dir.-Office of Legislative & Intergovernmental Affairs. Johnston was dir. of Congressional Relations at Dept. of State and dir. of congressional liaison at U.S. Information Agency. (2) Dane Snowden, ex-vp of MissionFish.com, Internet auction engine that raises funding for nonprofit groups, as chief of Consumer Information Bureau. (3) John Rogovin, partner in O'Melveny & Myers since 1996, was named deputy gen. counsel. (4) William Spencer, ex-Dept. of Justice, as deputy managing dir. (5) Linda Blair, chief of Mass Media Bureau’s Audio Services Div., to assoc. chief of Enforcement Bureau. (6) Lisa Fowlkes, legal adviser to Enforcement Bureau chief, as asst. chief of bureau.
Verizon Wireless is buying PCS licenses in southern Okla. from Triad Holdings, terms not disclosed. Licenses cover Ardmore and Lawton-Duncan basic trading areas. Verizon said it would use licenses to expand north of its current Tex. network and south of Oklahoma City and Enid, Okla., markets, both of which are part of PCS licenses that carrier won in FCC auction earlier this year.
FCC Enforcement Bureau fined WCOM(FM) Bayamon, P.R., $16,800 for “willful and repeated violations” of indecency rules, agency said. Bureau originally proposed $21,000 fine, but reduced it based on lack of prior violations.
Major CE manufacturers turned up heat on Hollywood film studios, throwing their full support behind 1394 DTV interface and 5C copy protection standards. In 3-page letter to FCC Chmn. Powell late Thurs., CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro said majority of TV manufacturers plan to install IEEE 1394 digital interface in their DTV products and have endorsed Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) system, also known as 5C, for protecting content transmitted over 1394 plug. List of endorsing manufacturers includes all major TV set makers, including JVC, Panasonic, RCA, Samsung, Sony, Thompson and Zenith. “We're ready to move forward,” said CEA spokesman. “Each of our manufacturers will support 5C.”
BellSouth filed formal request for Ala. PSC’s endorsement of Sec. 271 interLATA long distance application to FCC. BellSouth told PSC its market is fully open, with 68 operational CLECs collectively serving 178,000 lines (8.2%) statewide. BellSouth said its share loss for business customers in some market areas is approaching 30%. BellSouth said colocated CLECs have access to 1.5 million lines, or 78% of telco’s total lines. BellSouth said its Ala. operation support systems are same as those in Ga. that recently passed 3rd-party testing conducted by KPMG Consulting.
Wireless carriers are eligible for reciprocal compensation if they can demonstrate their termination costs exceed those of ILECs with which they are interconnecting, 2 FCC bureau chiefs told Sprint PCS in May 9 letter. Sprint PCS asked Wireless and Common Carrier Bureaus in Feb. to confirm they are entitled to compensation because state commissions had questioned it. Common Carrier Chief Dorothy Attwood and Wireless Chief Thomas Sugrue also confirmed that wireless cost recovery isn’t limited to network components deemed “equivalent” to those used in landline networks, although Sprint had said this also was of concern to state PUCs. Attwood and Sugrue said that, as part of FCC’s proposal to move to unified intercarrier compensation regime, Commission looked at so-called symmetric reciprocal compensation between LECs and wireless carriers. It determined: (1) Wireless carriers “are entitled to the opportunity to demonstrate that their termination costs exceed those of the ILECs.” (2) “Equivalent facility” language in Telecom Act “does not require that wireless network components be reviewed on the basis of their relationship to wireline network components.” Determination of whether wireless network components are eligible for compensation should be based on “whether the particular… components are cost sensitive to increasing call traffic,” bureau chiefs said. Bottom line, they said: If wireless carrier “can demonstrate that the costs associated with spectrum, cell sites, backhaul links, base station controllers and mobile switching centers vary, to some degree, with the level of traffic that is carried on the wireless network, a [wireless] carrier can submit a cost study to justify its claim to asymmetric reciprocal compensation.” Sprint also asked bureaus to clarify when wireless carriers are eligible to receive “tandem interconnection rate” that LECs receive for terminating traffic. Bureau chiefs said carrier has to meet “comparable geographic area test,” meaning it has to demonstrate that its switch serves geographic area comparable to ILEC’s tandem switch.