The Advanced Television Systems Committee approved the specifications for a mobile emergency alert system to be delivered using the ATSC A/153 Mobile Digital TV standard. The M-EAS enhancements to the standard will provide capabilities for delivering multimedia alerts “to mobile DTV-equipped cellphones, tablets, laptops, netbooks and in-car navigation systems,” ATSC said in a press release (http://bit.ly/YIqeD3). Using mobile DTV for emergency alerting “requires no additional spectrum and is an additional use of existing TV transmitters and towers,” it said. M-EAS is backwards compatible and will not affect the performance of mobile TV products already in consumer hands, it said. Partners in the M-EAS effort said that completion of the standardization will lead to the implementation of the system and commercialization of the equipment (CD Feb 26 p8).
A Food and Drug Administration official assured the House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Thursday during a hearing that the administration is not targeting cellphones and tablets as medical devices subject to a federal excise tax, just because they're used for medical apps. “FDA’s proposed mobile medical apps policy would not regulate the sale or general consumer use of smartphones or tablets,” said Christy Foreman, director of the FDA’s Office Of Device Evaluation Center For Devices And Radiological Health. “FDA’s proposed mobile medical apps policy would not consider entities that exclusively distribute mobile medical apps, such as the owners and operators of the ‘iTunes App store’ or the ‘Android market,’ to be medical device manufacturers. FDA’s proposed mobile medical apps policy would not consider mobile platform manufacturers to be medical device manufacturers just because their mobile platform could be used to run a mobile medical app regulated by FDA.” Foreman provided the government’s response to questions raised during a Communications Subcommittee hearing Tuesday (CD March 20 p1). “I have seen that in today’s testimony the FDA is now definitely saying: No, we will not regulate the general sale of smartphones or tablets,” said Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy, R-Pa., in his opening statement at the hearing. “I thank the FDA for providing certainty on this matter.”
The FCC notified the NTIA it plans to start an auction of licenses in the 1695-1710 and 1755-1780 MHz bands as early as September 2014. In doing so, the FCC satisfied a requirement of last year’s spectrum law, the FCC said (http://fcc.us/ZNM3n7). “As directed by Congress in the Spectrum Act, NTIA recently identified the 1695-1710 MHz band as the 15 megahertz of spectrum between 1675 MHz and 1710 MHz to be reallocated from federal use to non-federal use,” the FCC said. “The Spectrum Act now requires the Commission to allocate this identified spectrum for commercial use and to license the spectrum by February 2015. Our goal is to ensure that the Commission has adequate time to conduct this auction and complete the subsequent licensing process prior to the Spectrum Act’s deadline.” The 1695-1710 MHz is part of the 1675-1710 MHz band, which provides weather satellite downlinks, and was the subject of a Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee working group, which looked at sharing in the band. The 1755-1780 MHz band has been a longtime target for carriers for reallocation for wireless broadband. A government official said the move is mostly ministerial and provides options for the FCC to reallocate the 1755 MHz spectrum, though many questions remain. “We are happy that both the FCC and NTIA are working to move these two pairings to auction,” said CTIA Vice President Chris Guttman-McCabe. “Clearing this spectrum and moving the bands to auction will bring tremendous, measurable benefits to our economy, our citizens and our country.” “T-Mobile has worked closely with the FCC, NTIA, and federal users to make these bands available for mobile broadband use and today’s designation marks a critical milestone in this process,” said Senior Vice President Tom Sugrue. “When paired with spectrum the FCC already has under its jurisdiction, these frequency blocks can provide an additional 80 MHz of valuable spectrum adjacent to the AWS-1 band, and expand US leadership in LTE mobile broadband deployment.” Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member John Thune, R-S.D., said he was glad to see the FCC taking steps to pair and auction together the 1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz wireless spectrum bands according to a news release following the publication of the letter. Thune commended Commissioner Ajit Pai for advocating the FCC use of its notify-and-auction authority and said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has “once again shown he clearly understands the tremendous potential of commercial mobile broadband and the importance of making more public resources available to the private sector for development,” the news release said. Thune urged NTIA and the White House to concentrate their efforts on reallocating the 1755-1780 MHz band “for as much exclusive, non-federal use as is feasible. Cleared spectrum is the best way to meet consumer demand and raise revenues needed to relocate current users and reduce the deficit,” he said. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said she too was pleased by the FCC’s letter: “Pairing the 1755-1780 MHz band with 2155-2180 MHZ band makes sense not just for revenue purposes, but also for innovation in our ever growing digital economy,” she said in an email sent via her spokesman. “The clock is ticking on the AWS-3 spectrum reallocation. We must find a timely solution that address both our economic needs and our national security challenges.” Last congress Matsui introduced the Efficient Use of Government Spectrum Act which sought to require the FCC to pair for commercial auction the 1755-1780 MHz band with the 2155-2180 MHz band (CD April 27 p5).
