Shure believes “continued access to clear UHF spectrum is critical to wireless microphone operation, and key to ensuring [U.S.] leadership in media and content creation,” lawyers for the company said Friday in an ex parte FCC filing. They met Wednesday with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The representatives discussed the proposed changes to FCC rules and the UHF allocation changes being considered in the wireless mic proceeding and incentive auction docket, the filing said (http://xrl.us/bn2i59). Shure was one of several parties in the wireless mic proceeding that requested more time to comment on the proceeding because of issues that related to the FCC’s incentive auction rulemaking notice. The FCC said Friday it extended the deadline (CD Nov 19 p10).
KSQA Topeka, Kan., asked the full FCC to reverse a Media Bureau order (CD Oct 23 p15) denying the TV station’s request that the bureau require Cox Communications carry it in the same channel slot as its over-the-air location. The order “inexplicably does not address the statutory on-channel positioning right,” the broadcaster said in an application for review posted Friday in docket 12-168. That ruling “inexplicably departs from established Commission policy,” the filing said. It said KSQA is “hopeful” its request to delete Channel 22, its program and systems information protocol slot, as an identifier in place of the terrestrial position of 12 will be granted by the bureau. Cox isn’t carrying KSQA, the station said (http://xrl.us/bn2i6w).
The FCC seeks comment on LightSquared’s request to modify the ancillary terrestrial component authorization associated with its mobile satellite service L-band licenses. The wholesale satellite capacity company said its proposed modification “is intended to address concerns raised by the GPS industry and others and to allow LightSquared to proceed with deployment of its proposed broadband network,” the FCC said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/bn2i79). The company proposed to relinquish its right to deploy terrestrial downlink operations at 1545-1555 MHz and permanently relocate those terrestrial operations instead to 1670-1680 MHz, the commission said. The proposal includes sharing the 1675-1680 MHz band with federal users (CD Oct 2 p3). Comments are due Dec. 17, oppositions Jan. 4, and replies Jan. 11, the commission said.
The FCC is apparently considering gathering data not just on dedicated special access lines, but on “traditional Internet access service provided to businesses,” circuits which are “clearly not interchangeable” with special access lines, the American Cable Association told the commission in a letter Friday (http://xrl.us/bn2iuh). Internet access is generally not provided with the same quality of service or related guarantees as dedicated high-capacity lines, ACA said. The FCC would also seek this data without any analysis of the additional burden this would place on smaller operators, contrary to the Paperwork Reduction Act, ACA said. “To put it bluntly, any effort by the Commission to adopt and impose a data submission requirement covering Internet access services provided to businesses would be arbitrary and unreasoned decision making,” ACA said.
Multiple parties in Oregon want the FCC to change its Lifeline rules. The FCC should kill the requirement that state Lifeline administrators send subscribers’ Lifeline certification forms to eligible telecom carriers before the carriers can claim reimbursement, said the Oregon Public Utility Commission staff and the Oregon Telecom Association in an ex parte filing posted Friday (http://xrl.us/bn2itg). Without modification, the FCC’s rules will compel the Oregon PUC to “photocopy and mail an average of 2,500 to 4,000 (and growing) certification forms each month to the consumer’s respective ETC,” they said. They support the position of USTelecom, which raised concerns in April and acquired a waiver through December to this end. The filing suggests that the FCC call for the state administrators to provide the eligible carriers with notice that subscribers qualify for Lifeline and that certification forms have been executed, the filing said. The Oregon stakeholders argue the current FCC requirement “does nothing to enhance the validity of the subscriber’s eligibility” and instead adds “burden and costs” to state Lifeline administrators and carriers. Oregon would execute its program more efficiently if these contested FCC rules are waived, they said.
The Washington state attorney general’s office is calling out the fake invoices of an entity that used the name “US-Telcom.” A series of the invoices deluged Washington State University this fall, said the Friday release (http://xrl.us/bnz25v). “A Sammamish Montessori School, a Seattle Jewish day school and a Spokane women’s health clinic all received similar legitimate-looking invoices from the company for as much as $425.” Those entities never ordered services from the entity, the attorney general’s office said. The company behind the invoices is UST Development, which agreed to stop sending them Friday, the office said.
Verizon workers are “making steady progress reconnecting voice, data, Internet and TV services” for customers in the New York area affected by Sandy, the telco said Friday. Repair crews completed 411,000 Sandy-related repairs across areas of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast affected by the superstorm, including restoring FiOS services to more than 1.4 million customers, Verizon said. More than 1,400 employees were continuing to work on service restoration Friday, the telco said. Verizon said it’s working with local governments and power companies to coordinate restoration efforts in areas that are waiting to have power restored. Wireline customers who have reported an “out-of-service condition” related to Sandy are receiving credits from Verizon and may suspend their services for free if they're unable to live in their home or operate their business because of damage related to the storm, Verizon said (http://xrl.us/bnz25n).
San Mateo Community College District plans to release a new request for proposals for the sale of its station KCSM-TV San Mateo, Calif., “with consideration that an FCC spectrum auction may occur.” SMCCD expects to release the RFP next month, with bids due in February, an SMCCD spokeswoman said. SMCCD released an RFP for the sale of KCSM last year, which was focused “only on bidders interested in purchasing the station and the license,” she said. The license for the station was given to the college “in order to operate a public service,” Media Alliance said. “That is the purpose … We should find a way for that purpose to continue.” Media Alliance said it opposes SMCCD’s proposal to auction off the station’s spectrum to wireless companies.
The FCC should approve Softbank’s acquisition of majority control of Sprint Nextel because the deal will increase competition in the U.S. wireless market, the carriers said Thursday in a joint filing. It came a month after Softbank announced the deal, under which the Japanese telco would buy 70 percent ownership of Sprint for $20.1 billion (CD Oct 16 p1). The deal will not harm the U.S. wireless market, the companies said. “To the contrary, the transaction is expected to greatly stimulate wireless competition and innovation. It offers the potential to transform the U.S. wireless marketplace by creating a more vibrant rival to compete with today’s two predominant wireless providers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T.” Sprint is the No. 3 U.S. carrier, while T-Mobile is fourth. Softbank’s infusion of capital will help Sprint improve its own finances, while also allowing the carrier to “increase its network investment, accelerate its broadband deployment across multiple spectrum bands and improve its coverage,” the filing said. The deal will let Sprint provide a wider array of devices and services to customers, and will allow the carrier to take advantage of “other market opportunities to enhance its ability to provide superior service to its customers,” the filing said. The companies are also filing applications to transfer Sprint’s anticipated control of Clearwire’s spectrum licenses to Softbank, which “by virtue of its acquisition of an approximately 70 percent indirect interest in Sprint, also will indirectly acquire Sprint’s interest in Clearwire,” the filing said.
The FCC acted correctly in transferring the FirstNet spectrum license to the FirstNet board Thursday (CD Nov 16 p13), Chairman Sam Ginn said in a written statement. He called it “another critical milestone on our journey towards deploying a nationwide mission critical wireless network.” The license is “a tangible reminder of our need to be good stewards of the invaluable spectrum resources,” he said.