Applicants for the Aug. advanced wireless services auction (AWS) are being grilled by FCC staffers analyzing short form applications, said lawyers representing applicants. That may reflect a mandate for more scrutiny of would-be bidders, such as whose dollars are behind designated entities (DEs). But the interrogations’ origins aren’t certain. Nor is it clear whether they mean applicants face a higher bar.
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
The FCC Thurs. cited data broker LocateCell for “willfully or repeatedly” violating Commission rules by refusing to hand over information the FCC sought through subpoena. The agency issued a $97,500 notice of apparent liability against the company, the highest possible penalty under Commission rules for a nonregulated company. Enforcement Bureau officials said after the meeting that other data brokers have refused to comply with subpoenas and could be subject to similar forfeitures. Enforcement Bureau Chief Chris Monteith said the FCC’s message is clear: “Disregarding a lawfully issued subpoena and therefore compromising our authority… we are not going to tolerate.”
Legal uncertainty continues to hang over the advanced wireless services (AWS) auction, scheduled to start in less than a month, with Council Tree’s case still before the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia. Attorneys who follow DE issues said the court is unlikely to eventually overturn the auction but anxiety remains among the hundreds of potential bidders, especially given the Supreme Court’s 2002 NextWave decision overturning a 1996 auction.
The FCC and NTIA face an uphill fight finding spectrum suitable for opening separate 10 MHz test beds -- a long- stalled recommendation by a June 2004 presidential report on U.S. spectrum policy, sources said Tues. FCC and NTIA may have to offer an alternative program permitting studies but not the kind of test bed the report envisioned, sources said.
A company owned by Mario Gabelli filed a short-form application to bid in the Aug. advanced wireless services (AWS) auction, according to records made available by the FCC on its website. Gabelli plans to participate in the auction as a backer of Lynch AWS Corp. The records provide ownership information on 252 companies filing short-form applications to participate in the auction.
The Dept. of Homeland Security missed a deadline to tell Congress how to meet needs in public safety communication, including interoperable modalities. The report was due June 20, a date reflecting a 6 months-plus extension. Congress told DHS to report in the 2004 Intelligence Reform Act. The report, originally due Dec. 17, was to accompany an FCC report on public safety use of 700 MHz spectrum, which the Commission sent Congress in Dec. (CD Dec 22 p2).
AirCell hopes for final clearance at the FCC this summer, with FAA approval to follow, as it works through assorted regulatory issues on the way to offering wireless broadband on commercial flights. Rollout of the service is expected in Aug. 2007. AirCell was the high bidder for a 3 MHz license to offer broadband on planes, in an auction that ended in early June. AirCell beat, among others, Verizon Airfone, which subsequently announced it would pull its phones from commercial airplanes by the end of the year. AirCell just completed an FCC-imposed “quiet period,” which followed the auction, and company officials are now free to discuss their plans in more detail.
Paging leader USA Mobility sees paging, which received several mentions in the Independent Panel on Hurricane Katrina, as poised for a breakthrough as an aid in emergency communications, as the FCC contemplates an EAS order later this year. USA Mobility sees emergency use as a possible growth engine for what has been a shrinking market. “Paging is excellent for emergency alerting,” USA Mobility Gen. Counsel Scott Tollefsen said in an interview. “It’s an excellent technology for backup communications because it is so inexpensive and so easy to use.”
The FCC late Fri. dispatched 3 petitions for reconsideration that clear a path for companies to make use of 255 MHz of 5 GHz spectrum first allocated for unlicensed use 3 years ago. The decision was essentially a clean up document after the FCC and NTIA agreed in Feb. (CD Feb 10 p1) on criteria under which unlicensed devices will make use of dynamic frequency selection (DFS) technology allowing coexistence with military radars.
An FCC order on Emergency Alert Systems (EAS) may be off the table for the summer after President Bush signed an executive order last week instructing the Dept. of Homeland Security to submit a plan for reorganizing EAS to the White House within 90 days. Meanwhile, telecom and satellite interests continue outreach at the FCC on EAS, based on ex parte filings made at the Commission in recent days.