The FCC Wireless and Public Safety bureaus sought comment on a September request by the city of Philadelphia (http://xrl.us/bnq8if) for an 18-month extension of the agency’s Jan. 1 private land mobile radio narrowbanding deadline. “Philadelphia contends it has made extensive planning efforts to comply with the Commission’s narrowbanding deadline,” the bureaus said (http://xrl.us/bn5ptg). “Philadelphia plans to upgrade to a more efficient P25 based trunking system and has secured adequate funding for the project. This transition includes new infrastructure, rebanded channels, new subscriber units, and reconfigured subscriber units. Philadelphia argues that it lacks the personnel resources to meet the narrowbanding deadline, and that various interdependencies with its 800 MHz (National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee) rebanding and upgrade effort, while also assuring uninterrupted public safety communications, have made full compliance impossible.” Philadelphia also argues that “in simultaneously rebanding, narrowbanding, and maintaining its current systems at their highest performance levels, it has experienced a shortage of man-power,” the public notice said. Comments are due Dec. 17, replies Dec. 21.
Green Mountain Power asked the FCC for a three-month extension of the commission’s Jan. 1 VHF/UHF narrowbanding deadline for private land mobile radio service operations. Green Mountain, which merged with Central Vermont Public Service Corp. in June, is Vermont’s largest electric utility, with about 250,000 customers. “For more than seven years, Green Mountain has worked diligently and in good faith to move its statewide radio system from wideband VHF to a new narrowband network on the 220 MHz band, but through no fault of its own recently encountered an unexpected delay in completing the transition,” the utility said (http://xrl.us/bn5pb6). “Green Mountain requests only a brief extension to test the new equipment and train more than 300 employees to use the new system, which is considerably more complex than the current VHF system. Extending the deadline would ensure that work crews can communicate and respond to power outages caused by Vermont’s severe winter weather."
ZAGG interim CEO Randall Hales, who Monday was hired full time to the post (see Consumer Electronics People), will be paid a $692,000 base salary, the accessories supplier said in an SEC filing. Hales, who has been serving as interim CEO since August following the resignation of founder Robert Pedersen, also will be eligible for a $208,000 annual cash incentive bonus based on financial targets, the filing said. He'll also get $658,000 in ZAGG common stock, it said. Hales, president since December 2011, was appointed after Pedersen’s departure was hastened when it was found he used ZAGG shares as collateral in land deals, the company has said. ZAGG adopted a policy prohibiting all insiders from engaging in short-term or speculative transactions involving company securities.
Original design manufacturer Tymphany has teamed up with Qualcomm Atheros to co-develop multi-room audio products built around Qualcomm Atheros’ Wi-Fi-based Skifta audio platform, executives from both companies told Consumer Electronics Daily Friday. The companies will show a Skifta powered speaker system prototype off-site at CES with the hopes of landing partners for the open-architecture platform as an alternative to AirPlay. They hope the platform will be commercialized in audio speakers and components in late 2013 or early 2014, said Gary Brotman, director of product marketing for Qualcomm Atheros.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) introduced legislation Dec. 7 meant to modernize CBP and other customs-related agencies. Brady's bill, the Customs Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act of 2012 (HR-6642), makes several changes to the organization of CBP, many of which mirror the changes of the customs bill introduced in 2009 by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and then-Finance Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski asked the Federal Aviation Administration Thursday to “enable” wider inflight use of tablets, e-readers and other portable electronic devices “consistent with public safety.” Genachowski sent FAA Administrator Michael Huerta a brief letter saying the FAA inquiry “comes at a time of tremendous innovation, as mobile devices are increasingly interwoven in our daily lives.” The FAA is looking at whether to drop requirements on commercial flights that all personal electronic devices be powered off during takeoff and landing.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski asked the Federal Aviation Administration Thursday to “enable” wider inflight use of tablets, e-readers and other portable electronic devices “consistent with public safety.” Genachowski sent FAA Administrator Michael Huerta a brief letter saying the FAA inquiry “comes at a time of tremendous innovation, as mobile devices are increasingly interwoven in our daily lives.” The FAA is looking at whether to drop requirements on commercial flights that all personal electronic devices be powered off during takeoff and landing.
Columbia Gas Transmission asked for an extension until July 1 to get its systems in compliance with the FCC’s private land mobile radio narrowbanding deadline. Parent NiSource said in a filing it has trouble completing the move to narrowband frequencies in the remote areas where the company operates. “Columbia Gas Transmission utilizes wired and wireless (terrestrial and satellite) infrastructure to support and manage the pipeline and storage systems,” the filing said (http://xrl.us/bn4yai). “The affected licenses are primarily used for critical communications and support numerous applications, including: telemetry and pipeline monitoring, command and control of pipeline infrastructure, and internal corporate emergency communications.” At this point, 38 Columbia Gas Transmission industrial/business pool licenses “still require additional hardware and/or modification to satisfy the FCC’s narrowbanding mandate,” the company said.
Questions remain about the U.S. federal broadband stimulus program, now approaching its final year and totaling just under $4 billion in awards. Municipal stakeholders praised the broader investment in November (CD Nov 13 p7). NTIA recently posted scores of third-quarter reports belonging to the 228 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grantees. These documents and a recent Office of Inspector General report show concerns about oversight and the closeout process of these three-year grants as well as consider the fate of seven public safety network grantees, which NTIA suspended in May over FirstNet compatibility concerns.
Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC), which includes every FCC-certified frequency coordinator, asked the commission to get tough on licensees in the 150-470 MHz bands that miss the Jan. 1 deadline to narrowband their systems and don’t get an FCC waiver. A recent public notice from the Wireless and Public Safety bureaus mischaracterized LMCC’s position, the letter said. The bureaus said LMCC’s position is “effective February 1, 2013, frequency coordinators will treat incumbent non-compliant 25 kHz systems as 12.5 kHz systems for purposes of identifying frequency assignments.” LMCC instead asked that starting Feb. 1 noncompliant 25 kHz systems “not be considered by the Industrial/Business and Public Safety frequency advisory committees for purposes of identifying frequency assignments for use with land mobile systems,” the letter said. “The FCC’s reading of the LMCC recommendation provides a substantive, unearned benefit to non-compliant licensees at the expense of those that complied in a timely manner with the FCC’s narrowbanding mandate,” the council said. “Rather than providing the incentive intended by LMCC for licensees to bring non-compliant wideband systems into narrowbanding compliance or risk coordination of an ‘overlay’ exclusive use assignment, licensees of such systems would be treated as though they were compliant already.” Mark Crosby, LMCC secretary, told us LMCC’s proposal would offer a “meaningful way” to get licensees into compliance with the narrowbanding mandate.