The 800 MHz transition for licensees along the Mexican border officially kicks off Aug. 23, said the 800 MHz Transition Administrator (TA) in an FCC filing. Use of the 800 MHz band along the border had been dictated by a bilateral protocol which dates to 1994. The U.S. and Mexico agreed a year ago to an amended protocol, which takes into account the FCC’s watershed 2004 800 MHz rebanding order (CD June 7/12 p7). The order lets the TA wrap up one of the final parts of the rebanding, which has been underway for almost a decade. “Based on the TA’s analysis, the Reconfiguration Timetable provides that reconfiguration of U.S.-Mexico border licensees will proceed in a single stage for purposes of starting planning, submitting a cost estimate to Sprint ... and negotiating a Frequency Reconfiguration Agreement,” the TA said (http://bit.ly/1bcQT3w). A 30-month transition period is scheduled to wrap up Feb. 23, 2016. The Mexican sharing zone extends 68.35 miles from the border and takes in such major cities as San Diego, Tucson and El Paso.

The FCC proposed a total of $30,000 in fines for TV stations missing deadlines to file children’s programming reports. Media Bureau notices of apparent liability in the cases were released Wednesday. Abundant Life Broadcasting faces a proposed $16,000 penalty because K20JX-D Sacramento failed to place required documents in its public inspection file in a timely manner (http://bit.ly/13ku7lf). However, the order said the station wouldn’t be reduced from Class A to low-power status, since bureau communications about the filing violation were sent to the home of the station’s ex-treasurer. Teleadoracion Christian Network faces a proposed $14,000 fine for late filings for 11 quarters, failing to publicize the children’s television reports and not providing information identifying some children’s TV programs when they aired (http://bit.ly/19bcMDi).

Initial reply comments to the FCC on possible Internet Protocol transition trials showcased splits among stakeholders that have predominated throughout the debate. Replies were due Wednesday. VoIP interconnection is already happening and feasible, and a technical VoIP trial is “not necessary,” Comptel argued (http://bit.ly/16A6Rnt). The trial proposals “fail to demonstrate that the services consumers expect and rely on will be protected; including wholesale customers’ ability to serve end-use customers (last mile access),” it said. Charter Communications spotlighted the struggles in forming IP interconnection agreements and urged the FCC to declare that Sections 251 and 252 of the Communications Act apply in the IP sphere. If not, any trials should replicate real-world situations, proceed quickly and be conducted “to the extent they can shed light on the lack of availability of IP interconnection and encourage its adoption,” it said in its reply comments (http://bit.ly/14yYkDg). The Internet Innovation Alliance argued that all the concerns of the stakeholders could be resolved by letting the FCC proceed with trials. It would “accumulate real-world data that would enable the FCC to address underlying concerns raised by commenters in this proceeding and also address any additional issues that arise as consumers embrace next generation broadband services during the course of the local IP-based network market trial,” the alliance said (http://bit.ly/13GSayt). It defended local market trials as “the norm” in the industry. Any transition away from traditional phone service should leave consumers better and be voluntary, said the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates and the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, who filed together as consumer advocates. They supported trials that would give good data and inform the policy. The advocates advised the FCC to remember “key goals of consumer protection, universal service, network reliability, consumer choice (especially if new technology will raise prices or jeopardize public safety), affordability, and the interconnection of carriers’ networks at reasonable rates, terms and conditions.” It cautioned against allowing the largest ILECs dictating the transition.

Officials in California sent out an AMBER alert for the first time over a cellphone through the Wireless Emergency Alert program. Police in Southern California broadcast the alert as police searched for a man suspected of killing a woman and kidnapping her children (http://lat.ms/1314kDR. The system requires cellphone customers to opt out if they do not want to receive alerts.

