The FCC and Food and Drug Administration signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at improving information exchange between the two and streamlining collaboration, the agencies said. The MOU was unveiled at the start of two days of discussions at the commission during a joint meeting with the FDA on mobile health (mhealth) issues. The two agencies also released a joint statement on wireless medical devices. The FCC National Broadband Plan, released in March, dedicated a chapter to healthcare issues. At its July meeting, the FCC began a rulemaking on a program that would provide up to $400 million per year on health connectivity.
Wireless issues have gotten some of the most attention at various meetings held by FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus with industry to discuss a possible legislative proposal for giving the commission authority over broadband, said people who attended the meetings or spoke to others who did. There seems to be more agreement among agency officials and meeting attendees on applying net neutrality rules to wireline broadband, though some issues remain unresolved, they said. Net neutrality advocates and opponents appear to agree on ISP privacy conditions and transparency on network practices, industry and public-interest group lawyers said.
There’s no “deep divide” between the FCC and many in public safety, just a “spirited discussion” on the future of a national wireless broadband network, APCO President Richard Mirgon said on an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators to air this weekend. Former FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Ed Thomas said on the program that the disagreement could hurt chances of Congress’s approving funding for the network soon.
Phone and cable companies are pulling out all the stops to defend their markets and defeat net neutrality rules, ColorOfChange.org Executive Director James Rucker said Thursday. At a panel on broadband at the Netroots Nation conference, attended by liberal activists from across the U.S., he called net neutrality a “modern civil rights issue.”
The FCC should not apply “retroactively” Federal Aviation Administration marking and lighting changes for communications towers or replace the FCC’s current “due diligence” standard with inflexible deadlines for lighting repairs, CTIA said in comments on an April 12 notice of proposed rulemaking on construction, marking, and lighting of antenna structures. NAB, PCIA, AT&T and Verizon Wireless also urged the FCC to streamline its tower rules in light of rapidly expanding communications networks.
The FCC’s Sixth Broadband Deployment Report, released late Tuesday, said only a small percentage of Americans don’t have access to broadband -- 14-24 million in a population of almost 310 million (CD July 21 p1) -- but almost one third of U.S. counties are unserved. Broadband “have nots” live in the smallest, most rural parts of the country and tend to be poorer than average, it said, and Native Americans remain largely unserved.
The FCC concludes in its sixth broadband deployment report that 14-24 million Americans still can’t get high-speed access, and the immediate prospect for deployment to the unserved Americans is “bleak.” As expected (CD July 19 p1), commission Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker issued vigorous dissents from the report and its finding that the FCC can’t conclude that broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a “reasonable and timely” manner.
Washington, New York, Boston, San Antonio and other local governments that received FCC waivers to build wireless networks using 700 MHz spectrum provided the commission with updates on their efforts. In May, the agency approved 21 waiver requests on file at the commission. Meanwhile, industry commenters offered advice to the FCC on rules for a 700 MHz network that would ensure nationwide interoperability, addressing critical issues including roaming and priority access.
USTelecom expressed disappointment with a coming FCC report that reportedly breaks with tradition and declines to find U.S. broadband deployment reasonable and timely (CD July 19 p1). The report is expected to be released this week. “It is puzzling that the Commission would take the data from its own National Broadband Plan showing U.S. broadband deployment to be an unprecedented American success story, turn it on its head, and conclude that broadband deployment is neither reasonable nor timely,” said USTelecom President Walter McCormick. “It is absolutely appropriate for the Commission to be concerned about the remaining small percentage of Americans who may not yet have access to wired broadband. Identifying important communications objectives for Congress is the right thing to do, and we support efforts to bring the benefits of broadband to everyone. However, it is inconsistent with the Commission’s own data to conclude that deployment is not progressing in a timely and reasonable manner.” Qwest also raised a red flag. “We are very disappointed that the FCC, for the first time, has found that broadband deployment is not reasonable or timely,” said Senior Vice President Steve Davis. “While there are some remote areas where broadband is not available because of the high cost of deployment, Qwest has submitted an application for federal stimulus funds to bring broadband to many of these primarily rural communities.” A senior FCC official questioned how industry players can comment on a report that hasn’t been released: “It’s comical the industry is commenting prior to seeing the report.”
The FCC sought comment on how wireless devices can be made more accessible for the blind. “We are concerned that people who are blind or have other vision disabilities have few accessible and affordable wireless phone options,” said a notice Monday by the Wireless and Consumer Affairs bureaus.