Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

NTIA submitted ultra-wideband (UWB) policy recommendation to FCC Fri. that would restrict intentional emissions below 4.2 GHz, protect radioastronomy band and restrict peer-to-peer networking of UWB devices, sources said. Emissions limits in NTIA proposal reflect several stipulations laid out by Defense Dept. in letter earlier this month to NTIA, but proposal appears to have left unresolved differences among federal agencies on what emissions limits would best protect GPS. Industry source said proposal had left officials at agencies such as Dept. of Transportation upset because their demands for higher threshold for intentional emissions of 6 GHz hadn’t been heeded in final NTIA recommendation. NTIA recommendation came in advance of UWB item that’s expected to be on agenda for Feb. 14 FCC meeting.

Group of competitive telcos teamed up with business user group Tues. to propose that FCC adopt set of special access standards they had devised as consensus approach. “The entire competitive industry as well as business users have joined together to present what we believe is an appropriate set of measurements,” WorldCom Vp Donna Sorgi said in press teleconference. Calling itself Joint Competitive Industry Group (JCIP), coalition said special access was lifeblood of competitive telcos and long distance companies because it gave them last-mile access to business customers. And yet, they said, there was little regulatory oversight of how quickly and fairly ILECs provided that service to them.

FCC announced formal approval Thurs. of major portion of agency realignment following consent of all 4 commissioners and approval by National Treasury Employees Union Local 209. Agency must notify Congress of changes before they can become effective, and Chmn. Powell indicated in news conference that lawmakers could seek changes in plan, but were unlikely to do so. Bureaus seeing most changes are: Mass Media and Cable Services, which will be combined into new Media Bureau; Common Carrier, which will become Wireline Competition Bureau; International Bureau, which, like others, will see some of its duties change.

Asst. Defense Secy. for Command, Control, Communications & Intelligence John Stenbit spelled out Pentagon’s ultra- wideband (UWB) position for NTIA Fri., saying DoD required that there be no intentional emissions below 4.2 GHz except for imaging systems. That position, outlined in Stenbit letter to Commerce Dept.’s Deputy Asst. Secy. for Communications & Information Michael Gallagher, doesn’t reflect harder line approach of agencies such as Dept. of Transportation and NASA. Those parts of federal govt., which share DoD concerns about potential of UWB to interfere with GPS-dependent systems, still advocate no intentional emissions “below 6 GHz, period,” industry source said. DoD proposal to bar UWB emissions below 4.2 GHz, with some limited exceptions, is “a long-term position taken to protect vital DoD systems that ensure our national security,” Stenbit said in letter released Mon.: “That position is further justified by recent public reports that such initial rollouts may constitute just the ‘camel’s nose under the tent’ of commercial investment in UWB.” FCC plans to take up UWB item at Feb. 14 meeting.

Writers Guild of America (WGA), representing writers of virtually all national entertainment programming and much of national news Americans see, said media mergers have caused decline in quality and quantity of programming. WGA comments came in filing to FCC Jan. 4 -- deadline for comments on proceeding contemplating limits on cable ownership. “We all fear the day when network dominance overwhelms the few independent voices remaining,” WGA said, saying consolidation was eroding freedom of expression and creativity. Guild said independence has “virtually ceased to exist” in movies made for TV and miniseries and that they have largely been replaced by game shows, reality shows and sexually exploitive programming. WGA specifically criticized rules that allow program distributors to produce and control content. “When everything is squeezed through 1 or 2 or 3 narrow funnels, when profit and ratings and other corporate goals enter strongly into the mix, and the voice of the creators is forced to take a back seat, when the writer has to do it their way or be replaced, of course creativity suffers.”

FCC’s recent spectrum reallocation (CD Dec 31 p1) is boon for Time Division Duplexing (TDD) industry, industry coalition said. In that decision, Commission allocated for “flexible” commercial use 27 MHz of spectrum in 7 bands that had been transferred from federal govt. TDD Coalition said spectrum was reallocated in way that would promote more efficient, innovative TDD-based uses. “This announcement by the FCC is an important step toward encouraging technologies like TDD that require only a relatively small band for bidirectional broadband wireless communications,” said Remi Chayer, TDD Coalition chmn. and technical marketing mgr. at Harris. ArrayComm, member of TDD Coalition, also hailed FCC’s action. “There is an opportunity to deploy, in some of this spectrum, innovative and spectrally efficient wireless services such as ArrayComm’s i-Burst technology that delivers cost-effective wireless Internet access to people by efficiently using a narrow band of radio spectrum,” ArrayComm CEO Martin Cooper said.

Only question cable experts had when asked for their predictions for 2002 was which companies would merge next. In wake of proposed Comcast acquisition of AT&T Broadband, observers said other companies -- specifically Adelphia, Cablevision and Cox -- could be next takeover targets. Among possible buyers mentioned most often was AOL-Time Warner, which lost in bidding war for AT&T Broadband. Microsoft also may look to form one or more alliances with cable company this year, experts said, to fend off competition from arch- rival AOL-TW. Only analyst who contradicted prediction of more mergers was Thomas Eagan of UBS Warburg, who said he saw more system swapping rather than merging for sake of getting bigger. Experts on consumer end of business uniformly predicted higher prices for service. And all said federal govt. probably wouldn’t cry foul on cable mergers or price increases.

Faced with criticism of “creeping commercialism” in public broadcasting following FCC decision to allow PTV stations to solicit ads on their excess nonbroadcast digital capacity, Assn. of PTV Stations (APTS) is reviewing voluntary guidelines for PTV stations’ use of their digital ancillary and supplementary services. APTS intends to revise guidelines to ensure that PTV stations use their “new freedom” responsibly, Pres. John Lawson told us. Guidelines would be strengthened with 2 objectives in mind, he said: (1) To assure that stations use their new funding streams to plow back revenue into developing noncommercial content. (2) To demonstrate to critics that PTV stations will use their freedom to solicit ads on nonbroadcast digital channels responsibly.

Consumer groups said Comcast’s proposed $72 billion merger with AT&T Broadband would “place a chokehold” over nation’s access to TV, Internet and other broadband services and warned they would try to persuade federal regulators to block deal between nation’s first and 3rd largest cable operators. Two senators called for hearing early next year, saying they had “serious concerns” and want to explore impact of new AT&T Comcast as well as proposed merger of satellite service providers EchoStar and DirecTV. Sens. Kohl (D-Wis.) and DeWine (R-O.), chmn. and ranking minority member, respectively, on Subcommittee on Antitrust, said they were particularly bothered by rising cable rates. “We continue to believe that more competition, rather than additional consolidation, is needed in this industry,” they said. However, Kohl and DeWine said they also recognized potential benefits, such as introduction of cable telephony to more consumers as viable alternative to local telephone companies.

In face of lingering questions from FCC, BellSouth (BS) withdrew its Sec. 271 application to provide long distance in Ga. and La. and said Thurs. it planned to resubmit filing with updated information shortly. New filing will provide Commission with additional information on operations support system (OSS) issues such as preordering and order process integration and service order accuracy, BS said. It “will comply with the FCC’s request for additional information to supplement the record,” said Margaret Greene, pres.- regulatory & external affairs, saying company built “solid case” that it had met Telecom Act requirements for long distance entry. FCC Chmn. Powell said: “The FCC cannot approve such applications by the Bell companies unless they satisfy the requirements of Section 271 of the Communications Act.” Competitors praised what they viewed as signal sent by Commission that it was insisting on complete information in long distance filings that OSS systems worked. BS said it planned to resubmit filing “promptly” to restart review process at FCC.