DURHAM, N.C. -- A bevy of local public officials, TV station owners, radio broadcasters, journalists and public interest groups implored the FCC Mon. not to relax media ownership limits. Speaking at a standing-room-only forum organized here by Duke U. Law School and FCC Comr. Copps, the panelists almost unanimously called on the Commission to retain the 35% national audience cap on the TV stations one company could own, the ban on newspaper-TV station cross- ownership in the same market, the ban on radio-TV station cross-ownership and other ownership limits. Many speakers argued that without such limits, greater media consolidation would occur, the diversity of voices would suffer, communities would lose TV news, and events coverage and public service and the uniquely American concept of “localism” would be compromised, if not totally abandoned.
The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) and National Assn. of State Nine One One Administrators (NASNA) urged the FCC to “look ahead” and ensure that new services built 911 calling capabilities early in their development cycle. The Commission in Dec. adopted a further notice to study whether mobile satellite service operators, multiline phone systems, IP telephony providers, telematics operators and others should have to meet Enhanced 911 mandates. Several filings in the initial round of comments urged the FCC to exercise care before expanding basic and E911 rules beyond the wireless operators now covered. NENA and NASNA acknowledged in reply comments filed this week that the rollout of E911 Phase 1 and 2 was a “complex task.” They said: “If we fail to look ahead to new services and products offering the promise or expectation of emergency calling and response, we risk discrediting 911 and inhibiting its use in conventional and wireless telephony.” The threshold question for whether a service is covered under 1999 legislation on 911 is whether it meets the law’s application of 911 obligations to wireless and wireline service, the groups said. “We must be forward- looking and address telematics as an E911 issue before it becomes a crisis for the 911 community,” NENA and NASNA said. “Assuring a well-designed interface of telematics with E911 should be a Commission priority.” In earlier comments, some automakers told the FCC that privately run call centers associated with services such as OnStar were well equipped for emergency communications. NENA and NASNA said there were “cost-effective” ways to further integrate telematics call center operations with public safety networks for handing off emergency calls initially received by private call centers. The groups said the record before the FCC was “mixed” on who should bear responsibility for ensuring E911 access vis resale, prepaid calling and disposable phones. “We apply to these and to other new and emerging services the fundamental principle that any reasonable facsimile of basic wire or wireless calling should be presumed capable of Enhanced 911 access, with the provider bearing the burden of showing why that presumption cannot or should not be met,” the groups said.
USTA announced a 5-part universal service platform Thurs. that it said was the result of several months of discussions among board members who represented various-sized companies. USTA Pres. Walter McCormick said USTA would use the 5 “principles” as a basis for lobbying for reform on Capitol Hill and at the FCC.
State regulators are eyeing wireless best practices as a potential way to avert the need for service quality regulation, at the same time as industry is drafting voluntary guidelines, officials said. Neb. PSC Comr. Anne Boyle told us she had circulated proposed best practices at last month’s National Assn. of Regulatory Utility Comrs. (NARUC) winter meeting for review. Boyle said the issue was teed up for an upcoming NARUC meeting in Denver, with hopes that industry, FCC and the National Assn. of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) would participate, she said. Meanwhile, the Mo. attorney general is in negotiations with Sprint PCS and Nextel on a lawsuit filed in Dec. over billing practices.
The Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) opposed petitions for reconsideration filed last month by T-Mobile USA, Nextel and Cingular Wireless on an aspect of Enhanced 911 rules. The carriers, in separate filings, challenged an FCC order that set guidelines for requesting information about the E911 Phase 2 readiness of public safety answering points (PSAPs). They argued that the order didn’t adequately consider the complexities of when a PSAP or wireless operator was “ready” to roll out Phase 2. NENA and APCO said the latest rule they were challenging provided “necessary balance” to the requirement that carriers need offer Phase 2 data only if requested by a PSAP and only if the PSAP was, or would be, ready to receive and use that information. “Rather than accepting the rules and moving on, some carriers appear to have adopted a strategy of challenging every minute detail and requesting clarification to address every conceivable circumstance,” the opposition filing said. “The public safety community has moved past FCC rulemaking disputes and is focusing on making E911 a reality. The carriers should do the same.” The petitions for reconsideration embody a “misguided view” that the Phase 2 deployment responsibilities of carriers and PSAPs should be sequential instead of simultaneous, the groups said. “They would have PSAPs do everything necessary to receive and process Phase 2 data, and only then would carriers be obligated to fulfill their responsibilities,” they said. The underlying premise of the rule is that all stakeholders have to move ahead at the same time toward Phase 2, they said. “If both parties are waiting for the other to move, nothing will happen, at least not within a reasonable time frame,” NENA and APCO said. AT&T Wireless said in separate comments that it supported the challenges by T-Mobile, Cingular and Nextel. AT&T Wireless said it agreed with those petitions that the procedural rules at issue had “added unnecessary complexity to the E911 deployment process and will frustrate, not advance, the Commission’s objectives.” AT&T Wireless said the framework also denied the rights of carriers to seek documentation from PSAPs as to their readiness.
