The California Public Utilities Commission should tell the FCC to issue multiple rules related to 911, CPUC staff recommended in a Thursday memo (http://bit.ly/166fkQt). Staff suggested responses to the FCC’s 911 reliability NPRM with comments due May 13. Staff believe the CPUC should tell the FCC to “adopt minimum backup power requirements or standards for central offices and other network locations necessary to ensure the provisioning of 9-1-1 service” but with appropriate flexibility based on many factors. The FCC should “adopt minimum back up power mandates as discussed above, a certification scheme, and a continuation of best practices where mandates do not exist,” CPUC staff suggested the California regulators recommend. “The CPUC should also recommend that if the FCC adopts reporting requirements, the FCC should provide states timely access to the reports pertaining to 9-1-1 networks in their state.”
Kroenke Sports and Entertainment agreed to increase its offer for Outdoor Channel Holdings to $9.35 per share. Outdoor Channel originally agreed to sell itself to Kroenke for $8.75 a share (CD March 14 p23). Outdoor will file with the SEC a supplement to the definitive proxy statement describing the revisions to the merger agreement, including the increase in the consideration, Outdoor Channel said in a press release (http://bit.ly/124T0kO). Outdoor Channel’s board recommended stockholders vote to approve the amended merger agreement at the next stockholder meeting on Wednesday, it said.
The $7 billion set aside by Congress for FirstNet is billions of dollars less than it would cost to build a nationwide public safety network, and public safety will need to partner with carriers to get the job done, consultants from Televate said in a white paper released Friday. The money allocated by Congress from auction proceeds “is insufficient to fund the construction of a nationwide network, [and] only 3.5 percent of the land area including 50 percent of the expected user population can be served with this funding level,” the white paper said (http://bit.ly/12xtzHp). Nationwide service would cost “$5.5 to $9.4 billion more to build than the existing funding supports” and public safety user fees are likely to cover only 40 to 50 percent of operating costs, Televate said. “Private participation is needed whereby a partner will derive sufficient value to invest some $5.5 to $9.4 billion in capital to build the network, and secure more than $1.5-$2.0 billion in additional revenue annually to cover network operations costs,” the paper said. “The private partner must be able to capture sufficient value to make such investments.” The firm provides expertise to public safety and hopes to play an active role in FirstNet, according to its website (http://bit.ly/13Shr6c).
FCC chairman nominee Tom Wheeler’s personal blog shows support for repurposing spectrum, said Wilkinson Barker attorney David Oxenford on his blog Friday (http://bit.ly/107XdRY). However, Oxenford said that, because of the varied stakeholders and interests Wheeler would have to answer to as chairman, “we would assume that Mr. Wheeler’s positions as Chairman won’t necessarily be the same as those that he offered when he was speaking for himself, musing on his blog about the state of the communications industry.” Oxenford said that on Wheeler’s own blog Mobile Musings (http://bit.ly/iv5soW), the prospective chairman has previously suggested that “broadcasters should not be fighting the [spectrum repacking], but embracing it” and that the “multicast digital television capability of over-the-air stations should provide capacity for those broadcasters” whose spectrum goes to the wireless industry. Oxenford said Wheeler’s blog posts have also suggested “the old media” needs to adjust to new media and that “television owners themselves should be paying more attention to digital media.” President Barack Obama said last week he is nominating Wheeler to replace outgoing Chairman Julius Genachowski (CD May 2 p1).
Cablevision now carries the Sprout 24-hour children’s channel to subscribers who receive the company’s Optimum TV service or its TV Everywhere offering, Optimum TV to GO, it said in a news release Friday. Optimum TV to GO services are available anywhere in the U.S. where an Optimum customer can connect to the Internet, said Cablevision.
