A wireless industry request for reconsideration of the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement (NPA) on tower siting faced strong opposition from groups representing tribal and historic preservation interests. The Tower Siting Policy Alliance (TSPA), whose key members include Cingular, T-Mobile and American Tower, had asked the FCC to revise NPA provisions that diverge from current rules, saying they undermine the goal of streamlining the tower siting approval process and impose burdensome requirements without offering increased protection for historic properties (CD Feb 9 p2). But the National Tribal Telecom Assn. (NTTA), National Assn. of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATHPO) and National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) rebutted such allegations and urged the FCC to deny the petition.
Several groups representing minorities backed a proposed merger between Sprint and Nextel, urging FCC approval. The National Black Chamber of Commerce said the merger would “spur competition, advance technology and continue to provide businesses with the services they need to excel in our economy.” Speaking for over 1 million Black-owned businesses, the group said Sprint and Nextel were “longtime partners in our community, so we are confident that Sprint Nextel will continue to serve and engage Black owned businesses as a merged company.” The chamber praised the carriers for “advancing diversity as well as providing equal opportunities and consumer choices in their business development.” Both firms had “exemplary policies regarding inclusive workplace training, procurement diversity and equal employment opportunity” the group said, calling its support “consistent with our mission.” Separately, the United South & Eastern Tribes (USET), representing 24 federally recognized Native American tribes, urged the FCC to give the Sprint-Nextel merger “positive consideration.” “USET tribes have a very positive working relationship with Sprint,” USET Exec. Dir. James Martin wrote in a letter to FCC Chmn. Martin and the other comrs. He said Sprint “consistently” reached out to tribes on telecom issues affecting tribal interests, including protection of tribal historic properties and provision of communications services to tribal communities. “Whether the discussion has been over the exact site of a tower in relationship to a sacred site or high-level policy discussions in Washington, Sprint has engaged in open and honest dialogue with tribal representatives, in many ways setting the standard for telecom industry relations with Indian tribes,” USET’s Martin said: “It is my belief that Sprint’s experience with Indian Country would be fully translated into the larger Sprint Nextel entity and that this would be a benefit to Indian Country interests nationwide.”
The FCC granted BellSouth’s request to preempt state rules requiring the firm to provide DSL service to customers who get their voice service from CLECs using UNE loops, sources said. The Commission vote, taken Thurs. before ex-Chmn. Michael Powell left office, reportedly was along party lines -- 3 Republicans favoring the measure, 2 Democrats dissenting in part. The item, awaiting statements by commissioners, hasn’t been released.
The FCC granted BellSouth’s request to preempt state rules requiring the firm to provide DSL service to customers who get their voice service from CLECs using UNE loops, sources said. The Commission vote, taken Thurs. before ex-Chmn. Michael Powell left office, reportedly was along party lines -- 3 Republicans favoring the measure, 2 Democrats dissenting in part. The item, awaiting statements by commissioners, hasn’t been released.
Sen. Allen (R-Va.) will again try to steer $250 million to historically black colleges, Hispanic educational institutions and tribal colleges for technology upgrades and communications infrastructure. Allen introduced Thurs. legislation similar to a bill he helped move through the Senate last year, only to fail to get House consideration. The bill (S-432) is co-sponsored by Sens. Warner (R-Va.), Talent (R-Mo.), Graham (R-S.C.), McCain (R-Ariz.), Lott (R-Miss.), Grassley (R-Ia.), and Thune (R-S.D.). A similar bill (HR-921) was introduced Thurs. by Rep. Forbes (R-Va.) and co-sponsored by Rep. Towns (D-N.Y.).
Sen. Allen (R-Va.) will again try to steer $250 million to historically black colleges, Hispanic educational institutions and tribal colleges for technology upgrades and communications infrastructure. Allen introduced Thurs. legislation similar to a bill he helped move through the Senate last year, only to fail to get House consideration. The bill (S-432) is co-sponsored by Sens. Warner (R-Va.), Talent (R-Mo.), Graham (R-S.C.), McCain (R-Ariz.), Lott (R-Miss.), Grassley (R-Ia.), and Thune (R-S.D.). A similar bill (HR-921) was introduced Thurs. by Rep. Forbes (R-Va.) and co-sponsored by Rep. Towns (D-N.Y.).
The Tower Siting Policy Alliance (TSPA), representing a group of wireless carriers and tower companies, filed a petition for reconsideration on the FCC’s National Programmatic Agreement (NPA) on tower siting, saying some provisions undermine the intent of streamlining the approval process. The alliance zeroes in on requirements for what it argues are overly burdensome archeological field surveys and overly permissive tribal exemptions from exclusions. The members were active proponents of concluding work on the NPA.
Chmn. Powell announced Fri. he will leave the FCC in March. With key issues pending for all communications sectors, sources agreed the next chmn. is likely to maintain Powell’s policies in the broadest sense, including an emphasis on competition and on promoting new technologies.
The FCC and United South & East Tribes (USET) adopted voluntary best practices to protect tribes’ historic property when reviewing the impact of wireless towers and related communications facilities on those sites. “If everyone works together, the infrastructure necessary to bring wireless communications throughout the country can be built quickly, without harm to sites of religious and cultural importance to the tribes, and without unnecessary FCC involvement,” Chmn. Powell said. The best practices include: (1) Ensuring tribal interests listed in the National Register are taken into account early in the process when siting communications facilities. (2) Expediting the USET tribal review of proposed tower and antenna sites. (3) Establishing a process for FCC applicants to obtain information from the USET on the sites.
With a blessing from FCC Chmn. Powell, Verizon Avenue and One Economy Corp. announced Fri. they signed an agreement to help put affordable high-speed Internet access into the homes of low-income Americans. The companies said they would target affordable housing developers to build infrastructure and integrate low-cost broadband access solutions into apartment buildings within Verizon’s 29 states and D.C. “Our goal… is to provide broadband access at affordable prices,” said Verizon Avenue CEO Bill Wallace: “We think this is good public policy and good business.” Wallace said he expected low- income families would be able to buy broadband services for “50% of what you'd normally pay… Our current business model, with the scale, term and penetration guarantees offered by developers… enables us affordable broadband services.” Powell strongly supported the initiative. At a press conference launching the partnership he said: “I am here not only to support this partnership but to say how unbelievably proud I am of this partnership… Proud that in the finest tradition of public service between private corporations and public entities we are committing to improving lives of people.” While the program’s initial focus will be on new affordable housing projects of at least 100 units, the companies said they intended to bring affordable broadband to existing properties as well. The companies said they expected to target a significant share of the 200,000 new low-income apartments built each year. They said they were looking into expanding this concept to rural and tribal environments as well as to rehabilitated properties. “A lot of times, public policies focus heavily on rural communities, understandably and rightfully,” Powell said: “I've always been saddened that in the rush to do that we've ignored the inner city community, where enormous amount of our population lives.” One Economy CEO Rey Ramsey said Verizon wouldn’t offer discounts directly to the residents but rather “substantially reduced costs to [affordable housing] developers,” which have “the ability to pass on those significant savings to end users.” He said the project wouldn’t involve extra money from the govt., but “more [efficient use of] the federal dollars that have already been allocated to the states through the tax credit program.” He said 17 states had changed their tax programs in response to the nonprofit’s national “Bring IT Home” public policy campaign launched in Feb., in which Verizon Avenue is a corporate partner, to “advantage the kind of work we are talking about… That’s very powerful and we want every state to sign on.” The goal is to “jumpstart into the future and say that when you are just paying for your rent, there is a service that is a natural extension of moving into that unit,” Ramsay said.