The FCC’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) should empower broadband efforts by municipalities, said the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) and other local government authorities, responding to the FCC’s seventh NBP public notice on the roles of federal, state, tribal and local government. Other commenters compared municipal broadband to city electric systems built decades ago. But Qwest and some rural carriers warned that public-owned networks could impede broadband deployment in many areas.
EchoStar hasn’t “progressed as fast as we would have liked” since being spun off from Dish Network last year and needs to “better market” its Sling technology, Chairman Charles Ergen told Monday in a conference call.
The FCC’s National Broadband Plan should empower broadband efforts by municipalities, said the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors and other local government authorities, responding to the FCC’s seventh public notice for the plan, on the roles of federal, state, tribal and local government. Other commenters compared municipal broadband to city electric systems built decades ago. But Qwest and some rural carriers warned that public-owned networks could impede broadband deployment in many areas.
On November 5, 2009, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano announced the final deployment of non-intrusive scanning equipment to detect radiation emanating from materials used in nuclear devices at all Northern border land ports of entry. This project was completed ahead of schedule, and finished on Oct. 29 at the Trout River, N.Y., port of entry. (Press release, dated 11/05/09, available at http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1257454349707.shtm.)
Tribal lands still lack basic telephone service, nearly 10 years after former FCC Chairman William Kennard created the Enhanced Lifeline program to extend the access, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., told the commission in a letter. “It is clear that the Commission’s policies have failed too many people on Tribal lands,” he said. “This situation requires your urgent attention.” Udall said continued management of the $7 billion universal service program “misses the mark” if it can’t provide basic phone service to everyone in the U.S. The coming broadband plan “could be received with skepticism” if it doesn’t provide a way to ensure basic phone service for all, Udall said, asking the FCC for a plan of action.
In August 2009, the Coalition for Responsible Transportation1 announced that it had formed a partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay Transport Program to help develop a national SmartWay Transport certification program and rating system for port drayage trucks.
The FCC Wireless Bureau wants comment on a petition for stay by the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council. The council asked the commission to put off interim deadlines to switch private land mobile radio services in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz bands to narrowband technology. The council didn’t object to the final Jan. 1, 2013, deadline for the migration. But it asked for a stay of three interim deadlines in 2011 banning new applications concerning 25 kHz wideband spectrum and new equipment for the bands involved and requiring new applications for equipment authorization to specify a 6.25 kHz capability or equivalent efficiency. The council said enforcement of the first two deadlines would “hamper public safety interoperability during the final two years of the transition,” so they should coincide with the final 2013 deadline. It said the third requirement would “unnecessarily raise equipment costs” and should be delayed to 2015. The FCC asked whether the stay is needed, and if so whether it should apply only to public safety. The commission also asked whether it could reach the same goal “more appropriately” by granting waivers to licensees that show specific need. Comments are due Nov. 23, replies Dec. 3.
At the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, PortCheck is preparing to introduce a simplified cargo claiming system to reduce the administrative and economic burdens of the Clean Trucks Program (CTP). The system will be developed, tested and operational by November 15, not November 1 as previously announced. Under the new system, cargo owners using exempt clean trucks to move local or intermodal rail cargo will no longer be required to claim cargo or pay the Clean Trucks Fee (CTF) in advance; only cargo owners using older, non-compliant trucks will be required to do so. Currently, all cargo, including intermodal cargo, must be claimed through PortCheck. (PierPass press release, dated 10/29/09, available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing that the Automated Commercial System programming changes required for implementing changes brought by the Food and Drug Administration's final rule on prior notice (PN) of food (including animal feed), which is imported or offered for import into the U.S., are scheduled to be moved to production on January 13, 2010.
On October 23, 2009, the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea, known as the Rotterdam Rules1, received its 20th signature.