The seller of KXMZ(FM), Box Elder, South Dakota, and would-be buyer Pandora lobbied the FCC last week seeking "expedition since the proposed transaction has been pending for nearly two years," they said in a filing in docket 14-109. An FCC order Monday let Pandora exceed the 25 percent limit on foreign ownership and be as much as 49.9 percent foreign owned (see 1505040065), as expected (see 1504280046). Foreign-ownership reporting conditions that might be proposed in the declaratory ruling that Pandora seeks and whether the company would be willing to accept them were discussed, said the filing on meetings with aides to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai, also attended by representatives of KXMZ owner Connoisseur Media. "We also reiterated the public interest benefits of Pandora's programming for listeners of KXMZ," it said of the meeting with an aide to O'Rielly. But the FCC didn't approve Pandora's buy of KXMZ, and the order drew concern from O'Rielly and Pai.
Representatives of the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service Coalition told FCC officials that the use of TV white spaces devices in spectrum also used by medical devices would cause problems for members. The group “demonstrated that TV White Space devices will create interference to WMTS receivers at the proposed power and distance levels,” the coalition said in a filing in docket 14-165. “Interference incidents would badly disrupt patient care and hospital staffing.” The group met with Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, and Gary Epstein, chairman of the Incentive Auction Task Force, among others.
Based on a recommendation by NTIA, the government lifted the suspension of Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System’s (LA-RICS) use of Broadband Technology Opportunities Program for construction of a public safety LTE cell tower network in the city. The project is one of five early build initiatives FirstNet hopes will provide lessons for the eventual construction of a national network for first responders (see 1504030061). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NTIA’s contracting office, lifted the suspension Friday. “NTIA, in close consultation with FirstNet, determined that the revised LA-RICS project plan submitted on April 20 would deliver substantial benefits to the Los Angeles public safety community and could be completed by the statutory deadline of September 30,” an NTIA spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. NTIA and NOAA also require LA-RICS to follow a new corrective action plan, the spokeswoman said. “We appreciate the continued commitment of the LA-RICS staff and Los Angeles City and County officials to seeing this project to fruition, giving first responders in the Los Angeles region the most advanced communications tools to protect the public and save lives.” LA-RICS had used $31 million of the $154.6 million in BTOP funds it received for the network.
Blackboard executives and school administrators asked the FCC to act on the company’s petition seeking clarification of Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules on calls to wireless phones (see 1503230070). Blackboard, which offers a mass notification platform for schools, said in a series of meetings on the FCC's eighth floor last week that its clients should be able to send texts on emergency weather closures, threat situations, event scheduling or “other important education-related information” without worrying about violating the TCPA. “Unexcused absences are behind the majority of the calls placed and, in many instances, are required by law to be made to ensure parents or guardians are aware their student did not arrive at school or stay at school,” said an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 02-278. “Schools are charged with the health and safety of students while in their care and the telephone numbers expressly provided by guardians every year and updated throughout the year are the only vehicle for communications to address matters critical to student health and safety.”
U.S. policies are continuing to aid the Internet’s exponential growth 20 years after the start of the commercial Internet, said John Morris, NTIA Office of Policy Analysis and Development director-Internet policy, in a Friday blog post. The National Science Foundation Network (NSFnet) was decommissioned April 30, 1995, ending the last restrictions on commercial traffic and “paving the way for the commercial use and private governance of the Internet,” Morris said. Key U.S. policies that have resulted in strong Internet growth include trusting in private sector innovation and a reliance on multistakeholder Internet governance, he said. NTIA and the Internet Policy Task Force have continually emphasized multistakeholder governance, including supporting ICANN’s ongoing process of spinning off its Internet Assigned Numbers Authority functions, Morris said. Other important U.S. policies have included “strong” IP rights policies, promoting high-speed broadband access and laws that protect against undue regulation like Communications Act Section 230, “which protects online platforms against claims arising from hosting information posted by users and other third parties,” Morris said.
The FCC is seeking comment on TDS Metrocom’s application in docket 15-96 to discontinue its interconnected VoIP services provided via WiMax in the Appleton, Wisconsin, market area. TDS said it plans to discontinue its VoIP WiMax services in Appleton as early as May 15 and it notified affected customers about its plan April 15. An FCC public notice in Friday's Daily Digest said the agency will let TDS discontinue the VoIP services in Appleton on or after May 31 “unless it is shown that customers or other end users would be unable to receive service or a reasonable substitute from another carrier, or that the public convenience and necessity would be otherwise adversely affected.” Comments are due May 15.
The Public Safety Bureau released an agenda Thursday for next Friday’s workshop at the FCC on the use of smartphone apps in the provision of 911 service. The workshop starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room. It features three panels and opening remarks by Bureau Chief David Simpson.
Windstream joined other telcos offered as much as $10.1 billion total over six years from the FCC to deploy broadband to rural areas in saying it's analyzing the USF offers (see 1504290066). "In the coming days and months Windstream will be busy analyzing the statewide offers to determine where its own investment combined with the offered support is sufficient to meet the program’s obligations or where Windstream instead will be compelled by economics to move to the competitive bidding stage," said Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Eric Einhorn in a statement Wednesday. The telcos have until Aug. 27 to decide whether to accept the money state by state, and where they decline, subsidies will be offered on what the agency called a competitive basis. "The task of extending broadband networks to these remote areas will take some years," said USTelecom President Walter McCormick.
The U.S. needs universal service support for broadband-only lines to avoid significant customer rate increases, WTA said in a meeting Monday with the FCC Wireline Bureau about the data connection service plan proposal, according to an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 10-90. WTA said it expressed concerns about the potential ways in which limitations on capital and operating expenses can satisfy FCC principles and goals regarding the use of forward-looking costs in its universal service mechanisms. Wednesday, the FCC said it would give 10 telcos up to $10.1 billion over six years for deploying broadband to rural areas under USF (see 1504300029 and 1504290066).
The FCC asked two federal appeals courts Thursday to transfer legal challenges to the agency’s net neutrality rules to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The appeals were filed by Texas wireless ISP Alamo Broadband in the 5th Circuit and Pennsylvania CLEC Full Service Network in the 3rd Circuit. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation already selected the D.C. Circuit as the court to hear the initial two appeals of the order, the FCC noted. The agency told the courts that because petitioners seek review of the same FCC order that is being challenged in the cases before the D.C. Circuit, and because the Judicial Panel designated the D.C. Circuit as the court where the agency record is to be filed, they are “statutorily required” to move the cases.