The U.S. Agriculture Department adjusted rules and made new loans to help with rural broadband deployment. It changed up its Community Connect broadband grant rules to unserved rural broadband communities, USDA said Friday (http://bit.ly/105bgNJ). The changes involve simplifying the application process and allowing applicants to use a department Web-based mapping tool to show where they plan to service, the department said. It said applicants will have more flexibility in how they pull together the 15 percent matching funds required in the process. The government will also now be able to prioritize its funding for counties experiencing persistent poverty as well as communities with declining population and extremely rural areas, it said. The department began new funding opportunities for rural broadband deployment in Nebraska and Montana, it said Wednesday. “In Nebraska, Hartington Telecommunications Co., Inc., an RUS [Rural Utilities Service] borrower since 1956, will use a $5.265 million loan to replace copper cable with Fiber-to-the-Home technology to serve customers with a state-of-the-art telecommunications system,” the department said (http://1.usa.gov/ZFjqLL). “InterBel Telephone Cooperative, Inc., in Montana, will receive a $20.8 million loan to complete a Fiber-to-the-Premises network to help meet future growth requirements.”
The availability of relief under a Texas state law “should not impact the company’s eligibility for a waiver of the Commission’s universal service reforms,” a Dell Telephone attorney told aides to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai Tuesday, said an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/100mbXs). The Wireline Bureau Wednesday denied without prejudice Dell’s petition for a waiver of several new USF rules because Dell’s home state provided its own relief (CD May 1 p8). “The availability of relief under state law should not impact the company’s eligibility for a waiver of the Commission’s universal service reforms,” the telco said. It also noted “concern” about waiting almost a year to reject Dell’s petition, when the Texas law permitting state relief was on the books since 2005. Dell believes it met the “very high standard” adopted by the FCC to obtain federal relief, General Manager Denny Bergstrom told us. But now, rural carriers in Texas need to navigate a “new hurdle” in order to stay in business, he said. “The FCC never indicated in its USF reform orders or prior waiver decisions that a waiver was conditioned upon a carrier seeking assistance at the state level,” Bergstrom said. “Dell Telephone filed its waiver petition in June 2012, and it is not clear why the Bureau could not have raised this issue long before now.”
The FCC should move quickly to commit to the next round of Connect America Fund Phase I funding, Frontier told aides to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Thursday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/100ksS0). “Acting now will ensure that price cap carriers can quickly commence deploying broadband to thousands of unserved locations across America in 2013 while the Commission finalizes Phase II of the CAF,” Frontier said. The telco suggested that if demand exceeds the $300 million the commission has made available for this second round of funding, the unused $185 million from the first round might be utilized.
Iowa will continue accepting bids for sale or lease of its Iowa Communications Network of fiber for another month. The state issued a request for proposals earlier this year, seeking potential bidders, and initially set a deadline of April 30 (CD Feb 19 p7). In late April, the state adjusted the dates. Bids are now due May 30, and the state said it hopes to submit an agreement to the governor’s office no later than June 28 (http://bit.ly/17BxSpP).
American Airlines sent a letter to the FCC supporting a rulemaking notice that would establish an Air-Ground Mobile Broadband service in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band (CD April 30 p4). On Thursday, the FCC put out a notice saying the NPRM is still set for a vote at its Thursday meeting. “The service will be important to satisfying air travelers’ increasing demands for mobile broadband data,” the company said (http://bit.ly/ZsoOhx). “American Airlines agrees with the central premise of the Petition for Rulemaking that Qualcomm Incorporated filed asking the FCC to establish the new service -- that U.S. travelers need to have broadband access while they are in-flight that is equal to the level of access they have on the ground because broadband access via smartphones, tablets, e-readers, and laptops, is valued by American travelers.” Qualcomm met with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn on the notice (http://bit.ly/15ekFpi). The Satellite Industry Association had a series of meetings at the commission to raise concerns about interference to fixed satellite service. “SIA noted its continued opposition to the Qualcomm petition, reiterating SIA’s view that Qualcomm’s proposed ... system will cause interference into the FSS satellite services that are primary in that band,” SIA said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/165FkLP). “SIA reviewed the ongoing importance of the Ku-band uplink bands to the satellite industry, noting that the industry has invested more than $20 billion to build, launch and operate more than 80 satellites with Ku-band capacity. These satellites generate more than $1 billion dollars in satellite services revenue in North America alone."