The FCC seeks comment on a rulemaking based on issues raised in an April 30, 2012, petition by Harris, which asked the agency to require that digitally modulated signals be certified under the stringent H-Mask for use in public-safety spectrum. The NPRM said the FCC is proposing that digital technologies, “including but not limited to Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) based technologies,” must comply with emissions mask H when operating in 800 MHz National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee spectrum (http://bit.ly/150svh5). The NPRM also proposes that equipment must have analog FM capability when operating on 800 MHz, VHF and UHF public safety mutual aid and interoperability channels. “Until recently, manufacturers generally have interpreted Part 90 rules to preclude use of Mask B in public safety frequencies due to the obvious and inevitable interference facing first responders should Mask B be applied in public safety frequencies,” Harris said in the petition (http://bit.ly/12IyTM4). “To be specific, digital technology meeting the more stringent Mask H emissions requirements is almost universally utilized in public safety frequencies used by first responders and others protecting life, health, and property.” But there have been recent moves to use equipment that is only certified to mask B in public safety spectrum, Harris said. “These products meet the Mask B emissions standard, but fail that of Mask H,” the company said. There will be “inevitable interference ... if digital equipment only meeting Mask B are utilized in or near public safety frequencies where other technologies, compliant with Mask H operate.” Alcatel-Lucent opposed the Harris petition, saying it’s “unnecessary, repetitive and anticompetitive” and a “collateral attack” by Harris on New Jersey Transit’s selection of Alcatel-Lucent as a vendor addressing the agency’s communications needs using PowerTrunk’s digital land mobile radio solution in the 800 MHz band (http://bit.ly/17dafGU). “From the moment NJT chose Alcatel-Lucent’s proposal as best meeting NJT’s needs with respect to price and functionality, Harris has explored every angle to block that decision to no avail, including by incorrectly claiming that the Commission rules did not permit NJT’s proposed operations,” Alcatel-Lucent said. The comment deadline on the NPRM will come with publication of the NPRM in the Federal Register. The FCC also froze (http://bit.ly/17hUDjB) certain applications to use the NPSPAC channels, pending completion of the rulemaking, including those “where the applicant specifies digitally modulated equipment that does not conform to Emission Mask H will not be accepted” and “where the applicant specifies equipment not capable of analog FM modulation on the NPSPAC mutual aid channels will not be accepted.”

The FCC received Office of Management and Budget approval for information collection requirements in its procedures for pole attachment complaints. A notice in Tuesday’s Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/15ukEM3) said approval was given for Sections 1.1403(e) and 1.1404. For 1,772 responses, the total annual reporting burden is estimated at 2,629 hours and $450,000 in costs.

NARUC’s Federalism Task Force released the final draft report on cooperative federalism and telecom (http://bit.ly/17d1bBZ). The report, based on “listening sessions” and written comments from a range of parties, will guide NARUC’s members on interaction with state and federal legislators as well as agencies for communications policy, it said Monday. NARUC backs joint boards between the FCC and the states for “collectively seeking, developing and implementing communications policy recommendations.” The report urges the FCC to determine the regulatory status of VoIP and other Internet Protocol-enabled services. The states should continue to maintain the primary and immediate responsibility for end-user consumer protection and for ensuring service reliability, safety and service quality under state laws, the report said. Interconnection is “necessary to ensure ubiquitous service and enhance competition among providers,” said the report, and should be required for all providers regardless of the technology they use. The states are also “well positioned to work with all stakeholders” to ensure there’s “robust competition” and customer choice across their specific jurisdictions, the report said. It calls for the states, FCC and service providers to work together to ensure that all customers can access emergency services and call-completion problems. States need to work with the FCC through the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service to ensure that service providers continue to meet the social policy goals through providing access to services such as Lifeline, Telecommunications Relay Service and carrier of last resort obligations as permitted by state law, said the report. CompTel said it was “particularly encouraged” by the task force’s recognition of the states’ role in arbitrating interconnection agreements. The association also is pleased that the report encourages states to monitor the status of competition, “as this is critical in evaluating the effect of the FCC’s last mile policies and the need for modernizing them in order to enable a wholesale market that ensures and further enhances competition,” said Angie Kronenberg, CompTel general counsel, in an email. While the report is final, the task force will review any comments it receives, National Regulatory Research Institute Principal Telecom Researcher Sherry Lichtenberg, a task force member, told us. The task force will present a resolution to accept the report at NARUC’s November meeting. If the measure passes, the report will become NARUC policy.

The most recent round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations included fewer opportunities for stakeholder input than previous rounds, said Knowledge Ecology International in a blog post Tuesday (http://bit.ly/16LCo1J). TPP includes chapters on copyright and cross-data border flows. Previous rounds included a briefing and question-and-answer session with chief negotiators, while this round only made negotiators available during a “dialogue,” the post said. “It’s not a great process and even if you know who all the chiefs are, if you want to know the position of a country on a particular issue, you have to hunt down every chief individually and repeat your concerns and follow it up with your question.” The time for stakeholder presentations was shortened to seven minutes, KEI wrote. “In 7 minutes it is difficult to say anything of substance or present much analysis.” The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn’t comment.

