Registered stakeholders at the Trans-Pacific Partnership meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, have been “locked out” of the venue for the latest round of negotiations except for the “so-called stakeholder day,” University of Auckland law professor Jane Kelsey said in a statement posted by American University’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (http://xrl.us/bn4n8r). At past meetings, stakeholders had met with negotiators “who have short windows of opportunity at tea breaks or duck out from meetings,” said Kelsey, who has attended six rounds of talks. Stakeholders already knew their dedicated day “had been truncated from recent U.S. practice, abandoning the ‘market of tables’ where groups can set out their papers for negotiators to browse” and negotiators can “make arrangements for further discussions” on matters of interest, she said: But the New Zealand government “has effectively removed that option” for this round. Kelsey said she had to use the country’s Official Information Act just to get the “dates of the various subject group meetings” from the government: “It is patently obvious that our government is actively attempting to block us from having private interactions with negotiators who have their own concerns or want more information in areas they lack expertise, or are simply polite enough to respond to requests for meetings."
A decision last month from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear a case in which the statutory ban on airing political ads on noncommercial stations was ruled unconstitutional could indicate that the full court may have misgivings about the initial decision, said David Oxenford, a radio-station lawyer at Wilkinson Barker. The 9th Circuit also said the decision can’t be used as precedent until the final review (CD Nov 29 p17). Many noncommercial stations saw the potential that the 9th Circuit’s earlier remand could lead to a new source of revenue, “while others expressed fears that it could erode the noncommercial nature of educational stations,” Oxenford wrote in a blog post (http://xrl.us/bn4n9d). Stations outside the 9th Circuit’s jurisdiction of the West Coast shouldn’t look for any immediate relief, “and stations in the states in the circuit should proceed cautiously in considering any political advertising on their stations,” he said.
Beam Communications and Iridium signed an agreement for a new product development initiative. Beam will be the primary contractor and original equipment manufacturer for a new Iridium product, Beam said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bn4n58). The initiative “will enhance the company’s overall position in developing products under contract in the future,” it said. Exact details of the product aren’t being disclosed, Beam said.
Michael Myers has contacted multiple states with his proposed FirstNet model, the aspiring telecom consultant told us. His FirstNet plan emphasizes a public-private partnership with private equity financing, and he hopes to consult for state governments and agencies as well as financial firms involved. He has begun negotiating with parties, predominately public safety officials and state legislators, in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico and Colorado but no one has committed to anything because they don’t know where FirstNet is going, he said. He’s also involved with Oklahoma’s Tri-County Electric Cooperative (CD Dec 3 p7) through the Texas consulting firm iWire365, he said. That firm represents utilities, public safety agencies and municipalities. In the case of Oklahoma, they have completed the initial planning as well as the audit and business case, which they've presented to the lieutenant governor in a private meeting, he said. They have been invited and plan to present to the governor’s office as well and have 22 clients within Oklahoma including Tri-County, he added, declining to release their names due to a lack of permission. The clients encompass about two-thirds of Oklahoma’s rural areas, he said. Activity surrounding his proposed FirstNet model is likely to pick up next year, he said.
Advocates of the deaf and hearing impaired asked the FCC to approve an order requiring carriers “to implement their end of SMS-to-911,” while leaving over-the-top texting mechanisms to a further notice of proposed rulemaking. The stance of the groups largely supports the FCC’s strategy on text-to-911 and an order slated for a vote at the commission’s Dec. 12 meeting (CD Nov 29 p1). “While we appreciate the actions that some carriers have undertaken to support SMS-to-911, filings by some other carriers in opposition to SMS-to-911 indicate that voluntary efforts will fall short of providing a nationwide accessible interim text-to-911 solution,” the groups said in a filing at the FCC posted Monday (http://xrl.us/bn4nye). “The deaf and hard of hearing communities cannot afford to wait any longer to regain direct access to 911.” The filing was signed by Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Association of Late-Deafened Adults, the National Association of the Deaf and the Technology Access Program at Gallaudet University. “We asked that the Commission formally act as soon as possible on implementation and deployment of the interim solution with SMS for text-to-911 emergency calling, and that firm but fair deadlines be set,” they said.
Ohio is looking for a new state commissioner. The 12-member Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Nominating Council announced that it’s seeking applications for two positions on the five-member commission, it said (http://xrl.us/bn4nvb), as expected after Commissioner Cheryl Roberto said in mid-November that she'll be retiring early, effective Dec. 31 (CD Nov 16 p19). The two open positions will be, first, to fill the remaining months of Roberto’s term, “commencing upon appointment by the Governor and ending on April 10” and then for a subsequent full term from April 11 of next year to April 10, 2018, the PUC said. The application deadline is Dec. 26. The nominating council will “narrow the list” and interview candidates in January with the goal of recommending four to the governor. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, will then have 30 days to choose or ask for more options. His choice will be subject to Ohio Senate approval, according to the PUC.
The FCC and staff are actively working on the specifics of the AWS-4 proceeding, and “we hope to resolve them in the future, by the end of the year,” Chairman Julius Genachowski said of Dish Network’s request to use its satellite network to start a terrestrial wireless service. Freeing up spectrum for mobile broadband “has been a high priority of the commission from the moment I got here,” he said Friday during a news conference after the commission’s monthly meeting. “We're juggling many balls at the same time to do this.” There’s a particular opportunity “around removing unnecessary regulatory barriers to terrestrial or ground-based mobile use and that’s obviously something that we're seriously considering in this proceeding,” he said. Genachowski circulated a draft proposal this month that proposes rules for Dish to build a terrestrial service with AWS-4 spectrum while protecting the H block, which the commission plans to auction (CD Nov 21 p8).
The FCC should reject arguments by the GPS Industry Council that the agency adopt GPS-specific technical requirements in its ongoing AWS-4 proceeding, CTIA said in an ex parte filing at the commission. “CTIA noted that GPS operations, located at 1559-1610 MHz band, are nearly 400 MHz away from the lowest point of the proposed AWS-4 spectrum located at 2000-2020 MHz,” the filing said (http://xrl.us/bn39su). “Given this wide separation, it is highly unlikely transmitters operating in AWS-4 spectrum pose any interference risk to GPS. CTIA also explained that the proposed 43 + 10 log10(P) dB of attenuation proposed in the AWS-4 NPRM is completely consistent with past FCC regulation of out of band emissions -- and has not led to any reports of harmful interference."
The FCC Friday extended the deadline for submitting wireless microphone “refresh the record” comments to Jan. 25 from Dec. 21, synchronizing the comment deadline with the revised deadline for comments on rules for an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. The new deadline for replies is March 12. “We find that granting this extension will serve the public interest by helping to facilitate careful and deliberate consideration of the complex issues in the wireless microphone proceeding, and also permit parties to consider and address in their comments any related issues from the incentive auctions proceeding,” said the order by the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology (http://xrl.us/bn39r9).
The FCC Wireless Bureau Friday extended the deadline for comments on a report filed by Progeny seeking to demonstrate that its Multilateration Location and Monitoring Service (M-LMS) network does not cause unacceptable levels of interference to Part 15 devices in the 902-928 MHz band. The bureau did so at the request of the Part 15 Coalition, over the objection of Progeny. Comments are now due Dec. 21, replies Jan. 11. “Under the circumstances of this proceeding, we find that the request for ten additional days for filing comments to be reasonable,” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bn39rk). It also allowed 10 more days to file reply comments. Progeny submitted the test report to the commission Oct. 31 (http://xrl.us/bn38tm). Parts were redacted in the version made public by the FCC.