FIRST PROPOSALS ON FCC RESTRUCTURING EXPECTED THIS SUMMER
First proposals on how to reorganize FCC under project led by Mary Beth Richards, who is special counsel to FCC Chmn. Powell, are due out this summer, she said Mon. Proposal is part of first phase of comprehensive FCC reform project spearheaded by Powell, and recommendations will focus on short-term changes suggested by Commission staff, industry, consumer groups and others, she told American Mobile Telecommunications Assn. (AMTA). Second phase of project is “much more comprehensive,” probably spanning 1-3 years and “completely changing the FCC along functional lines” rather than traditional divisions between buckets of technologies, Richards said. “So there is a possibility that at the end of it there will no longer be a Wireless Bureau, there will not be a Common Carrier, but there would be another bureau that deals with particular functions,” she said at AMTA annual leadership conference in Alexandria, Va. She cited spectrum management as one possibility and said it was too early to forecast any changes.
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One area on which Richards said she wants feedback was whether it made sense to divide licensing and authorization of service from policy or rulemaking functions. One line of argument, she said, is that licensing and broader policy functions should stay together, with division instead based on areas that have public interest component, such as content issues, and those that don’t, such as wireless area. “These are things that I will need to look at,” Richards said. Any proposed organizational changes still face approvals from full Commission, union and ultimately Congress as part of congressional budget purview, she said. Structural review of FCC has been high priority of Powell, who said in Feb. he wanted changes so agency could respond better to technology and other developments (CD Feb 23 p1). Possible organizational changes are part of broader reform plan, including effort to bolster agency’s engineering staff and lab facilities. Richards said she had received several written comments following May 18 public notice soliciting feedback on reform process dealing with organizational changes and that she had been meeting with individuals and groups. Powell has asked for 2-3 month time frame for recommendation on first phase of short-term restructuring recommendations, she said.
Several specialized mobile radio (SMR) officials urged Richards to ensure that their industry, which they said traditionally had had lower profile at Commission than public safety and commercial wireless side, not be lost in upcoming changes. One audience member said that when Wireless Bureau was created, similar concerns arose that private wireless industry not fall behind public safety and commercial operators in terms of attention level at agency. “Frankly this industry has diminished somewhat in terms of the pecking order at the Commission,” she said, asking how reorganized agency would ensure that it still was paying attention “to all its various constituencies.” Richards said she recalled that as concern when she participated in creation of Wireless Bureau. Among feedback Richards said she had received from industry so far was need to balance competing interests such as domestic vs. international services and govt. vs. non-govt. needs for spectrum. “I don’t know what the answer is,” she said.
One issue repeatedly raised to FCC officials at Mon. session of AMTA conference, which ends today (Tues.), was interference with private wireless operations, specifically from out-of-band emissions of adjacent operations. One participant told Richards that FCC didn’t have rules on out-of-band emissions, so even if operator were meeting emission mask requirements, noise floor still could be raised to level where interference occurred. AMTA Pres. Alan Shark said group itself had struggled with issue whether that was legal or technical issue “or is it both?” AMTA represents SMR operators at 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 450 MHz, 220 MHz.
“I see no evidence of things slowing down at the FCC in the near term,” Wireless Bureau Deputy Chief Kathleen Ham said, and new FCC Comr. Copps was briefed on wireless issues Mon. Wireless proceedings expected to take on “special emphasis in coming months” include secondary markets and spectrum cap, Ham said. “Ambitious summer schedule,” driven in some cases by statutory deadlines, includes priorities of 700 MHz auctions, 3rd-generation wireless bands, Enhanced 911 deployment and “sticky issues” on terrestrial and satellite sharing, she said. Ham also said recent House and Senate budget resolutions included Bush Administration proposals to delay upcoming auctions in upper and lower channels of 700 MHz. “We'll be looking in coming weeks to see whether there is any legislation that is going to follow up on this and whether there is generally any spectrum legislation coming out of the Hill,” Ham said.
Wireless Bureau’s Public Safety & Private Wireless Div. released decision on petition filed jointly last year by AMTA and American Trucking Assns. (ATA). Petition sought to transfer ATA’s certification as frequency coordinator to AMTA. Bureau agreed AMTA met qualifications to be certified as frequency coordinator, although ATA’s certification wasn’t technically transferred to AMTA, Ham said. Industrial Telecom Assn. had urged Commission to reject petition, arguing that entities seeking such certification should apply directly to FCC. ITA had wanted Commission to terminate existing certification of ATA and require AMTA to file request for certification “on its own merits.”