TIA published Vehicular Antenna Standards TIA-329.2-C, it said. The new standard specifies how to test the ability of digital two-way radio antenna systems to handle the real- time communications requirements of federal, state and local public safety agencies, utilities, railroads, and other organizations, TIA said. The standard covers vehicle antennas using the terrestrial land-mobile bands between 25 and 1000 MHz on trucks, motorcycles and passenger cars, and it doesn’t cover antennas used in military combat, TIA said.
A federal court ruled the city of Anacortes, Wash., violated federal law in denying T-Mobile a special use permit to build a wireless tower because its land-use ordinance imposed onerous requirements for obtaining a tower permit and gave the city unlimited ground for rejections based on esthetics and other subjective factors. The U.S. District Court, Seattle, ordered the city to grant T-Mobile’s tower permit (Case 07-1644RAJ). T-Mobile said the city ordinance imposed unreasonable conditions such as requiring eight separate preliminary steps for tower applications and requiring that towers be compatible with “the character and appearance of the vicinity” without defining what that phrase meant. T-Mobile said the city’s ordinance granted local officials an unfettered degree of discretion over subjective criteria that went beyond what the Telecom Act intended and therefore was preempted. The city said its tower application requirements were necessary for protection of the public safety and welfare, and were therefore exempt from Telecom Act preemption. But the court said the city failed to show why its onerous permitting process and overly broad discretion on tower applications were necessary to protect the public. It said the regulations acted to create a barrier to wireless service that must be preempted.
TIA published Public Safety Project 25 MOS Test Plan Vocoder Standard TSB-102.BABF. TIA said it will strengthen first responder communications and voice quality in land mobile radio systems. It specifies testing standards for new and emerging vocoder technology enhancements and provides a methodology to evaluate the voice quality of land mobile radio systems using various vocoders in a variety of noise levels and operating conditions. It also specifies methodology to evaluate audio quality subjectively, TIA said.
Motorola will be paid $20 million for land-mobile radios if it fulfills the order by October, the Navy said. The Navy will award up to $43.1 million for the radios if all of the options are exercised, it said.
The Department of Homeland Security has published its spring 2008 semi-annual regulatory agenda for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Verizon wants to stop selling six unused calling and mobile products labeled as interstate IntraMarket, interstate IntraLATA or Corridor services, it said in a filing to the FCC. Verizon plans a July 1 discontinuation for conference and dial conference services, the incumbent local exchange carrier part of its prepaid calling card service and public land, aviation and maritime mobile radiotelephone services. “There currently are no customers for these services,” Verizon said.
Verizon Business joined 15 other companies building an undersea optical cable system linking Europe, the Middle East and India, it said Tuesday. The $700 million, 9,000-mile Europe India Gateway will have 3.84 Tbps capacity, Verizon said. Verizon expects to finish the cable network in 2010, it said. It plans to extend its global mesh architecture to the Middle East and India, it said. The mesh connects undersea cable systems on land, allowing for instant traffic rerouting in the event of multiple undersea cable breaks.
Net neutrality was Tuesday’s hot topic in tech policy on and off the Hill. Lawmakers addressed the Computer and Communications Industry Association annual caucus, then took part in a House Telecom Subcommittee hearing on the Internet Freedom Preservation Act. (See separate report in this issue.) Electronic surveillance, broadband expansion and intellectual property also came up at the CCIA meeting. The FCC and Justice Department stirred the most heat among lawmakers.
Verizon Business joined 15 other companies building an undersea optical cable system linking Europe, the Middle East and India, it said Tuesday. The $700 million, 9,000-mile Europe India Gateway will have 3.84 Tbps capacity, Verizon said. Verizon expects to finish the cable network in 2010, it said. It plans to extend its global mesh architecture to the Middle East and India, it said. The mesh connects undersea cable systems on land, allowing for instant traffic rerouting in the event of multiple undersea cable breaks.
Passage of a net-neutrality bill won’t interfere with the war on Internet content piracy, House Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey, D-Mass., said Tuesday at a hearing on his bill (HR-5353). But the bill, cast as a bipartisan compromise, didn’t win strong support. Disputes continue between backers of government rules and free-market advocates.