Lightower Fiber Networks said it completed its merger with Sidera Networks (http://bit.ly/10O8zfX). Berkshire Partners agreed in late December to buy and merge the two fiber providers (CD Dec 28 p12). The merger “creates one of the largest metro fiber providers” in the U.S., with 20,000 route miles of fiber in New England, metropolitan New York, Philadelphia, metropolitan Washington, Virginia, and metropolitan Chicago, Lightower said. The provider said it also provides connectivity to landing points in London and Toronto.
Broadcast Learning Center in Cherry Hill, N.J., seeks to amend its translator applications for Auction 83. BLC de-selected its noncommercial educational filing status to apply for commercial FM translator stations in Hammonton, N.J., and Pennsauken, N.J., it said in separate filings to the FCC. Bethel Fellowship in Murray, Ky., and Taylor University Broadcasting in Fort Wayne, Ind., also de-selected their NCE filing statuses and elected commercial status for their FM translator facilities, they said in separate filings. The Media Bureau is allowing certain Auction 83 FM translator applicants to change their filing status through April 17 (CD April 3 p10).
An FCC NPRM is expected in the next few months that'll touch on small cells and distributed antenna system (DAS) concerns, said Deputy Chief Jeffrey Steinberg of the Wireless Bureau’s Policy Division. He spoke during a Thursday webinar hosted by the National Association of Counties, NATOA and the National League of Cities. The NPRM will likely address the interpretation of Section 6409(a) of the Communications Act, which includes small cells and DAS applications, and may address questions about Section 332(c)(7) and the FCC’s shot clock order, he said. Another upcoming focus of the commission will be on best practices, he said. He called small cells and DAS an “integral part” of telecom infrastructure these days. “Spectrum is limited,” Steinberg said, noting their importance. Ken Fellman, a municipal-issues attorney and NATOA member, said “everyone in local government” has a concern about these issues. The FCC’s January notice about wireless siting issues was issued in the spirit of transparency, given the number of questions surrounding the topic, he added. “I expect it will be refined by the commission in a rulemaking process.”
The Interactive Ad Bureau (IAB) and Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) said they finalized a set of guidelines for mobile phone ads designed to make them easier to buy and sell and to make them more effective. The Mobile Phone Creative Guidelines (http://bit.ly/WV5t7U) are a supplement to MMA’s Universal Mobile Ad Package designed to give ad agencies and publishers better results with mobile ads, they said. “These new guidelines provide a framework for the consistent development of mobile ads that produce strong results,” said Anna Bager, general manager of IAB’s Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence. The guidelines spell out recommendations and best practices for the size and specifications of an ad based on the type of phone it will appear on and the ad type.
Most of the FCC’s amended cell signal booster rules will take effect May 13, the agency said Thursday in a Federal Register notice (http://1.usa.gov/XFMMKB). The rules, which the FCC approved unanimously in February, regulate signal boosters in an effort to curb the potential for interference (CD Feb 21 p1). Multiple sections that involve “information collections” won’t go into effect until the Office of Management and Budget clears them. Those sections are: Sections 1.1307(b)(1); 20.3; 20.21(a)(2); 20.21(a)(5); 20.21(e)(2); 20.21(e)(8)(i)(G); 20.21(e)(9)(i)(H); 20.21(f); 20.21(h); 22.9; 24.9; 27.9; 90.203(q); 90.219(b)(1)(i); 90.219(d)(5); and 90.219(e)(5), the FCC said. The agency said it will publish a followup notice announcing the date the exempted sections will go into effect.
