FCC Chmn. Powell said “the best way” to increase broadband access for rural healthcare is to “to establish partnerships -- with our sister federal agencies and regional commissions; state, local and tribal governments; and industry.” Speaking at a U. of Tenn. Telehealth Network luncheon Wed. in Knoxville, Powell “underscore[d]” his commitment to the Bush “Administration’s goal of making affordable broadband access available to all Americans.” He said he was committed to “continuing to pursue policies that improve the rural healthcare program, increase participation by rural healthcare providers and ensure that the benefits of the program continue to be distributed in a fair and equitable manner.” He said working through partnerships would help address “the funding challenges in bringing 21st Century telecommunications services to rural communities.” Powell said that at its July 8 meeting the FCC will take up “a number of items designed to directly benefit rural access to advanced services” (CD June 21 p9). He said in its rural services item, the Commission will consider “a variety of measures to introduce regulatory flexibility for rural licenses in order to promote facilities deployment and increase wireless access for rural consumers.” He said among the “contemplated changes” were “measures to increase access to capital, reducing a significant entry barrier for companies seeking to provide rural service.” He said the Commission will also consider an item that will “provide additional flexibility to operate wireless broadband in rural America.”
Chmn. Powell told reporters Thurs. the 800 MHz order is “almost there.” As he left a brief speech to the WCA, Powell also said he was pleased with the progress the Bells and major CLECs had made on negotiations to set interconnection terms. “They continue. It was a great weekend. I think a lot of gaps were closed, but it’s a tough problem and it’s an ongoing one. We're going to continue to work on it.” Powell said in speech the demonstration last week of wireless ISP (WISP) technologies in S.D. had proven worth the trip. “I had the opportunity to see how small, entrepreneurial WISPs are overcoming obstacles to serve rural,” he said. “I am particularly excited about the potential of wireless technologies to bring broadband to tribal communities, where even basic telephone service penetration rates have historically been far too low. These efforts demonstrate how essential wireless is to bringing a customized, high-speed information experience to all Americans, regardless of where they live, and at affordable rates.”
New Games: Yourself!Fitness (CED May 27 p7) will ship for Xbox “on or about October 1” in the U.S., a spokeswoman for ResponDesign said. She said that, “at this time, the preliminary price of the game is $49.95.” She added that a “distribution plan is being finalized and a list of retailers will be announced this summer”… Midway Games boasted Thurs. that its MLB SlugFest: Loaded will be “the first-ever videogame to implement Microsoft’s recently announced updates to Xbox Live 3.0 via customizable, online tournaments.” The baseball game is expected to ship June 21 for Xbox at $39.99 in the U.S. Xbox Live Mktg. Dir. Julia Miller confirmed that Midway was the first publisher “to take advantage of the tournaments feature added to Xbox Live.” A version of the game is also set to ship for PS2 the same day… Mobliss said it teamed up with Tribal DDB Worldwide to create a text messaging trivia game -- Air Force Snap Decisions -- for the U.S. Air Force. It said the game will be promoted starting Sat. “and is expected to last through June.” The game will be available to wireless subscribers at 3 events in conjunction with the Air Force’s “Cross Into the Blue” Tour… Codemasters said its game IndyCar Series 2005 was on track to ship for Xbox June 22.
On May 20, 2004, the House of Representatives appointed its conferees for H.R. 1047, the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2003. As the House and Senate have passed different versions of H.R. 1047, a House-Senate conference would normally be needed to resolve the differences between the two versions of the bill. However, a conference on H.R. 1047 has not yet been held because there has been a 'hold' placed on the bill in the Senate which has prevented the Senate from requesting a conference and appointing its conferees. (See ITT's Online Archives or 05/03/04 news, 04050315, for final part of BP summary of Senate's version of H.R. 1047, with links to other parts.)(House Ways and Means Committee press release, dated 05/20/04, available at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news.asp?formmode=release&id=215.)
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) administers FirstGov.gov (http://firstgov.gov), which is the official U.S. gateway to all government information.
Nintendo of America said it had no plans to ship the limited edition Game Boy Advance (GBA) SP “Tribal Edition” model in the U.S. Nintendo plans to ship the model, featuring a tribal tattoo pattern, June 18 in Europe (CED April 23 p3).
As Nintendo continues to try and reach out to an older demographic, the company said it planned to ship a limited edition Game Boy Advance (GBA) SP “Tribal Edition” June 18 in Europe at about 129- 139.
The United South & Eastern Tribes (USET) objected at the FCC recently to what the group said was a wireless industry request that tribal provisions be taken out of a pending national programmatic agreement (NPA) on tower siting. USET said industry representatives also have raised “noise objections” to a voluntary best practices agreement for tower siting on which the FCC has been working with USET for the past year. A draft NPA has been designed to streamline the review of tower siting decisions under Sec. 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Wireless carriers earlier this month had told the FCC they were concerned about the scope of compliance requirements and FCC responsibilities that might be part of the NPA concerning tribal participation procedures as laid out in the best practices document. Requirements on applicants that entailed “unnecessary” delay or expense could be avoided if the NPA were adopted without the section on tribal participation to allow further development of this language, the wireless industry filing said. USET balked at this suggestion. “After making a tremendous effort to provide comments and to consult with the FCC, USET objects strongly to the notion that the programmatic agreement should now go forward without tribal provisions,” it said: “Why should our matters be dismissed after so much work, to be resolved at some uncertain date in the future, if at all? Tribal sites are just as important as other sites.” USET said it would be “deeply troubled” by a decision to leave tribes out of the NPA. “The voluntary best practices that USET has been developing with the FCC is an effort to draft a set of guidelines that would help both applicants and tribes to achieve their goals in a timely fashion,” it said.
