FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr plans to visit Mississippi tomorrow to discuss a planned $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program being teed up in a draft telehealth notice of inquiry that the FCC plans to consider at its Aug. 2 meeting. Mr. Carr plans to visit Ruleville and Ridgeland, Miss.
Courtesy TRDaily
The FCC’s draft third report and order and declaratory ruling on pole attachments released today with the tentative agenda for the agency’s Aug. 2 meeting includes several provisions aimed at preempting state and local government actions that the Commission deems to block telecom facilities deployment or inhibit rebuilding or restoration of broadband infrastructure after a disaster.
The draft item would include a provision delegating authority to act petitions for preemption of moratoria to the Wireline Competition and Wireless Telecommunications bureaus.
Also on the tentative agenda for the Aug. 2 meeting are a draft public notice to set procedures for auctions of 28 gigahertz and 24 GHz band spectrum; a draft further notice of proposed rulemaking on changes to the rules for the 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands to facilitate a planned auction next year; a draft notice of proposed rulemaking to provide TV repacking funding to low-power TV, TV translator, and FM radio stations; a draft notice of inquiry seeking input on a potential telehealth pilot program; and a draft report and order to establish rules for a broadcast ownership diversity incubator program.
As FCC Chairman Ajit noted yesterday in a blog post (TR Daily, July 11), the pole attachment item stems in part from a “one-touch-make-ready” (OTMR) recommendation pole developed by the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, which has been criticized for its sparse local and state government representation, compared to industry members.
The FCC said today in a fact sheet accompanying the draft text in WC docket 17-84 and WT docket 17-49 that the declaratory ruling “would conclude that section 253(a) of the Communications Act prohibits state and local moratoria on telecommunications facilities deployment.”
It would define “‘moratoria’ barred by section 253(a) to include both express moratoria and de facto moratoria that effectively halt or suspend the acceptance, processing, or approval of applications or permits,” the fact sheet says.
The draft declaratory ruling would also “[d]etermine that moratoria are generally not protected by the exceptions to the section 253(a) prohibition” and would “[d]irect the Wireline Competition Bureau and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to act promptly on petitions challenging specific alleged moratoria.”
The draft third report order would also include a preemption provision making “clear” that the FCC “will preempt, on a case-by-case basis, state and local laws that inhibit the rebuilding or restoration of broadband infrastructure after a disaster. Continue reading
The FCC today took steps intended to help clear the path toward nationwide number portability (NNP) by giving carriers that hand calls off to each other flexibility in deciding which carrier will query the number portability database and by granting competitive local exchange carriers the forbearance previously granted incumbent local exchange from legacy “dialing-parity” rules— thus ensuring that both incumbent and competitive carriers “will be able to route calls more efficiently in a future NNP environment.”
The FCC noted in a press release that it has asked the North American Numbering Council “to continue to provide input on the relative costs, benefits, and technical requirements of two of the possible nationwide number portability mechanisms, as well as the next steps the Commission and industry should take to achieve full nationwide number portability.” The NANC recently approved a working group report assessing various approaches to NNP and recommending further inquiry and analysis on NNP issues.
The report and order in WC dockets 17-244 and 13-97 adopted unanimously by the FCC at its meeting today “acknowledges that more complex and difficult leaps will be needed to reach fully operational portability. But, today’s steps, however minor, should be of help,” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said. Continue reading
The FCC adopted a report and order and further notice of proposed rulemaking today to improve the reliability of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) in the wake of a false ballistic missile alert in Hawaii in January (TR Daily, Jan. 16).
“In a Report and Order adopted today, the Commission set forth procedures for authorized state and local officials to conduct ‘live code’ tests of the Emergency Alert System, which use the same alert codes and processes as would be used in actual emergencies. These tests can increase the proficiency of local alerting officials while educating the public about how to respond to actual alerts. The procedures adopted by the Commission require appropriate coordination, planning, and disclaimers to accompany any such test,” said a news release on the item, which was adopted in PS dockets 15-94 and 15-91.