Border to Border Communications of Texas will go broke and default on its Rural Utilities Service loan in 2014 without an FCC waiver, said an ex parte filing posted Wednesday (http://bit.ly/156pSys). The company and the Western Telecom Alliance met with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and her staff to ask about its petition to waive the $250 per loop per month cap and quantile regression benchmark limitations of the high-cost support, it said. The waiver has been pending since July. Under Texas law, Border to Border has sought nearly a million dollars from the state USF to make up for FCC reform losses, with a request before the Texas Public Utility Commission (CD April 4 p5). RUS “has suspended Border to Border’s ability to make additional draws on existing loans,” said the company’s FCC filing. “For example, Border to Border is currently unable to replace a 300 foot tower knocked down by a severe wind shear, which is common to its service area, or to fulfill wireless company orders for additional T-1 backhaul facilities.” Border to Border has spent about $100,000 on the waiver proceeding, it said. The Western Telecom Alliance and a representative of South Central Telephone Association also met with Clyburn, said another ex parte filing posted Wednesday. That meeting was about SCTelcom’s requested waiver of the $250 per loop per month cap and quantile regression benchmark limitations of the high-cost support. “Unfortunately, without the requested waiver, reductions in SCTelcom’s high-cost support will put it in likely default of its [RUS] loan covenants within the foreseeable future,” that filing said (http://bit.ly/Zcfnpk). “SCTelcom has been discussing these matters with the RUS staff, but the needed loan restructuring relief appears to require Congressional action.” The company has spent $30,000 on the waiver proceeding, it said.
Registered attendees at this year’s NAB Show rose almost 1 percent from 2012 to 92,414, said the association in a news release Tuesday. Exhibit space used grew almost 10 percent to 900,000 square feet, said NAB.
National Religious Broadcasters urged the FCC to approve before Chairman Julius Genachowski steps down a proposed order allowing noncommercial educational (NCE) stations to raise funds on-air for other nonprofits, according to two ex parte filings with the Media Bureau posted online Thursday (http://bit.ly/XuQRPE)(http://bit.ly/ZpD7lL). “In light of your impending departure, I respectfully urge that you consider placing the finalization of this rulemaking on your checklist prior to vacating your position on the Commission in the weeks ahead,” wrote NRB President Frank Wright in a March 27 letter. On Wednesday, NRB General Counsel Craig Parshall phoned Genachowski aide Elizabeth Andrion to reiterate NRB’s support for the proposal and ask about its status, the filing recounted. Parshall said there has been no movement on the proposal since its comment period closed in August. “We had sort of expected a decision by the end of 2012,” said Parshall. “Now with the retirement of [Genachowski and Commissioner Robert McDowell] ... we just want to make sure there’s a decision on this so it doesn’t languish.”
Crest Financial, Clearwire’s largest minority shareholder, filed a preliminary proxy statement Wednesday at the SEC in which it urged Clearwire shareholders to vote against Sprint Nextel’s proposed buyout of Clearwire. Sprint wants to purchase the remaining 49 percent Clearwire stake it doesn’t already own for $2.2 billion. Crest has previously declared its opposition to the deal on grounds that it undervalues Clearwire’s spectrum assets. Crest has also filed a petition with the FCC to deny Sprint’s Clearwire deal and SoftBank’s proposal to buy 70 percent ownership of Sprint, arguing that both deals run counter to the public interest. Crest said in the proxy it believes “it would be better for Clearwire to remain a stand-alone company, while examining opportunities to consummate alternative transactions, rather than accept” Sprint’s bid. Clearwire said it also continues to examine a competing bid by Dish Network, though it has accepted $160 million in debt financing from Sprint since the beginning of the year. Sprint’s proposed Clearwire deal included an offer of $800 million in financing over 10 months. Crest is attempting to stop Clearwire’s use of Sprint financing by offering $240 million in financing of its own, which it believes “would also provide Clearwire’s board with more time to consider the proposed merger with Sprint.” A Sprint spokesman said his company had no comment.
The FCC granted petitions from Time Warner Cable to be excluded from municipal rate-setting for basic-video and some other prices in six communities in Wisconsin, 12 communities in Indiana and one in Kentucky, said Media Bureau orders. TWC’s petition for the Wisconsin franchise areas cited competition from AT&T Wisconsin, while the petition for the communities in Indiana and Kentucky cited competition from DirecTV and Dish Network. The deregulation will affect the Wisconsin communities of Allouez, Black Wolf, the town of Neenah, the city of Neenah, the city of Oshkosh and the town of Oshkosh (http://bit.ly/16PK99B). In Indiana, the deregulation order applies to Fort Branch, Jasper, Huntingburg, Cynthiana, Owensville, Patoka, Poseyville, Princeton, Dubois County, Gibson County, Posey County and Warrick County. In Kentucky, the order affects Henderson County (http://bit.ly/14eXwTr).