FCC Wireless Bureau Chief John Muleta said the FCC is willing to give carriers flexibility in how they use their licenses but companies are well advised to tailor their arguments to show how this flexibility will lead to greater competition. “Flexibility by itself I don’t think is enough,” he said.
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
Comr. Abernathy said Wed. a pending air-to-ground (ATG) order, scheduled for a vote at the Dec. 15 meeting, presents difficult questions she’s still working through. “We are still struggling with who are the correct engineers,” she told reporters at a press breakfast: “Our goal would be multiple providers, but it may be that that’s just not technically possible and that’s what we're looking at.”
The White House released a memorandum late Tues. setting up a process under which federal agencies will have to explain their spectrum requirements. The memo, signed by President Bush, directs federal agencies to implement the other recommendations issued in 2 June reports on spectrum use in the 21st Century.
FCC Comr. Abernathy said the FCC appears on track to vote on UNE-P rules at its Dec. 15 meeting. “That’s certainly our intent,” she said Wed. at a press breakfast. Abernathy confirmed that some issues raised in petitions for consideration, such as line sharing and mass market definitions, won’t be part of the order. “There was a discussion internally about how broad do we make this item,” Abernathy said: “Do we deal just with the issues that have been sent back to us by the court or do we try and bring in all the other issues that have been brought up in all of the petitions for reconsideration of our prior decision? The decision was we've got a very concrete deadline and a need to respond to the court.” The FCC needed to draw a line, she said: “If we try to bring in everything that was raised on recon this will not happen” in Dec. Sources said the Bells would still be required to make their high-capacity DS-1 loops and transport available to competitors as TELRIC-priced UNEs under the draft order. However, CLECs would have to show they were “impaired,” meaning they didn’t have any wholesale alternatives for DS-1 loops on a building-by- building basis. The test for transport impairment would be based on the number of lines in wire centers. An FCC source said it might be better to handle line sharing and market definitions as separate orders.
CTIA Tues. laid out 6 principles for intercarrier compensation reform and contended most proposals unveiled so far would be good for the companies proposing them but bad for consumers. CTIA Pres. Steve Largent elaborated on the principles in a 4-page letter to FCC members. A few CTIA members previously had filed positions on intercarrier compensation, but this is the wireless carrier industry position.
The Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials asked the FCC to refrain from allowing unlicensed operations between TV channels in the 470-512 MHz band, citing a potential risk to public safety. APCO made the filing late last week on a controversial May FCC rulemaking seeking to provide more unlicensed spectrum “in the broadcast television spectrum at locations where that spectrum is not being used.”
The FBI and DEA met with the FCC last week to ask the Commission to take into account CALEA concerns as it wraps up an air-to-ground (ATG) rule for communications made on commercial airliners, including broadband. Meanwhile, an ATG order is on circulation on the 8th floor and could be finalized before the Commission’s Dec. 15 agenda meeting, we learned. Chmn. Powell could schedule a vote at the meeting if Commissioners otherwise don’t finish voting on the order.
The U.S. and U.K. could be headed for a conflict over the need for the World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC) to approve a comprehensive overhaul of Articles 9 and 11 of world Radio Regulations. The FCC Advisory Committee for the WRC approved a resolution Wed. opposing those efforts, saying they could undermine the world satellite industry.
The FCC voted 5-0 on Tues. to adopt masks, based on requests by law enforcement agencies, for their use of 4.9 GHz spectrum. As expected, the FCC overrode objections by Motorola, which asked for a more restrictive mask, citing potential interference concerns. Members of the Commission emphasized that the masks give agencies significant flexibility to buy equipment from a broad array of manufacturers.
If cable companies move into wireless through a consortium, they're most likely to do so initially as resellers of services offered by Sprint and other operators rather than as new entrants in spectrum markets, sources said Mon. Financial analysts said several questions remain about whether cable operators -- which carry significant debt after years of rebuilding their systems -- would want to invest heavily now in buying the spectrum needed to become a national wireless operator.