A group appointed by the FCC to address minority issues declared victory Tues. in its fight to keep the agency from significantly broadening proposed restrictions on partnerships between designated entities and carriers. Having won, the Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age scuttled a resolution asking the FCC not to ban carriers with annual revenue of more than $125 from teaming up with DEs in the advanced wireless services auction.
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
Despite widespread publicity after last year’s major storms, on the eve of hurricane season the 8 hurricane-zone states “remain dangerously unprepared for another disaster,” the First Response Coalition said in a report. The document sharpens the focus on the individual states, reviewing efforts of each to build interoperable networks. The report comes as the FCC’s Hurricane Katrina Independent Panel also finishes its report.
Aloha Partners, the largest holder of 700 MHz licenses in the U.S., said it will join with satellite operator SES Americom to test-market mobile TV in Las Vegas in the fall, through a new subsidiary, Hwire, using the digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) platform. Aloha has a test of wireless broadband on 700 MHz in Phoenix. CEO Charles Townsend told us Mon. the Aloha will look at both tests at year-end and decide which course to pursue.
Barry Ohlson, senor legal advisor to Comr. Adelstein, told an FCBA lunch Fri. he doesn’t expect the imminent arrival of a 5th commissioner, and a 3rd Republican, at the FCC to make a substantial difference on wireless issues. Ohlson, along with Fred Campbell, wireless advisor to Chmn. Martin, and Aaron Goldberger, legal advisor to Comr. Tate, met with communications lawyers.
Chmn. Martin is circulating revised designated entity rules for the advanced wireless services auction that don’t contain a proposal cutting to $125 million the revenue threshold limiting carriers from partnering with a DE, sources said Thurs. The change is a potential win for DEs and small carriers upset about the lower threshold. One source said Martin withdrew his previous proposal late Wed. and is circulating a new plan in its place. The FCC earlier had examined a $5 billion limit, which would block agreements between DEs and the largest carriers, but not with smaller carriers (CD April 20 p5).
The FCC last week may have set too high a bar in imposing a competitiveness test that must be met to avoid blind bidding in the advanced wireless services auction, sources said this week. Save for Verizon Wireless, carriers large and small tend to oppose blind bids. But blind bidding seems all but a certainty when the auction begins June 29.
Designated entity rules for the advanced wireless services auction seem in flux, with short form applications due May 10 and the auction set to start June 29. The FCC has 2 choices, sources said: approve rules consistent with a further notice of proposed rulemaking, or not propose any changes to DE rules before the auction. “There may still be negotiating going on,” one source said: “I wouldn’t read too much in the tea leaves.” The source said Chmn. Martin has yet to lay out a clear “drop dead” date by which time DE rules must be approved for the auction to proceed as planned.
The FCC issued a $750,000 notice of apparent liability for forfeiture against Dobson Cellular and American Cellular on accusations of “willfully and repeatedly” violating FCC rules requiring the carrier to provide E-911 service within 6 months of a valid request by a PSAP. Both carriers are subsidiaries of Oklahoma City-based Dobson Communications.
Repair crew access to disasters remains a controversial issue as the FCC Hurricane Katrina Independent Panel assembles a report due June 15. Panelists representing firefighters and police made clear Tues. at the FCC they're reluctant to give repair crews blanket “first responder” status.
A report by the Dept. of Homeland Security’s inspector general on how the Federal Emergency Management Agency performed during Hurricane Katrina found that communications was one of several “severe deficiencies” during the storm. But the report also said FEMA provided critical communications support through its mobile teams dispatched to the disaster area before Katrina made landfall.