FCC Issues Drafts for July 12 on C-Band, Emergency Alerts, Cellular, Number Portability, Complaints

The C-band NPRM would cast a wide net, seeking comment on various proposals for allowing the use of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band for 5G. It asks about "three potential mechanisms for expanding flexible use in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band: (1) market-based approach, (2) auctions including incentive and nationwide overlay-based approaches, and (3) hybrid and alternative approaches.” The item includes a draft order that would collect data on earth stations and space stations operating in the band with an eye on “the scope of future satellite, Fixed Service, and potential terrestrial mobile use of the band and the appropriate transition methodology.”

The NPRM would make the case the U.S. must move because much of the rest of the world is also focused on providing mid-band spectrum for 5G. It described many countries' plans. Mid-band spectrum is “well-suited for next generation wireless broadband services due to the combination of favorable propagation characteristics (compared to high bands) and the opportunity for additional channel re-use (as compared to low bands),” the draft says. “With the ever-increasing demand for more data on mobile networks, wireless network operators increasingly have focused on adding data capacity.”

The FCC already sought comment but must further expand the record, the draft says. “The Commission lacks sufficient information regarding incumbent operations ... and that correct usage data is vital to any action regarding modified use of the band,” it says. “Commenters claim that in addition to the 4,700 earth stations registered or licensed in the International Bureau Filing System (IBFS), there is a significant number, possibly thousands, of unregistered receive-only earth stations that must be protected under any Commission action.”

“The FCC is moving in the right direction on the C Band,” said Wireless ISP Association President Claude Aiken. “If we get this right, we could quickly see more gigabit fixed wireless in rural America.”

The draft may “shock” satellite incumbents and carriers in that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai “has come out strongly for rural broadband, proposing to make at least 160 MHz, enough for a gigabit fixed wireless operator, available on a shared but primary and licensed basis, for WISPs and tier-2 carriers,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at New America.

Other Items

The WEA/EAS item combines a draft report and Further NPRM. The order is primarily focused on broadcast alerts and would adopt requirements for performing “Live Code Tests” using EAS codes “to train communities in how to respond to actual alerts and to increase the proficiency of the alert originators.” It would allow the release of public service announcements using the alerting system and “help prevent false alerts by requiring that EAS Participants configure their EAS equipment to reject Common Alerting Protocol-based alerts that contain an invalid digital signature and legacy (over-the-air)-based alerts whose expiration time falls outside of specific time limits.”

The draft would ask whether the FCC should require EAS participants “report the issuance or retransmission of a false EAS message or when their EAS equipment causes, contributes to, or participates in a lockout that adversely affects the public.” The FNPRM would examine whether state EAS plans should be required to include procedures for preventing and correcting false alerts. It would “seek comment on factors, such as network distribution issues, that might delay or prevent delivery of WEA alerts to members of the public and measures the Commission could take.”

Another draft order takes additional steps to cut regulations for 800 MHz cellular service and other Part 22 licensees. “We modernize our rules by eliminating several Part 22 record-keeping and reporting obligations that were adopted more than two decades ago -- obligations for which there is no longer a benefit to outweigh the compliance costs and burdens imposed on licensees,” it says. “We also eliminate certain Cellular Service-specific rules that are no longer necessary.” The order would build on steps the FCC took in March 2017 allowing carriers to use a power spectral density approach to deploy LTE in the band without being restricted by the requirements of an earlier era (see 1703160051). The band was the first made available for use by cellphones starting in 1981 and is still widely used by carriers today.

To facilitate nationwide number portability, the FCC would scrap "outdated regulations" ATIS identified as barriers to NNP, which would allow consumers to take their phone numbers with them wherever they go in the country. A draft order would "extend forbearance from the interexchange dialing parity requirement to all carriers, and not just the [ILECs] that received such forbearance in 2015," said its summary. It would "amend the N-1 rule, which requires the second-to-last carrier in a call flow to query the number portability database, to allow for alternative voluntary arrangements, such as allowing the carrier originating a call to conduct the query."

The FCC would harmonize procedural rules for complaint proceedings delegated to the Enforcement Bureau, in another draft order. They would cover complaints about common carriers under Section 208, pole attachments under Section 224 and advanced communications services and equipment under sections 225, 716 and 716 (disability access). The draft would set "a uniform deadline for filing an answer within 30 days after service of a complaint, and require that replies be filed within 10 days of service of the answer," said a summary. It would "extend to all formal complaint proceedings information designation requirements, the ability of staff to conduct a status conference, and the option of requesting inclusion on the Accelerated Docket; and impose pre-filing obligations on complaints subject to the five-month deadline in Section 208(b)(1) to narrow the factual/legal issues, exchange documents/discovery, discuss case management issues, and engage in settlement negotiations; and create a 270-day shot clock for resolution of formal complaints, commencing upon the filing of a complaint (pole access complaints remain subject to a 180-day shot clock)."