Toby Groves, ex-Mitsubishi, joins LG Electronics as mgr. of national retailer training… Ernest Speranza, ex-Toys ‘R’ Us, appointed Circuit City senior vp-chief mktg. officer; David Strauss, ex-Home Depot, named vp-procurement… ATI Technologies CEO K.Y. Ho to resign effective in June, will remain chmn. and be replaced by Pres.-COO David Orton; CFO Terry Nickerson to retire… Blockbuster Chief Diversity Officer Eileen Terry adds responsibilities as exec. vp-franchising & emerging brands… Kiyoshi Furukawa, ex-NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display, named Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA exec. vp-corporate strategic planning… Kelly Heitmann, ex-Edward System Technology, named KVH Industries chief information officer.
Enhanced 911 took center stage Tues. at the first meeting of the Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC), chaired by Nextel CEO Timothy Donahue, the first wireless chief to head NRIC. “In this time of heightened national concern for public safety, it is only proper for us to focus a large portion of NRIC’s energy on the reliability and security of our nation’s emergency services communications networks,” FCC Chmn. Powell said.
SANTA CLARA, Cal. -- State regulators are generally backing off VoIP, awaiting direction from the FCC after making a charge last year toward setting rules, an AT&T lobbyist said Mon. at the Voice on the Net Conference in Santa Clara, Cal. “Will cooler heads prevail in the states?” asked AT&T State Regulatory Dir. Wayne Fonteix. “I think there are indications that is beginning to happen.” In Wash., for example, regulators didn’t want to take a complaint by mostly rural independent carriers to impose access charges for terminating IP calls, but were forced to, Fonteix said. Ala. and Ore. regulators, facing similar petitions, also seek a national policy to follow, he said. Policy makers are largely “beginning to take a more reserved approach, realizing Voice over IP is in its infancy and needs to be handled carefully,” he said. Fonteix said his bottom line was that VoIP should be treated as an information service, with some regulation for social goals delegated to the states.
The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) asked FCC Wireless Bureau Chief John Muleta for a rule interpretation that would let wireless carriers undertake certain “congestion control” measures. NENA noted that incidents such as power outages trigger “spikes” in calls to 911 networks from both wireline and wireless phones. Wireless networks are particularly subject to this congestion because of the number of eyewitnesses who report critical incidents from a roadside location or other “mobile” spot. “For many years, wire telephone providers and public safety answering points (PSAPs) have engaged in ’sizing’ their respective network segments so as to minimize or contain the effects of ‘mass calling,'” NENA said. “For a number of reasons, this form of ‘congestion control’ has not been adopted in many wireless networks.” NENA asked the FCC for an interpretation of its rules on when a wireless carrier must transmit all wireless 911 calls. NENA asked the FCC to rule that a mobile operator discharges this obligation when passing emergency calls into the trunks that connect a mobile switching center (MSC) to a selective router (SR). To this end, NENA submitted a report from its technical issues director Roger Hixson. The FCC rules at issue, Sec. 20.18(b), require covered operators to transmit all wireless 911 calls without respect to their call validation process to a PSAP or statewide default answering point. Citing Hixson’s report, NENA said call containment through trunk sizing or other methods is closely related to “grade of service” measurements similar to what wireline networks use. The application of a non-discriminatory means of “sizing” calls from customers and non-subscribers wasn’t part of the policy calculus that led to the wording of this section “and therefore not meant to be proscribed by the new rule,” it said. The FCC determined all 911 calls should be passed through regardless of call validation process, NENA said. This was based on a belief that procedures seeking to “verify subscriber status were impeding the delivery of vital communications,” NENA said. It said: “The history of the wireless E911 rules, coupled with the present reality that mass calling about localized emergencies can affect public safety communications across much wider areas, suggests the prudence of the interpretation we request here.” NENA asked the FCC to “reassure wireless carriers” that this language doesn’t rule out reasonable decisions about sizing wireless MSC-to-SR trunks and other kinds of call containment in their networks. NENA said historically, all sources of calls have received equal treatment from origination to completion to give equal probabilities of 911 call delivery. This has been done through so-called P.01 sizing, which means the trunk group sizing is based on that quantity that will let 99 of every 100 calls be completed in the busiest hour over a period of monthly measurement. Hixson’s report said wireline carriers and many wireless carriers do congestion management through MSC-SR trunk group sizing. “Typically, carriers or their agents analyze call volumes over time, and use the engineering process to size, or adjust the size of, the originating trunk group to P.01 service levels,” NENA said. This provides equal access levels across all types of carriers and end offices. NENA said “typical wireless carrier arguments against this technique” have included the extent to which wireline P.01 sizing doesn’t apply to wireless. Mobile operators also have argued they don’t know how many calls are involved so they can’t size trunk groups to P.01 standards, NENA said. NENA said CLECs have addressed the same problem. “The need is to accomplish P.01 by active monitoring of call volumes over time. Make an educated judgment, then adjust,” NENA said.