Wireless companies and broadcasters told the FCC last week they were concerned about the scope of compliance and agency resources that might be entailed in pending tower siting when it comes to tribal participation. A draft national programmatic agreement (NPA) has been designed to streamline the review of tower siting decisions under Sec. 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The proposed NPA had been expected to appear on the agenda for last week’s open meeting, but ultimately wasn’t included (CD March 5 p7). Comr. Abernathy had sought additional time for discussion of the proposed tower pact. Aside from the NPA, the FCC has been working with the United South & Eastern Tribes (USET) on a voluntary best practices document for tower siting. Agency staff provided the draft document to industry officials for feedback on March 5. In a filing by wireless carriers last week, industry representatives outlined concerns about the scope of compliance requirements and FCC responsibilities that might be part of the NPA concerning tribal participation procedures as laid out in the proposed best practices document. The filing was made by Cingular, NAB, U.S. Cellular, CTIA, AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless and a coalition of carriers. Requirements imposed on applicants might entail “excessive and unnecessary expense and delay,” the filing said. Such a negative impact could be avoided if the NPA were adopted without the section covering tribal participation “to allow further development of this section, while tribal participation would continue to be governed by current law,” the filing said. Otherwise, the companies and trade groups suggested the FCC might postpone adopting the NPA to provide time for more consideration of this language.
The FCC could still include an item on a national programmatic agreement (NPA) for tower siting on its agenda for the Thurs. open meeting, though it wasn’t on the sunshine notice (CD March 5 p7). Several sources said Comr. Abernathy had sought additional time for discussion of the proposed tower siting pact. Once an item is in the public notice for an agenda meeting, ex parte communications with the FCC initiated by outside parties must stop. This way, more time is allowed for communication on outstanding issues, sources said. Several industry sources said they viewed the opening as a positive development after thorny NPA issues prompted a flurry of ex parte filings last week. The pending NPA aims to streamline tower siting reviews under Sec. 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Sec. 106 requires federal agencies to consider the effects of an “undertaking,” including tower construction, on historic properties. Last month, wireless carriers and historic preservation officials failed to bridge an impasse on several issues connected to the proposed agreement (CD Feb 20 p3). The Commission had given stakeholders until Feb. 19 to work out remaining differences, delaying a vote on the item from Feb. to the March agenda meeting. The agreement has been expected to be teed up for FCC approval as a report and order. The agreement was designed to become a pact signed by the FCC, Advisory Council for Historic Preservation and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers. Meanwhile, Kris Monteith, deputy chief of the FCC’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB), told industry stakeholders the agency had made changes to a draft best practices document in response to concerns raised in discussions last week. The FCC has been working with the United South & Eastern Tribes (USET) on voluntary best practices for tower siting that could affect sites of cultural and religious significance on tribal land. Among concerns raised by industry over the earlier draft was the extent to which a non-response by a tribe on a tower siting request would lead to the potentially time-consuming step of FCC intergovernmental consultation with tribes (CD March 5 p9). “We will be making some changes to the draft document that we believe will be viewed positively from industry standpoint,” Monteith said, noting the changes stemmed from a discussion the Wireless Bureau and CGB had last week with USET officials. The agency also said it would release the draft best practices document in full to solicit industry feedback. Earlier in the week, the agency had circulated a summary, which Monteith said in the e-mail had created uncertainty in industry about what the rest of the document looked like. She said the full document was similar to the extensive summary released earlier. The FCC asked for industry feedback by the end of the day Thurs. “This is a good thing,” said one industry source of the additional time the FCC gave before the NPA is placed on an agenda for an open meeting. Meanwhile, a coalition of wireless companies told the FCC that negotiations in the last few weeks with the ACHP and others on the NPA had advanced in some areas. They cited progress on the issue of properties whose eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places is eligible but not yet determined. The coalition, which includes Cingular, Verizon Wireless, PCIA and T-Mobile, said compromise had been reached on the issue of potentially eligible properties. The agreement was that a requirement could be removed from the NPA concerning identification surveys for potentially eligible properties for visual effects. Other areas of agreement were that the NPA not mandate the use of qualified professionals for identification of eligible properties readily ascertainable from the office of a state historic preservation officer. In a separate filing last week, CTIA said U.S. Cellular has stressed the importance of the practical implications of the NPA as it relates to mid-size carriers and their quests for status as eligible telecom carriers. CTIA raised concerns that the NPA not dramatically increase costs and create more delays for the review process.