Despite continued budget shortfalls, state & local govts. plan to increase technology spending in the next 5 years to improve constituent services, reduce costs and increase internal efficiency. Municipalities are expected to boost funding by more than $7 billion to reach $62.4 billion by fiscal year 2009, predicts a report set for release today (Wed.) by Datamonitor. The price tag includes external spending on IT contracts as well as spending on internal technology enhancements, such as IT staff and office equipment.
In carrying out the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act (CSEA) and changing its bidding rules, the FCC should ensure that it doesn’t jeopardized the timing and outcome of the advanced wireless service (AWS) auction, the wireless industry told the FCC. That message was clear as wireless carriers commented on rule changes needed to implement CSEA.
The S.D. PUC’s 3 members will join FCC Comr. Adelstein Aug. 24 for a 2-day “Broadband Road Trip” across the state. The trip is intended to “highlight the importance of high-speed Internet to rural America and bring that perspective to the ongoing federal telecommunications policy debate,” said PSC Comr. Bob Sahr, the event’s organizer. He said the event is intended to give Adelstein a “first-hand examples of cutting-edge applications and what it means to South Dakota consumers.” He said Adelstein, a Rapid City native, has been a great advocate for S.D. Adelstein said S.D. has “some terrific examples of entrepreneurs applying the most recent telecommunications technology to their businesses in order to compete in the global economy. Congress placed a high priority on rural concerns in the Telecommunications Act. We need to ensure that quality service at affordable rates is available to everyone in this country -- whether they live in rural or urban areas.” The trip will visit businesses around the state, including a family-owned rural telco, a tribal-owned telco, a company selling livestock over the Internet, and see how the historic town of Deadwood has been using the Internet to promote tourism.
FCC Chmn. Martin told a NARUC audience an effective federal-state partnership in implementing public policy may mean giving states more decision-making power. “The states have a larger role to play than just being an enforcer,” Martin said Tues. “The FCC could give states more flexibility to implement policy,” as was done successfully in some states with numbering administration.
On July 13, 2005, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Michael Chertoff, announced a new six-point agenda for his department, which according to a DHS press release reflects the conclusions drawn from the Second Stage Review1, a systematic evaluation of DHS operations, policies and structures.
Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) teamed with McDonald’s on an exclusive promotion giving restaurant chain customers a chance to win a PlayStation Portable (PSP). The “Only the Mac Code Knows” promotion will run through July 25. Each time customers buy a Big Mac or large fries, they will get a unique “Mac Code” providing access to the PlayatMcD.com website, where they can enter to win any of 50,000 plus PlayStation prizes, including PSP systems, PS2 consoles and games. The website also offers PSP game trailers. The firms said the promotion includes TV ads by Burrell Communications and radio ads by Burrell and del Rivero Messianu, plus an online media campaign by Tribal DDB. In-store merchandising and packaging are supplied by Frankel, which developed the website with The Marketing Store. McDonald’s said the promotion “reinforces [its] commitment to technology.” The company noted that more than 4,000 McDonald’s Wi-Fi locations in the U.S. already let customers access PlayatMcD.com via laptop computers.
The FCC should expeditiously address tower siting applications subject to the FCC-USET Best Practices Agreement and the National Programmatic Agreement, said CTIA. In a letter to Wireless Bureau acting chief Katherine Seidel, CTIA expressed concern about potential procedural bottlenecks in the Sec. 106 historic preservation review process, asking the Commission to resolve issues industry experiences with the tribal construction notification system. The FCC needn’t launch a proceeding, but rather should “ensure that the [review] process is working as the FCC intended,” CTIA Senior Vp- Gen. Counsel Michael Altschul told us. Specifically, CTIA said, the FCC should: (1) “Immediately adopt procedures to bring finality to the tribal notification phase of the Section 106 process so that the notification procedures do not create additional delay.” CTIA backs a USET recommendation that required tribal contacts should be considered completed if “two attempts by the applicant and one attempt by the FCC to contact the relevant tribe or tribes were unsuccessful in securing a response from them.” (2) Participate in joint outreach efforts among tribes and the wireless and broadcast industries to “improve understanding and communication among the stakeholders regarding TCNS, the Agreements, and the Section 106 process.” (3) “Adopt proactive approaches to reduce and then eliminate the backlog of contested environmental cases.” (4) Set “definitive timelines for resolving the backlog of existing contested environmental cases and publish these time lines so that the participants and the public could chart the progress of each case.” (5) Adopt timelines for resolving environmental cases contested in the future. “The [CTIA’s] proactive approach may place additional resource demands on the [Wireless Bureau’s] NEPA Adjudication Team and the [Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau] at a time when both Bureaus have recently experienced departures of personnel with environmental and historic preservation expertise,” CTIA said: “While the FCC is in the best position to assess its own resource needs, it appears that additional personnel with relevant expertise may need to be allocated to the relevant bureaus.”
The FCC wants input on rule changes needed to implement the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act (CSEA), signed in Dec. by President Bush as part of a wider HR- 5419 legislation creating a spectrum relocation trust fund. The fund guarantees use of eligible frequency auction revenue to compensate federal agencies for moving off the 216-220 MHz, 1432-1435 MHz, 1710-1755 MHz, 2385- 2390 MHz bands. The Act requires all auctions of eligible frequencies to raise at least 110% of total estimated federal users’ relocation costs, but doesn’t define “total cash proceeds.” The Commission in a declaratory ruling Thurs. defined “total cash proceeds,” for purposes of CSEA, as “winning bids net of any applicable discounts, such as small business bidding credits.” The FCC asked for comments on possible modifications to implement CSEA and update its spectrum rules, including: (1) Revising the reserve price rule to ensure auctions of frequencies eligible under SCEA aren’t concluded without raising 110% of the estimated federal user relocation costs. (2) Options for preserving availability of tribal land bidding credits in eligible frequencies auctions. (3) Increasing FCC discretion with respect to amounts of interim bid withdrawal and additional default payments. (4) Setting procedures in advance of each auction for apportioning bid amounts among licenses in a package. (5) Changing payment rules and procedures for broadcast construction permits won at auction to conform to those for non-broadcast licenses. (6) Facilitating use of small business consortia. The action moves the Commission closer to auctioning spectrum for advanced wireless services (AWS), the agency said. The 1710-1755 MHz band accounts for half the spectrum the Commission plans to auction as early as June 2006 for AWS, including 3G services. Wireless Bureau interim chief Catherine Seidel told reporters the FCC is “on target for the June 2006 [AWS] auction date but there are a number of things that need to happen between now and then, [especially] acting on reconsideration petitions” pending before the Commission. The FCC is expected to act on petitions for reconsideration of the AWS I (1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz) rules in the next couple of months, sources said. NTIA is expected to notify the FCC in Dec.
The FCC could field multiple requests for reconsideration of a 3650-3700 MHz order that opened access to new spectrum for wireless broadband. The Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) will be asking the FCC to clarify the order’s interference protection obligations section. Similar requests on other parts also may be coming from the Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA), WiMax Forum and others.
FCC Wireless and Consumer & Governmental Affairs bureaus announced enhancements and provided clarifications relating to the Commission’s tower construction notification system (TCNS) and the process of tribal participation in historic preservation reviews. There’s now an electronic listing of federally recognized Indian tribes and Alaska Native Villages, and Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHOs), who have defined their geographic preferences for receiving notifications through TCNS. The bureaus clarified procedures an applicant must follow when an Indian tribe or NHO doesn’t respond to a TCNS notification in a reasonable time. It also clarified procedures for getting an FCC registration number and password to submit notifications through TCNS.