National broadcasters are more effective in communicating a national emergency to the disabled than the FCC-administered emergency alert system (EAS), said Susan Fox, Disney vp-govt. affairs. “EAS -- the sense that I got from the folks in my own company -- is not the answer,” Fox said during a panel here on defining emergency at FCC’s Emergency Communications and Homeland Security: Working With the Disability Community Summit. “I think what we do, the information that we provide, is greater and broader than EAS,” she said.
FCC 8th-floor wireless advisers stressed the complexity of the pending 800 MHz proposals at the FCC, at a CTIA panel, although several noted they were heartened by the level of economic analysis in data submitted to the FCC in the proceeding. “The FCC needs data to do its job,” said Paul Margie, aide to FCC Comr. Copps: “The reason this has taken so long is because we had to figure out is there interference, how much interference is there, where is the interference, what is the delta between the interference we have now versus the two different plans, how much is it going to cost. And all of this took a certain amount of time because we didn’t know it beforehand.” Asked by CTIA Asst. Vp-Regulatory Policy Christopher Guttman-McCabe how spectrum overlays could be “policed,” Margie said most of the time it’s good to have additional flexibility. “But the more flexibility you give to somebody to operate in different ways, the more chance you have that those ways are going to conflict with one another. Across the band we've been adding more flexibility to people’s licenses. May we -- by doing that -- be creating other 800 [MHz-type] issues at other places around the spectrum? There’s a possibility we might be doing that.” Among the concerns that have surfaced repeatedly at the CTIA show here this week is the possibility of a patchwork of new state regulations to address issues such as service quality. Asked by Guttman-McCabe what role the FCC could play in this area, Jennifer Manner, adviser to Comr. Abernathy, said “unfortunately, we don’t have preemption authority, which is a problem.” The industry’s voluntary code of best practices, addressing issues such as trial periods for new service and billing, has been a “good response.” Manner said: “Your success should guide the states. You have to do a lot of education and be responsive. That’s not really something the Commission could step in and do.” Asked about the extent to which the FCC does cost- benefit analysis of the financial impact of rulemakings it considers, Sheryl Wilkerson, Chmn. Powell’s wireless aide, said it’s “one of the first things we look at when an item does come up to us.” Industry has been helpful in providing data on the costs of proposals such as those under consideration to mitigate public safety interference at 800 MHz and a recent International Bureau item on orbital debris, Wilkerson said. Barry Ohlson, aide to Comr. Adelstein, said the record assembled at the FCC on the 800 MHz proceeding has been among the better ones before the agency “in terms of economic analysis.” While there has been different information submitted by competing sides in the 800 MHz proceeding, Ohlson said the data submitted still has been helpful. Separately, FCC Chief of Staff Bryan Tramont asked what the regulatory implications were of wireline company ownership of wireless companies. “The wireless industry is incredibly competitive,” said Cingular Wireless Vp-Federal Regulatory Affairs Brian Fontes. “With respect to any wireline affiliation that any wireless carrier would have, if there’s any opportunities to behave irrationally in the marketplace, I think that would be remedied very quickly just by the competitive nature of the marketplace.” -- MG
