Federal rights-of-way (RoW) policies will be explored at Appraisal Institute workshop 9 a.m., Dec. 4, Phoenix Park Hotel, Washington. Speakers include Telecom RoW Coalition Exec. Dir. Eric Myers and representatives of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service. -- 202-298-6649.
Communication Asia Network (CAN) is launching Pan-Asia satellite service stretching from New Zealand to Iran, with China as its priority market and Hong Kong as base. CAN said it had raised $35 million to invest in project. It hopes to transmit service over local cable operators, offering 7 Asian channels providing cultural, educational and information programming, CEO Peter de Krassel said. “I don’t think any business like this could succeed without winning over the market in China.” He said company hoped to break even in 3 years and would offer discount ad rates at start. Company expects to sign up 8 broadcasters in China, including China Central TV. CAN doesn’t have to apply for landing rights because services will be carried by broadcasters with licenses.
National Rural Telecom Co-op (NRTC) won’t support proposed EchoStar-Hughes DBS merger “the way it’s presently constructed,” but remains open to negotiations, Senior Vp Industry-Member Relations Andrew Brown told us Wed. NRTC, Pegasus and WSNet could play key roles in deciding outcome of antitrust review, industry officials and sources said. Pegasus hasn’t publicly announced its position. Rural companies appear ready to block deal unless EchoStar makes several unspecified concessions. Most analysts still believe companies face difficulty getting transaction approved. Merger is going to have “significant obstacles” and is “likely to be rejected” following Dept. of Justice review, Legg Mason analyst and former FCC staffer Blair Levin told us: “It is possible that the deal could ride a combination of anticable sentiment and lack of business opposition to garner approval, but we still believe the odds still favor government officials’ saying no.”
House Rules Committee is engaging in continuing consultative process that could determine whether previously rejected line-sharing amendment to data deregulation bill could be revived. Amendment, which would have modified broadband legislation (HR-1542) by House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and ranking Democrat Dingell (D-Mich.), was introduced by Reps. Luther (D-Minn.) and Wilson (R-N.M.) in Commerce markup earlier this year but died. Luther-Wilson amendment, which is supported by CLEC industry, would strip Tauzin-Dingell language that could block CLEC access to ILEC unbundled network elements (UNEs), Luther’s Senior Legislative Asst. Christian Fjeld said Wed. at ALTS conference in Arlington, Va. However, Staff Dir.-Technology Don Green said it was “too early to speak authoritatively” as to when -- or whether -- Rules Committee would act formally on Tauzin-Dingell. Rules Committee “at some point” may consider whether to send to House floor HR-1542 or competing version of bill that received unfavorable referral by House Judiciary Committee.
FCC allowed Motient and TMI to transfer space and earth station licenses to Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) joint venture. Commission said authorizations would allow Motient and TMI to develop Canadian-American regional mobile satellite service. Motient will own 48.1% and TMI 39.9% of new company. Other owners are Columbia Capital (3.8%), Spectrum Equity Investors (3.8%), Telecom Ventures (4.3%). Non-U.S. entities hold ownership interests in Motient, TMI, Columbia Capital and Spectrum Equity Interests. Request to launch and operate next-generation satellite system, along with waiver to deploy terrestrial base stations, will be considered in another proceeding. Petitions by Dept. of Justice (DoJ) and FBI were granted to condition authority based on compliance of agreement with DoJ and FBI on law enforcement, national security and public safety issues. Commission also held that public interest wouldn’t be served by prohibiting proposed indirect foreign ownership of MSV in excess of 25%. Foreign ownership may be as high as 45%, applicants said. FCC also dismissed as moot petition to deny filed by Deere & Co. Satellite systems of TMI and Motient are linked and jointly secured. Motient offers land, maritime and aeronautical mobile satellite services (MSS) in upper L-band in contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Virgin Islands. Motient received license in 1989 and launched first satellite in 1995, beginning service following year. TMI is subsidiary of BCE of Canada. It operates L-Band MSS system via MSAT-1 satellite. In last 2 years, Commission has granted TMI blanket earth station licenses to provide MSS to mobile terminals located in U.S.
Rep. Cubin (R-Wyo.) introduced bill that would establish guidelines for assessing federal right-of-way (RoW) fees on utility infrastructure projects. Although bill (HR-3258) is technology-neutral, Telecom ROW (TelROW) Coalition said it would address what it described as “arbitrary revisions” in Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management fee schedules. TelRoW Chmn. Stephen Burns said federal agencies had levied fees on fiber projects on case-by-case basis, leading to unreasonable increases in companies’ annual RoW bills. He said revisions were made even though “no formal rulemaking has begun, nor have the federal statutes been changed. Yet the land management agencies arbitrarily raised [RoW] fees to a number of infrastructure providers, providing a real disincentive to further builds of much-needed telecommunications and energy networks.” Bill would require that fees be based upon “fair market value of a use of a land,” which would be determined by: (1) Value of the land. (2) Decrease in value of land resulting from RoW. (3) Amount necessary to restore value of land before RoW approval. Cubin said Nov. 8 that bill “ensures that Americans who live in rural areas receive the service they deserve in a timely and reasonable fashion. Furthermore, the bill guarantees a fair return to the federal treasury for the use of our public lands.”
