The FCC was poised to approve an order implementing the WARN Act, which would set up a national program allowing wireless carriers to broadcast emergency alerts to their subscribers, as we went to press. The FCC has a statutory obligation to act by Thursday. As a result, there likely will not be an agenda meeting Thursday, though the commission had not made an announcement to that effect by our deadline. The FCC can fulfill its obligation to meet this month instead at next week’s network management hearing at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Commissioners don’t object to the meeting being postponed, sources said.
The Office of Engineering and Technology faces major challenges as it completes bench tests of various white spaces devices at its Columbia, Md., lab, due in large part to the failure of the Microsoft device, which had the most capabilities of any device submitted to the lab for testing (CD March 31 p1). The biggest problem, sources familiar with the testing process said, is that the lab was committed to testing interference caused by the devices, but only the Microsoft device had a transmitter with high enough power to test. OET will start field tests when it wraps up lab tests.
Wireless carriers who want D-block spectrum to be dedicated to commercial use rather than public safety use say they have all but given up on trying to convince a majority of FCC commissioners to agree. The carriers’ greatest hope is that despite the FCC’s best efforts, and various changes to the rules, it will be unable to find a buyer for a second time.
It was unclear Friday whether the FCC will hold an agenda meeting on April 10. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has indicated he will try to get votes on all the items on the Sunshine agenda released late Thursday. FCC and other sources said a meeting appears unlikely, but could still take place. Martin has a full agenda the next two weeks and hopes for votes without a meeting, sources said. The wireless items scheduled for the meeting are considered noncontroversial so Martin should not have difficulty getting electronic votes before the meeting, we're told. The first wireless item is a report and order concerning implementation of the Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act. That item became noncontroversial when Martin indicated he asked the commission to adopt without changes a report by the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee, dropping his demands for a requirement that wireless carriers be able to broadcast warnings to areas smaller than counties. The second is a petition for notice of inquiry regarding 911 call-forwarding requirements and carriers’ blocking options for non-initialized phones. The notice probes the responsibilities carriers and public safety answering points have regarding 911 calls from old phones no longer part of a valid service plan. An FCC source said commissioners will support the notice without reservations: “That’s a mom and apple pie thing every public safety organization in the world is asking for.” Also noncontroversial is an order to approve Globalstar’s ancillary terrestrial component authorization. The FCC is also slated to vote on a TracFone Wireless petition for eligible telecommunications carrier status in New York, Florida, Virginia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, Delaware, and New Hampshire. Commissioners are waiting for additional information on settlement talks (CD April 3 p6) between companies facing DTV fines and the FCC Enforcement Bureau before voting on the liability notices, agency officials said. The commissioners wouldn’t need to vote on notices against companies that settle, the sources said. Any votes needed probably could be made on circulation, since the fines aren’t controversial, commission sources said. If Thursday’s meeting is canceled, the commissioners’ monthly meeting will be April 17 in connection with a hearing on broadband management at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and no votes will be taken, sources speculated.
Cyren Call founder Morgan O'Brien will be meeting with potential builders of a national public safety interoperable network, he said Friday. O'Brien couldn’t hold meetings until anticollusion rule limits expired Thursday, but now will do so in his role as advisor to the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), he said. Meanwhile, an expected House Commerce Committee hearing on the D-block spectrum is a key next step as FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and agency staff put together a rulemaking seeking more comment on that spectrum’s future, commission sources said Friday. Martin is unlikely to release anything until after the hearing, they said. Martin said last week he wants a notice out this month, or May at the latest.
LAS VEGAS -- Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin called on telecom to try to reduce the number of mobile operating systems in use from dozens to five or fewer. He said in a CTIA keynote Wednesday that, especially in the developing world, wireless is becoming the most important way to connect to the Internet.
LAS VEGAS -- The CTIA board approved best practices and guidelines for the new location-based services (LBS) increasingly available on wireless devices. The group will submit the eight-page document to the FCC and ask that it be adopted as guidelines. The FCC previously had declined to adopt LBS rules.
LAS VEGAS -- FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell sent FCC Chairman Kevin Martin a list of edits on an order that would cap Universal Service Fund payments to competitive eligible telecom carriers (CETCs) at end-of-year-2007 levels, agency sources said. McDowell backs a carve-out for tribal lands in all 50 states, including Alaska, but without language specific to Alaska carrier GCI. McDowell proposed language saying that the FCC would make an earnest effort to undertake comprehensive USF reform.
The FCC lab in Columbia, Md., has terminated testing of a white spaces sensing device that Microsoft submitted for the latest round of bench tests, the firm said late Friday. The announcement injects a note of uncertainty into the proceeding, with the FCC set to take up an order on the future of the white spaces within the next few months. The key question is whether the FCC will permit portable devices to access the Internet using the white spaces spectrum.
The FCC must get better at collecting data on cellphone use on tribal lands, the National Tribal Telecommunications Association (NTTA) said in a filing. In February, the Wireless Bureau sought comment on the annual CMRS competition report. NTTA said the FCC doesn’t do enough to promote competition on tribal lands. The latest CMRS Market Report refers only once to wireless services on tribal lands -- a quote from CTIA, the group said.