SES Government Solutions was awarded a custom satellite solutions contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency and the General Services Administration. The contract is part of the agencies’ Future Commercial Services Acquisition, which is aimed at increasing “the means by which the government can procure satellite capability from industry,” SES said in a press release (http://xrl.us/bnpm8y). The award will allow the government to contract directly with global satellite operators “to obtain mission-tailored communications capability and solutions on SES’ fleet of 51 communication satellites,” SES said.
California telecom companies will have to pay millions for improved infrastructure as a result of the Malibu Canyon fire in October 2007, the California Public Utilities Commission ruled Thursday. “The approved settlement agreement between the CPUC’s Consumer Protection and Safety Division and AT&T Mobility LLC, Sprint Telephony PCS, L.P., and Verizon Wireless requires the companies to pay $12 million, divided equally in one-third shares,” the CPUC said in a press release not yet online. “Of this amount, $6.9 million will be paid to the state’s General Fund and $5.1 million to an Enhanced Infrastructure and Inspection Fund (EIIF) that will be established as part of the settlement agreement.” The EIIF money will go toward strengthening utility poles in Malibu Canyon as well as “to conduct a statistically valid survey of joint-use poles in Southern California Edison’s (SCE) service territory for compliance with General Order 95 safety factor requirements,” it said, adding that any money left will fall to the general fund. The case remains open for SCE and NextG Networks, who also face allegations of violating California rules as part of the Malibu Canyon incident, according to the commission decision (http://xrl.us/bnpm7k). All parties have agreed to the settlement, the CPUC said. Its case against these companies began in 2009.
If the cable exclusivity prohibition sunsets, then programming potentially available for Comcast exclusivity would increase substantially, DirecTV said in an ex parte filing in dockets 12-68, 07-18 and 05-192 (http://xrl.us/bnpmzz). The sole program access remedy specifically available under the Comcast-NBCUniversal merger conditions is commercial arbitration, DirecTV said. While arbitration can be a powerful remedy, “no one should think that arbitration fulfills the same function as the exclusivity prohibition, or that it would be sufficient in the absence of the prohibition,” it said. The merger order “implicitly assumed that the arbitration condition would work in tandem with the exclusivity prohibition to provide the full spectrum of protections necessary to offset the vertical integration effects of the transaction.” Allowing the rule to sunset could compromise that, DirecTV added. The filing recounted a phone conference with DirecTV, the FCC Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis and Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake.
The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) announced Thursday its 2012 Community Broadband Award winners. They include “community broadband hero” John Windhausen “for long-time heroic advocacy for more, bigger broadband in America, and for ably advocating on behalf of the needs of schools, health care, and libraries in broadband” and “community broadband visionary” Blair Levin “for understanding the potential of fiber to the home, and advocating for gigabit networks in all American communities through true partnerships between public and private sectors,” NATOA said. Wilson, N.C., and Clackamas County, Ore., won awards for the best community fiber networks. Other categories include community broadband project of the year, organization of the year and wireless network of the year. The full list of winners is available on NATOA’s website (http://xrl.us/bnpmyb). It said they'll be honored at its 2012 annual meeting in New Orleans later this September.
Transcom fought back Wednesday against Wisconsin’s TDS ILECs, which had requested that the Wisconsin Public Service Commission strike Transcom’s Aug. 17 petition for rehearing and clarification. Transcom had become embroiled in multiple state commission cases with the now-liquidated Halo Wireless over the past several months concerning unpaid access charges (CD Aug 2 p8). It sought to revisit those proceedings with the Wisconsin PSC, but TDS had called Transcom’s arguments baseless reiterations as well as excessive in length in late August. “TDS cites no authorities in support of its Motion to Strike, and argues only in bland generalities about the need to limit the length of briefs and petitions,” Transcom said (http://xrl.us/bnpmv7). “The relief the ILECs are requesting is harsh and would infringe Transcom’s due process rights.” Transcom defended the length of its earlier petition, which TDS slammed for exceeding the commission’s 15-page limit. It also reiterated the reasoning for why the PSC should grant its petition: “The AT&T and TDS filings try to minimize the import of federal and state law limitations that prohibit the Commission from taking the actions it purports to take in the Final Decision. Those multiple legal deficiencies detailed in Transcom’s Petition cannot be ignored."
A meeting between Dish Network and FCC staff Wednesday focused on a suggested 5 MHz uplink shift of the DBS company’s spectrum in the proceeding around final adoption of AWS-4 band rules for its 2 GHz frequencies. Dish supports adoption of a 2 GHz order, which would lead to buildout of its terrestrial service. An upward shift “would needlessly inject serious regulatory and technical obstacles into Dish’s planned deployment,” Dish said in an ex parte filing on the meeting with its executives and Louis Peraertz, aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (http://xrl.us/bnpmk7). It was filed in docket 12-70. Dish reiterated that the modification would limit opportunities for global mobile satellite services roaming and global economies of scale and it would expose AWS-4 base stations “to potential interference from federal and broadcast auxiliary station operations above 2025 MHz.” A Wireless Bureau draft order approving a waiver so Dish can begin selling a terrestrial-based wireless service, by using the 2 GHz spectrum, may circulate for an FCC vote next month (CD Sept 12 p6).
No one can factually dispute that there is a spectrum crunch today, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said at Stanford University Wednesday during a panel discussion about the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report on spectrum sharing. He said the FCC is moving forward with incentive auctions and touted an element of that proposal that will include a national band set aside for unlicensed use. Google will find a way to use that spectrum, said Eric Schmidt, the company’s executive chairman who also spoke on the panel. “Trust me, we're going to use it,” he said. The FCC is also hoping to move forward soon with spectrum sharing plans for the 1755 MHz band, he said. “We're having good conversation with military so we can actually test these sharing concepts next to bases and other places where there is an interference issue,” he said. Companies and government policies need to put “mobile first,” Schmidt said. “All of the best startups start with a mobile application,” he said. He said Google is activating 1.3 million new Android devices a day. “If it takes 8-10 years to clear spectrum then we are really in big trouble,” he said. “It’s not going to be enough fast enough to solve these problems.”
Clearwire has begun spending on its planned LTE overlay, Chief Financial Officer Hope Cochran said during a presentation at an investor conference Wednesday, according to Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche. The company has begun zoning for the overlay, expected to cost $600 million, and is preparing for a rollout that’s set to begin in 2013, Fritzsche wrote investors. A total of 1,800 sites have received a notice to proceed and are ready to be built, she said in the note. Vendor financing should be in place when Clearwire begins purchasing LTE equipment, Fritzsche said.
Capitol Broadcasting’s WRAL-TV Raleigh, N.C., will demonstrate a mobile Emergency Alert System using the ATSC mobile DTV standard. Watch the demo here Thursday at 6 p.m. EDT: http://www.wral.com/11477194.
The FCC lawfully exercised its discretion when it dismissed a request for review of a Universal Service Administrative Co. billing decision, it told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a brief Monday (http://xrl.us/bnphix). InContact, a maker of call center software, had asked the FCC to review a USAC invoice for billing mistakes about 80 days after the invoice was issued. The FCC declined, pointing out its rules implement a 60-day review period. “The sole issue properly before the Court is whether the Commission abused its discretion when it upheld the Bureau’s dismissal of inContact’s underlying request for review of an action taken by the Administrator because inContact’s request was filed out of time,” the FCC wrote. “The Commission reasonably determined that the issuance of an invoice by USAC constitutes a ‘decision’ of the Administrator that must be appealed within 60 days. ... The Commission’s interpretation of its own rules was reasonable, and inContact’s request for review of the USAC invoice was clearly untimely."