The Alliance for Community Media (ACM) asked a group of Capitol Hill staffers for hearings on cable bankruptcies, expressing concerns about the effects they could have on local govt. During a breakfast meeting, ACM Exec. Dir. Bunnie Riedel said the effect that ailing cable companies could have on local govts. could ripple over to other areas, such as education and emergency services. Citing the Adelphia bankruptcy and her fears about the financial health of Comcast and Charter, Riedel said cable systems should be treated more like a utility rather than an entertainment system. “Cable is the major source of information for 80% of Americans,” she said. “Cable companies can’t take their assets with them, leaving cities and counties stuck having to help them through the bankruptcies.” Public, educations and govt. (PEG) access TV channels get their funding through either cable systems or through local govt., she said. Either way, cable bankruptcies could jeopardize PEG funding, she said. Also, Riedel said she feared more bankruptcies could be on the way. She said she was most worried about Comcast because of the $22 billion in debt it took on to buy the AT&T cable system. Also, Charter’s stock was just reduced to junk bond, creating more concerns, she said. Elizabeth Beaty, exec. dir. of the National Assn. of Telecom Officers & Advisors (NATOA), said it’s necessary to make changes to bankruptcy laws to better help local govts. She said under current law, local govts. aren’t considered entities in bankruptcy proceedings, leaving them without a “seat at the table” during negotiations. “Local governments are the licensors, they have the contractual obligations and they manage the right of way that cable companies use,” she said. “They ought to have the ability to speak to these issues during bankruptcy proceedings.” Also, both said the FCC’s ruling that cable modem is an “information service” could cost local governments $600 million a year in lost franchise fees. “It’s welfare for cable operators,” Riedel said.
Public safety agencies, transportation officials and technology developers presented divergent views to the FCC this week on who should have access to 5.9 GHz for short- range wireless links to transmit data between vehicles and intelligent transport systems. The Dept. of Transportation urged allowing some commercial applications in the band to drive technology applications on which public safety uses could “piggyback.” But the Public Safety Wireless Network (PSWN) run jointly by the Departments. of Treasury and Justice argued for restricting access to “traditional” emergency responders so as to not congest the band. Commenters urged the FCC to mandate an industry standard for interoperability in the band.
The National Communications System expects to have AT&T Wireless join T-Mobile USA in providing wireless priority access service “later this year,” said Navy Capt. Katharine Burton, asst. deputy mgr. of NCS, which now is part of the Dept. of Homeland Security. Next year, the priority access system, which queues up on wireless networks priority calls from national security and first responders in emergencies, expects to have reached agreements with Nextel and Cingular as well, Burton said on a CTIA Wireless 2003 panel Wed. “Wireless is the great hope for security,” FCC Chief of Staff Marsha MacBride said: “The kinds of different offerings you could do with a wireless capacity, whether it’s through a broad pipe or a small pipe, offers first responders and government in general the opportunity to do all the types of things they could never do otherwise.” All these new offerings aren’t helpful if the basic infrastructure of the wireless carrier isn’t safe, MacBride said. “We really are on the brink of a tremendous amount of good things to come out of the wireless industry for homeland security,” she said: “Make sure all those great offerings you are going to tell first responders they can use, make sure they are running on an infrastructure that you have protected to the best that you can.” Several panelists on a homeland security panel described the efforts of groups such as the FCC’s Homeland Security Policy Council and the National Reliability & Infrastructure Council. Panelists said that among the challenges that remain were how to balance govt. and industry responsibilities for upgrading security systems and infrastructure in the new environment and how state and local govts. could pay for first response and other needs. Richard Barth, Motorola vp-dir. of telecom strategy and regulation, said interoperability among public safety agencies had become a much higher profile priority since Sept. 11 and systems and standards were available to make that happen. “The thing that is sorely missing is money to build out their systems,” he said. President Bush has proposed legislation that would provide first responders with $400 million per year, Barth said, and “that’s seriously inadequate given that the majority of states across the country because of their general economic malaise don’t have the money to install the interoperable equipment that they know they need.” On the commercial wireless side, MacBride said the industry had grown up and increased the consumer expectations of reliability similar to what they had on the wireline side.
The Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC), meeting at FCC hq Fri., gave tentative support to a group of “best practices” that telecom carriers could use to restore their networks if they were harmed by an attack. Now is the right time to consider such measures, with the U.S. “on the eve of war,” FCC Chmn. Powell said: “This industry has a legacy to live up to and it is not to be taken lightly.”
MSS systems shouldn’t be treated as terrestrial systems as far as emergency and enhanced 911 (E911) services are concerned because they don’t meet all of the same service criteria, Iridium told the FCC. “The Commission cannot assume that what one [mobile satellite service (MSS)] system can do all can do,” it said. For example, using national call centers with MSS systems could “result in delays and the potential for human error,” Iridium said, and existing systems that didn’t use national centers would be required to make additional investments that changed the systems. Call centers are feasible only for a system without call- forwarding capabilities, the company said, otherwise, routing emergency calls to a number within the state where the call originated was “vastly preferable.” The deployment of E911 would be even more difficult, Iridium said, because existing MSS handsets don’t include GPS technology. The addition of new features would be costly “given the relatively low volume of users and the high investment in the user terminals,” Iridium said.