Americom Government Services requested a new license to operate a C-band earth station in Laurel, Md., AGS said in its application to the International Bureau (http://xrl.us/bnyuij). Iridium requested special temporary authority from Nov. 13 through Dec. 12, “to modify its authorization for its Big LEO [low earth orbit] band non-geostationary satellite orbit constellation,” it said in its application (http://xrl.us/bnyuib). The Satellite Division accepted an application from Intelsat requesting modification of its authorization for Intelsat 702 “to specify operations in an inclined orbit at 33 degrees east,” instead of the satellite’s current location at 47.5 degrees east, the bureau said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/bnyuiw).
Russia’s Multiregional TransitTelecom asked the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) to extend its use of the shared country and mobile network codes for its global collaboration and education network service, we've learned. The company is planning to launch the mobile part of the network. The company, which has reported strong subscriber growth, wants the TSB to grant it the right to share the distribution of the intentional numbering resource with agents on a contract basis, we've learned. The company said the ITU-T has given serious examination into sharing network resources. The ITU-T study group on numbering has developed draft contracts that the company would like to use.
The Rural Telecommunications Group and the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association Friday filed a new report at the FCC by iGR (http://bit.ly/RJOqWp), a telecommunications industry market research analysis firm, on the retail rates offered by 60 operators for data services. The groups said the report shows the major national carriers charge much higher rates for data roaming than they charge their subscribers for the same data transmission. “There is overwhelming empirical and anecdotal evidence (from both individual operators and carrier associations) showing that the wholesale roaming rates offered by the country’s largest mobile wireless operators are predatory and anticompetitive in nature and have absolutely no relation to what the largest operators’ own retail customers are paying,” RTG and NTCA said. “By putting this report into the public record, it is RTG’s and NTCA’s goal to provide the FCC with evidence of commercially reasonable retail rates that are currently being charged by mobile wireless carriers. This information can be used by the FCC when reviewing challenges to wholesale data roaming rates charged by mobile wireless carriers to one another at the wholesale level."
The small cell market is not going to explode as many are predicting, Infonetics Research said Friday following an industry survey. The survey said 73 percent of responding operators have already deployed small cells, particularly femtocells used in homes and enterprises. But 80 percent of operators currently use distributed antennas (DAS) in their cellular networks for coverage optimization, Infonetics Research said. “The reality is ... a majority of operators are still using [DAS] in their mobile networks for coverage, and despite all the talk about using small cells to boost capacity in large venues, operators we interviewed believe DAS will remain a fundamental tool for malls, airports, stadiums and the like,” Infonetics Research analyst Stéphane Téral said. Small cells will be important in 3G and 4G network expansion, but operators will pick the right tool for their needs -- and small cells will not always be the right solution, Infonetics Research said. “The bottom line is, small cells -- I'm not talking about residential femtocells here -- remain a tiny market compared to macrocells, and will take time to reach meaningful penetration,” Téral said. Infonetics Research interviewed independent wireless, incumbent and competitive operators in the Americas, Europe and Asia for the survey (http://xrl.us/bnyt3n).
An expected notice of proposed rulemaking on unclaimed funding from Phase I of the Connect America Fund should “seek comment on whether and how wireless carriers could make efficient use of the unclaimed ... support,” Competitive Carrier Association officials said in meetings with aides to commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel. “We explained that the Commission should welcome alternative viewpoints on this important question, rather than cutting off debate at the outset of the proceeding,” said an ex parte filing on the meetings (http://xrl.us/bnytyf). “We further noted that, in light of the prospect that price cap incumbent LECs could use CAF support to deploy wireless facilities, rather than extending or upgrading their wireline networks, it would be especially inappropriate to foreclose participation by wireless carriers that are not affiliated with incumbent LECs."
The FCC Wireless Bureau halted its informal 180-day shot clock on the review of an agreement by General Communication Inc. and Alaska Communications to share spectrum and form the Alaska Wireless Network (AWN), a limited liability company that would hold and operate both companies’ wireless facilities. The bureau said in a Thursday letter it had stopped the clock as of Oct. 25, which was day 64 of the review (http://xrl.us/bnytxi). The letter said the bureau had asked for additional information from both companies Oct. 11 with a due date of Oct. 25. “We appreciate your efforts to respond to these Information and Document Requests,” said the letter, signed by Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman. “As of the date of this letter, however, we have received no narrative or data responses from either Applicant and incomplete document production from each of GCI and ACS. Furthermore, at an ex parte meeting between Commission staff and counsel for GCI and ACS on October 15, 2012, we requested the submission of further legal analysis supporting your Petition for Declaratory Ruling, which you have characterized as a ‘necessary prerequisite’ to consummation of the transaction contemplated by the Applications. To date, we have not received such supporting legal analysis."
