The FCC approved a notice of proposed rulemaking Wednesday asking questions about interoperability in the lower 700 MHz band. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said regulation may not be the answer. The FCC committed in its AT&T/Qualcomm order in December to release the rulemaking in the first quarter (CD Dec 27 p1). The notice also asks if the FCC should expand its focus to also consider interoperability beyond the lower 700 MHz band, as was urged by Public Knowledge and a few small carriers despite (CD March 9 p7).
Nothing brings disparate interests together like the prospect of a six-month extension to comply with new FCC rules. Often at odds, post-paid wireline carriers, pre-paid wireless carriers and state commissions unanimously supported a waiver request by incumbent local exchange carriers to postpone until Oct. 1 the implementation of several rules established in the Lifeline Order -- as long as the waiver applies to everyone else, too. The petition, filed by USTelecom, the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, NTCA, OPASTCO, the Western Telecommunications Alliance and the Eastern Rural Telecom Association, asked the FCC to waive the effective date of a new rule implementing a flat $9.25 Lifeline benefit and eliminating the Link-Up discount on non-Tribal lands from April 2 until Oct. 1 (CD March 12 p9).
SILICON VALLEY -- Companies working on products that use the location data in mobile devices plan to make money from advertising and premium subscription fees, executives at the GPS-Wireless conference said Wednesday. Some companies, such as Foursquare, will rely entirely on advertising, while others plan to bring a mix of ad and subscription revenue, they said.
A $126.3 million West Virginia BTOP project designed to connect schools and other public facilities sparked questions from the state board of education about its progress. But that was largely due to misunderstanding the project, said Dana Waldo, senior vice president with Frontier West Virginia, the project’s major contractor. He claimed the project is ahead of schedule and will be completed on time. This wasn’t the first time the state’s education officials expressed concerns about the slow pace and lack of communication on the project (CD Nov 1 p6).
The FCC proposed Wednesday to require Dish Network to build out to at least 70 percent of the population in each of the geographic areas it’s licensed to provide terrestrial service in within seven years. The proposal is part of the agency’s notice of proposed rulemaking that would convert the 2 GHz band from satellite-only spectrum to combined satellite and wireless spectrum. The agency also asked for input on a possible alternative band plan for the spectrum, which would be renamed as AWS-4, making use of nearby spectrum (http://xrl.us/bmy2oj).
The FCC wants to know if 19-year-old procedures need updating for how the agency processes pay-TV complaints that a rival withheld a channel. A rulemaking notice released late Tuesday -- in time to avoid a vote at Wednesday’s commissioner meeting (CD March 21 p17) -- asked how or whether to consider allegations of volume discounts or across-the-board cost hikes for programming meant to price all but programming the cable operator owns out of the market. The item contained a few proposals. It recommended a 45-day period for various types of anti-exclusivity complaints made under the 1992 Cable Act to be answered, and to the extent types of programming like regional sports networks (RSN) can’t be withheld, the HD version must be provided to a multichannel video programming distributor.
A European Commission roadmap for the future of satellite navigation system Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS) began moving through the European Parliament Wednesday. Lawmakers in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee said they're generally enthusiastic about the programs, which are seen as a way to boost European growth, competitiveness and clout, but they remain wary about the cost overruns that have plagued Galileo. Questions about financing and governance remain, they said.
Verizon Executive Vice President Tom Tauke Tuesday said Congress should sweep aside current communications law and regulation, replacing it with new legislation tailored to a world of competition. The current law “just is not relevant to the marketplace in which we live and in which we operate,” Tauke said at a Free State Foundation conference. But Tauke, a former Republican member of the House from Iowa, conceded legislation is always a tough slog.
Congress needs to revisit whether the telecom industry needs two regulatory bodies -- the FCC and the Department of Justice -- conducting merger reviews, several industry executives said during a Free State Foundation panel Tuesday. Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president-external and legislative affairs, doesn’t think the FCC role here is essential. “We learned last year that the Department of Justice is very capable of deciding to kill a merger on their own,” he said to chuckles. The FCC’s tendency to require “voluntary conditions” on a merger is a notion designed to effect results that the Commission would otherwise have no authority over, he said, arguing the Commission has used such conditions as a “substitute for a formal rulemaking process” and to avoid the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.
The FCC will continue to monitor how much spectrum the wireless industry needs, and could offer some new projections over the next year or so, Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan said Tuesday at a Free State Foundation conference. On the two-year anniversary of the National Broadband Plan last week, Blair Levin, manager of the plan, and Commissioner Robert McDowell both called for another look at spectrum projections (CD March 19 p1).