FCC adopted new procedures Thurs. aimed at streamlining review of undersea cable landing applications and eliminating “regulatory red tape.” New procedures are expected to decrease costs to consumers because international telephone companies will face faster, less burdensome approvals. International Bureau said it improved process in several ways: (1) Applicants with no affiliation with carrier that had market power in any of cable’s destination points were eligible for streamlining. In addition, applicant affiliated with market power carrier in World Trade Organization destination market would be eligible if it accepted competitive safeguards. Safeguards include such things as filing quarterly provisioning and maintenance reports. Eligible applications will be acted upon in 45 days. (2) Entities with less than 5% interest in cable don’t have to be licensed, thus eliminating regulatory burden for smaller carriers, Bureau officials said. (3) FCC, to speed licensing, will grant applications by public notice instead of written order in most cases. AT&T said new processes would eliminate regulatory delay and cost and replace “ad hoc, lengthy review” of license applications. “The regulatory certainty and reduced costs… should attract increased cable entry and competition, thereby reducing [customer] prices, improving quality, expanding services and enhancing the ability of U.S. carriers to compete globally.”
Move by Harman International (HI) to expand its car OEM business to 65% of revenue over next 5 years will be done in “a careful, conservative, very well-prepared way,” Exec. Chmn. Sidney Harman said at N.Y. news conference after our Mon. deadline. News conference came only hours after annual HI investor/analyst conference at which it said key to expansion of car OEM business would be company’s Media Oriented System Transport (MOST) fiber networking bus technology that Harman projected could be installed in as many as one million vehicles by 2006. Harman/Becker automotive division is first supplier of MOST-based navigation and multimedia systems, which already is being used by BMW in its new 7 Series automobiles and will be implemented soon in new vehicles from Audi, Mercedes Benz, Porsche. Harman/Becker developed MOST in conjunction with Audi, BMW, Daimler-Chrysler and Oasis Silicon Systems, and technology now is supported by 17 international car makers and more than 50 key component suppliers, HI said.
Three federal judges said Thurs. they found arguments on both sides confusing as they tried to sort out WorldCom complaint about how FCC enforced pricing conditions attached to 1997 Bell Atlantic-Nynex merger. FCC had approved merger subject to several conditions, including one requiring Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) to offer forward-looking prices to competitors seeking use of its facilities. WorldCom filed complaint with FCC later that year saying Bell Atlantic didn’t make good on pricing requirement. However, FCC delayed acting on it and finally denied it last year, saying condition was moot because forward-looking pricing now was law of land under Telecom Act and court rulings. In oral argument Thurs., Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg and Judges David Sentelle and Raymond Randolph hammered WorldCom with questions about why court shouldn’t defer to FCC’s judgment. They asked why WorldCom thought condition hadn’t been met through interconnection agreements overseen by state regulators under Sec. 251-252 of the Telecom Act, as FCC contended. When WorldCom attorney Jodie Kelley suggested FCC could have made one pricing decision in response to complaint so WorldCom wouldn’t have to go to 7 different states through interconnection process, Randolph said that raised even more confusing jurisdictional questions. Kelley also argued that WorldCom was denied refunds and damages called for under merger conditions but not available through state route. Nor, she said, do state commissions have authority to rule on whether Bell Atlantic violated merger order. Court also grilled FCC attorney Rodgers Citron about how FCC could refuse to act on WorldCom complaint since merger conditions existed apart from state interconnection pricing process. “What enables you to deprive [WorldCom] of what you supposedly granted in the merger conditions,” Ginsburg asked Citron. Citron said agency “surveyed the landscape” and determined CLECs already were being provided with forward- looking pricing. “I don’t see what relief [WorldCom] could get from the Commission that they haven’t already gotten from the states,” he said. Judges also asked WorldCom’s Kelley whether FCC could have provided remedies that states couldn’t and she said only FCC had authority to provide damages and remedies such as revocation of licenses called for in merger conditions document.
As expected, FCC agenda meeting Nov. 8 will take up report and order on whether there’s still need for wireless spectrum cap, now set at 45 MHz for most markets and 55 MHz for rural areas. Commission has been examining staff proposal to lift cap to 55 MHz for period of time in all markets before it sunsets completely. Agenda also includes: (1) Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from Common Carrier Bureau on establishment of national performance measurements and standards for unbundled network elements and interconnection. (2) Another NPRM on rules and policies for multiple ownership of radio broadcast stations in local markets and how radio markets are defined. (3) Policies affecting conversion to digital TV in memorandum opinion and order on reconsideration of its periodic review of progress of DTV conversion. (4) Report and order from International Bureau on FCC consideration of applications under Cable Landing License Act, covering policies, rules and requirements for cable landing licenses. Following open portion of meeting, FCC will hold closed session on item to be presented by General Counsel’s office. For item, “Commission will discuss possible changes to its internal processes,” according to public notice, which didn’t provide more detail.