On January 20, 2009, the Senate confirmed the following nominations:
Outgoing Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez named members to a newly reconstituted Commerce Spectrum Advisory Committee, which will meet for an additional two years. Most of the members are the same as the first CSMAC, which has been examining various changes to federal spectrum policy, including making federal users more accountable for the costs of the airwaves they use. “The spectrum advisory committee will continue developing consensus around policies that will promote new technologies, expand consumer choices, and enhance first responder capabilities,” Gutierrez said. Members named are: David Borth, Motorola; Martin Cooper, ArrayComm; Mark Crosby, Enterprise Wireless Alliance; David Donovan, Association for Maximum Service TV; Brian Fontes, National Emergency Number Association; Harold Furchtgott- Roth, former FCC commissioner and consultant; Robert Gurss, APCO; Dale Hatfield, consultant; John Hoadley, Nortel; Kevin Kahn, Intel; James Lewis, Technology and Public Policy Program Center for Strategic and International Studies; Mark McHenry, Shared Spectrum Co.; Darrin Mylet, Cantor Fitzgerald; Janice Obuchowski, Freedom Technologies; Robert Pepper, Cisco; Neville Ray, T-Mobile USA; Richard Reaser, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems; Gerard Salemme, Clearwire; Bryan Tramont, Wilkinson Barker Knauer; and Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin.
Following a long-downward spiral and short run under bankruptcy protection, Circuit City will liquidate its remaining 567 stores after failing to find a buyer, the chain said Friday. In was a startling demise for a chain that once had the upper hand on Best Buy.
The Department of Homeland Security introduced a new “Be Prepared” widget Friday for users to post on their blogs, social networking profiles, wikis or homepages. The widget, produced with the Ad Council, includes a Twitter feed of the Resolve to be Ready in 2009 campaign, a FEMA Twitter feed and a news feed of FEMA updates and National Weather Services warnings. The main Be Prepared site also includes tools for users to create personalized emergency plans and to contact friends and family in an emergency.
A proposed national public safety broadband network using 700 MHz D-block spectrum will be helpful to first responders, but will only be a partial answer to their communications needs, Chris Essid, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s new Office of Emergency Communications said at the FCC Wednesday. Because of many unknowns, the D-block was not a big part of the agency’s national strategic plan, which it sent to Congress last year, he said as part of the Public Safety Bureau’s speaker series.
A push is needed to remove communications satellite components from the munitions list so they can be exported more easily, the Aerospace Industries Association said Monday. “You are hearing a chorus of voices saying it is time,” said CEO Marion Blakely. All satellite-communications components are considered munitions and require export approval through the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. That system was good when it started but now “has other consequences,” said J.P. Stevens, the association’s vice president of space policy. One is the emergence of “ITAR-free” satellite manufacturers overseas, he said. “You have foreign-based companies that are staying away from U.S. suppliers. Our companies need that business.” A new report from the association, “The Role of Space in Addressing America’s National Priorities” continues its effort to look at space “in a way that is important to the average man on the street,” he said: “If we turned GPS off for one minute, we would really wake people up.”
No objections have been registered to TracFone’s petition to the FCC to lift a requirement it obtain separate 911 certification from all public safety answering points in a state before it can offer Lifeline service there, the company told the commission. TracFone has asked instead that it be allowed to certify that it meets 911 requirements after 90 days of inaction by any PSAP (CD Dec 30 p3). The company is the nation’s largest provider of prepaid wireless service. TracFone said in reply comments that it has received certifications from Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida and provides service in the states. It expects to offer 911 soon in Massachusetts and Connecticut but has encountered problems in Pennsylvania, other states and the District of Columbia. The National Emergency Number Association didn’t object to TracFone’s request but said the FCC should require the company to show that has complied with state and local laws on 911, including funding rules. Association officials said they met with TracFone’s CEO and other company representatives and have encouraged 911 authorities to consider TracFone’s requests. “In the end, of course, we cannot and would not attempt to interfere with PSAP decisions on certification of 911 access as that is a local matter,” the group said. Consumer Action and the National Consumers League supported TracFone’s calls for the FCC to change the PSAP certification requirement. “Wireless telephone service has become an essential part of modern life,” the League said. “That is why we have consistently supported the use of Universal Service Fund monies to bring wireless telephone service to low-income consumers via the Lifeline program.” Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission asked the FCC for more time to comment.
The National Safety Council called Monday for a total ban on the use of cellphones and other wireless devices while driving, including calls made with hands-free devices. That would go further than prohibitions in several states, which ban the use of cellphones without a hands-free device or sometimes just calls made by teenage drivers. But the council said distraction of drivers is they main problem.
APCO and other major pubic safety groups encouraged President-elect Barack Obama to ask Congress to provide an exception for public safety if it moves ahead with a delay of the Feb. 17 DTV transition deadline. Wireless carriers also are reminding Congress that the change would mean a delay in the companies being able to build out their systems using the 700 MHz spectrum they bought in last year’s auction.
Global Security Systems signed an agreement with Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems unit to deploy national, state and local alert and warning systems that feature wireless and wireline infrastructure and consumer devices, the companies said. The systems will enable the federal, state and local officials and emergency management agencies to communicate with first responders and citizens in the event of a war, natural disaster, national, regional or local emergency, they said. The collaboration addresses the requirements of the Department of Homeland Security to deploy an Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. The partnership enables rapid rollout of future Commercial Mobile Alert Systems, said Dave Nastase, vice president of the Mission Support Solutions Operating Unit.