The FCC set a Dec. 10 comment date on a rulemaking (CD Nov 6 p9) on whether it should modify the so-called “operate independently” requirement of the Telecom Act’s Sec. 272. The FCC sought comment on whether the operating, installation and maintenance sharing prohibition was “an overbroad means of preventing cost misallocation or discrimination” by Bell companies against unaffiliated rivals. The Commission also asked whether the prohibition against joint ownership by Bells and their Sec. 272 affiliates of switching and transmission facilities, or the land and buildings on which such facilities were located, should be modified or eliminated. Replies are due Dec. 22.
Boeing told the FCC it was concerned about unresolved cross-border spectrum issues stemming from an 800 MHz rebanding plan proposed by Nextel, public safety groups and some in the private wireless industry. Industry Canada weighed in earlier at the FCC, saying the “consensus plan” could create harmful interference problems for Canadian licensees, including mutual aid channels along the border for public safety (CD Nov 3 p5). Ticking off what Boeing called unresolved international issues with the plan, it told the FCC it was “concerned that the magnitude and scope of these issues are not fully appreciated.” Boeing cited an “apparent misperception” that relocating parts of border area business/industrial land transportation incumbents to 900 MHz spectrum could minimize international coordination issues. The consensus plan is designed to mitigate interference to public safety users by reconfiguring the 700, 800 and 900 MHz bands, with Nextel exchanging spectrum it has in each of those bands for other licenses, including 10 MHz at 1.9 GHz. Boeing outlined other cross-border concerns that had filtered into the FCC about the plan, including: (1) A filing from Pa. that said its border with Canada presented challenges for the development of high-power sites and added another factor to be considered when addressing public safety. (2) Arguments by the National Assn. of Mfrs. and its spectrum coordination arm MRFAC that the plan “continues to avoid hard issues associated with border regions.” Boeing contended the consensus plan would create “an unwieldy ‘double border’ in which the operations of border area licensees in the United States would be in conflict with adjacent spectrum uses both across the border and with other U.S. licensees operating in the United States but just outside the border area.” Boeing said the FCC should reject the consensus proposal as lacking adequate technical analysis and resolution of border area issues. “It has been shown that technical and operational fixes short of rebanding can adequately resolve 800 MHz interference problems,” it said. Otherwise, the FCC should grandfather border area incumbents to avoid forced relocation and “international coordination conflicts” until completing an overhaul of its bilateral cross-border spectrum arrangements with Mexico and Canada, Boeing said. Its filing referred to itself as a “cross-border incumbent” that relied on networks using the 800 MHz band for the operation of major manufacturing facilities. “After almost 2 years of contributing to this proceeding, border area spectrum users should not be required to wait for further proceedings to be completed in order to secure regulatory certainty that no disruption or harmful interference will occur to their critically important 800 MHz communications networks,” it said.
CompTel/ASCENT urged the Indian govt. to require carrier VSNL to open up access to submarine cable capacity in India. CompTel/ASCENT told the govt. in a Nov. 24 letter: “Although there is much unused capacity in several of the cable systems landing in India, the commercial practices of VSNL have created an artificial shortage of capacity, which prevents competitive operators from meeting the full bandwidth demands of their customers and keeps bandwidth prices for the capacity that is available at much higher levels than the prices for the similar capacity on routes where the market is more competitive.”
Suspended sentences and community service for 3 Australian students was the outcome of that country’s first criminal trial for online music piracy. Charles Kok Hau Ng, 20, and Peter Tran, 19, entered guilty pleas to charges by the Australian music industry that they operated a music-swapping site called MPW3/WMA Land. Although the service charged no fees, some 390 CDs and 1,800 tracks were available for free download. Despite the plaintiffs’ assertion of multimillion-dollar losses and their attempt to block the defendants’ plea bargain, the court suspended 18-month jail terms for the students, Australian news sources reported. A 3rd defendant, Tommy Le, 21, received a sentence of 200 community-service hours for uploading 4 song compilations to the site.
ATA Airlines became the latest airline to relax its onboard cellphone usage policy. American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Southwest and United Airlines have taken similar steps in the last few months. ATA said passengers now were permitted to use cellphones and pagers sooner after landing. As of Fri., ATA crews began informing passengers they could switch on cellphones and pagers once an aircraft had landed and was “clear of an active runway.” ATA said its predeparture policy remained, allowing customers to use cellphones and electronic devices until the plane doors had been closed.
