Ligado's planned LTE network carries potential "serious and negative consequences" for AWS-3 spectrum use, SNR Wireless said Wednesday, urging the FCC to look into such problems before considering the former LightSquared's proposal. In a filing Wednesday in docket 12-340, SNR said Ligado's plans to relinquish its rights to use 1545-1555 MHz and to seek access to the 1675-1680 MHz band (see 1512310016) carry multiple interference issues for AWS-3 licensees like it. The designated entity which has been affiliated with Dish Network said interference issues include that the total amount of energy received at earth stations receiving signals from geostationary operational environmental satellites and polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites in the 1675-1710 MHz band will increase, and the Ligado-commissioned interference analysis doesn't look at the effect of licensed commercial AWS-3 uplink operations in 1695-1710 MHz. And the AWS-3 interference analysis done by the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) didn't look at commercial downlink operations in 1675-1680 MHz, SNR said. The proximity of 1675-1680 MHz commercial downlink operations to 1695-1710 MHz commercial uplink operations heightens the likelihood of AWS-3 base station receiver overload or of out-of-band emissions causing base station interference, SNR said, adding that the FCC and AWS-3 auction bidders didn't contemplate those interference scenarios before the auction. The CSMAC process set up recommended protection distances around meteorological earth stations that commercial AWS-3 operators in the 1695-1710 band had to coordinate within, and Ligado's proposal -- by adding to the interference at federal users' earth stations -- would eat up some of the interference budget AWS-3 licensees have now, SNR said. "Ligado's proposal is therefore flawed because it will be impossible to allocate any interference budget amount to its proposed use without also 'stealing' interference budget from AWS-3 spectrum acquired at auction on the basis of an interference budget allocation that was codified in the FCC's rules." SNR said Ligado's LTE plan makes it tough to reconcile interference federal users see between AWS-3 operations and 1675-1680 MHz base station operations. In a statement Wednesday, Ligado said, "The communications industry routinely addresses spectrum coordination and co-existence issues, resolving them through the FCC process, standards bodies, and discussions between the various stakeholders. The issues raised occur frequently in spectrum discussions -- recent examples include bands affected by AWS-4. We look forward to a public comment process to discuss these types of issues with all affected stakeholders."

Varying state laws may impede sharing of electronic health records (EHR), an official from the Department of Health and Human Services told a House Oversight Committee hearing Tuesday. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said the problem could “jeopardize someone’s health" and asked if legislation is needed. The FTC backs legislation to bolster the agency’s consumer protection authority, a commission official told the joint hearing of the Information Technology Subcommittee and the Health Care, Benefits and Administrative Rules Subcommittee.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., pressed FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on whether the agency played a role in the recent creation of the NG911 NOW Coalition and on how his office handles the potential discussion of nonpublic information with members of the news media and other officials. He sent the letter Friday and requested answers to several questions by April 4. The FCC received the letter and is reviewing it, said an agency spokesman, declining further comment.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will tout “significant progress in our ongoing efforts to maximize the benefits of communications technology” in the four months since last testifying before the House Communications Subcommittee, according to written testimony for a Tuesday oversight hearing. He will talk about the big-ticket initiatives before the agency, from the pending broadcast TV incentive auction to his proposals to overhaul of set-top box rules, Lifeline and privacy rules for ISPs. All five commissioners will testify. The hearing is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

Despite complaints before and after their approval, February FCC net neutrality rules have done nothing to drive down network investments, Chairman Tom Wheeler said Monday in a speech at gnoviCon 2016 at Georgetown University. Private investment, not government spending, will have to drive Internet expansion for most Americans, Wheeler said in a speech later posted by the FCC. Earlier Monday, Verizon said it supports net neutrality rules that are akin to most of the current rules, regardless of how a federal court rules on current challenges to the 2015 order, which also reclassified broadband access under Title II of the Communications Act.

State regulators hammered Lifeline proposals to simplify provider participation and bypass state reviews in the FCC’s planned expansion of the low-income support program to broadband coverage. Gutting the state’s screening role would be bad policy and contrary to the law, said a NARUC letter to the commission signed by 90 state commissioners posted Friday in docket 11-42. It would invite fraud and abuse, undermine state matching programs and result in service deterioration, it said, adding detailed arguments to, and broad backing for, previous NARUC/state concerns (see 1603090040). The NARUC pushback, which could be a harbinger of litigation, is a “big deal” because it complicates the FCC’s drive to spur provider participation and competition, a telecom attorney told us Friday.

CINCINNATI -- Two federal judges questioned both FCC and state arguments on North Carolina and Tennessee challenges to a commission order pre-empting their municipal broadband limits (Tennessee v. FCC, No. 15-3291, North Carolina v. FCC, No. 15-3555). At oral argument Thursday in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge John Rogers pressed an FCC attorney particularly hard, suggesting the agency intruded on state authority to regulate its localities, while Judge Helene White pushed both sides more evenly to justify their positions. A third judge, Joseph Hood, who wore a green bow tie, didn't say anything other than to wish one of the attorneys a happy St. Patrick's Day.

House Commerce Committee Republicans advanced the No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act (HR-2666) Tuesday on a 29-19 partisan basis, with Democrats lamenting a broken and messy negotiation process. The dissent was expected (see 1603140069) and hounded the legislation since Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., took it up early this year. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., introduced the bill last year to prevent the FCC from regulating broadband rates after its net neutrality order.

The Senate Commerce Committee pulled the two-year FCC Reauthorization Act (S-2644) from its Wednesday markup agenda, despite persistent efforts to include the bill sponsored by Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. Democrats generally backed the reauthorization effort but said more time is needed to review the proposal, one staffer told us Tuesday. Amendments were already filed.

Privacy Shield probably won't withstand scrutiny by Europe's highest court if and when the draft trans-Atlantic data protection agreement is challenged after the European Commission adopts it, said two legal experts during an FCBA panel Monday. A third panelist, Andrea Glorioso, counselor for the digital economy with the EU delegation to the U.S., spoke off the record during the discussion, he told us after the event.