An ITU-T study group on quality of service (QoS) is developing a roadmap on QoS for interconnected IP-based networks, with possible consideration for approval in 2013, according to documents we obtained. An ITU-T regional group from Africa prompted the work, a submission said. KDDI Corp. of Japan suggested certain changes. The ITU-T study group on future networks is starting new work on expanding a list of five levels of quality of service for traffic, a participant said. Traditional IP networks have been built around a principle that networks will operate on a best-efforts packet delivery, without “guarantees,” a draft version of the recommendation said. The best-efforts paradigm has been “spectacularly successful” in supporting non-real-time data applications such as email and file transfer, it said. The principle assigns the responsibility for detecting and correcting transmission problems to customer gear and higher-level protocols that require better network support, it said. The principle does not provide a reliable quality of user experience in interactive voice telephony and other demanding real-time applications when network bandwidth limitations appreciably increase jitter, delay or when packets get lost. These types of applications work best across networks that can deliver “better than best-efforts” performance for various characteristics, it said. The proposed recommendation is intended as a guide for regulators and network and service providers to meets QoS performance objectives, it said. The ITU website doesn’t indicate whether regulatory concerns will require approval through a more formal process.
The ITU Radio Regulations Board (RRB) will likely see more claims of force majeure in requests for extensions to the deadline for bringing a satellite network into use, Francois Rancy, the director of the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR), told us. The 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference discussed how to develop provisions to help administrations meet the deadline when certain events are out of their control, namely “force majeure,” Rancy said. The conference decided to leave it to the RRB to decide on a case-by-case basis, with limited, conditional extensions, he said. Iran and Mexico both asked to review recent BR findings to suppress filings, Rancy said, referring to submissions to the Sept. 10-14 RRB meeting. Both invoked force majeure, and the board rejected both, he said. The administrations are expected to submit supporting information to the next RRB, he said.
Parties continued to visit the eighth floor to discuss a proposal to let certain cable operators encrypt the signal of their basic service tiers, FCC ex parte filings show. NCTA joined a group of cable industry attorneys in a meeting with aides to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (http://xrl.us/bnp6s2). They said “the real-world evidence from the Cablevision waiver in New York City demonstrates that the consumer benefits of a rule change far outweigh any potential disruption,” the notice said. “We therefore urged the Commission to bring this proceeding to a swift conclusion.” Meanwhile, attorneys for the CEA met with an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai to push the agency to “take further and affirmative steps to assure in its regulations the commercial availability of navigation devices from manufacturers and vendors not affiliated with the MVPD service provider,” an ex parte meeting notice said (http://xrl.us/bnp6ti). An order on basic-tier encryption rules is circulating for a vote (CD July 31 p12).
Tampa experienced the start of “the first demonstrated multi-vendor interoperable Public Safety Long Term Evolution (LTE) network during the Republican National Convention,” Cisco said Monday. The RNC occurred from Aug. 27 to 30. Cisco credited its work with Raytheon, Nokia Siemens Networks, Reality Mobile and Amdocs. “The multi-vendor LTE network was implemented in coordination with the law enforcement agencies supporting the Convention, a National Special Security Event (NSSE),” Cisco said (http://xrl.us/bnp6ud). “The system marks the first time federal, state and local first responders have simultaneously used a 700 MHz D-block broadband network for an NSSE. The network was deployed under special temporary authority (STA) from the Federal Communications Commission for the Convention” and provided a field trial of a multi-vendor integrated LTE system in advance of the $7 billion deployment of the National Public Safety Broadband Network” (CD July 2 p11). The future of this public safety network is “still being determined” but the commercial off-the-shelf devices and system applications are now “local assets,” Cisco said.
NAB might not continue its lawsuit against the FCC over political file requirements in this year’s public-file order, the association said in a filing Monday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. It asked the D.C. Circuit to delay the deadline for NAB’s opening brief from Oct. 4 to Feb. 15, and said the commission, U.S. government and intervenors in the case didn’t oppose the motion. “Over the next several months, NAB’s members will gain experience concerning the actual effects of posting detailed advertising rate information online during the 2012 election season. Following the election on November 6, 2012, the volume of political advertisements purchased by candidates and other political advertisers will drop dramatically, allowing NAB an opportunity to assess the effects of the Order,” the filing said. “Based on experience gained during the 2012 election cycle, NAB may conclude that it is not necessary to proceed with this case.” The agency, which like the D.C. Circuit denied the association’s request to stay the order (CD July 30 p8), could also grant a petition for reconsideration that broadcasters contend wouldn’t harm competition by not releasing lowest unit charge information on fcc.gov, NAB said. “Depending on developments over the next several months, however, NAB may conclude that it is unnecessary to expend additional resources on this appeal."