Legislation to modify the universal service fund (USF) received Native American endorsements. The National Indian Telecom Institute (NITI) and the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), expressed support for S-1380 in separate letters to Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.). S-1380, introduced by Sen. Smith (R-Ore.), would adjust distribution of USF payments to Bells and other large ILECs for rural services. The pot of about $230 million, called the “non-rural” fund because it goes to bigger carriers, is calculated statewide and goes mostly to Ala., Miss. and W. Va. “The FCC’s statewide averaging approach excludes more than 40 states and most tribal lands from eligibility for high-cost support,” NITI said. S-1380, and its House counterpart (HR-1582) from Rep. Terry (R-Neb.), would calculate based on the wire center. “This represents a more equitable approach given that one wire center typically covers a more homogeneous service area and reflects service costs more accurately,” the NITI letter said. NCAI said the legislation was needed, as many Native American communities don’t even have basic telecom services. “In recent years, numerous experts have reported that Native Americans face an urgent situation in which their telecommunications infrastructure is falling far behind the rest of the Unites States,” NCAI said. The bill has 22 co-sponsors, including McCain, but hasn’t been scheduled for hearing or markup. While urging its passage, NITI said it had concerns: (1) A cap on funding to any one state could result in “truly needy wire centers” from receiving funding. (2) The value of phone exchanges could rise as a result of USF funding changes, making it more difficult for tribes to purchase the exchanges in their areas. “This possible side effect does not outweigh the arguments in favor of the bill, as most tribes will be better served by greater service investments by incumbents than by attempting to take over service themselves,” the NITI letter said. “However, for tribes that have determined that purchase of the local exchange is the only way to ensure adequate service to its people, this effect must be considered.”
ATLANTA -- NARUC’s Telecom Committee adopted policy resolutions addressing the cost basis for UNEs, convergence of information services and telecom, and use of the 811 dialing code as the national number for underground facility locator services. But another resolution at the NARUC annual meeting here Mon. on directory assistance competition failed to pass.
BellSouth (BS) asked the FCC to allow ILECs to recover the costs to implement wireless local number portability (LNP) through a federal charge on end users. Besides seeking a declaratory ruling, the company in an FCC filing late Fri. asked for a waiver of the recovery limits for end-user LNP charges, which have been in effect for wireline LNP since 1999. With the Nov. 24 deadline for wireless LNP in the top 100 markets a week away, BS estimated it had spent $38 million to enable wireless porting.
The FCC adopted new rules to improve the universal service program for rural health care providers and increase participation in it, at its meeting Thurs. The order follows FCC Chmn. Powell’s visit to the U. of Va. Office of Telemedicine (CD Nov 10 p3), where he pushed for greater participation in the program to ensure that “the quality of health care available to Americans is not dependent upon their geographic location.” He expressed concern that while the Commission set aside $400 million annually, in the first 5 years of the 6-year-old program barely $30 million was disbursed to rural facilities. In 2000 and 2001, demand for the program averaged $14 million per year -- only 3.5% of available discounts.
New Video and Computer Games: Acclaim Entertainment International said it signed a European publishing deal with inXile Entertainment of Newport Beach, Cal., to ship the latter’s first 2004 game, The Bard’s Tale. Terms weren’t disclosed. Acclaim will publish the role-playing game on multiple console platforms and the PC, the companies said. The original game The Bard’s Tale was produced by Fargo and published by Electronic Arts (EA) in 1985 on the Apple II… Legacy Interactive kicked off its first sweepstakes with the release of the computer game Law & Order II: Double or Nothing. The grand prize winner will receive a new “fully loaded” laptop, the publisher said. Other prizes include the new game and other titles… Midway Games said Justice League: Chronicles shipped for Game Boy Advance (GBA)… THQ shipped The Fairly Odd Parents: Breakin’ Da Rules for GBA, GameCube, PS2, Xbox… EA said Need for Speed Underground went gold and would “begin to ship in North America Nov. 17 under the EA Games brand” for GameCube, PC, PS2 and Xbox. The game features PS2 and PC online play, EA said. A PC-version demo is at www.needforspeed.com… LucasArts said Secret Weapons Over Normandy went gold on PC, PS2 and Xbox “and is scheduled to land on store shelves” Nov. 18… Encore and JoWooD said they plan to ship Soldner for the PC in Feb. Encore CEO Michael Bell said the title could change “the way tactical online games are played”… Ubisoft said Lock On: Modern Air Combat went gold and will ship Nov. 18 for PC.