NCTA’s proposal to cut Connect America Funds from ILECs that don't meet the new FCC 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload standard (see 1501290043) is “baseless,” Frontier Communications said in reply comments on a notice of inquiry on ways to increase broadband deployment. NCTA had said in initial comments that the funds should be shifted to any broadband provider able to meet the standard (see 1503060064). Frontier called the proposal a “last-minute attack” and said pursuing the change would “severely delay the deployment of broadband to rural areas.” NTCA and the American Cable Association, in replies posted Tuesday in docket 14-126, also urged the agency to enact reforms to curb increasing programming costs. An ACA study took particular aim at “'Cablization’ of the Internet,” in which content providers charge ISPs fees on a per-subscriber basis to permit the broadband providers’ customers to access the content, said ACA's filing. Should “content providers pursue this business model, the effect on broadband deployment will almost certainly be immediate and grave,” ACA said. Among other reforms, the association urged the agency to monitor for “cablization” and address commercially unreasonable actions. Using Telecom Act Section 706 to deal with the costs of programming would not “present the challenges” of using the provision to pre-empt state anti-municipal broadband laws, the cable association said. Making video content available at affordable rates and under reasonable terms and conditions “spurs rural broadband investment,” NTCA said. It urged changes to USF to support smaller rural companies. Frontier noted that CAF Phase II is “specifically targeted to the areas that most need funding.” By requiring only 10 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload speeds for CAF, the agency is recognizing “a tradeoff between the number of households reached and the speeds achieved,” Frontier said.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau said it's updating the FCC’s Public Safety Answering Point Text-to-911 Readiness and Certification Registry. The notice is intended to warn wireless carriers and other providers of interconnected text messaging services “of the effective readiness date of those PSAPs for which the Bureau has received the updated information,” the Tuesday notice said. “Also, the Bureau reminds covered text providers that they should periodically review the text-readiness of PSAPs in their service areas and reach out to these PSAPs as necessary to coordinate implementation of text-to-911 service.” Covered text providers must start routing 911 text messages to requesting PSAPs within six months, the bureau said.
FCC proposed rules for terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) wouldn’t give Globalstar “exclusive operating rights within the unlicensed band segment,” the company said in an ex parte notice response to Google posted Tuesday in docket 13-213. Google raised concerns that if the commission approves Globalstar’s TLPS, it would be giving priority to the satellite operator (see 1504060025). The commission’s framework “will permit any party to use that spectrum, including for new technologies, as long as the operations meet the Part 15 rules,” Globalstar said. It said the 2473 to 2483.5 MHz band segment will "remain open to current and future Part 15-compliant services including, for example, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and innovative technologies that can better utilize this unlicensed spectrum." Unmanaged public Wi-Fi operations on Channel 14 could create interference for Globalstar’s mobile-satellite service (MSS) operations, it said. By managing TLPS, Globalstar can minimize interference to its MSS, it said. The commission should release emissions measurement results that -- like the Office of Engineering and Technology report, which was released April 2 (see 1504030047) -- don't require analyses or interpretation, Gerst Capital said in a comment posted Tuesday. The commission should also release spectrum analyzer photos for the transmit chains for all four access points used in the demos, Gerst said. Gerst called it "encouraging" to have TLPS-enabled hardware subject to formal radio frequency testing, but raised concerns that the coexistence filters on the access points weren't sufficiently tested. "I am concerned only two of the four Ruckus 7982 access points used in the TLPS demonstrations were tested," said manager of Gerst Capital Greg Gerst. "It would have been possible for Globalstar to configure the demonstrations in such a way as to avoid the coexistence filter problem without having to modify every access point, or even every transmit chain on every access point." Globalstar maintained in its comment that TLPS deployment won’t have detrimental effects on other unlicensed services at 2.4 GHz, including public Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices.
