Congress will hold discussions with the FCC but may pass legislation even if the FCC moves on a long-stalled item and opens broadcast “white spaces” to unlicensed use, said Senate Commerce Committee Staff Dir. Lisa Sutherland.
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
No Senate Commerce Committee member has indicated intent to file more amendments Thurs., when the committee marks up the cellphone privacy bill (S-2389), Committee Staff Dir. Lisa Sutherland told reporters Fri. “We've sent out a notice telling people that the amendments that they filed previously will be deemed to be filed for the markup,” she said: “Nobody has some to us and said, ‘We have new ideas.'”
Chmn. Martin wants a full FCC vote on a contentious public notice that would require blind bids in an advanced wireless services (AWS) auction this June, sources said Thurs. The Wireless Bureau had been expected to issue the notice. Now the FCC is expected to vote at its April 12 meeting. In another wireless sector matter, sources said Martin is recirculating a BRS/EBS order. An earlier version was withdrawn.
The Wireless Communications Assn., National ITFS Association (NIA) and Catholic TV Network (CTN) are trying to resolve conflicts over the length of leases on spectrum owned by educational groups to be made available for sale in the secondary wireless broadband market. But the groups may not be able to broker a deal, onlookers said Wed.
Canada’s Policy Review Panel, which completed an exhaustive review of how telecom is regulated there, said in a report released late Wed. that the nation’s regulatory framework should undergo “fundamental reform” away from heavy regulation. The panel, appointed by the Minister of Industry last April, released a report with 392 pages and 127 recommendations.
The FCC decision not to act on a Verizon forbearance petition seeking regulatory relief regarding charges to business customers for high-speed data was a win for Verizon -- but how big remains unclear, analysts said Tues. The exact relief provided by the FCC is uncertain because the Commission has released statements and a news release, but no order yet, analysts said.
Rather than establish a simple test, the FCC should examine the relationships between designated entities (DEs) and major carriers case-by-case before deciding whether to allow an auction bidder to qualify for DE credits during this summer’s advanced wireless services auction, DoJ said in a filing at the Commission.
The FCC Fri. approved launch of a new bureau, the Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, which will take in parts of 7 bureaus and offices (CD Feb 28 p1). Congress must be formally notified of the reorganization at the FCC and the Commission must secure support of a union that represents employees, but no other Commission vote is required. The FCC also sought comment on a proposal that would allow public safety agencies to provide video and other broadband applications, in addition to voice communications, using 700 MHz spectrum.
In a potential breakthrough, the National ITFS Assn. (NIA) and the Catholic TV Network (CTN) will offer in a filing at the FCC today (Fri.) to accept 20-year lease terms for education spectrum, in the interest of getting the FCC to vote out the stalled Education Broadband Service (EBS) item. The groups are willing to negotiate even longer lease terms, though they disagree on the details. Until this point, they have argued that lease terms should be no longer than 15 years.
The FCC should quit telecom merger review, leaving it to Dept. of Justice antitrust experts, former FCC chief economist Michael Katz said Wed. at a D.C. conference sponsored by FCBA and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. In addition to his FCC stint, Katz once was a deputy assistant attorney gen. in DoJ’s antitrust unit.