Federal and state regulatory policies are impeding consolidation of rural telephone lines, growing movement led by mid-sized companies such as CenturyTel and Citizens Communications, panelists said at Legg Mason investment conference in N.Y. on rural telephony Thurs. From regulators to rural operators, speakers said consolidation is latest trend in rural phone business, stoked by divestiture of lines by Bells such as Verizon and Qwest. Verizon has divested hundreds of thousands of former GTE lines throughout country, many of them acquired by consolidators, while others such as Qwest continue long-time trend to eliminate unprofitable exchanges. In addition, consolidators buy up small telcos run by families that no longer want to be in business. Consolidators generally can make more money from rural lines than Bells can because they have more access to universal service funding and their smaller size enables them to act more flexibly, panelists said.
In reaction to deadly highway accident in D.C. area last week, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators for first time are zeroing in on role that cellphone potentially played. Federal agency said it planned to examine cellphone use in crash cases with eye to possibly issuing recommendations. Fatal crash took place Fri. when 20-year-old woman lost control of her car on Capitol Beltway. News reports said she talking on cellphone when her sport utility vehicle jumped guardrail and landed in oncoming traffic, killing herself and 4 others. Month ago, NTSB began probing crash in Ill. in “pilot investigation” in effort to understand how to pursue cellphone issue, spokesman said: “In the future, if we are notified of an accident where cellphone use is suspected very early on and we have the resources, we will investigate. We want to investigate a number of these to see if we can gather enough information to render some adequate safety recommendations.” Spokesman said “we have been interested in the driver distraction issue for a long time,” but “we had never looked into the cellphone issue per se.” Accidents where cellphone is cited as factor have been getting significant publicity and local jurisdictions have been debating whether to impose restrictions on use in cars, he said. “We felt that this would be a good time for us to weigh in on what is apparently becoming a national transportation safety issue.”
Defense Dept. (DoD) said in report to Congress released Tues. that there were ways to share 138-144 MHz band with public safety users. Classified Pentagon report, described in news release, follows joint reports released late last month by FCC and NTIA that indicated there were no readily available spectrum bands that would be alternatives for public safety users besides 138-144 MHz. Both reports depicted congestion that public safety systems experienced in existing spectrum, such as VHF high band. “We believe it is possible to share portions of the 138-144 MHz band with public safety users on a limited, coordinated basis,” said Steven Price, deputy asst. defense secy. for spectrum and command, control & communications. He said DoD was willing to work with NTIA, state and local govts. and first responders on “a case-by-case basis to explore sharing the band for the common good.” Pentagon said 138-144 MHz still was “critical to DoD operations” but that department had found it helpful in emergencies to share communications systems with other first responders. “A small number of channels may be shared on a regional basis when it is to the mutual benefit of DoD and public safety officials,” Pentagon said. Operations that it said could feel impact of “heavy use of too many channels” included air-surface-air systems, air traffic control and ground support functions at military airfields, tactical communications for close air support, land mobile radios for installation infrastructure support, land mobile radios, specialized equipment for training and test range support. Other systems include fire and security alarms and hydrology and utility controls. Report to Congress was conducted by DoD’s Joint Spectrum Center. DoD operations in band cover nearly entire continental U.S. “Large distance separations would be required to prevent co- channel and adjacent-channel interference between DoD equipment and potential state and local public safety systems, particularly in the case of DoD air-ground-air radios,” DoD said. Fiscal 2001 defense authorization legislation required studies by FCC, NTIA and DoD to examine possibility of sharing in 138-144 MHz band by existing military users and public safety systems. In fiscal 2000, defense authorization language had directed President to reclaim for “exclusive” use on primary basis bands totaling 3 MHz between 138-144 MHz. Bands were part of spectrum chosen for reallocation from govt. to nongovt. uses in 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Fiscal 2001 defense authorization legislation then required DoD and other agencies to identify any part of that band that military could share in various geographic areas with public safety services.
FCC Chief of Staff Marsha MacBride told Public Safety National Coordination Committee (NCC) Fri. that public safety interoperability and other issues were part of emphasis of Commission’s homeland security efforts. MacBride was named by FCC Chmn. Powell in Nov. to head agency’s Homeland Security Policy Council. In presentation to NCC, MacBride outlined homeland security efforts that were stressing broader areas than in past for network protection, including mass media and wireless. Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC), which played key coordinating role during FCC’s Y2K efforts, is refocused on homeland security, including lessons learned and existing vulnerabilities, MacBride said. Composition of NRIC has shifted from historical wireline emphasis to include wireless, cable and Internet service providers, she said. In broadcasting and multichannel video programming, Commission is starting Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) to examine infrastructure reliability and security issues. Among other themes that emerged during NCC general membership meeting was need for better public safety interoperability, which has gained renewed public attention following Sept. 11 attacks.
NTIA released report Fri. outlined need for more spectrum for critical infrastructure providers in energy, water and railroad sectors, concluding that urgency of those issues might have changed following Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Report to Congress, required by fiscal 2001 appropriations act that covered Commerce Dept., catalogued congestion that infrastructure providers faced in land mobile portion of spectrum. “It is of utmost importance that the Federal Communications Commission revisit these critical issues in order to accommodate the increasing role these industries play in maintaining quality of life,” report said. It cited continued use of spectrum as “essential to the current and future operations of these industries.” NTIA said industry feedback it received in preparing report pointed to spectrum that was “either congested or quickly approaching critical mass, thus leading to problems of interference.” NTIA said industry consensus called for additional spectrum, citing lack of bands available for new users. Report has been closely watched by private wireless industry who have raised concerns about Nextel proposal pending at FCC that would reconfigure some public safety, private wireless and commercial operators at 700, 800 and 900 MHz.
