OneWeb and advocates for opening 12 GHz to 5G butted heads Wednesday whether there's wireless demand here. “Where is CTIA [support], where is Verizon [support]?" said OneWeb North American Director-Government and Regulatory Engagement Eric Graham in a Broadband Breakfast virtual panel Wednesday. He said their silence and AT&T opposition to opening the band indicate a relative lack of wireless interest. Replied RS Access CEO Noah Campbell, NCTA says its members want access, and AT&T shows interest in an auction if there's a mobile allocation. Dish Network Executive Vice President-External and Legislative Affairs Jeff Blum said it's "telling" that non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite interests didn't offer their own technical study in the docket 20-443 comment cycle (see 2107080055) refuting the RS Access-commissioned study showing satellite/terrestrial sharing of the 12.2-12.7 GHz band is feasible. Graham said the burden of proof is on 5G petitioners to make the case for sharing. Blum and Campbell focused on the need for the spectrum for 5G. Graham argued terrestrial service is a harmful interference risk to NGSO fixed satellite service (FSS) downlinks to user terminals. Graham said the 12 GHz swath is part of a 2 GHz-wide band of Ku spectrum available for satellite use, but terrestrial uses in the 10.7-11.7 GHz band makes it more difficult if not impossible for NGSO FSS constellations. Blum said the band isn't inherently needed for NGSO-provided broadband, citing Amazon's planned Kuiper constellation not using that spectrum. He and Campbell disputed the interference threat. Now that the record's closed, 5G interests will seek to engage with NGSO interests, said Blum.
Telecom interests disagree about the feasibility of texting the 988 suicide prevention hotline by July 16, 2022, in docket 18-336 comments due Monday. Text-to-988 can be instituted by that implementation deadline for 988 voice service or within six months of when Lifeline is technically prepped to receive and handle texts, whichever is later, CTIA said. It said the FCC should rely on the text-to-911 definitions of 'covered providers" and "covered services" here. It said the FCC should keep evaluating the feasibility and policy considerations of such issues as a broader scope of supported messaging services and the provisioning of location information. Calling the 2022 deadline feasible, ATIS said covered text providers should have to route 988 text messages to Lifeline's current 10-digit number instead of a Lifeline local crisis center, because a text-to-911-type architecture "would require significantly more time to implement." ATIS said modeling text-to-988 after text-to-911 would mean nine to 12 months of updating specifications, and 12 to 18 months of implementation. Voice on the Net Coalition said text-to-988 should have the same exemptions as text-to-911 from non-interconnected texting applications and covered text providers in Wi-Fi-only locations requirements. It said new routing and technical standards for text-to-988 could make meeting the 2022 deadline difficult. It said the FCC instead should look at an implementation deadline of 12 months after the effective date of the order. Support enhanced funding and resources for 988 and the network of crisis centers answering those calls to ensure it has the capacity to respond to texts, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention commented. Lack of support to receive, address and respond to text messages "will set [the texting] capacity up for failure," it said. Also citing funding concerns, the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness said the FCC should collaborate with providers and payers on structuring operational functionality of the crisis line. An array of mental health organizations including the American Psychiatric Association, American Association of Suicidology and National Alliance on Mental Illness urged requiring automated bounceback messages when text-to-988 isn't answerable and that texting be available by the July 2022 988 voice call deadline. The National Association of the Deaf, National Disability Rights Network and others urged expanding the scope of the order to include real-time text, rich communications service and other successor formats and to cover all interconnected texting service providers.
Intelsat is upping the estimated price tag for its part in the C-band clearing by more than $100 million, while SES and Eutelsat are dropping theirs, per updated transition plans posted Thursday in docket 18-122 (see 2106230038). The FCC didn't comment.
Staff may not use FCC computing resources for any "illegal, unethical, or inappropriate activities, "including accessing "inappropriate material," online gambling, lobbying, campaigning or downloading or distributing illegal copies of copyrighted materials. That's per the information technology and privacy rules of behavior, which we obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. Staff can't send or post "threatening, harassing, intimidating, abusive, or inappropriate material or message," do official agency business via personal email, or forward non-public data to personal accounts. When teleworking, staffers must protect sensitive data by means including the disposal of sensitive information by shredding or other means, and not download FCC information on personal devices, including downloading FCC attachments outside of OneDrive or SharePoint, per the policy. Under the FCC's essential IT equipment policy, employees "as a standard equipment baseline" get a virtual desktop infrastructure unit and required peripheral equipment such as a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Workers can be issued a smartphone or tablet, with a maximum of one per employee "with few exceptions," though field agents and travelers might be issued both. The commission told us it implemented a "bring your own device" smartphone policy during FY 2017-18, under which employees are permitted to use their personally owned device. Under the BYOD policy, staff, interns and contractors must use the MobileIron Apps@work catalog to download work-related applications.
