Connect America Fund Phase I support should be awarded “efficiently” so “scarce government resources are not wasted,” the American Cable Association told an aide to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai Thursday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/ZUTARX). The commission should make available an amount of funding that “closely matches the cost to deploy broadband in the location to be served,” ACA said. The commission should be cautious of adopting a “new and more elaborate regulatory regime” that would lower the average cost of eligible locations, or increase the amount of funding available per location, it said. The commission should “certainly not” amend its rules without “sufficient evidence” that they're “so restrictive or arbitrary that they do not meet the original objectives for the program,” ACA said. Price cap LEC filings are “largely devoid of data” justifying expansion of the areas where should be provided, increase in the amount of support, or its use for deployment of second-mile fiber, ACA said.
The FCC should “move quickly” to respond to “strong public demand” for broadband in unserved areas by adopting the “modest and easily-implemented proposal” filed by the ABC Coalition, Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, and USTelecom, ABC Coalition member CenturyLink told commission officials Thursday (http://bit.ly/ZUP8CQ). That proposal would expand the uses for which ILECs could use the next round of Connect America Fund Phase I money. With the proposal, more than 150,000 homes and businesses in CenturyLink’s service areas “would gain access for the first time to broadband as defined by the Commission,” the ILEC said.
Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., introduced legislation this week aimed at regulating telephone services to correctional facilities. The Family Telephone Connection Protection Act (HR-1403) would amend the Communications Act to require the FCC to set a maximum telephone rate at correctional facilities, prohibit service providers from paying commissions to correctional administrators, and require correctional institutions to allow more than one provider to offer telephone services to inmates. If enacted, the legislation would require the commission to implement the new rules within one year, and the rules would be subject to a triennial review. The legislation follows recent pleas from prisoners who in handwritten letters from across the country asked the commission to help bring phone call price reform to the nations’ correctional facilities (CD March 26 p4). The inmate comments were filed in docket 12-375 on the commission’s NPRM on prison phone call reforms (CD Dec 31 p6).
Please advance wireless indoor location technology, the city and county of San Francisco Department of Emergency Management asked FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in a Monday letter (http://bit.ly/Xahz1Z). It especially praised the possibilities of vertical location positioning and noted that San Francisco is dense and has a “large number of high-rise residential and commercial buildings.” Its 911 center serves close to a million people and manages as many as 2,600 emergency calls a day, it said. The department referred to trials by the FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council Working Group 3 and called the results a possible “critical improvement” in what is a “promising” field. “These trials demonstrated the capability of determining a user’s position within 5-6 seconds, fast enough for use in routing E9-1-1 calls,” the letter said, also noting that 70 percent of wireless 911 calls originate indoors every year.
Progeny’s controversial network offering advanced location services in its 900 MHz Multilateration Location and Monitoring Service spectrum could play a big role in improving E911 location accuracy, the National Emergency Number Association said in a filing at the FCC. “NENA takes no position with respect to the technical aspects of Progeny’s test methods or results,” the letter said (http://bit.ly/ZrLv7D). “However, ... M-LMS technologies such as Progeny’s represent a tremendous opportunity to enable immediate and dramatic improvements in wireless location accuracy in precisely those areas of the country that are the most challenging for existing technologies.” The FCC’s decision on whether it will grant Progeny a waiver has big implications for the entire M-LMS industry, NENA said. “Progeny is the first M-LMS provider to begin deployment of a functioning network,” the group said. “Should Progeny be excluded from the market based on the objections of incumbents seeking to override the shared nature of the ... band by essentially squatting on that spectrum, the M-LMS market envisioned by the Commission’s Part 90 rules could be destroyed before it even comes into existence.”
