Public safety faces big challenges following the approval of spectrum legislation by Congress in late February, which includes more than $7 billion to fund a national first responder network in the 700 MHz band, public safety officials said Thursday during a webinar sponsored by Urgent Communications. “This is a unique time where we're coming up on convergence, convergence of technology, devices, applications,” said Charles Werner, chief of the Charlottesville, Va., Fire Department. “Finally, one of the last and most important pieces of this puzzle is the nationwide public safety broadband wireless network,” he said. “For the first time we're going to have a resilient and reliable public safety broadband across the country from the urban setting to the rural setting and everything in between.” Werner said research showed that public safety needed the entire 20 MHz it will have for the network to build a reliable network. Public safety faces a funding crisis across the U.S. and needs to take advantage of “the economies of scale” that come with buying commercial devices, said San Jose, Calif., Police Chief Chris Moore. “Rather than having a lot of vendors … telling us what we need, this is our opportunity, our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to tell them how this network should be designed and rolled out."
The FCC clarified some of the rules on intercarrier compensation for VoIP traffic, saying late Wednesday that intrastate toll calls that start on the public switched telephone network and terminate on the Internet -- or vice versa -- can be charged intrastate originating access rates. The decision grants in part a request by Frontier, Windstream, and some rural associations to reconsider the VoIP intercarrier compensation rules adopted in the USF/ICC order (http://xrl.us/bm5adq). The targeted modification is “transitional and temporary and does not alter the overall, uniform, national framework for comprehensive intercarrier compensation reform,” the commission said. The request in a December petition for reconsideration by Frontier and Windstream set off a chain of ex parte meetings, letters, and comments, as LECs and interexchange carriers argued about whether the USF/ICC order really was intended to move industry away from the ICC regime that many carriers relied upon for revenue (CD Feb 14 p13). “We permit LECs to tariff default charges equal to intrastate originating access for originating intrastate toll VoIP traffic (including traffic that originates in IP, terminates in IP, or both) at intrastate rates until June 30, 2014,” the commission said Wednesday. But the commission’s ultimate goal is to promote migration to IP services, and “a measured transition with a time limit on the use of intrastate access charges as a default for that time period is necessary to ensure that migration to IP services is adequately promoted,” the order said. “The FCC’s reconsideration order puts the right glide path and incentives in place for stronger competition in the business broadband market,” said Bill Weber, senior vice president-general counsel for Cbeyond. Chris Murray, Senior Vice President-Public Policy at EarthLink, said the order provided “a more rational path for competitors to transition to the FCC’s new intercarrier compensation regime.” Christopher King and David Kaut of Stifel Nicolaus characterized the ruling as “a victory for Frontier/Windstream,” cable and CLECs.
Oppositions to petitions for reconsideration of the FCC Lifeline order are due May 7 in docket 12-23, replies May 15, said an agency public notice (http://xrl.us/bm5ag9).
The FCC Wireless and Public Safety bureaus suspended a Jan. 1, 2013, requirement that private land mobile radio (PLMR) licensees in the T-band migrate to narrowband technology. The bureaus also announced a freeze on the processing of Part 22 and Part 90 T-Band applications. Spectrum legislation enacted in February gives public safety use of the 700 MHz D-block, but requires agencies to vacate the T-band within nine years. “Pending further action by the Commission ... there is substantial uncertainty regarding whether application of the narrowbanding deadline in the T-Band would continue to serve its original purpose,” said the order addressing T-band narrowbanding (http://xrl.us/bm5agc). “Continuing to require narrowbanding could force many licensees in the band to invest in narrowband systems that may subsequently have to be relocated. In addition, Commission staff has taken steps to freeze future licensing in the 470-512 MHz band.” The order clarifies that T-band licensees also operating in the 150-174 MHz and 421-470 MHz bands must still meet the narrowbanding deadline with respect to those frequencies. The bureaus said they are ordering a freeze “to maintain a stable spectral landscape while the Commission determines how to implement” the spectrum legislation (http://xrl.us/bm5ahb).
The GPS Satellite Simulator Working Group meeting will be May 15, instead of May 17, the U.S. Air Force said in a notice to be published April 27 in the Federal Register. The open meeting will be to “disseminate information about GPS simulators, discuss current and ongoing efforts related to simulators” and form a functioning working group with industry and government participation. Participants must possess a secret clearance to attend, it said. The meeting will be from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. EDT. The meeting will take place at the Los Angeles Air Force Base in Building 271. The working group consists of simulator manufacturers who supply products to the Defense Department.
The FCC’s clarification (CD April 26 p1) on the application of intrastate carrier access charges for originating VoIP traffic won’t have significant effects for small rate-of-return rural ILECs, a state official said. The transition to the bill-and-keep regime under the FCC’s USF/intercarrier compensation order would adversely impact the financial health of these smaller companies which “have done their best to bring landline broadband to rural America,” he said. This would also create “major risks” for outstanding Rural Utilities Service broadband loans, he said. To the extent that many small, rural carriers already deployed broadband in their territories, they would get nothing out of Phase I, a state regulatory analyst said. The carriers’ costs might be well above the $775 per line cost requirement, she said. The rural carriers have been using the high cost funds to keep their prices low and to do some deployment, she said. They would now pull back from expansion and some might have to raise prices, she said. The Phase I Connect America Fund (CAF) would be an “incremental support” to telcos this year, while their existing federal high-cost support would be frozen, UBS analysts said. Phase I CAF could boost free cash flow by 3 percent for CenturyLink and 7 percent for Frontier and Windstream in 2012, they said. Based on the defined cost of $775 per line, Windstream could increase its broadband coverage by 5 percent, Frontier by 3 percent and CenturyLink by 1 percent, the analysts said. While the figures are small, the increased broadband coverage would allow the RLECs to tap a new revenue opportunity in the next couple of years, UBS said.
Belo Q1 TV broadcasting sales gained 2.9 percent from a year earlier to $155.9 million, the company said. Profit was $14.3 million vs. a $4.3 million loss a year earlier on lower programming costs and a $20 million pension settlement charge recorded in the year-earlier period. Political ad sales from the Texas primary will help Q2, but comparisons to last year will be challenging because the NBA championship run by the Dallas Mavericks may not be repeated this year, the company said. Last year’s Q2 results included $1.3 million in network compensation which Belo won’t receive in 2012, it said. Belo expects Q2 sales to be about 3 or 4 percent higher than in 2011.
Q1 broadcasting sales at Journal Communications gained 5.4 percent from a year earlier to $44.4 million, the company said. Broadcasting earnings gained 12.3 percent from a year earlier to $6.7 million. TV station sales gained 7.5 percent to $29.5 million while radio sales gained 1.5 percent to $14.9 million.
Q1 sales at Nielsen gained 3 percent from a year earlier to $1.34 billion, the company said. Net income swung to a $25 million gain from a loss of $181 million a year earlier.
The gross earnings growth of the U.S. cable operators will continue to slow as penetration of its three-product bundle plateaus, Moody’s said. Moody’s measures the average penetration rates of cable’s voice, broadband and video services in a metric it calls Triple-Play-Equivalent or TPE. “TPE rates capture how well a cable company is managed compared to peers and competitors,” said Moody’s Assistant Vice President Karen Berckmann. “Cable companies with a low TPE rate might have a greater potential for subscriber growth, but their market positions are also more tenable."