President Bush is expected to issue Executive Order “very shortly” directing Office of Management & Budget (OMB) project called Safecom to accomplish its goal of interoperability for federal public safety systems, said William Speights, public safety program mgr. at NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management. Speights spoke at Assn. of Public- Safety Communications Officials (APCO) Homeland Security Summit in Washington Wed. at which continued lack of interoperability of some public safety systems was among key themes. Wireless Public Safety Interoperable Communications Program, called Project Safecom, is OMB e-govt. initiative designed to accelerate readiness of public safety wireless systems for homeland security for federal agencies. Public safety community is important part of federal Project Safecom, said Mike Byrne, senior dir. for response and recovery in Office of Homeland Security. It “isn’t about the federal government telling state and local jurisdictions how they need to do things,” said Byrne, former N.Y.C. firefighter. “It’s about a bottom-up approach in terms of local [agencies] and the states determining and helping to craft what the right solution set for communications is.”

Export regulation and enforcement will continue to be core function of Bureau of Industry & Security (BIS), but agency increasingly will take action in areas of cybersecurity and homeland security, Undersecy. Kenneth Juster told Commerce Dept. advisory panel Tues. BIS until last month was known as Bureau of Export Administration. In response to growing national and economic security concerns, BIS this fall will release cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection policy guidelines, Juster told BIS Regulations & Procedures Technical Advisory Committee.

Commerce Dept. figures confirm that DVD players enjoy fastest adoption rate of any consumer electronic product. Four million players have been sold so far this year compared with 3.2 million in 2001, said Chris Israel, Commerce Deputy Asst. Secy. for Technology Policy, at opening of DVD 2002 conference at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hq. NIST currently has several projects under way that are important to DVD industry, Israel said, among them reliability testing of writable CD/DVD media and interoperability evaluations of commercially available DVD writers and players. Tests include accelerated aging that simulates 20 years or more shelf life. Information on lifetime and reliability of data archived onto DVD will be shared with manufacturers, he said. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also has been seeking research information on data archiving since Sept. 11, Israel said. FEMA and NIST recently signed memorandum of understanding under which NIST becomes research resource for disaster recovery agency. DVD 2002 conference is co-sponsored by NIST and DVD Assn.

Local govts. will oppose any federal action to harmonize public rights-of-way (ROW) regulations to spur broadband deployment, but will consider state legislation on lines of recently enacted Mich. ROW legislation. That was view that emerged from Washington panel Thurs. organized by Advisory Committee to Congressional Internet Caucus at which industry called for broad national action to lay down contours of “appropriate” local govt. management of ROW and assessment of fees. What’s needed is dialog between local govts. and industry and not one-size-fits-all approach, said Marilyn Praisner, vice chmn. of FCC’s Local & State Govt. Advisory Committee (LSGAC). While problem of delays in granting permits and charging ROW fees in excess of actual costs is “selective,” it has developed into one of national scope and calls for national action, said Martin Stern, co-founder of Telecom Industry Rights-of-Way Working Group (I-ROW).

FCC and Industry Canada reached agreement designed to eliminate interference to fixed terrestrial wireless systems in 38.6-40 GHz band from satellite systems now licensed to operate in V-band. FCC said pact aimed to “enhance delivery of V-band spectrum services to consumers.” Both U.S. and Canada licensed fixed wireless systems at 38.6-40 GHz on area basis to bolster rollout of broadband wireless applications. Agreement is designed to “ensure protection of these systems by limiting the power flux density levels of satellite systems currently being designed to operate in the V-band,” Commission said. Issue had emerged at World Radio Conference 2000 in Istanbul but wasn’t resolved. In Resolution 84 at that WRC, U.S. and other countries in this region agreed to address satellite power flux density values on country-by- country basis. After WRC 2000 meeting, FCC proposed band segmentation approach that pinpointed spectrum below 40 GHz mainly for high-density fixed service use and spectrum between 40 and 42 GHz mostly for high-density fixed satellite service. U.S.-Canada arrangement on 37.5-42.5 GHz would back retention of power flux density figures in radio regulations. Two nations also agreed to: (1) Obtain concurrence of other administrations under agreement before authorizing frequency assignment for fixed satellite service (FSS) network in 37.5- 40 GHz if FSS network would produce power flux density in excess of certain limits. (2) Consider results of technical studies involving appropriate value of downlink power control and adjust criteria if warranted. (3) Propose suppression of Resolution 84 in forums such as ITU and CITEL (Inter-American Telecommunications Commission), “with a view towards addressing the fade compensation requirements within Region 2,” which includes U.S. and Canada. (4) “Take steps to reflect these principles in their respective domestic policies to ensure that operators of satellite systems wishing to implement services will be aware of their responsibilities and requirements.” (5) “Recognize that each administration is free to declare in a global context that it is under no obligation to accept the provision of FSS within its territory if it believes that emissions from satellites providing services in its territory would cause unacceptable interference to its terrestrial services in the 37.5-40 GHz and 42-42.5 GHz bands.”