ViaSat’s penetration of a new VoIP service among its satellite-based broadband subscribers could eventually approach 20 percent, nearly matching the rates of other providers, said CEO Mark Dankberg on a conference call. ViaSat’s Exede satellite-based broadband subscribers could eventually also be buying the company’s new Exede Voice service that launched in June (CD June 17 p22), he said. ViaSat shipped an adapter that connects the satellite modem with the VoIP service. While the number of VoIP subscribers at the end of fiscal Q1 was “pretty small,” the addition of the service will benefit ViaSat’s average revenue per user for broadband, Dankberg said. ViaSat’s Exede ARPU in fiscal Q1 was $50.50, said Stephens analyst Tim Quillin. The addition of VoIP came as ViaSat continued to expand its Exede broadband service, which added a net 38,000 subscribers to end fiscal Q1 with 550,000 customers, Dankberg said. The net was below Quillin’s forecast for 40,000. Exede’s monthly churn was 2.5 percent, Dankberg said. The bulk of Exede subscribers get the 12 Mbps/3 Mbps download/upload service that starts with a $49 monthly fee and 12 GB usage cap, company executives have said. Exede customers get service from ViaSat-1 at 115 degrees west as well as WildBlue-1 and Telesat Canada’s Anik F2 satellites. As of the end of the fiscal Q1 on June 28, 362,000 customers were getting broadband service from ViaSat-1, up from 297,000 in March, company executives said. The migration of subscribers from WildBlue-1 and Anik F2 satellites to ViaSat-1 slowed in fiscal Q1 to 5,000 to 6,000 customers, said Chief Accounting Officer Shawn Lynn Duffy. The migration had been running at 30,000 to 35,000 per quarter, company executives have said. Most customers on ViaSat-1 are Exede subscribers. Some DirecTV subscribers, who get the Exede service as part of a bundling deal that pairs it with DirecTV video, also get programming from ViaSat-1, executives of ViaSat have said. “It looks like demand is greater than supply” for ViaSat-1, and that “we can anticipate continued good subscriber demand,” Dankberg said. ViaSat fiscal Q1 capital expenses grew $44 million from a year ago due largely to the start of development of the ViaSat-2 satellite that’s expected to launch in 2016. The Boeing-built ViaSat-2 will have double the capacity and a coverage area that includes the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe as well as parts of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and northern South America, ViaSat executives have said. Some of ViaSat-2 capabilities could come to market sooner than the satellite itself, Dankberg said. ViaSat signed a $358 million purchase agreement for ViaSat-2 with Boeing in May. The total cost of ViaSat-2, including satellite, launch, insurance and gateway equipment is expected to be $600 million to $650 million, the company said. ViaSat also expects to start the Federal Aviation Administration certification process this month for its Exede in the Air broadband service for Boeing 737 airplanes. It gained FAA flightworthiness certification with JetBlue for Airbus A320 airplanes following tests in July, but is still awaiting final approval before entering commercial service, Dankberg said. Boeing also is working to have the Exede service available as an option with Boeing aircraft starting in 2015, Boeing has said. ViaSat, working with Live TV on the JetBlue service, had hoped to introduce it on 1-2 planes by mid-year. ViaSat’s fiscal Q1 net loss narrowed to $1.4 million from $14.4 million a year ago as revenue jumped to $321.1 million from $241.7 million. Product sales increased to $182.1 million from $147.7 million, while those from services rose to $138.9 million from $94 million, the company said. ViaSat’s satellite services revenue, including Exede, increased to $85.8 million from $58.7 million. ViaSat’s earnings benefited from a $1.4 million decline in interest expense to $10.1 million as a result of its refinancing $275 million in 8 7/8 percent notes due 2016 at lower rates in October, Duffy said. The notes were refinanced with the proceeds from the issuing of $300 million in notes due 2020, the company said.

Minorities and low-come city dwellers who rely heavily on their wireless phones bear the “brunt” of the failure of the FCC so far to impose indoor location-accuracy standards for calls to 911, TruePosition said in comments filed at the FCC. The FCC identified indoor location accuracy as a “significant public safety concern” in an NPRM two years ago, the filing notes (http://bit.ly/16A2uc0). “This public safety problem has only grown worse since then.” The FCC’s rules for indoor location accuracy are unclear, TruePosition said. “Due to the absence of a clear regulatory mandate, many wireless carriers employ technology that cannot provide accurate locations for E911 calls made from many indoor locations, creating an enormous ‘last corridor’ service gap for public safety,” the filing said. “Also, because of the indoor ‘exclusion’ from the FCC’s testing requirements, no carriers test E911 coverage indoors, despite the high volume of emergency calls placed from indoor locations. The result is that every single day many lives are in jeopardy."

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said the FCC should step in on the dispute between CBS and Time Warner Cable on retransmission consent payments. (See separate report in this issue.) The commission should “take action to bring the parties together so these negotiations can be concluded in an equitable and expeditious manner,” he wrote in a Tuesday letter to acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn (http://bit.ly/16A1c0s). “The public interest would be best served if carriage is restored by the parties at the earliest possible time so that consumers are not long caught in the middle.” He described concern over the news that CBS has blocked access to Internet-based video for Time Warner Cable’s broadband customers, expressing fear over customers losing “their freedom to access the Internet content of their choice.” He called the move “an anti-consumer result.” CBS declined to comment.

The FCC doesn’t have the scientific expertise to decide what levels of radiofrequency exposure are safe for children, Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp said in a letter to John Deasy, superintendent of schools for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Deasy wrote former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in May asking that the agency “thoroughly evaluate the body of scientific studies which address non-thermal effects and establish an appropriate exposure standard for children,” Knapp said (http://bit.ly/15biix8). “The Commission shares the concerns of parents and teachers that Federal regulations protect the health of the public with respect to exposure to RF emissions in all locations, including classrooms,” Knapp responded in the letter. “Since the FCC is not a health and safety agency itself, we must defer to other organizations and agencies with respect to interpreting the biological research necessary to assess the health impact of RF emissions, and to determine what levels are safe."

Participants in any time-division multiplexing (TDM) to IP trial, as proposed by the FCC in May, should be required to comply with National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, to prevent problems for alarm networks, the Alarm Industry Communications Committee said in a filing at the FCC. “AICC urges the Commission to require trial participants to meet a number of specified criteria ... to ensure the protection of alarm service customers before a trial is authorized,” the group said (http://bit.ly/1bcEdcX). “Customers and alarm providers must be notified before any trial is authorized. After authorization, the trial participant must notify customers and alarm companies well in advance of the discontinuance of TDM-based services. Finally, a trial must be reversible if it is not successful.” AICC members “protect over 30 million residential, business and sensitive facilities and their occupants from fire, burglaries, sabotage and other emergencies,” the filing said.

AT&T asked the FCC to enforce the benchmark rate of 19 cents per minute for international traffic that terminates with Fiji International Telecommunications (Fintel), Fiji’s incumbent carrier. Fintel’s termination rate since November 2011 has been 22 cents per minute for U.S.-Fiji traffic, AT&T said. “The Commission therefore should require all U.S. carriers to pay Fintel no more than the benchmark rate,” the carrier said (http://bit.ly/193A1M1). “The rate increase fails to comply with the Commission’s longstanding benchmarks policy, which requires U.S. carriers to pay Fintel no more $0.19 per minute to terminate U.S.-Fiji traffic after January 1, 2001."