Reps. Green (D-Tex.) and Pickering (R-Miss.) introduced legislation designed to keep satellite radio from broadcasting local content. The Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act would “clarify” the obligation of digital radio broadcasters not to insert local content from their ground-based repeaters. Also, the bill would require the FCC to examine whether XM Satellite Radio’s practice of distributing local content through its national channels was consistent with the FCC’s license to satellite radio. The FCC “licensed satellite radio to be a national only radio service,” Green said: “This bill will enforce the Commission’s original intent.” A news release from Green’s office said had XM announced it would offer local broadcasts through its national channels, after the company signed an agreement saying it wouldn’t use its ground-based repeaters for programming. “Over the past 19 months, satellite radio companies have been very evasive about their local programming plans,” Green said: “At first, they promised to provide national programming exclusively. Their actions since have demonstrated other intentions.” Green said the bill would ensure that satellite radio doesn’t “endanger the vital public service local radio broadcasters provide during emergencies.” NAB Pres. Edward Fritts said he supports the bill. “Localism is the hallmark of our free, over-the-air radio system, and this bill will ensure that satellite companies be held to the standard upon which their licenses were granted,” Fritts said. An XM spokesman said the legislation “seems unnecessary. The FCC has very clear rules and XM has followed the rules,” he said.
ATLANTA -- A wireless CEO panel at the CTIA convention Wed. turned into an industry rally for federal preemption of state wireless regulations in a Telecom Act rewrite. Still, Sprint CEO Len Lauer acknowledged the prospects for quickly overhauling the 1996 law were slim: “The reality of the Telecom Act being rewritten is pretty low.” Citing a May deadline that will bring wireless local number portability to all markets, several company heads also bemoaned the lack of wireline cooperation on intermodal porting.
Reps. Green (D-Tex.) and Pickering (R-Miss.) introduced legislation designed to keep satellite radio from broadcasting local content. The Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act would “clarify” the obligation of digital radio broadcasters not to insert local content from their ground-based repeaters. Also, the bill would require the FCC to examine whether XM Satellite Radio’s practice of distributing local content through its national channels was consistent with the FCC’s license to satellite radio. The FCC “licensed satellite radio to be a national only radio service,” Green said: “This bill will enforce the Commission’s original intent.” A news release from Green’s office said had XM announced it would offer local broadcasts through its national channels, after the company signed an agreement saying it wouldn’t use its ground-based repeaters for programming. “Over the past 19 months, satellite radio companies have been very evasive about their local programming plans,” Green said: “At first, they promised to provide national programming exclusively. Their actions since have demonstrated other intentions.” Green said the bill would ensure that satellite radio doesn’t “endanger the vital public service local radio broadcasters provide during emergencies.” NAB Pres. Edward Fritts said he supports the bill. “Localism is the hallmark of our free, over-the-air radio system, and this bill will ensure that satellite companies be held to the standard upon which their licenses were granted,” Fritts said. Chance Patterson, of XM, said the legislation “seems unnecessary. The FCC has very clear rules and XM has followed the rules.”
Nortel Networks said Tues. it had submitted a proposal to the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) for an architectural framework to enable Enhanced 911 (E911) access on VoIP networks. Nortel Senior Consulting Engineer Mark Lewis told us the proposal, submitted last week, addressed “key technology challenges,” including: (1) Routing a 911 call to the correct public safety answering point (PSAP). (2) Transmitting caller’s correct location information. He said Nortel’s “technical, open-standards proposal” demonstrated “how leveraging existing wireless infrastructure can be used” to address E911 issues in relation to VoIP and “how industry can adopt it.”