Satellite industry officials want the FCC and Congress to protect satellite spectrum this year, when legislators address emergency responders’ spectrum needs as required by the Intelligence Reform & Terrorism Prevention Act, they said in comments to the FCC. The FCC is considering the comments as it prepares a report to Congress due Dec. 17, on federal, state and local public safety providers’ spectrum needs.
Setting a firm deadline for DTV transition and clearing the 700 MHz band of broadcast operations is essential to satisfy public-safety spectrum needs, the wireless industry and public safety officials agreed in comments to the FCC. But safety officials said that, while valuable, the spectrum allocated in the 700 MHz band and elsewhere isn’t enough for safety-oriented users. The wireless industry disagreed, saying emergency response providers’ biggest challenge isn’t how much spectrum they have, but how best to use spectrum already allocated. They said instead of allocating more spectrum, the govt. should help finance emergency response communications networks and advanced public safety solutions.
Users need and expect reliable emergency services from voice providers and public access services from video providers, Cheryl Leanza of the National League of Cities told Washington Internet Daily after speaking on a Congressional Internet Caucus panel last week on the role of states and cities in regulating the Internet (WID April 29 p3). The topic is of increasing concern to video, data, and voice providers as the technologies converge. “There are different social contracts we've made based on service,” Leanza said. Most debate centered on the level of control localities should have, in her words, “over the physical right of way” and in dictating “fair and equitable access to infrastructure.”
This year has seen a host of major telecom retail rate deregulation initiatives in the states, with 36% of states addressing major deregulation proposals since Jan., either by commission order or by state legislation. Deregulation initiatives for basic services this year have been approved in 5 states -- Ida, Ia., Mich., N.C. and Utah. Thirteen other states are considering major rate deregulation proposals, with most expected to be decided before the end of the year.
The FCC should ensure that spectrum already allocated to public safety is used efficiently before dedicating more to that purpose, Progress & Freedom Foundation Senior Fellow Tom Lenard told the Commission in comments. “More than 97 MHz of spectrum is allocated for public safety communication, including 24 MHz in the 700 MHz band occupied by broadcasters pending resolution of the DTV transition,” Lenard said, suggesting that more spectrum doesn’t guarantee better service. “Given the large amount of spectrum already allocated to public safety agencies and its high opportunity cost, an extra dollar spent on other inputs, including new equipment and additional public safety personnel, is likely to yield far more in terms of improving the emergency response effort than an extra dollar’s worth of spectrum,” he said. Lenard urged the FCC to “propertize” the public safety spectrum, using the market to allocate spectrum rights. “A market-based system of flexible-use, resalable licenses should not be restricted to private-sector uses,” he said. Because emergencies are rare, he said “much of the public safety spectrum undoubtedly is unused most of the time. Given the value of spectrum, this is extremely costly.” Lenard said giving public safety licensees expanded property rights in licenses they already hold would encourage them to “explore creative new cooperative relationships with the private sector to obtain needed new technologies in exchange for granting usage rights to their excess spectrum.” Such arrangements, he said, would “constitute a significant new revenue source, providing resources to upgrade communications equipment and perhaps fund a range of public safety activities,” while retaining the rights to use the necessary spectrum in emergencies. Lenard’s comments came as the FCC gathers data to assess the spectrum needs of federal, state and local emergency response providers. The review was ordered by the 2004 Intelligence Reform & Terrorism Prevention Act. The Commission’s report on the results is due to Congress by Dec. 17. “Additional spectrum for emergency response providers is definitely needed” and should be in the 700 MHz band, adjacent to the existing public safety band, said the National Emergency Management Assn. (NEMA). FCC loopholes let broadcasters stay in that band indefinitely, NEMA said. “This has compelled some states to purchase radios that work in both the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands,” NEMA said: “Keeping any additional bandwidth adjacent to the current spectrum will allow those states to use equipment that they've invested in and currently own.” The Fla. Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) said Congress should consider allocating more spectrum at 700 MHz to meet short- and long-term needs. The 700 MHz band is best for an advanced statewide communications system supporting highway safety, FDOT said. Given “overwhelming benefits to be gained from operation in this band,” FDOT said it’s “willing to wait a reasonable time” for incumbent TV operations to be cleared. But “any timetable much beyond the contemplated December 31, 2006 objective for clearing the band of TV operations will severely strain the operations of FDOT and other Florida emergency response providers,” FDOT said.
