The Supreme Court will review a decision against Rancho Palos Verdes, Cal., in a suit brought by an amateur radio operator who claimed the city wrongly denied him a permit to use a radio antenna for commercial purposes. In a case being watched by wireless carriers, the court will decide whether the Telecom Act provides for money damages against city officials when violations occur, or just a court order requiring compliance. The 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, held the radio operator should be compensated. The Rancho Palos Verdes case is important because there’s “no incentive to obey a law if there is no punishment for violating it,” a carrier source said Wed.: “A Supreme Court decision affirming that a state or local government is financially liable to pay money damages for improperly denying permission to construct a site for CMRS communications provides an incentive for zoning officials to properly apply the provisions of section 332(c)(7) of the Communications Act.”
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
The Satellite Industry Assn. weighed in strongly Wed. against a waiver request filed in Aug. by the Multiband OFDM Alliance (MBOA), one of the 2 main ultra-wideband (UWB) groups. With other comments still coming in, the SIA filing is considered critical since satellite operators are the incumbents that will be most affected by any UWB interference.
CTIA is joining Cingular and others in asking the FCC to back away from the use of Numbering Resource Utilization/Forecast (NRUF) data for assessing regulatory fees, in favor of subscriber counts that follow numbers in SEC filings. The use of the NRUF numbers has caused major headaches for carriers and raised questions at the SEC, carrier sources said. In a separate filing, all national carriers except Verizon Wireless supported Cingular.
Nextel CEO Timothy Donahue and Senior Vp Robert Foosaner met with 4 of the 5 FCC Comrs. Mon. and Tues. to make a high-level case for revisions to the 800 MHz rebanding order. Sources said the executives used a PowerPoint presentation and covered technical problems with the order, as well as arguments that the order should be changed to save the carrier hundreds of millions of dollars.
A Senate hearing today (Tues.) comes at an awkward time for wireless carriers, with the CTIA getting ready to launch a limited liability corporation offering wireless carriers an option to list in a national directory. Wireless carriers initially hoped the hearing requested by Sen. Boxer (D-Cal.) would get delayed until next year. Wireless industry sources said congressional regulation of the list could hamper investment and participation in the system. Sources also said the hearing would be a chance for the wireless industry to educate the public about the service, which they said has been mischaracterized by detractors.
Nextel made its most complete filing yet on its concerns about the 800 MHz rebanding proposal published by the FCC on Aug. 6. Most issues raised were highly technical, but Nextel continues to put the most emphasis on financial issues.
An air-to-ground (ATG) telecom order resolving a fight between Airfone, owned by Verizon, and competitors including AirCell and Boeing has been sent to Chmn. Powell from the Wireless Bureau. However, sources told us Fri. that the item may not make the agenda for the Oct. 14 meeting since some of the commissioners’ offices are just starting to focus on the issue and may not be ready to vote. A broadband over powerline (BPL) order also was sent to the chairman from the Officer of Engineering & Technology and is likely to be the item that gets the most attention at the meeting.
Verizon Wireless Thurs. called on the FCC to order Nextel to fully disclose any “post-decisional” discussions the company has held with Commission staff on calculation of the value of spectrum that Nextel must relinquish as part of the proposed swap in the 800 MHz rebanding order. Verizon charged that the change Nextel is seeking could save it paying out as much as $700 million.
The FCC decision on the Cingular-AT&T Wireless merger could circulate among the 4 commissioners’ offices beyond Chmn. Powell’s as early as this week, sources said Tues. That would clear the way for a vote on an FCC order sometime in Oct., though it could get pushed back until after the election. Sources also said that wireline-wireless competition issues raised by the merger were getting late attention.
The FCC Thurs. overrode wireless industry objections and approved a rulemaking and spectrum reallocation that will start the ball rolling toward a controversial auction of H-block spectrum, most likely within the next 2 years. The order passed 5-0 despite the vociferous objections of most wireless carriers.