Standards group 3GPP has finalized the standardization of Long Term Evolution and 4G standard updates, which address public safety systems, are well under way, speakers said in a Tuesday webinar hosted by the Alliance for Telecom Industry Solutions. Femtocells are expected to be part of carriers’ LTE deployment, they said.

Broadcasters are more likely to indirectly benefit from the $7.2 billion the U.S. is spending for broadband stimulus than to get a chunk of the money directly from RUS and NTIA, said eight dealmakers, industry lawyers and officials we surveyed. They've not heard of any radio or TV station thinking of applying for grants. Some said stations stand to most benefit by getting contracts from grant winners to produce audio or video training materials and by leasing out tower space for other companies to use to hang wireless broadband transmission gear.

CTIA “strongly” opposed a petition by First Alert System Text that FAST’s emergency alert service be provided for free to all cellphones owned by Lifeline program participants. “The proposal advanced by FAST ignores a multi-year effort by the [Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee], the Commission, and other government agencies to establish and implement a comprehensive wireless mobile alerting system for American consumers,” CTIA said. “This omission does not appear to be inadvertent, as FAST itself participated in the FCC rulemaking concerning the development of a wireless emergency alert system.”

AT&T said the FCC should reject a request by First Alert System Text that FAST’s emergency alert service be provided free to all cellphones owned by Lifeline participants. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau had sought comment on a March 6 petition by FAST. “Although FAST seeks rules regarding a nationwide emergency alert text messaging system, wireless carriers have elected to provide emergency alerts consistent with the Commission’s standards and requirements for the Commercial Mobile Alert System that were adopted to implement the WARN Act,” AT&T said. “FAST’s Petition improperly asks the Commission to duplicate and revisit those standards and requirements.” AT&T said the FCC’s Lifeline rules don’t allow universal-service support to finance emergency alerts. USA Mobility also urged the FCC to reject the petition for rulemaking. “As an initial matter, the FAST proposal is legally deficient,” the paging operator said. “FAST does not provide detailed information regarding the particulars of its proposal, as required by … the Commission’s rules. Critically, FAST does not explain the statutory basis upon which the Commission might adopt the FAST proposal.”

The FCC fined a low-power FM station licensed to a college $9,600 for failing to install required emergency alert system equipment. The action came in an Enforcement Bureau forfeiture order against WRWS Daytona Beach, Fla., released Monday.

The FCC fined a low-power TV station licensed to a college $9,600 for failing to install required emergency alert system equipment. The action came in an Enforcement Bureau forfeiture order against WRWS Daytona Beach, Fla., released Monday.

The FCC should require all wireless microphones to cease operation in the 700 MHz band by Feb. 18, 2010, said CTIA and three public safety groups in a letter to the FCC Tuesday. CTIA, APCO, the National Emergency Number Association and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council have advocated for 700 MHz wireless mic shutdown before (CD March 19 p13), but Tuesday’s letter contained more concessions to wireless mic makers who have opposed them. The groups said they'd prefer to clear devices on June 12 -- the day of the DTV transition -- but would support a Feb. 18 deadline as long as the FCC ensures “any public safety or commercial systems deployed prior” to that date “can operate free of any interference from wireless microphones or other LPAS devices.” A Feb. 18 deadline “would provide an additional twelve months beyond the date originally proposed by the Commission in the 700 MHz Wireless Microphone Notice, and a transition period of eighteen months from the release of that notice,” they said. CTIA and the other groups proposed a 60- day notification process whereby any 700 MHz licensee intending to start operations before Feb. 18 would provide advance notice to wireless mic users in the market. Wireless mic operations would be required to cease within the 60-day period, they said. The groups also urged the FCC to issue a consumer advisory alerting wireless mic users that they must vacate the 700 MHz band, and notifying equipment makers and others that they must stop manufacturing, selling and marketing mics made for the band. The FCC must act quickly, they said. “Absent prompt Commission action, interference and communications disruption in the 700 MHz band are inevitable -- to first responders, to broadband customers, and to users of wireless microphones.”

Broadcasters and state and local emergency management officials are wary of putting too much money into new emergency alert system equipment before the federal government finalizes plans for a new system that won’t soon be obsolete. Their comments at the National EAS Summit Monday echoed concerns raised a year ago (CD May 20 p1). At issue is how quickly broadcasters will have to install new equipment after FEMA adopts a new common alerting protocol. An FCC rule says EAS broadcasters have to be able to receive the new signals within six months of FEMA’s adoption of CAP.

First Alert System Text Corp. filed a petition for rulemaking at the FCC asking that its emergency alert system be provided for free to all cellphone users participating in the Lifeline program.

Ntelos got a waiver of FCC emergency alert system rules for wireline video providers and other pay-TV companies, but with a twist. A Homeland Security Bureau order released Monday gave the company a waiver only until Feb. 28. The company hadn’t sought an extension until after the rules took effect. The matter was referred to the Enforcement Bureau.