LAS VEGAS -- Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, predicted House Democrats will reopen the DTV coupon program with an eye on consumers who obtain coupons but don’t use them in time. Otherwise, Barton as well Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., and Daryl Issa, R-Calif., said during a CES congressional panel here they hold little hope for legislation of any kind, including bills that would be of interest to the high-tech sector during the last year of the current Congress.
The FCC was expected to release at our deadline a further 30-day extension as it considers a Sept. 4 filing by Sprint Nextel, the Association for Maximum Service TV, NAB and the Society of Broadcast Engineers seeking a 29- month extension on the 2 GHz broadcast auxiliary service relocation, agency sources said. A previous extension expired Saturday.
Anxiety is rising among advocates of opening broadcast white spaces to use by personal, portable devices that FCC action could take much longer than expected, pushing rollout of devices into 2010 or later. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will be in Las Vegas this week at the Consumer Electronics Show, where he has meetings set up with the high-tech sector and questions about the technology are expected.
Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile Thursday jointly backed a proposal that TV white spaces spectrum be auctioned or otherwise licensed for fixed use, addressing their growing backhaul needs. The support of the two, the largest non-Bell affiliated wireless carriers in the U.S., adds a wrinkle to the debate as the FCC moves forward with a new round of testing of mobile devices designed to use the spectrum to access the Internet. The filing puts the two in direct opposition to Microsoft, Dell and other major high-tech players on the issue.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is circulating an order that would provide a template designed to help speed Public Safety Bureau consideration of 800 MHz waiver requests filed by public safety licensees. The order anticipates what is expected to be a flood of filings before the June 28 rebanding deadline. “We hope this action will ease some of the burden on licensees who will not be able to finish rebanding by the June deadline,” said Robert Gurss, director of legal & government affairs at the Association of Public- Safety Communications Officials (APCO). Gurss withheld other comment until he studies the templates.
FCC action on early termination fees (ETFs) is expected early in 2008, with the commission expected to refocus at least in part on telecommunications issues following a major fight over media consolidation. The Universal Service Fund, 700 MHz auction, future use of the broadcast white spaces, and 800 MHz rebanding also are expected to get agency attention.
Rural carriers are showing strong interest in 700 MHz spectrum, though how many will buy and at what level remains to be seen. The FCC is offering small 10 MHz cellular market area (CMA) licenses nationwide to encourage small carriers to buy. Sources agree that many such carriers are still deciding how to weave 700 MHz spectrum into their networks. Spectrum license costs historically pale in comparison to outlays for networks.
XM and Sirius accused U.S. Electronics of trying to exploit their proposed merger to force them to do business with the company, a former equipment maker for Sirius. XM and Sirius said USE offers only “informal objections” to their merger, which should be ignored. An attorney for USE replied that equipment makers have legitimate concerns about how the merger would change the market.
The FCC should keep pressing manufacturers and carriers to deliver a full range of handsets for use by people with hearing problems, the Hearing Industries Association said in a filing at the agency. Meanwhile, small and mid-size carriers said they shouldn’t be held to the standards for hearing-aid compatible handsets applied to major carriers. The filings came in response a November request for comments by the FCC on proposed changes in its hearing-aid compatibility rules.
Justice Department and FCC decisions on the proposed XM- Sirius merger probably won’t come until early 2008, sources said last week. A resolution was expected this year. Sources said DoJ antitrust officials, whose 2007 has been dense with merger work, are putting finishing touches on a recommended decision to go to antitrust chief Thomas Barnett.