Companies that own newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market got extra time from the FCC Media Bureau to update their requests for waivers from the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross ownership rules, said an order released Monday (http://xrl.us/bnp6q2). The deadline to file such updates had been Sept. 27. But a group of media companies asked the bureau to delay the deadline until after the FCC publishes its latest quadrennial review of its media ownership rules. “Granting this extension of time will ensure that Media Parties’ supplemental filings can address the issues relevant to the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule that is adopted in that pending proceeding,” the order said. “We note that the Media Parties have represented that they will make the supplemental filings ... ‘notwithstanding the pendency of any administrative or judicial challenges'” to the media ownership rules, the order said. The parties will have until 60 days after the FCC releases its quadrennial review of its media ownership rules to file supplemental waiver material.
Dish Network fears a “harmful interference environment” for an AWS-4 uplink band from broadcast auxiliary service and government operations in the 2025-2110 MHz band, if the FCC shifts the company’s S-band uplink by 5 MHz, the satellite company said. Such a move would “consign” at least a quarter of the AWS-4 uplink allocation “to being beyond efficient usability,” executives including Deputy General Counsel Jeff Blum told staff from the International and Wireless bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology. “This would be a lose-lose for DISH and mobile broadband consumers.” A recent study found AWS-4 base stations “cannot effectively filter out higher powered emissions from above 2025 MHz without an adequate frequency separation between the AWS-4 and 2025-2110 MHz bands,” Dish said in an ex parte filing. It said that’s “despite aggressive assumptions with respect to filter design and the ability of vendors for AWS-4 base stations to surpass minimum 3GPP specifications for base station adjacent channel selectivity.” The agency should finish the 2 GHz notice of proposed rulemaking, keeping “the existing band plan consistent with the AWS-4 NPRM,” said the filing posted Friday in docket 12-70 (http://xrl.us/bnp6sh). Such an order may circulate next month, and it’s unclear how it will respond to some proposals to shift the uplink band (CD Sept 12 p6).
The National Emergency Number Association released its standard document on “civic location” data for next-generation 911 providers for a second round of comments starting Monday, NENA said Saturday. The standards apply to location data that will be critical for routing, dispatch and mapping services of NG-911, it said. The document, which will define “the civic location data elements that will be used to support the NENA compliant Next Generation systems, databases, call routing, call handling, and related processes,” first received comments starting Sept. 5, but various factors demand more time for response, NENA said (http://xrl.us/bnp6re). “Due to the number of comments previously received and the quantity of edits and clarification that have been made to this document, it is being released for a 2nd round of public review and comments with only the edits shown being subject to review,” NENA said when releasing the new document. The new comment period ends Oct. 5. The document’s intended to be an “information source for the designers, manufacturers, administrators and operators of systems to be utilized for the purpose of processing emergency calls,” the standard document draft said (http://xrl.us/bnp6rp). It’s part of a larger series of NG-911 standards in development, the organization said.
The White House is considering an executive order to secure the nation’s critical infrastructure, confirmed John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism. The news came in a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., that was published late last week. Brennan said the White House is “exploring an executive order to direct executive branch departments and agencies to secure the nation’s critical infrastructure by working with the private sector.” Brennan said such an order would give core critical infrastructure companies the flexibility to decide how to upgrade their security with marketplace products and services while companies that already meet cybersecurity best practices would not be expected to do anything further. Brennan said comprehensive cybersecurity legislation is still needed to “improve the nation’s core critical infrastructure, to facilitate cyber information sharing between the government and the private sector, to strengthen and clarify the existing patchwork of authorities regarding federal network security, and to protect the privacy and civil liberties of the American people.” Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said Monday in a CNBC interview that she opposed the president’s “heavy regulatory” proposal (http://xrl.us/bnp6ne). Hutchison, a sponsor of the SECURE IT Act (S-2151), said industry and government must have a cyberthreat information-sharing relationship “because it is the companies at the ground level who are getting the cyberthreats, and if they have a reporting relationship that is voluntary, and they have liability protections, we will have a much safer system.” On the other hand the White House is proposing a “heavy regulatory environment where [President Barack Obama] is going to tell the companies that they consider critical infrastructure to go through the lens of the Department of Homeland Security. ... We're trying to stop the heavy-handed regulatory regime that President Obama and the bill that is being pushed by President Obama [S-3414] would produce.”
LightSquared remains committed to deploying a 4G wireless network (CD Aug 31 p8) in the spectrum it controls, CEO Douglas Smith said during a meeting with Louis Peraertz, aide to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. “LightSquared expressed its willingness to consider a comprehensive solution that would allow it to deploy a nationwide 4G wireless broadband network while addressing concerns raised by the GPS industry,” said an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bnp6nr). Executives also discussed “the significant public interest benefits that would flow from the deployment of LightSquared’s authorized network, including how its wholesale business model would both significantly enhance competition in the wireless industry and facilitate the development of innovative wireless applications” and “the compelling need to find appropriate solutions to the current issues involving LightSquared,” the filing said.