Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) blamed broadcasters for “thwarting” congressional efforts to pass legislation to set a date for return of analog spectrum -- as he introduced a bill Tues. setting Dec. 31, 2008, as the deadline. McCain’s bill, akin to legislation he introduced last year, would let public safety organizations to begin using 24 MHz of the spectrum Jan. 1, 2009, and require the FCC to auction recovered spectrum after Dec. 16, 2006, and before April 2, 2008.
Contrary to what many believe, the FCC does have “an enforcement plan in place” for compliance with the DTV tuner mandate, Alan Stillwell, assoc. chief of the Commission’s Office of Engineering & Technology, told our associated publication Consumer Electronics Daily. With Commission rejection of a CE industry petition to scrap the 50% compliance deadline on 25-36” sets, “we're going to continue that same plan -- probably a little more aggressively,” Stillwell said.
The wireless and satellite industries asked the FCC to reconsider rules on non-federal govt. wireless operations in the 3650-3700 MHz band. The contention- based protocol the Commission required licensees to use to prevent interference drew criticism in all petitions for reconsideration. Petitioners included the Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA), WiMax Forum, Intel, Redline Communications, Alvarion, BRN Phoenix, as well as Motorola and the Enterprise Wireless Alliance (CD June 13 p8).
Local franchising isn’t the problem for competitive entry into the video business, said the National Assn. of Telecom Officers & Advisors (NATOA), rejecting outright the concept of national cable franchising. “We are not in favor of any kind of national franchising. We don’t believe that local franchising is the problem,” said NATOA Pres. Coraile Wilson. She called local franchising a “manufactured problem” created by companies and industries that don’t want to comply with local requirements.
With universal service fund (USF) charges soaring for wireline and wireless carriers alike, the Bells, long- distance providers, rural phone companies, mobile carriers and cable TV operators are pressing for changes in the funding formula. But that’s where agreement ends.
The FCC released its E-911 order Fri., giving more details about its decision to require VoIP providers to give customers full emergency calling capabilities within 120 days (CD May 20 p1). The agency told VoIP providers and ILECs it will “closely monitor” industry efforts to bring full E-911 capability to VoIP customers. It also called for comments on ways to bring E-911 capability to portable VoIP customers.
Gemstar-TV Guide International and Scientific- Atlanta’s (S-A) agreement to cross-license electronic program guide (EPG) technology marks the end of a multi- year legal battle that wound through federal district and appeals courts as well as the International Trade Commission. Gemstar’s patent infringement suit against S- A, which dates from the late 1990s, also involved EchoStar and Pioneer, both of whom reached multi-million dollar settlements with Gemstar last year. The agreements take effect July 1, CFO Brian Urban said.
LONG BEACH, Cal. -- A merger may not be on the horizon for XM and Sirius, despite persistent rumors, but an interoperable radio might remove the need for a combination, industry lawyers and financiers said at the International Satellite & Communications Expo here.
Both terrestrial wireless and airline industries raised concerns over an FCC proposal to replace or relax a ban on airborne use of 800 MHz cellular handsets and other devices. They urged the Commission to keep the ban until the devices are shown not to cause interference with terrestrial wireless services and with aviation communication and navigation systems. More comments were expected at our deadline.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s call for federal elections could hobble adoption of new telecom laws and cause uncertainty for the sector, a German telecom lawyer said Tues. After holding power 39 years, Schroeder’s Social Democrat party recently lost badly in North Rhine-Westphalia, the country’s largest state, said Axel Spies, a German attorney in Washington with clients in the industry. With a 28% approval rating, Schroeder stands a good chance of losing the election, expected to occur around Sept. 18, he said. A loss shouldn’t affect telecom regulator RegTP’s ongoing review, under the e- communications regulatory framework, of telecom markets, Spies said, but competitive telcos expect “significant delays” in release of new laws and rules. Amendments to the Telecom Act probably won’t be adopted as quickly as planned because of the need to set rules for reimbursing carriers for surveillance and eavesdropping and because the election campaign could slow things down. That would give Parliament a clean slat against which to debate the measures again after the election and restart the legislative process -- leaving telcos to deal with more unpredictability until year’s end, Spies said. Moreover, he said, the European Commission (EC) has threatened to sue Germany in the European Court of Justice over provisions in the country’s telecom act the Commission thinks don’t give the regulator enough discretion in controlling prices set by incumbent Deutsche Telekom. The Federal Ministry of Economics, RegTP and industry are working on a solution (parliamentary approval required) to head off a suit that “would put the entire German regime on price control in jeopardy,” Spies said. But it’s unclear now whether Parliament will be able to vote on the specific amendment by an end-of-June deadline set by the EC.