FCC Chmn. Martin said Tues. he’s eyeing “the May time frame” for possible FCC adoption of a rule requiring VoIP providers to offer customers emergency 911 dialing. Speaking before the House Appropriations subcommittee, Martin said he was accelerating from June to May a staff deadline for proposed regulations making VoIP compliant with E-911 service (CD April 27 p1). After the hearing, he told reporters he hoped to have the staff proposal ready to offer to other commissioners in time for them to vote on it in May. It’s possible that vote could occur at the May 19 open agenda meeting, although that would require a 3-week lead time under Commission rules, he said. VoIP providers offer some E-911 capability although it often is limited to routing customers’ calls to non- emergency “administrative” lines in call centers. By contrast, wireline callers are routed directly to the emergency response officials where screens show callers’ phone numbers and locations. The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) has been working to solve the problem, which is heightened by VoIP phones’ non-geographic numbers and mobility. Vonage on its own has been seeking access to Bell networks to test a solution based on what wireless carriers use and is on the verge of a major test with Verizon. SBC, which had been resisting Vonage’s test for technical reasons, told the company in an April 18 letter it was willing to try to reach a commercial agreement. SBC said it would “do a technical, economic and regulatory assessment” of Vonage’s proposal for access to the selective routers used for emergency calls. In the letter, SBC Exec. Vp Christopher Rice disagreed with Vonage’s view that its access plan didn’t require any new functions. “It is apparent that while the requested functionality has some similarities to what is available to wireless carriers, it is not the same,” SBC said. SBC also asked Vonage to outline the functions it seeks that can’t be obtained by going through CLECs for access. SBC also warned that Vonage will have to get agreements from all of the public safety entities it accesses before SBC can make an interface available for delivery of the 911 calls.
Several law enforcement groups asked the FCC to grant an APCO petition urging the Commission to clarify that the level of accuracy for locating wireless E-911 calls must be measured at local, not state, levels. “The fact remains that Phase II E-911 services are requested, deployed and utilized at the local level, contracts between wireless carriers and PSAPs are initiated at the local level and responses to calls begin at the local level,” said the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, Major Cities Chiefs Assn., National Sheriffs’ Assn. and Major County Sheriffs’ Assn. in a letter to the FCC. “We share the APCO concern that too large a measurement area will leave some public safety answering points with very poor levels of accuracy, making it difficult for police and other public safety personnel to locate emergencies in a timely manner,” they said: “Our law enforcement agencies cannot afford to devote scarce resources to search for every emergency reported by a wireless caller.” The groups also urged the Commission to require wireless E-911 accuracy retesting “on a periodic basis, no less frequently than every 2 years.”
The FCC granted an emergency stay Tues. in a rate order case involving nearly $5 million in subscriber refunds from about 100 communities across the U.S. The case’s scope reflects the breadth of outreach by consultants Richard Treich and Garth Ashpaugh. Treich, a former TCI executive and an expert in rate order filings, conducted extensive market research on the Comcast rate orders.
The Homeland Security Dept. needs an asst. secy. leading a reorganized National Cybersecurity Office, rather than keeping the National Cyber Security Div. (NCSD) and its director under the asst. secy. of infrastructure protection, security experts told the Cybersecurity Subcommittee Wed. HR-285, sponsored by Reps. Thornberry (R-Tex.) and Lofgren (D-Cal.), would create that position.
The European Commission (EC) launched infringement cases Thurs. against 10 member states for improperly implementing e-communications rules. The proceeding charges Germany, Italy, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Finland with tolerating defects in national laws or with inadequately implementing the new regulatory framework (NRF). Latvia, Malta and Poland are delaying development of a competitive market by not putting number portability into practice, the EC said. Poland has failed to ensure user access to emergency services via the single European 112 number. The proceedings arose out of the EC’s 10th report on NRF implementation. The European Court of Justice already has ruled against some EC members for not adopting the NRF into national law. “One of our prime concerns is to ensure that national regulatory authorities are given the full range of powers provided for under the European Union rules, in order to ensure that competition is effective and that consumers are protected,” said Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding. The 10 countries now have the chance to address the EC’s concerns and avoid further enforcement action.