A majority of stakeholders urged caution in possibly extending Generalized System of Preferences benefits to Myanmar (Burma) in comments filed us the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). They said the country’s progress towards good governance, while admirable, is tenuous and remains fraught with concerns over worker’s rights and military power. The USTR posted comments on its review to extend GSP to Myanmar (Burma) and Laos May 22. USTR is holding a public hearing in connection with its review June 4 (see 13041521).
Los Angeles County reached an 800 MHz rebanding agreement with Harris Corp. and Sprint Nextel. The agreement is dated May 14 (http://1.usa.gov/10PzdHF) and the county’s law firm Shulman Rogers touted the settlement, negotiated ahead of the FCC’s deadline, on Tuesday (http://bit.ly/11bD4k1). “This $20 million settlement agreement, fully funded through Sprint, will allow the Internal Services Department (ISD) to comply with the FCC mandates as well as to upgrade CWIRS to meet the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) national Project 25 (P25) land mobile radio standard, at no cost to the county,” said the pact.
July 1 is the effective date for reporting rules requiring eligible telecom carriers that serve tribal lands to file documents demonstrating they had discussions with tribal governments, said an FCC notice in Tuesday’s Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1a0W4kS). The FCC had inadvertently omitted the filing deadline from earlier orders, the commission said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau revealed details of its challenge process for the second phase of the Connect America Fund. The bureau plans to look to the National Broadband Map “to find the presence of unsubsidized providers that deploy fixed, land-based technologies such as cable, fiber, DSL, or fixed wireless providers like WISPs,” check if they provide voice and then publish a list of census blocks lacking an unsubsidized provider and eligible for CAF, bureau Chief Julie Veach explained in an FCC blog post Thursday (http://fcc.us/109gerU). She described a challenge framework intended to “expedite resolution of disputes” that “includes collecting specific and consistent information, on a form, of facts and evidence ranging from census tract identifiers to advertisements for service and customer data.” The bureau plans to collect challenges, review them and issue public notices seeking any rebuttals, she said. The challenge order was released and adopted Thursday (http://bit.ly/10VVOnG). “We particularly encourage state public utility commissions and broadband mapping authorities to participate in the challenge process and provide any information they believe to be relevant to our consideration of which census blocks should be eligible for the offer of Phase II model-based support,” it said. NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield judged these to be “significant developments in the continuing debate over how to create regulatory certainty and build a broadband future for consumers and businesses located in the most rural areas,” she said in a statement. “Given that the FCC is already implementing a broadband-oriented Connect America Fund for consumers in areas served by larger carriers, it’s encouraging to finally see progress toward tailored updates that would enable smaller carriers to also respond more effectively to the broadband demands of their customers.” She praised the “greater clarity” on the reporting requirements for companies. The American Cable Association also praised the order. “The FCC’s approach is particularly reasonable because it establishes a presumption that cable operators shown on the National Broadband Map to be offering broadband speeds of 3 Mbps/768 kbps in a census block and also offering voice service in that area satisfy the FCC’s other non-speed criteria for deeming an area as served,” said ACA President Matt Polka. “Price cap carriers then appropriately have the burden to prove that the cable operator’s service does not meet at least one of these criteria.”
The Senate approved a water resources bill, which funds Army Corps of Engineers projects and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, in an 83-14 vote on May 15. The bill was introduced by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee leaders Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and David Vitter, R-La., in March. The White House previously warned Senators against passing the bill; in a May 6 statement of policy, the administration said the bill would constrain science-based decision making and undermine environmental laws (see 13050712).
"There is no business plan -- there is research,” said FirstNet board member Jeff Johnson, CEO of the Western Fire Chiefs Association and FirstNet’s head of outreach, referring to more than 400 pages of FirstNet material cited at a recent board meeting. “But there is no plan until we've listened to you.”
Emergency response following the Boston Marathon bombings last month shows the importance of planning before disaster strikes, Chris Essid, deputy director of the federal Office of Emergency Communications (OEC), told the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Tuesday. “Planning and preparation by Boston officials made a real difference for public safety communications,” Essid said. “During the response, their mission critical [land-mobile radio] systems worked well and they were able to achieve interoperability among state and local responders, and processes were in place to integrate federal law enforcement as needed.” Essid said OEC, part of the Department of Homeland Security, had worked with the city prior to the 2010 marathon and developed a plan. “The comprehensive communications plan developed by Boston in coordination with DHS was used in preparation for the Boston Marathon and subsequent response to the bombings,” he said. DHS is still looking at the response and the lessons learned, “so we can target further support and resources where needed,” he said.
Recently introduced trade-related legislation in Congress:
Traditional land-mobile radio will remain critical for public safety well after FirstNet is launched, speakers said Monday at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials Broadband Summit. An NTIA official said implementation grants are likely to be awarded starting in July.
Proposed changes to the FCC’s regulatory-fee reallocation regime would “deprive submarine cable operators of the ability to recover their regulatory costs and could render their services uneconomic,” representatives of the North American Submarine Cable Association said in a meeting with Matthew Berry, chief of staff to Commissioner Ajit Pai. “Unlike traditional retail services with monthly customer bills, long-term submarine cable capacity sales offer few opportunities for cost recovery or pass throughs,” the group said (http://bit.ly/13my8bc). “Submarine cable operators are therefore extremely sensitive to regulatory fees and charges, as their margins are already razor-thin.” U.S. national security is at risk if submarine cable operators move their operations elsewhere to avoid higher regulatory fees, NASCA said. “If submarine cable operators were increasingly to choose to land cables in Canada (which is ever-more-attractive given recent relaxation of foreign-ownership restrictions) or Mexico in order to avoid increased U.S. regulatory costs, the result would adversely impact national-security interests as articulated by various U.S. Government agencies,” the filing said. “The absence of U.S. landings would deprive the Commission of licensing jurisdiction over such cables and consequently reduce U.S. Government oversight of the supply and operational arrangements for such systems."