Disney Interactive (DI) signed licensing agreement with Nintendo of America (NOA) to publish titles for Game Boy Advance (GBA). First title scheduled to ship under deal will be Disney’s Peter Pan Return to Never Land Feb. 15. Game is based on animated feature film Disney’s Return to Never Land being released theatrically on same day. Companies said licenses for other Disney-branded GBA titles would continue to be awarded to other publishers. DI N. America Senior Vp-Gen. Mgr. Steve Finney said his company “has had success on the Game Boy platform for quite some time, with standard characters like Mickey and Minnie, and properties including Disney’s Tarzan, Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story and Monsters, Inc., among many others.” DI said it planned to publish “several Game Boy Advance titles this year” in addition to Peter Pan game, including 2 based on upcoming animated films -- Disney’s Lilo & Stitch coming to theaters in June and Disney’s Treasure Planet due in theaters in Nov.
Inmarsat still plans “to go public before the end of the year,” but exact date hasn’t been decided, company official told us. Official restated public position revealed in FCC filing 6 months ago (CD May 16 p4): “An IPO is very much on the agenda, but we will need to wait until some stability returns to the U.S. markets.” Weak market forced Inmarsat to cancel planned IPOs twice last year. Official said everything now was in place, including FCC license for service to 5 company distributors. Inmarsat also has set Nov. 18 for launch of regional broadband global area network (B-GAN) that will allow high-speed data transmission of up to 144 kbps. Company has signed contracts worth $220 million to lease satellite capacity from Thuraya and terminals from Hughes, official said. He said “interim agreement” with Thuraya would be used until launch of new Inmarsat satellites in 2003 and 2004.
Increasing spectrum for public safety systems that operate in congested VHF high band would pave way for complex or wide area systems that would bolster their communications, FCC said in report to Congress released Mon. Report is companion to one released Fri. by NTIA (CD Jan 28 p3). Despite acknowledging need for more public safety spectrum, joint reports required of NTIA and FCC by fiscal 2001 defense authorization legislation found no readily available additional frequencies as alternatives to 138-144 MHz for public safety systems. Authorization legislation required studies by FCC and NTIA, as well as still-unreleased one by Defense Dept., to examine possibility of sharing in 138-144 MHz band by existing military users and public safety systems. Sources said industry attention now was turning to Defense Dept. report to Congress, designed to analyze in-band sharing possibilities at 138-144 MHz. Joint NTIA-FCC reports depict congested use of existing public safety operations in those bands and tough choices that lie ahead for making additional allocations.
FCC denied motion by Litigation Recovery Trust (LRT) requesting stay of Commission’s authorization issued Dec. 18 that allowed Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications and Comsat, together with Telenor, to assign various satellite earth, private land mobile radio and experimental licences and Sec. 214 authorizations held by Comsat to Telenor. Commission said LRT hadn’t met legal standards for stay based on 4-prong test that warrants stay. LRT said Commission exceeded its jurisdiction by: (1) Failing to present any interpretation of Act that would establish its authority to authorize assignment of licenses to company that is 79% owned and controlled by foreign govt. (2) Violated notice and comment requirements of Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by modifying existing rule. (3) Acted arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to present any rationale for its departure from established Commission policy. LRT also said it had new evidence on contract recently secured by Telenor to provide communications services to NATO. LRT said Telenor underbid incumbent carrier by $8 million and bid raised questions of subsidization of Telenor’s business operation by Norway. Commission said LRT didn’t provide sufficient evidence to warrant further investigation. It also said its decision was within its jurisdiction because Communications Act prohibits grant of licenses to any corporation directly or indirectly controlled by any other corporation of which more than 25% of capital stock was owned by foreign govt. FCC said it made no such finding. It said it found no merit in LRT’s claim that agency had violated notice and comment requirements of APA. Commission said allegation by LRT on contract that Telenor obtained through bidding process to provide NATO communications services wasn’t sufficient to indicate LRT would succeed in reconsideration proceeding. Commission also said LRT wouldn’t suffer irreparable harm in absence of stay, but grant of stay would cause harm to both Telenor and Comsat.
FCC order released Mon. granted part of request by LMR Systems, which had challenged Commission decision to dismiss its applications for various 800 and 900 MHz band channels. LMR sought spectrum for proposed Airport Specialized Mobile Radio communications systems. FCC affirmed dismissal of 2 of 10 applications that had been rejected by Wireless Bureau’s Public Safety and Private Wireless Div. But order, which was approved Dec. 31, sent back remaining 8 applications to division for further consideration. In 1996, LMR withdrew previous waiver requests, saying its pending applications could be granted without waivers. LMR told FCC that industrial/land transportation (I/LT) frequencies it sought would be used only within parameters of eligibility criteria for this spectrum. LMR said it should be able to charge eligible end users “reasonable fee” for use of equipment that it installed. But FCC decided it couldn’t grant LMR applications without waiver requests because rules stipulate that private land mobile radio channels above 800 MHz can be shared only on nonprofit basis and LMR intended to charge. FCC said: “While it was reasonable for the division to question whether LMR’s proposal was a not-for-profit, cost- shared system, we will nonetheless afford LMR an opportunity to make a showing that its proposed system is a not-for- profit, cost-shared system.” Commission said it stood by decision to dismiss 2 of LMR’s applications because they lacked frequency coordination.