The FCC sent out 32,000 letters last month to public safety licensees who still need to make the transition from wide to narrowband channels for their public safety radios, and has been inundated with phone calls and emails since, said Brian Marenco, an engineer in the Public Safety Bureau, at a National Public Safety Telecom Council meeting Monday. Meanwhile, many letters are coming back as undeliverable. FCC rules require all public safety and industrial/business land mobile radio systems in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz bands to migrate from 25 kHz channel bandwidth to 12.5 kHz or narrower technology by Jan. 1, 2013 (CD Jan 27 p3). “A lot of people really do want to comply but they need the tools and they need the resources,” Marenco said. But things are moving slowly, he warned. Since the letter went out April 15, the FCC has recorded 2,100 changes to licenses to allow for narrowbanding and, since April 1, 320 calls signs have been cancelled, he said. “We want to work and help people comply,” he said. “We have a long way to go. … We're now 62 percent noncompliant, but when we started we were closer to 66 percent noncompliant, so it has been moving.” Marenco said the FCC likely wouldn’t have time to move the deadline even if it wanted to at this point. The FCC’s message on the deadline has been clear, Marenco said. “It’s here,” he said. “The deadline’s not moving.”
Charlesbank Capital Partners will buy DEI Holdings and its Polk Audio and Definitive Technologies speaker brands for $285 million under a definitive agreement it just signed. The equity/debt deal allows DEI to shop itself to other prospective buyers for 35 days following the agreement, DEI said. If DEI doesn’t land any other offers, the sale will close in late June, Charlesbank said. If the deal is completed, DEI will continue to be led by CEO James Minarik and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Duffy. Its headquarters will remain in Vista, Calif., with offices in Baltimore and Canada, where Polk and Definitive are based. DEI stockholders will get $3.79 to $3.81, a 142 percent premium to the May 12 closing price of the company’s stock. DEI, then known as Directed Electronics, acquired Polk in 2006 for $136 million. DEI, which bought Definitive in September 2005, also sells vehicle security products under the Clifford, Python and Viper brands. U.S. Rep Darrell Issa, R-Calif., founded DEI in 1982, focusing on Viper security products before adding car audio in 1996. Issa resigned and was replaced by Minarik in 2000, after being elected to the House.
On May 13, 2011, the following trade-related bills were introduced:
At age 50, the “vast wasteland” speech is seen as having much to say about current issues in media and telecom by some current and former FCC members, while others said celebrating it should be out of style. An event Monday night marked the 50th anniversary of the speech given by then-Chairman Newton Minow to the NAB. (See coverage from May 15, 1961, in this issue.) Minow and his current successor, Julius Genachowski, told an audience at the National Press Club that the fears expressed in the speech still can guide policymaking, albeit on different issues. Other former FCC members said in interviews that they disagreed, citing the specter of government interference with free speech and other reasons.
The International Trade Administration has issued the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review of certain steel threaded rod from China (A-570-932) covering the period October 8, 2008 through February 28, 2010. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports that the number of truck crossings into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico was 10.2 million in 2010, 9.4% more than in 2009. The truck-crossing numbers are included in the 2010 border-crossing data that also includes numbers of incoming trains, buses, containers, personal vehicles, and pedestrians entering the U.S. through land ports and ferry crossings on the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico border.
During the April 12, 2011 COAC1 meeting, a Department of Homeland Security official discussed the agency’s efforts to issue a report on a U.S. global supply chain security strategy for all modes of transportation (air, land, and sea). The report will inform the industry on how the government plans to interact with them, international partners, and foreign governments. It will also help guide and inform budget and program development within each of the federal agencies.
The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on a proposal by Amoco that it be allowed to use 896-901/935-940 MHz itinerant-use channels in the private land mobile radio system at its plant in Texas City, Texas. Amoco is processing and creating chemical products from petroleum products, the bureau said, and wants the channel expansion to “eliminate channel congestion and provide more reliable communications on the existing system for the chemical plant, adjoining refinery, and waterways that serve as Amoco’s terminal port.” Comments are due May 25, replies May 31.
The FCC shouldn’t give tribal entities an unfair advantage in spectrum auctions, NTCH said in response to the commission’s further inquiry on tribal issues related to establishment of a mobility fund. NTCH said it provides service in many rural areas, and is looking at serving tribal lands. “The Further Inquiry proposes to give tribally-owned or controlled providers a preference in the auction,” NTCH said. “This suggestion is well-meaning but misguided. There is no reason to assume that tribes or entities controlled by tribes have any expertise in constructing, operating or maintaining sophisticated wireless networks.” Sometimes “tribes have sophisticated telecom expertise or access to expert consultants,” the carrier said. “But in others, the tribes are no more qualified to construct or operate a mobile communications network than anyone else.” NTCH also opposed giving tribes input in deciding which areas have the highest priority for Mobility Fund access. “At first blush, this proposal seemed to make sense: allow the tribes themselves to identify needy areas,” NTCH said. “But on reflection, this skewing of the process would seem to be an unfair disservice to other needy areas."
On May 3, 2011, the following trade-related bills were introduced: