Sprint Nextel opposed Dish Network’s proposal to use its lower 5 MHz in the S-band as a guard band if the DBS company could adhere to less-stringent out of band emissions limits to protect the H block which the carrier is interested in bidding on. This proposal “would substantially reduce both the prospective value and wireless broadband utility of the H block, thereby undercutting the viability of the H block for supporting increased wireless broadband competition,” Sprint said in an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bn5bgh). It said executives met with staff from the Wireless Bureau, Office of Engineering and Technology and from the offices of Chairman Julius Genachowski and commissioners Robert McDowell, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. Dish’s offer to designate the lowest 5 MHz of its uplink, at 2000-2005 MHz, as an internal terrestrial guard band “is vague and ambiguous, and of dubious value when compared to the commission’s draft proposal,” Sprint said. Dish fails to explain what the voluntary designation would entail, “how long it would last, how it would be enforced and how and whether it would bind successor AWS-4 licensees,” Sprint said. Dish made the proposal last week (CD Dec 5 p8). The proposal offers benefits to the AWS-4 proceeding and the H block auction proceeding, Dish said in an ex parte filing. It “significantly increases the chance of a successful H block high-power LTE auction” and “provides greater certainty for the future H block licensee,” the company said. H block transmissions would cause AWS-4 base station receiver blocking and spurious emissions interference, it said. “Debating technical solutions without frequency separation would cause considerable delay to finalization of the future H block 3GPP [3rd Generation Partnership Project] specifications.” Dish’s proposed limit of -30 dBm at 2000 MHz will be sufficient to protect future H block devices, “given the low probability of interference and available technical mitigations,” it added. Last week, Dish executives met in person and held teleconferences with staff from the bureau, Genachowski’s office, the offices of Clyburn and Rosenworcel and other staff.
Overbuilding in rural areas could effectively result in one USF program -- the Rural Health Care Program -- imperiling already-existing infrastructure deployed through the high-cost program, NTCA told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Thursday, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bn5bue). If infrastructure support is provided under the Rural Health Care Program, the commission should “adopt a careful process to protect against overbuilding,” with sufficient notice and comment opportunities for parties to indicate whether existing networks can satisfy the needs of an applicant, “in lieu of self-provisioning infrastructure,” NTCA said. The association also cautioned against letting anticipated revenues from excess capacity satisfy contribution requirements.
The FCC Wireless Bureau denied a request by a Magnolia, Texas, man for further environmental review of a 250-foot communications tower owned by Skyway Towers. Philip Collins claimed the tower “would cause visual pollution and would affect the view from his home, which has already been affected by wildfires and a drought in 2011,” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bn5bt2). “These allegations do not meet the standard required for further environmental processing under Section 1.1307 of the Commission’s rules,” the denial said.
The House Intelligence Committee will vote this week on the panel’s October report on security concerns with the Chinese-based telecom equipment manufacturers, Huawei and ZTE. The vote will take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday in Room 304 House Visitor Center and is not open to the public or the press. The report strongly recommended that the U.S. government and American companies refrain from doing business with Huawei and ZTE because of what it said were the long-term security risks associated with the companies (CD Oct 10 p3). A committee aide said the vote is intended to submit the report to the committee record. The report is closed to reporters and the public because it contains a classified annex with additional evidence from the investigation, he said. The staffer said the committee is unlikely to reopen the investigation until next year. Huawei spokesman Bill Plummer said the company hopes the committee reviews the “facts and the wealth of information that Huawei provided over the eleven month-long investigation and revise its report accordingly, including, for instance, by focusing on the need for real and industry-wide disciplines to address real and universal cyber vulnerabilities.” ZTE had no comment.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered LawMate Technology to pay $14,000 for “willful and repeated violations” of Communications Act rules against the marketing of unauthorized radio frequency devices. The bureau issued a notice of apparent liability against the company for marketing two models of wireless video transmitters in the U.S. before obtaining FCC certifications. The company asked for a reduction in the fine “based on certain remedial efforts that LawMate states it intends to implement, its claimed financial hardship, and its assertion of a history of compliance with the Rules,” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bn5btm). “Based on the number and duration of [its] violations, we find that LawMate does not have a history of compliance with the Rules, and decline to reduce the proposed forfeiture."
The FCC overturned six Universal Service Administrative Co. decisions Thursday, in which USAC reduced funding because of late filed forms. In its order (http://xrl.us/bn5bs3), the Wireline Bureau said good cause exists to grant the appeals of the school districts in Ohio, Alabama, Indiana, Colorado and two in New Mexico.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., asked House appropriators in a letter sent last week to remove an online privacy provision from a Senate appropriations bill. A provision in the Senate FY13 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill directs the FCC to work with the FTC to issue guidance to consumers about how to protect their personal information as it’s transmitted over wireless networks. The item also directs the FCC to study corporate privacy policies and issue guidance on best practices for giving consumers notice about the terms of their privacy policies. The House bill has no such provision. Upton asked outgoing House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., to delete the authorizing language in her forthcoming statement of managers. He said the provision should be removed in order to “reflect the fact that the authorizing committees in both the House and Senate are in the process of examining this issue and have not yet taken a position.”
Telesat completed its live broadcast trials in Nunavut to demonstrate the ability of satellite broadband to help close the digital divide in Canada. The results of the trials showed residents and government officials in the Canadian territory “that today’s satellite services can help remedy bandwidth gaps” that exist in that region, Telesat said in a press release (http://xrl.us/bn5brh). During the trials, Telesat teamed with top communications technology providers to enable residents, government officials and business leaders in the capital of Iqaluit “to have access to advanced broadband services over an extended period of time,” it said. The company plans to form a partnership with territorial, provincial and federal governments and other stakeholders to improve the availability and quality of broadband services in the northern Canadian territory on a cost effective basis, it added.
Clarification: A gateway device serving an entire household can be used with multiple thin-client devices, DirecTV engineer Stephen Dulac said (CD Dec 7 p5).
Oral argument on Comcast’s challenge to an FCC order requiring it carry the Tennis Channel as widely as sports channels the operator owns was set by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for Feb. 25 at 9:30 a.m. Hearing Comcast v. FCC will be judges Harry Edwards, Brett Kavanaugh and Stephen Williams, said an order in D.C. Circuit docket 12-1337.