Disney shares closed 6 percent lower Friday at $47.06, despite the company reporting stronger results for Q4 ended Sept. 29. Revenue rose 3 percent from the year-ago quarter to $10.8 billion, while profit grew to $1.2 billion from $1.1 billion. Disney’s interactive division had the weakest result of all segments, with revenue falling 14 percent to $191 million, while the operating loss narrowed to $76 million from $94 million. It was the only division with an operating loss. Disney’s planned purchase of Lucasfilm should help the company on various fronts, including the games business, which tends to be “boys-driven,” and in mobile, CEO Robert Iger said. It should help expand Disney’s e-commerce business, which he said has “grown very, very nicely since the relaunch” of Disney.com. “The greater penetration of DVRs and the greater usage of DVRs” is having an impact on reported TV ratings, said Iger. Disney feels “very, very good about opportunities” in subscription VOD and on digital platforms, he said. “As we've seen, and other large media companies have seen, the opportunities to monetize owned IP are only growing, not just because of new technology, but globally.” Disney will “continue to see growth in both revenue and growth in bottom line, in income, from output deals” to third-party and new platform owners, he said, calling it “an exciting time for intellectual property owners.” Disney continues to do business with Netflix and other similar service providers and “we'll probably continue to be in business with those and new entrants in the marketplace,” he said. Disney is “engaged in discussions on a number of directions about that,” he said without elaborating. Within Disney’s Media Networks division, broadcasting operating income was about flat at $915 million “as higher program sales, lower programming and production costs and higher affiliate and royalty revenue were largely offset by lower advertising revenues and higher equity losses at Hulu,” Disney said in a news release. Hulu did not have a significant effect on the broadcasting results despite the “increased programming costs” incurred from it, Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said. “If you back Hulu out of the broadcasting numbers, in fact, broadcasting would've been slightly positive.”
The Competitive Carriers Association largely endorses proposed FCC rules for cell boosters but asks that they be tightened, according to an ex parte filing on a phone call between CCA General Counsel Rebecca Thompson and Wireless Bureau staff. In June, Nextivity, T-Mobile, V-COMM, Verizon Wireless and Wilson Electronics submitted to the FCC proposed rules for cell power boosters, and two separate consumer booster protection standards (CD June 28 p17). “Manufacturers should be responsible for the operation of narrowband (frequency specific) signal boosters from each licensee of spectrum in a particular geographic area on which the booster is intended to operate, as of the date the booster is first used in the market,” CCA said (http://xrl.us/bnytvz). “For wideband boosters, CCA recommends that manufacturers be responsible for obtaining authorization for the operation of signal boosters from the licensee(s) whose spectrum the booster amplifies.” CCA said its recommendations “are made with the understanding that carriers, including CCA’s members, would independently engage in good faith efforts to test signal boosters, on a commercially reasonable timeframe, to determine whether the subject booster is appropriate for use on carriers’ exclusively-licensed spectrum."
The FCC Public Safety Bureau seeks comment on a petition from Arkansas seeking a waiver of FCC rules so it can continue to operate the Arkansas Wireless Information Network (AWIN) through Dec. 31, 2024. The state faces a mandate that 700 MHz narrowband radio systems operate with a bandwidth of no more than 6.25 kHz by Dec. 31, 2016. The system has more than 21,400 subscribers representing 900 public safety agencies statewide and was built at a cost of $70 million, the state said, according to a public notice from the bureau (http://xrl.us/bnytu2). “Arkansas argues that the AWIN system can be expected to last close to 15 years, so the December 31, 2016 deadline ‘prematurely and artificially shortens the life-cycle of the statewide system,'” the bureau said. “Arkansas states that AWIN is the key element in its statewide emergency communications plan, and that first responders have come to rely on AWIN.” The state told the FCC replacing the system would cost $136 million. Responding to a similar petition from the state of Louisiana, the Association for Public-Safety Communications Officials said in an August filing the FCC should “modify the underlying rule, which would obviate the need for waiver requests from Louisiana and similarly situated 700 MHz band licensees” (http://xrl.us/bnjrxn). Comments are due Nov. 30.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is teeing up a notice of proposed rulemaking on the use of the 3.5 GHz band for small cells for a vote at the commission’s Nov. 30 meeting, agency sources said. In May, Genachowski said in a speech at CTIA’s national conference the FCC sees 3.5 GHz spectrum as “ideally suited for small cells” and will launch a proceeding later in the year on “enabling” small cells in the band (CD May 9 p1). One other item is expected to get a vote at the November meeting, an order expanding low-power FM opportunities, commission sources said.