Citing interference concerns, broadcasters told the FCC last week that a plan for relocating certain Defense Dept. systems to make way for advanced wireless services such as 3G “seriously underestimates” the impact on the Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS). NAB and the Assn. for Maximum Service TV (MSTV) commissioned studies to evaluate the proposed relocation of 11 DoD sites for co-equal, primary use of the 2025-2110 MHz band with the BAS. They said one study showed BAS stations would experience harmful interference from the DoD sites, which in some cases would totally overload them.
FCC Comr. Adelstein on Wed. said he was in talks with his fellow commissioners about launching a broad inquiry into alleged “payola” practices at TV and radio stations around the country. In a speech to the Federal Communications Bar Assn. (FCBA), Adelstein said the Commission needs to “get to the bottom” of allegations that some TV stations have done interviews during news programs with subjects who have been asked to pay a fee. Such shows would appear to the average person to be legitimate news programs, he said, and viewers might be unaware that money is changing hands.
Rural wireless ISP (WISP) operators urged the FCC Tues. to consider changes in power limits in unlicensed bands and more spectrum, particularly below 5 GHz. At a daylong Rural WISP Workshop in a packed Commission meeting room, rural WISP developers said they also could use changes in the agency’s Part 15 rules for unlicensed spectrum and help from the FCC on restricting local ordinances for tower siting. Citing the turnout for the workshop, Comr. Adelstein suggested it might be helpful for the FCC to take such meetings on the road, with a possible next workshop somewhere in the Midwest.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R-Mont.) said he wasn’t sure when he will introduce the Universal Service Fund (USF) draft bill that has been floating around for some time, but said it could be before this session ends (CD Oct 28 p1). “We're thinking pretty quick, we think,” he said. Burns also said that once recommendations were received from the Federal-State Joint Board that’s studying USF distribution methods, further legislation might be warranted. “We don’t want to go down the distribution route until we see what the Joint Board has done,” he said. “I don’t want to preempt them in any way.”
Freeing Vonage from common carrier regulation would “clearly undercut” the ability of law enforcement officers to conduct electronic surveillance under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), the FBI and Dept. of Justice told the FCC in a joint filing earlier this week. The filing was one of more than 4 dozen commenting on whether the Commission should preempt a Minn. PUC ruling that Vonage’s voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) service was a telecom service subject to common carrier regulation.
States and municipalities are expressing concern that legislation designed to prevent taxes on access to Internet service eventually could restrict local govt. regulation of telephony and cable service. NARUC, the National Governors Assn. (NGA), National Assn. of Telecom Officers & Advisors (NATOA) and the TeleCommUninty Alliance (TCUA) are among the local interests expressing concern about S-150, the proposed Internet Tax Non-Discrimination Act.
Citing the alleged failure of private telecom providers to sufficiently deploy advanced broadband services to rural and less profitable markets, the Consumer Federation of America and High Tech Broadband Coalition filed briefs in the Supreme Court Fri. backing federal preemption of state laws that barred municipal entry into the telecom business. In June, the Supreme Court granted review of an 8th U.S. Appeals Court, St. Louis, decision vacating an FCC order. The Commission had denied preemption of a Mo. statute that barred localities and municipally owned utilities from providing telecom services or facilities. Petitions for writs of certiorari had been filed by the FCC, the state of Mo. and Southwestern Bell.
A federal judge ruled Thurs. that Internet voice service between computers, or between computers and phones, couldn’t be regulated by the states. U.S. Dist. Judge Michael Davis, Minneapolis, classified Vonage’s offering as an information service and therefore concluded that Minn. PUC regulation had been preempted by Congress in its protection of nascent Internet activity. The opinion was hailed by Vonage and by voice-over Internet protocol (VoIP) promoter Jeff Pulver, but was criticized by NARUC and the Media Access Project (MAP).
With utilities girding to roll out commercial broadband over power line (BPL) services, the FCC may have to confront the issue of classifying the service sooner rather than later, said officials and lawyers we interviewed. However, opinions differed on whether the recent ruling by the 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, overturning the FCC’s declaratory order classifying cable modem service as an interstate information service would have a direct bearing on the agency’s thinking on classifying BPL service. Utilities recently unveiled BPL commercial deployment plans ranging from this month to early next year (CD Sept 23 p4).
The FCC voted at its agenda meeting Thurs. to allow use of spectrum in the 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz and 92-95 GHz bands for commercial services such as high-speed, point-to-point wireless local area networks (LANs) and broadband Internet access. Those spectrum blocks, now used mainly for govt. and scientific purposes, are “well-suited for licensees to offer a broad range of innovative products and services,” the agency said.