AT&T's planned buy of DirecTV should be granted only with conditions that “eliminate all regulatory advantages AT&T and DirecTV have enjoyed as putative upstart competitors to established rivals,” Cox Communications told an aide to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in an April 2 meeting, according to an ex parte filing. The deal “will create a new company with unprecedented resources, diversity of service platforms, and household reach,” Cox said. The new company should be required to comply with the basic tier requirement that cable companies already face, and be prohibited from exclusive programming agreements, and demanding volume discounts from programmers, Cox said. The deal also should include conditions designed to prevent the new company from having “unfair competitive advantages in the bundled services market resulting from its control of the largest wireline and data network,” Cox said in docket 14-90.
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is not leaving the FCC, despite rumors to that effect, an aide to the commissioner said Tuesday. Several top industry lawyers told us they had heard from numerous sources that Rosenworcel may leave as early as June, potentially leaving the agency with a 2-2 split between Democrats and Republicans. “This is really easy; she’s staying put,” the aide said.
Chanelle Hardy was named FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s chief of staff and media legal adviser, Clyburn’s office said Monday. The appointment is effective May 1. Hardy was the National Urban League’s senior vice president-policy and executive director of the group’s Washington, D.C., bureau, a news release said. She has been counsel and later chief of staff to then-Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala. "Chanelle Hardy is a deeply committed public servant, who brings significant experience in policy analysis, advocacy, strategic partnerships and media analytics to my office,” Clyburn said in the release. Former chief-of-staff Adonis Hoffman left the agency last month to start a think tank (see 1503260051).
CBS objected to aspects of an FCC information request connected to Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable, in a heavily redacted response posted Friday in docket 14-57. An FCC question asking CBS to list agreements with “announced OVD (online video distributor) services since Jan. 2011" is “vague and ambiguous,” CBS said. Other FCC questions are “vague and overly burdensome,” CBS said, such as an agency request that the broadcast network “describe all provisions relating to restrictions or limitations on distribution of the Company’s Video Programming.” CBS also objected to “any requirement that it produce information after the FCC reaches a decision on the applications relevant to MB Docket No. 14-57,” the company said. The FCC didn’t comment.
The FCC shouldn’t grant Globalstar “privileged” or “priority access” to the 2472 to 2483.5 MHz spectrum for its terrestrial low-power service (TLPS), Google said in an ex parte notice posted Friday in docket 13-213. Google also raised concerns that real-world operation of TLPS may “differ substantially” from the conditions that were tested at the commission. Globalstar rebuked critics of its testing conditions in recent filings (see 1503300050). “Globalstar’s request raises a basic question whether it is consistent with the public interest for a Commission licensee to leverage that permission to gain preferential use of spectrum outside the scope of its license, particularly when that other spectrum has been designated for unlicensed use on a shared basis,” Google said. Globalstar can instead ask the commission to operate an ancillary terrestrial network, like a 10 MHz time-division LTE system, on the spectrum above 2483.5, which it already has a license for, Google said. Google said Globalstar may need to submit an application for reallocation of the 2472 to 2483.5 MHz spectrum from unlicensed to exclusive use for the commission to review. Such an application isn’t necessary, said Globalstar General Counsel Barbee Ponder in an interview. “We really don’t understand why Google has at this late date decided to express any positions in the proceeding,” he said. “We think the FCC’s rules they proposed a year and a half ago are in the consumer’s best interests. The demonstrations we recently completed at the FCC show there is no harmful impact on unlicensed services.” Globalstar planned to have filed a response Monday to Google’s ex parte filing, he said.
Correction: NTCA, not NCTA, was concerned about a possible disparity between online- and facilities-based multichannel video program distributors, it told the FCC (see 1504020051). “The fees and compliance costs incurred by existing MVPDs can translate to tens of thousands of dollars to millions annually, and these costs must be passed on to customers,” NTCA said. “New entrants would not have these fees and would have the opportunity to offer service at a substantially reduced rate and compete unfairly.”
An FCC public notice was published Friday in the Federal Register seeking comment on how the commencement of operations for new 600 MHz band wireless licensees after the TV incentive auction should be defined (see 1503260047) . Comments are due May 1, replies May 18.