The FCC Media Bureau should deny Adams Cable Equipment’s petition to expand the scope of its recently granted CableCARD waiver, said CEA in an opposition filing Monday (http://bit.ly/15gH2V4). The current waiver -- granted in July (CD July 30 p11) -- lets ACE offer its existing inventory of 50,000 set-top boxes directly to subscribers. ACE petitioned the bureau last week (CD Aug 20 p16) to expand the limit to 200,000, allowing it to buy and refurbish older, obsolete models from large cable operators. The petition suggests that ACE’s business plan all along has been to buy boxes from larger cable operators and sell them to smaller ones, said CEA. “Adams’s Reconsideration Petition says that it ‘may not have been apparent’ to the Bureau that 200,000 boxes could be wholesaled on this basis, but does not claim that this figure was unknown to Adams when it filed and lobbied for its Petition.” ACE’s reconsideration filing is “actually a new petition seeking a much broader waiver than Adams initially purported to seek, but it provides no new factual or legal basis and no new arguments,” CEA said. Since the waiver already requires ACE to update the bureau on its set-top box sales, ACE should use the record established by those future updates to file a new waiver request if its sales justify it, CEA said.

Level 3 has joined TechAmerica. The group will “advocate for the issues that directly affect Level 3 regardless of whether the issue is in a state house, Washington, D.C. or in another country,” said TechAmerica President Shawn Osborne in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/16Ok3o7).

A Michigan station involved in a sharing arrangement with Young Broadcasting doesn’t have an independent management structure from the Young-owned station it shares with, said Spartan-TV -- also in a sharing arrangement with Young. The “unauthorized duopoly” between the Young-owned WLNS-TV Lansing and WLAJ Lansing shows that sharing arrangements proposed as part of Media General buying Young in overlapping markets won’t comply with FCC rules, said a reply comment Monday (http://bit.ly/1cdEUDj). WLNS is one of the stations involved in the deal, and is also involved in a sharing arrangement with Spartan’s WHTV Jackson and WLAJ. All three stations also share the same physical space, said Spartan. “The FCC’s rules and policies for sharing arrangements were not designed to be followed strictly by small broadcasters and circumvented by larger ones,” it said. Spartan submitted a series of emails from a manager at WLNS that it said show the lack of separate management. In two emails from March and May filed with Spartan’s comments, WLNS General Manager Robert Simone has the title of vice president/general manager of Young-Lansing, and both WLNS and WLAJ are listed under his title. In a later email dated Aug. 20 -- after Spartan filed its informal objection -- Simone’s signature block no longer mentions WLAJ. Spartan also submitted testimony from the station manager of its WHTV that the station manager job at WLAJ was vacant until eight days after Spartan filed its earlier, informal objection to the commission. Those pieces of evidence “should be seen as a de facto admission by Young that they had not been operating in compliance with the rules,” said Spartan. In an opposition filing last week, Young said Spartan’s accusations about the sharing arrangements were untrue, and accused Spartan of trying to “coerce” Young into extending the sharing arrangement with WHTV (CD Aug 21 p21) and “grab” WLAJ’s ABC affiliation. Spartan denounced those arguments as a “red herring,” and asked the FCC to “investigate the WLAJ-TV/Young arrangement and hold the proposed merger in abeyance until the investigation is completed.” Simone and Young didn’t comment.

Rogers Communications asked Canada to “give Canadian carriers the same rights as large foreign incumbents” in that nation’s upcoming auction of 700 MHz spectrum. “Today’s current rules give an unfair advantage to huge foreign players and Rogers is asking for a common set of rules for Canadian and foreign carriers,” Rogers said (http://roge.rs/16JVu8p). “Create an open environment -- if a Canadian wireless player seeks a buyer, everyone should be able to bid. Strengthen auction rollout requirements -- ensure foreign carriers invest and build a national network in rural areas.” Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed said the government should hold public hearings on the auction. “Spectrum is a natural resource and the lifeblood of Canada’s wireless networks,” he said. “It’s important that the government take the time to get this policy right."

The city council of Merriam, Kan., voted Monday to bring Google Fiber to the city, said the unit of Google in a blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/1dLGT3v). The company will need to plan its network and start construction before it can start installations, said the company.

The Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance urged the FCC to immediately reform the retransmission consent process. The commission should adopt a standstill provision “to prevent signal loss for consumers during retransmission consent negotiation impasses,” said ITTA in an ex parte filing in docket 10-71 (http://bit.ly/15epHTx). Certain behavior, like attempts by parties to deny customer access to significantly viewed out-of-market signals, should be clarified as constituting a “per se violation of the statutory duty to negotiate in good faith,” it said. ITTA said it’s hopeful that, under new leadership, the FCC “will promptly proceed with much needed reforms that would help restore balance to the video distribution marketplace.”