OPASTCO urged FCC to set higher benchmark for prices charged by rural CLECs for access because their costs were higher. Commenting on FCC public notice that asked about effect of benchmarks on rural CLECs (CC Doc. 96-262), OPASTCO said it supported idea of benchmarks to hold down CLEC access charges but “a single benchmarked rate would not be suitable for all CLECs.” Higher cutoff should be established “for CLECs serving rural or high-cost areas that suitably reflects their higher costs of providing service,” OPASTCO said. Assn. said all of its members were rural telcos and about 1/3 of them operated CLECs.
BellSouth told FCC it was opposed to request by Dept. of Justice and FBI for additional security requirements under Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). DoJ/FBI asked agency in Nov. to require carriers to: (1) Submit name, phone number, e-mail address and other contact information for person designated as point of contact for CALEA issue. (2) Notify FCC in writing or by e-mail of any change in such contact information. BellSouth said requirements were “unnecessary, burdensome and inconsistent with the Commission’s minimal set of guidelines for compliance with CALEA’s systems security and integrity provisions.”
Mont. House State Administration Committee completed hearings Wed. on bill that would require state agencies to retain internal and external e-mail memos and letters as public record, just as they must do now with correspondence on paper. Measure (HB-112) would clarify state open records law to include e-mail among agency records that must be retained and made available to public. Panel has until mid-Feb. to move bill. Measure also would make it crime to harass or threaten anyone via e-mail. Penalties would be same as for telephone harassment. State Rep. John Brueggeman (R- Polson), bill’s sponsor, said e-mail had become common method for conducting official state business, but effectively was exempt under current law from requirements that official correspondence be kept for public inspection. Other supporters cited incident last fall in which environmental group seeking internal memos from state Natural Resources Dept. to bolster case in timberland dispute discovered material had been deleted in routine purge of e-mail files. Supporters also said making e-mail harassment crime would close loophole in current law. No opponents spoke at hearing.
Ariz. Attorney Gen. Janet Napolitano ruled expansion of Ariz. Corporation Commission to 5 members from 3, which voters approved in Nov., won’t be effective until 2 additional commission members are selected by voters in 2002 general election. She said plain language of ballot question and fact that legislature didn’t budget for additional members in 2001-02 fiscal cycle clearly showed it didn’t intend that ballot proposition create vacancies that required interim gubernatorial appointments. On related question, Napolitano said current commissioners could be elected to one additional 4-year term when their present terms expired. She said past commissioners, who previously were barred by law from seeking commission seat ever again, could run for 2nd term on agency starting with 2002 elections. With legal questions settled, agency Comrs. Marc Spitzer and Jim Irvin agreed Tues. that Comr. William Mundell was commission’s new chmn. Chmn. serves indefinite term and always casts final vote.
Lucent Technologies is to supply fiber network to China’s Liaoning Province for subsidiary of China Telecom under $15 million contract announced Wed. Equipment is to be deployed by May. Lucent’s WaveStar OLS-400G has capacity of 400 Gbps, is capable of handling 5 million simultaneous phone calls or 80 one- page e-mails per sec., company said.
PASADENA -- CBS TV Pres. Leslie Moonves said network had ordered new Survivor series 3 and 4 -- to follow Survivor 2, which begins its run immediately following Jan. 28 Super Bowl. Third in series will air in fall as hedge against possible strike by writers and actors. “That’s all part of the game plan,” along with extended new or expanded editions of news programming, he said at TV critics session here. Reality shows are “not union dependent,” Moonves said. “We hope the strike can be avoided, but we are ready… Obviously, everybody is going to be doing the same thing” in stockpiling reality programming in case of strike (CD Jan 9 p7). He joked that if Super Bowl were “a blowout, we may eliminate the 4th quarter and go right to Survivor… and hopefully in the near future we'll be announcing Survivor 19 and 20.” He refused to discuss prices being paid by advertisers for Survivor 2, but “obviously it’s a great deal more than they paid” for original series last summer.
Texas Instruments (TI) plans to offer royalty-free licenses under TI patents needed to implement wireless home networking standard called IEEE 802.11g. Offer needs ratification of TI proposal for higher speed wireless local area networks in 2.4 GHz. TI said proposal would double data rate of 802.11b products to 22 Mbps.
FCC, NTIA and Industry Canada reached agreement on spectrum- sharing requirements along U.S.-Canada border for U.S. Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) and Canadian Local Multipoint Communications Service (LMCS). Interim arrangement also covers certain services in 27 GHz, 29 GHz and 31 GHz. FCC said arrangement defined coordination requirements to help prevent cross-border interference. It said pact would help promote services such as high-speed Internet access and high-speed data. Arrangement calls for licensees of systems in 27 GHz to coordinate services on either side of border, with carriers encouraged to develop their own sharing agreements. If licensees work out their own sharing arrangement, FCC said that agreement will be followed rather than coordination process outlined in U.S.-Canada agreement. Without such sharing arrangements, coordination will be based on different power flux density (pfd) levels calculated at service area boundaries. In 29 and 31 GHz bands, coordination isn’t required if station generates pfd signal less than or equal to -105 dBW/m2 in any 1 MHz band at border. Above that level, coordination is necessary before deployment. In U.S., 27.35-27.5 GHz is occupied by federal govt. fixed and mobile systems and intersatellite service. That means NTIA and Industry Canada will represent licensees in arranging for coordination in that band segment, FCC said. “This arrangement gives licensees the flexibility to develop their own border-sharing agreements and will encourage expanded development of the 27, 29 and 31 GHz bands,” FCC International Bureau Chief Donald Abelson said. Arrangement includes list of service areas that may need to coordinate with each other. In Canada, 27 GHz band is designated for LMCS, but nation hasn’t yet designated radio service for 29 and 31 GHz. In U.S., 29 GHz is allocated for LMDS and in Canada for fixed and mobile service. Arrangement doesn’t apply to mobile services in those bands, although footnote to arrangement said it might be amended if Canada designated 29 and 31 GHz for fixed service. FCC said arrangement was part of its effort to negotiate agreements with Canada and Mexico to promote efficient spectrum use in border regions -- www.fcc.gov/ib/pnd/agree.
Hearst-Argyle TV will take over management of WMUR-TV (Ch. 9, ABC) Manchester, N.H., under local management agreement, companies said. Deal is effective until Hearst-Argyle completes acquisition of station from Imes Communications.
New Edge Networks said orders for its broadband services increased more than 60% in last 2 months of 2000 because it picked up customers of competitors that were scaling back or in jeopardy of going out of business. New Edge said it took in record 1,700 orders in last week of Dec. alone.