The FCC has yet to act on nearly 30 waiver requests from local governments that hope to build out early public safety networks using 700 MHz spectrum. Among the applicants is New Orleans, where public safety communications became a major focus six years ago during and after Hurricane Katrina. Other major cities that asked for waivers but have yet to receive them are Chicago and Philadelphia. States including Florida, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma also have sought waivers from the FCC.

There’s muted interest among lawmakers and policymakers on retransmission consent deals. That’s even with a blackout (CD Sept 2 p3) between a broadcaster and multichannel video programming distributor entering a third week, executives from both industries said in interviews. They said the FCC and members of Congress haven’t been very active on the issue, and there’s no indication that soon will change. The founder and head of Mediacom, one of the companies in the current dispute, said more blackouts would garner additional attention on the Hill. Mediacom CEO Rocco Commisso also said he’s frustrated the government isn’t doing more to level the field between MVPDs and TV stations.

LightSquared will announce next week a new precision GPS receiver prototype aimed at dispelling claims that a fix for the GPS interference problem is impossible, said LightSquared Executive Vice President Jeff Carlisle. While the new receiver won’t actually fix all of the interference problems with GPS, the new receiver will be touted as a “proof of concept,” he said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters. The FCC and NTIA recently said additional testing of LightSquared’s proposed terrestrial wireless service are necessary before LightSquared can begin commercial terrestrial operations. Meanwhile, GPS interests and some lawmakers voiced support for the NTIA and FCC decision.

There must be a spectrum revamp “somewhere along the line” to free up more frequencies for carriers that are capable of acquiring and deploying them, said Verizon Communications Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo during a Bank of America conference Wednesday. Meanwhile, it will cost up to $250 million for repairs to Verizon’s wireline operations damaged by recent storms, he said.

GENEVA -- The first U.S. group proposals to the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) are the first to address the agenda for the 2015 conference. They include items on wireless avionics intra-communications, a review of the use of the band 5091-5150 MHz by the fixed satellite service (FSS), continued studies to allow uninterrupted future operation of mobile satellite service (MSS) systems, wireless broadband services, modernization of the Global Maritime Distress Safety System and a review of the Radio Regulations for e-navigation. The U.S. proposal on wireless broadband services hasn’t appeared on the ITU website, a source said. It was described in July by U.S. officials (CD July 29 p9). The 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference will recommend to the ITU Council agenda items for WRC-15.

The American Jobs Act’s inclusion of spectrum won praise from senators seeking to reallocate the 700 MHz D-block to public safety. The Act’s public safety section hews closely to the Senate Commerce Committee’s Spectrum Act, S-911 (CD Sept 13 p1). But House Commerce Committee Republicans who have favored a commercial D-block auction are continuing on their own path to spectrum legislation, a committee spokesman said Tuesday.

The new eligibility criteria to the Rural Utility Service telecom infrastructure loan program for public safety expand the eligible purposes for loans for the deployment of 911 access and integrated interoperable emergency communications systems, Deputy Administrator Jessica Zufolo said Tuesday. Systems include multiuse networks, homeland security communications, transportation safety communications and E-911 location technologies used outside urban areas, she said at an Internet Innovation Alliance event. The agency recently published the eligibility requirements for public safety in rural areas.

FBI Director Robert Mueller asked for legislation to speed government requests for access to user communications on Google, Facebook and other websites. Tuesday at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing about the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Mueller said the FBI wants to ensure that social media websites “have the capability to respond to court orders” seeking communications of users. The FBI had raised the issue at a February hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, but hadn’t called for legislation.

Rick Kaplan, chief of the FCC Wireless Bureau, said that as it moves on spectrum legislation, Congress should give the FCC maximum flexibility to act. The remarks came during a panel Tuesday sponsored by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Speakers disagreed sharply about whether Congress is playing a helpful role as it considers legislation giving the FCC authority to hold voluntary incentive auctions for broadcast and other spectrum, as proposed last year in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. This week, the administration proposed incentive auctions as part of the spectrum provisions in its Jobs Bill (CD Sept 13 p1).

Democrats and Republicans on the House Subcommittee on Rural Development pressed Agriculture Department officials to publish a study on how they're defining “rural” for the purposes of their grants and loans programs, including the broadband loan program. “This report was due two years after enactment of the Farm Bill, yet we still have not received the report,” subcommittee Chairman Tim Johnson, R-Ill., said at a hearing Tuesday. The bill was enacted May 22, 2008. “I hope that USDA can provide an explanation this morning for why this report is still not finished and how long it is expected to be delayed,” Johnson said.