Comments are due May 16, replies May 31, on an FCC Public Safety Bureau public notice on non-emergency calls to 911 from non-service initialized (NSI) handsets (http://bit.ly/10pwMJD).
A 600 MHz mobile allocation and band plan relying on Time-Division Duplexing (TDD) technology offers “distinct advantages” for an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, Sprint Nextel representatives said in a series of meetings at the FCC (http://bit.ly/Xmhybe). Sprint submitted its slide deck from the meeting discussing the advantages of TDD.
Globalstar signed a forbearance agreement with the holders of more than 75 percent of its 5.75 percent convertible senior notes due in 2028. The agreement is intended to give Globalstar a further opportunity to negotiate a restructuring of the notes, it said in a press release. Globalstar and the holders of the notes are negotiating terms of a potential restructuring arrangement of the notes “with the objective of reaching agreement by the end of the forbearance period,” it said. The company was required to deposit with the trustee, by April 1, “cash equal to the purchase price of $70,654,000 to effect the purchase of the notes from the exercising holders,” it said. Globalstar said it doesn’t have sufficient funds to pay this purchase price. Its failure to make a $2,064,365 interest payment by April 30 “would also constitute an event of default under the notes,” it said.
Sprint Nextel believes carrier-specific and state-specific Disaster Information Reporting System information should be provided to state emergency response centers “upon condition that the state enters into a non-disclosure agreement that would bar the state from releasing such information to the public either during the emergency or at any time after the emergency,” Sprint said in an ex parte filing at the FCC. Sprint made the filing Friday on a Jan. 3 meeting with Public Safety Bureau staffers to discuss Sprint’s response to Superstorm Sandy. “Based on what was discussed at the meeting, Sprint did not believe that it needed to file an ex parte notice,” the carrier said (http://bit.ly/ZwwsGg). But then Sprint was contacted by a bureau official who said that “because Sprint ... briefly discussed the sharing of DIRS data with the states during disasters -- an issue that may be considered in this proceeding -- Sprint should file an ex parte letter into the docket setting forth its position.”
Princeton, Mass., needs faster Internet, according to a Friday presentation posted by Princeton Broadband Committee, an official town board (http://bit.ly/10sGISi). The FCC considers the town of roughly 3,400 people underserved, the presentation said, saying it suffers in the areas of telemedicine, education and telework productivity potential. On May 14, Princeton residents will vote on funding a fiber design for the town and in the fall vote on borrowing funds for building the network. It plans to issue a request for proposals to companies to build it in the fall if all is approved. Construction would begin as early as late 2013 and should be done before 2015, the presentation said. “If the Town of Princeton does ... not move on this issue now, no one else will,” the presentation said. “In fact, Verizon, Comcast, etc. have told us they are ‘not interested in providing Internet services in Princeton.'”
If U.S. government approval of SoftBank’s proposed purchase of 70 percent ownership of Sprint Nextel “is contingent upon agreement to restrict purchase of telecommunications equipment from select venders by virtue of geography, then it is a sad day for free and open global trade,” Huawei spokesman Bill Plummer told us in an email. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., has said SoftBank and Sprint told him they will not integrate Huawei-manufactured telecom equipment into the Sprint network if the government approves the deal. The companies also said they plan to reduce Clearwire’s use of Huawei-manufactured equipment; Sprint is seeking government approval of its plan to buy out the carrier. SoftBank and Sprint were addressing concerns that Huawei posed a potential national security risk (CD April 1 p5). Excluding a manufacturer based on geography will do little to address network security concerns “given that every telecom gear vender relies on common global supply chains and faces common cyber-challenges,” Plummer said. “Such a contingency would mean little more than the unfair market-distorting penalization of a globally-respected company that meets the highest standards of network security, is a trusted vendor to 45 of the world’s top 50 network operators, and is an active investor and employer in the U.S.”
The month of April will be devoted to awareness about safe digging practices, state regulators said. These practices affect many utilities, including telecom companies, and are centered on the 811 digging line. NARUC President Philip Jones in a statement Monday said: “Our members all over the country are using public outreach, social media, and much more to help spread the word.” The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission touted the awareness initiative with an informational video and brochure (http://bit.ly/YqGmOa). Pennsylvania’s associated One Call System has been around since 1972, the PUC said. “It’s easy to remember, and whether it be power lines, communication cables, natural gas pipelines or water lines, they are all at varying lengths underground so it’s really important you call Pennsylvania One Call at 8-1-1,” said PUC Commissioner Pamela Witmer in a statement.
Correction: The National Association of the Deaf isn’t a client of Georgetown University’s Institute for Public Representation (CD March 29 p4).
LBiSat seeks authorization to install a Ku-band, transmit/receive earth station at its South Jordan, Utah, facility. LBiSat also plans to add the proposed earth station to its E030342 license, it said in its application to the FCC International Bureau (http://bit.ly/126fgPl). The earth station “will provide digital services using various information, data and FEC [forward error correction] rates,” it said.
Broadcasters with operations in Alaska continued to spar over a proposed deal that would give General Communications, Inc, (GCI) control of a full power station in Anchorage and low-power stations in Sitka and Juneau. Schurz’s Northern Lights Media, Vision Alaska, Coastal Television Broadcasting and Ketchikan TV responded Friday to GCI’s opposition to their petition to deny the transaction. “GCI’s Opposition offers little substantive response -- most tellingly -- does not dispute the statements of GCI corporate officials that were the foundation of the Petition to Deny,” they said. GCI’s opposition said the broadcasters petition to deny spelled out a “doomsday scenario” where GCI would hold a monopoly “over all information in Alaska.” GCI also took issue with the broadcasters arguments that the FCC should treat the transaction similarly to how it treated Comcast’s acquisition of NBCUniversal. “The true reason for the Petitions apocalyptic rhetoric is clear,” GCI said in its opposition. “GCI’s history in Alaska suggests that it has the wherewithal to disrupt the incumbent Petitioners’ tidy regional dominance in which they provide minimal or nonexistent local programming, but still collect significant advertising revenues because of a lack of competition,” GCI’s opposition said. In their response filed Friday, the broadcasters said most of the facts they raised in their initial petition remain unanswered or have been conceded by GCI to be true. “These responses are entirely inadequate and the Commission cannot grant these applications on this record,” they said.