An NPRM approved by the FCC Wednesday asks for specific comment on the costs, versus the benefits, of various improvements to the nation’s 911 system in light of last June’s derecho storm. The NPRM was approved 5-0 (CD March 21 p4). The FCC asks “a range of questions that will help us to weigh the costs and benefits of each approach to strengthening the reliability and resiliency of critical 911 communications infrastructure,” the NPRM said (http://bit.ly/YtIwc4. “For each cost or benefit addressed, we ask that commenters provide specific data and information such as actual or estimated dollar figures, including a description of how the data or information was calculated or obtained and any supporting documentation.” The FCC warned that “vague or unsupported assertions regarding costs or benefits generally will receive less weight and be less persuasive than the more specific and supported statements.” The NPRM notes that all the central offices that experienced outages had backup power in place, but nonetheless explores whether the commission should impose backup power requirements. “How closely do providers adhere to existing industry best practices and other published guidelines on backup power?” the NPRM asks. “Would new or expanded best practices provide additional guidance necessary to help maintain reliable backup power? If so, would additional best practices provide as much assurance of rigorous compliance as any of the approaches proposed here? What additional best practices are needed in this area? How closely do providers follow generator and battery manufacturers’ recommended maintenance schedules?” If the FCC imposes a requirement, “what, more precisely, should be required?” the NPRM asks. The FCC asks whether it should require carriers to file reports describing their central office backup power provisions, including maintenance and testing. “If so, how often should providers have to file such reports?” the NPRM asks. “Should reports be based on conformance with specific best practices, or other standards adopted by the Commission? How many reports would there be? We also ask what specific information should be included in these reports, e.g., should the report be limited to factual discussion of existing practices, or should providers also report on any planned improvements?"
American Network Inc. signed a consent decree with the FCC, terminating an Enforcement Bureau investigation into ANI’s provision of Telecommunications Relay Services and compensation from the TRS Fund (http://bit.ly/148dA8c). The company acknowledged to the bureau that a subcontractor had “failed to register any IP Relay users but still processed calls and ANI billed the TRS Fund for them,” the bureau said. ANI has agreed to refund $124,000 to the TRS Fund within 30 days. The company said it’s “financially unable to proceed as an ongoing operation,” and will cease providing TRS.
Time Warner Cable escaped municipal video-rate regulation in seven Wisconsin franchise areas, under two FCC Media Bureau orders Wednesday (http://bit.ly/YrPfTW, http://fcc.us/ZUl33I). The orders, covering Bristol, Chase and other communities with less than 10,000 households total, cited DBS competition. Both requests by the cable operator for deregulation were unopposed. A list of other effective competition orders is at http://www.warren-news.com/competition.htm.
The FCC should reject USTelecom’s request that ILECs be relieved of the requirement to spend a third of their frozen legacy high-cost support on broadband facilities in areas not served by an unsubsidized provider, NCTA told the commission Tuesday (http://bit.ly/148cGZf). While the new frozen support rule imposes a spending obligation, it’s “fully compensated (and more)” by the amount of support being provided to the carriers, NCTA said. “There is no requirement that the shareholders of these companies spend any money that will not be recovered through high-cost support.” USTelecom asserts that price cap carriers will experience an “Unrecovered Reduction in Legacy Access Replacement,” but that is a “newly invented phrase” that means “nothing more than the fact that these companies will be collecting less high-cost universal service support from inefficient legacy mechanisms than they did” before the reforms in the USF/intercarrier compensation order, NCTA said. “The essence of the USTelecom argument is that its member companies are concerned about being required to spend their high-cost subsidies in ways that advance the Commission’s broadband agenda,” NCTA said. “While it is certainly understandable that they would prefer the legacy regime, in which they received millions of dollars in funding each year without any obligation to spend it in a particular way, the Commission should take this opportunity to make clear that those days are over."
Cornerstone TeleVision faces a potential $15,000 fine for violating FCC rules at a Brookville, Pa., antenna structure, said an Enforcement Bureau notice of apparent liability Wednesday (http://bit.ly/ZUjTFo). It alleged the company didn’t show red obstruction lighting all night and monitor those lights every day.
CTIA said apparatus requirements for video descriptions of emergency information should be limited to devices “designed to receive and play back” broadcast-TV or multichannel video programming distributor services. Association executives also told aides to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Ajit Pai, during meetings last week, that there should be an “appropriate phase-in period for the rules,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-107 (http://bit.ly/148bvc9). A draft order would require within two years TV stations and MVPDs to pass along emergency information on the secondary audio programming channel, so some devices can carry the visual information as spoken video descriptions (CD March 12 p3).
FTC Commissioner Julie Brill said she’s concerned about the rollout of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) by ICANN, which is scheduled to start next month, according to her prepared remarks to an Association of National Advertisers conference (http://1.usa.gov/WEvbjI). “I remain concerned, as I have been since ICANN first announced its plans, that the expansion could create opportunities for scammers to defraud consumers online, shrink law enforcement’s ability to catch scam artists, and divert the resources of legitimate businesses into litigating and protecting their own good names,” she said. Consumers may be misled by similar gTLDs, she continued. “What if there is a ‘dot obstetrician’ and a ‘dot obstetricians’ ... one limited to licensed doctors, the other not? How does [a consumer] know which one to trust?” Brill said the agency is “very supportive of ICANN’s efforts to make domain name registrars -- the entities that sell website names to other businesses and individuals -- more accountable."