Leading education groups are ramping up pressure on the FCC to back away from a plan to take 18 MHz away from ITFS as part of a final rule on the MMDS/ITFS spectrum allocation (CD May 26 p4). Education groups met with Comr. Abernathy Wed. and hope for meetings with the other Commissioners by June 3, when the Commission has to decide whether to put an ITFS order on the June 10 meeting agenda.
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
Wireless carriers raised strong objections to a proposed requirement that they file information on service outages, saying in comments on the FCC proposal that the filings could harm the national security they're supposed to bolster. But wireless sources told us Wed. they believe the FCC appears likely to impose the requirements regardless of industry objections. Carrier sources also said they worry the filings could be the start of more FCC intrusion in the area of wireless service quality.
Groups that hold ITFS spectrum are seeking a last-minute meeting with FCC Chmn. Powell to head off a proposal that they give up 18 MHz of spectrum as part of a final rule on the MMDS/ITFS spectrum allocation, which is being circulated at the FCC for a possible June 10 vote. Sources in the ITFS community said Tues. they were caught off guard by the proposal that they give up bite size chunks of spectrum as part of the order.
NTCA, OPASTCO and USTA late Tues. asked the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., to reject the FCC’s order requiring nationwide wireless local number portability (LNP), which took effect Mon., largely uneventfully. In general, small carriers view the courts as their best chance to reverse the LNP mandate. The Small Business Administration is expected to file an amicus brief in support of the rural arguments. Oral arguments in the case are set Nov. 18. “The FCC did not consider calibrating its new rule to the economic needs and realities of small business [local exchange carriers],” the groups said in their pleading. “The FCC failed to consider either the disproportionate expense or the minimal competitive benefit that application of its new intermodal porting requirements would bring if applied to those small entities, or whether there were ways to tailor the new rule to meet the agency goals with less impact on small businesses.” The groups argued that the LNP violated the Administrative Procedure Act by adopting a new intermodal number portability rule without first asking for comments through a rulemaking. The 3 parties said the mandate failed to follow procedures required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act. “The FCC hardly confronted and never resolved the basic issues of law and policy that would make intermodal number portability possible,” the groups told the court. “In resolving those issues in the order, the FCC imposed new, enforceable obligations and costs without following the procedures that federal law mandates.”
The FCC has started to circulate a proposal to reform the MMDS/ITFS spectrum allocation, with an eye to a vote at the June 10 meeting. The proposal is viewed as significant since it could open up 190 MHz of spectrum in the 2500-2690 MHz bands for mobile broadband. The FCC has also started to circulate for a potential vote a petition for reconsideration of one section of the Triennial Review Order (TRO) and a rulemaking on the Big LEO satellite band.
The Dept. of Defense released a long-awaited policy on the use of wireless phones and other wireless devices on military installations, saying the devices shouldn’t be used to store or transmit classified information and unclassified information should be encrypted. Wireless phones and other devices wouldn’t even be permitted in areas where classified information is “discussed or processed” without written approval. The policy went into effect upon release.
Nationwide wireless local number portability (LNP) arrives today (Mon.) under a cloud of uncertainty, with lawsuits pending in federal court challenging the Commission’s LNP order and several states granting delays.
The Intercarrier Compensation Forum (ICF) is expected to continue its work, though in a significantly reduced state, after many key members including 2 Bells dropped out Wed. Sources said they expect the FCC to play an increasingly central role in trying to structure an agreement although any ICF proposal would be only one of several submitted to the FCC.
Officials representing high-tech and wireless companies Wed. called on the FCC to allocate to promoters of wireless broadband services more low-frequency spectrum. The companies also said during an all-day FCC forum on the topic that resolving standardization issues will prove critical in coming months.
Year-long talks aimed at working out an agreement on access charges through the Intercarrier Compensation Forum (ICF) have collapsed for now, with the formal departure Wed. of several key members -- including BellSouth, which initiated discussions with AT&T last year. Many of the discussions had been at BellSouth’s Washington office.