Modernization of nation’s emergency communications infrastructure requires integration of voice and data systems, not just additional acquisition of more hardware and software, public safety coalition said Thurs. at news conference in Washington. Partnership for Community Safety, group of medical and emergency responder organizations, held briefing in Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. to recommend linking agencies and standardizing communications interfaces. Such interoperability would enable federal, state and local officials to exchange information in emergencies, thereby improving response times and patient outcomes, Assn. of Air Medical Services Exec. Dir. Dawn Mancuso said. National Assn. of EMS Physicians Pres. Richard Hunt said “lack of a methodology to rapidly communicate information was a problem” before and after Sept. 11 terrorist attacks “and hasn’t been solved yet.” He said “intelligent message broker” technology was needed to keep track of and disseminate real time information: “It’s not just about phone lines. It comes down to data.” Hunt said equipment investments were important, but funding to train personnel and support university-led R&D of emergency response best practices was equally critical. ComCARE Alliance Dir. David Aylward said first responders and medical care providers needed access to directories listing other emergency entities, which could be facilitated through Internet protocol system “that ties everyone together.” He said required technology was available in and used by commercial sector and must be brought into use by public safety entities: “It’s more about bringing people together, not going out and inventing something… We don’t have to build a network. It’s already there.”

House began debating legislation late Wed. afternoon that would create $750 million fund for economic revitalization of Lower Manhattan. Communications infrastructure operators whose facilities were destroyed or damaged in last year’s World Trade Center attack are potential recipients of aid, which was proposed by President Bush and supported earlier this week by the House Appropriations Committee. Panel recognized in its report (H. Rept. 107-480) on FY 2003 emergency appropriations bill (HR- 4775) importance of that infrastructure to economic health of N.Y.C.

Some of country’s most prominent media executives, including Disney’s Michael Eisner, Rupert Murdoch of News Corp., and EchoStar CEO Charles Ergen, pledged Fri. to work with federal govt. to ensure that citizens will be able to get vital information during any future national crisis. First meeting of Medial Security & Reliability Council (MSRC) was prompted by Sept. 11, which knocked out several TV antenna towers atop World Trade Center, cutting off local TV broadcasts to hundreds of thousands of people in N.Y.C. metropolitan area who rely on over-the-air transmissions, rather than cable or satellite. MSRC, which was based on same idea as Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC) for phone service providers, was created to study and report to FCC on security, robustness and reliability of broadcast TV and multichannel video systems. Separately, FCC created Homeland Security Policy Council, which may be beneficiary of knowledge gained by MSRC. At meeting, Richard Sheirer, who was dir. of emergency management for N.Y.C. on 9/11, and Thomas Van Essen, former fire commissioner for N.Y.C., outlined difficulties they experienced in communicating with public and other public safety agencies at time.

FCC adopted report and order Thurs. that puts in place new service rules covering total of 27 MHz in 7 separate bands that have been reallocated from govt. to non-govt. use. More broadly, FCC officials also said at agenda meeting that agency will issue notice of inquiry (NOI) by year’s end on provision of wireless services in rural areas, topic that emerged during Commission negotiations on order. FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Thomas Sugrue said at press briefing after meeting that NOI will be fairly wide-ranging, touching on topics such as roadblocks and opportunities for provision of wireless service in rural areas, as well as auctioning and licensing policies. Order itself covers service and licensing rules for wide range of bands, including ways to continue protecting wireless medical telemetry service at 1.4 GHz. FCC Comr. Copps dissented in part on item, expressing concerns about spectrum rights given to band managers, which Chmn. Powell later defended as part of Commission’s purview. In lengthy separate statement, Copps also voiced concern that FCC shouldn’t rely on spectrum partitioning and disaggregation to help promote service in rural areas until it receives better data on how these tools are working.

Best response to homeland security emergency will be from “lean federal agency, probably FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency], that is able to coordinate strategy with local responders who probably already are flying to the scene,” former Va. Gov. Jim Gilmore (R) said Wed. He keynoted Safety and Security Solutions conference hosted by Motorola in Washington. Homeland security isn’t strictly federal responsibility, he said, and Office of Homeland Security (OHS), headed by former Pa. Gov. Tom Ridge (R), “has to be a planning office to coordinate federal, state and local responders and how they fit together. The office need not be the responder,” he said. Gilmore is chmn. of Congressional Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism involving Weapons of Mass Destruction.