Staff may not use FCC computing resources for any "illegal, unethical, or inappropriate activities, "including accessing "inappropriate material," online gambling, lobbying, campaigning or downloading or distributing illegal copies of copyrighted materials. That's per the information technology and privacy rules of behavior, which we obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. Staff can't send or post "threatening, harassing, intimidating, abusive, or inappropriate material or message," do official agency business via personal email, or forward non-public data to personal accounts. When teleworking, staffers must protect sensitive data by means including the disposal of sensitive information by shredding or other means, and not download FCC information on personal devices, including downloading FCC attachments outside of OneDrive or SharePoint, per the policy. Under the FCC's essential IT equipment policy, employees "as a standard equipment baseline" get a virtual desktop infrastructure unit and required peripheral equipment such as a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Workers can be issued a smartphone or tablet, with a maximum of one per employee "with few exceptions," though field agents and travelers might be issued both. The commission told us it implemented a "bring your own device" smartphone policy during FY 2017-18, under which employees are permitted to use their personally owned device. Under the BYOD policy, staff, interns and contractors must use the MobileIron Apps@work catalog to download work-related applications.
As in-person events return this summer and fall (see 2103240003), organizers are opting for relatively light-touch COVID-19 health precautions such as spacing out lunch breaks or sessions to try to prevent larger gatherings of attendees, they told us in an unofficial survey of tech and telecom events. Some health experts said mandatory masks or required vaccinations for attendees will be the surest guarantee for safety.
As in-person events return this summer and fall (see 2103240003), organizers are opting for relatively light-touch health precautions such as spacing out lunch breaks or sessions to try to prevent larger gatherings of attendees, they told Communications Daily in an unofficial survey of tech and telecom events. Some health experts said mandatory masks or required vaccinations for attendees would be the surest guarantee for safety. But that's not a common approach events are taking, we found.
Aerospace Industries Association, Rural Wireless Associations and Blooston petitions to reconsider the 3.45 GHz band order got pushback Tuesday in docket 19-348. CTIA said in an opposition the AIA petition is an attempt to essentially elevate Part 5 experimental license holders from non-interfering secondary operations to co-primary status through a new coordination framework, and presents nothing new as the basis for a reconsideration. CTIA said it opposes RWA's request the license term for new flexible-use licenses drop from 15 years to 10, since 15 years ensures new licensees have time to deploy service given DOD repurposing. T-Mobile said the FCC correctly rejected a coordination framework for federal contractors, and reversing that would undermine the proceeding's purpose of making more spectrum available for commercial mobile services. It said calls by RWA and small carriers represented by Blooston law firm to license on a countywide basis run contrary to the idea that licensing by partial economic area will better let carriers aggregate the spectrum across similar bands like C. AT&T said the petitions could delay the start of Auction 110, and they recycle previously made arguments. RWA said it backs Blooston's call to reconsider licensing 10 3.45 GHz channel blocks as PEAs, but the agency should license them instead by county. RWA agreed with Blooston that Auction 110 short form application deadlines should be delayed to Q1.
Eligibility for the network equipment “rip and replace” reimbursement program would be capped at providers with 10 million or fewer subscribers, instead of 2 million or fewer, under a draft order (docket 18-89) released Tuesday to be voted on at the FCC's July 13 meeting. The agency also released the drafts of the three other non-enforcement items. Under the “rip and replace” draft, the agency would set a June 30, 2020, date by which providers had to have purchased communications equipment and services to be eligible for reimbursement and create a prioritization system if reimbursement program demand surpasses the $1.9 billion appropriated by Congress. The draft NPRM on permissible uses for short-range radars in the 57-64 GHz band (docket 21-264) would set operating frequencies and power limits for unlicensed field disturbance sensors/radar devices operating in the band. A draft NPRM on updating radio rules (docket 21-263) is focused on small changes to technical rules. It “proposes to update regulations to better reflect current technical requirements and eliminate redundant, outdated, or conflicting provisions.” Those updates include proposals to eliminate an AM transmitter power limitation, to do away with a “seldom-used” rule on FM transmitting antennas, update signal strength contour requirements for noncommercial educational FM Class D stations, and eliminate requirements that broadcasters protect grandfathered common carrier services in Alaska. A draft order on International Bureau applications (docket 21-265) would require electronic filing for the few such submissions that aren’t all-electronic. It would eliminate requirements for duplicate paper versions of those applications.
The FCC's July 13 meeting will have commissioners voting on congressionally mandated changes to its system for replacing insecure U.S. network equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, plus a cleanup of its rules for full-power and translator radio stations, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel blogged Monday. Drafts of four of the five items on the agenda are to be released Tuesday, the fifth being an enforcement item. Rosenworcel said topping the agenda is a draft order that would incorporate such changes to the insecure network replacement program as expanded eligibility that allows more carriers to participate and a wider array of services and equipment eligible for reimbursement funding. Commissioners adopted the replacement program unanimously at their December meeting (see 2012100054). The agency will also vote on a proposal to “update and clean up” rules for full-power and translator radio stations. The update will “reduce any potential confusion, alleviate unnecessary burdens, and make sure they reflect the latest technical requirements,” said Rosenworcel. The July meeting will also include a proposal to mandate electronic filings for some applications to the International Bureau and remove duplicate paper filings, she said. “This common-sense move would reduce costs and administrative burdens, facilitate faster and more efficient communications, and improve transparency to the public.” Also on deck is a proposal for more permissible uses for short-range radars in the 57-64 GHz band, Rosenworcel said. “With the right policies in place, we can help spur the use of these radars for vital sign monitoring in car seats that will enhance in-vehicle safety, for touchless control of device functions or features that can benefit users with mobility or speech impairments, and for much, much more,” she said.