New rules aimed at slashing the civil engineering costs of rolling out high-speed broadband networks emerged from the European Commission Tuesday. Its draft regulation (http://bit.ly/ZqZH0t) introduces four new rules: (1) Every network operator will have the right to offer and an obligation to grant all reasonable requests for access to its physical infrastructure for deployment of elements of fixed and wireless high-speed e-communications networks. (2) Every operator can negotiate agreements for coordinating civil engineering works with companies or organizations authorized to provide electronic communications networks. Operators must make available on request minimum information about ongoing or planned civil works related to its infrastructure. (3) Every e-communications network provider will be able to access electronically, via a single information point, information about the conditions and procedures applicable for grating permits for civil works, and to submit its applications via the same information point. Permits must be granted or denied within six months of request. (4) All newly constructed buildings, and those undergoing major renovation, must be equipped with high-speed-ready, in-building physical infrastructure joined to the network termination points. The proposal could save telecom companies 40-60 billion euros ($51-$77 billion), on the overall cost of rolling out fast broadband the EC said. The draft builds on best practices already in place in the U.K. and several other EU countries, but leaves organizational details to each government’s discretion, it said. Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said at a press briefing that she’s not blaming nations that haven’t streamlined the infrastructure-building process, she just wants them to do so quickly. Asked why she’s handling the action as a regulation, which, when approved by the European Parliament and Council, is uniformly imposed on all EU members, rather than a directive, which gives governments some flexibility in adapting to national circumstances, Kroes said the fragmented state of the situation across Europe requires quick action. The potential savings -- and the current waste of resources -- are so large that a quick resolution is needed, she said. The idea of cutting the expense of deploying fiber networks is “very welcome,” said European Competitive Telecommunications Association Chair Tom Ruhan. More than 70 percent of all fiber-to-the-home investments in Europe are made by alternative operators who share the highest investment costs proportionally, he said. Decreased costs will speed rollout of open networks to businesses and consumers, he said. Network operators also applauded the move. The regulation will cover the shared used of different types of passive infrastructures of all network and utility sectors as well as e-communications services, making it possible to take full advantage of all existing infrastructure suitable to support high-speed networks, said the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association. It urged EU members and lawmakers to approve the proposal quickly.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau found CSSI Non-Profit Educational Broadcasting Corp. apparently liable for a $10,000 fine concerning six of its Texas radio stations. Graham Newspapers, Graham, Texas, alleged that CSSI, Weatherford, Texas, denied its employee David Bell access to the stations’ public inspection files, the bureau said in a notice of apparent liability (http://bit.ly/106kxRY). The bureau said “CSSI’s failure to provide immediate access to the stations’ files upon Bell’s initial visit violated the public file rule,” it said.
The Michigan law banning teenagers from driving and talking on the phone takes effect Thursday, AAA Michigan said (http://yhoo.it/14t6RpP). The law applies to teenagers with level 1 and level 2 licenses, signifying their beginner status. AAA supports the law, known commonly as Kelsey’s Law, it said.
The Connecticut Legislature is moving forward with a substitute for its bill limiting regulation of Internet Protocol-enabled telephony, and posted its fiscal and overall analyses Monday. House Bill 6401 prevents the state from regulating the rates of interconnected VoIP and IP-enabled service but it “shall not be construed to affect the authority of the Attorney General to apply and enforce the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act” or other general consumer protections, according to the text (http://1.usa.gov/106hNnE). It also won’t affect interconnection obligations for voice traffic or “affect, mandate or prohibit the assessment of enhanced 9-1-1 fees, telecommunications relay service fees or lifeline service fees on interconnected voice over Internet protocol service or any other voice over Internet protocol service,” it said. There'll be zero fiscal impact since it reiterates the current practice of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, the analysis said. The Energy and Technology Committee voted in favor of the substitute 21-2 earlier this month.
The FCC turned down a request for review on a waiver request from Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters. Mt. Wilson, based in California, sought a waiver of the deadline to file for a construction permit for a new AM station in Whitney, Nev., the commission said in a memorandum opinion and order (http://bit.ly/14maZaQ). Mt. Wilson made a decision not to submit a timely showing “and thus not to participate further in the auction process,” it said. An applicant’s business decision “to forego further participation in the auction process does not constitute unusual or special circumstances sufficient to justify waiver of a filing deadline,” the commission said.