“To further enhance public awareness, today’s action will also permit authorized Public Service Announcements (PSAs) about the Emergency Alert System to include the system’s Attention Signal (the attention-grabbing two-tone audio signal that precedes the alert message) and simulated Header Code tones (the three audible tones that precede the Attention Signal) so long as an appropriate disclaimer is included in the PSA,” the news release added. “Today’s action also requires Emergency Alert System equipment to be configured in a manner that can help prevent false alerts and requires an Emergency Alert System participant, such as a broadcaster or cable system, to inform the Commission if it discovers that it has transmitted a false alert. In addition, in an accompanying Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Commission seeks comment on other specific measures to help stakeholders prevent and correct false alerts. The Commission also seeks comment on the performance of Wireless Emergency Alerts, including how such performance should be measured and whether, and if so how, the Commission should address inconsistent delivery of these messages.” Continue reading
Reps. Brett Guthrie (R., Ky.) and Doris Matsui (D., Calif.), co-chairs of the Congressional Spectrum Caucus, urged the FCC today to move forward with proposed rules for the 6 gigahertz band. “Your 2017 Mid-Band Notice of Inquiry (NOI) appropriately focused on the importance of additional mid-band spectrum allocations for both licensed and unlicensed services and recognized the need to address them together. We understand that you will move to an NPRM on opening the 5.925-6.425 and 6.425-7.125 GHz bands (collectively, the ‘6 GHz band’) for unlicensed use in the fall,” the lawmakers said in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “As you address the demand for mid-band spectrum, we would urge you to take action on the 6 GHz band NPRM expeditiously while also carefully considering the needs of incumbent and critical infrastructure networks.
Importantly, the NPRM process will allow all stakeholders to provide valuable input on the ex ante requirements necessary to protect incumbents, and give opportunity to evaluate proposals for interference protection, technical coexistence between users, and how to reliably resolve potential interference should it occur.”
Courtesy TRDaily
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked the FCC for a limited waiver to allow wireless carriers to participate in a nationwide wireless emergency alert (WEA) test on Sept. 20, with a secondary test date of Oct. 3. “This will be the first nationwide test of WEA utilizing the Presidential level code,” FEMA said in an ex parte filing yesterday in PS dockets 15-91 and 15-94. “This test is necessary because it will determine if carrier WEA configuration, systems, and networks can and will process a Presidential WEA delivering the message via all WEA enabled cell sites with minimal latency.”
FEMA said it also wants to conduct the fourth nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) test the same day.
Courtesy TRDaily
FirstNet and H.R. 3994. FirstNet (Built by AT&T) is required to provide public safety broadband in rural America. Recently, AT&T accepted the challenge and committed to invest an additional $2 billion in rural build-out. Meanwhile, as I have mentioned before, there are many grants and low-cost loans available to states and counties to implement rural broadband. These include several administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), many by the United States Departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, and most recently the Department of Homeland Security. However, as I have also said before, these agencies do not work with each other and they have different criteria. All told, there are more than 25 separate programs administered by five different agencies so progress is really slow. Some agencies are only interested in fiber broadband but some are willing to fund a combination of fiber backhaul and wireless distribution. For many years now, I have been calling for a common organization to take charge of implementing funding for rural broadband. Perhaps H.R. 3994 will be the bill that will create such an agency.
H.R. 3994 Access Broadband Act. This bill “to establish the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth, and for other purposes” was first introduced in the House of Representatives in October of 2017, sponsored by Representative Paul Tonko, a democrat from New York. With additional sponsors, on June 13, 2018, the bill was forwarded by the subcommittee to the full Committee on Energy and Commerce for consideration prior to being presented to the full House. Congress is busy working on a number of issues that many of the Representatives and Senators will say are more important, but to be effective, this bill needs to be moved quickly through the House to the Senate and put into law.
We do have to be careful with this as I am sure some within the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will take exception to the creation of a new Internet Connectivity office since they will feel this is their purview. However, if you look at what has happened over the course of the last few years, you will see that there has not been any coordination within and between the federal agencies. As long as each agency with a broadband initiative feels this is its area of expertise, even though it has not looked at the issue as demanding a coordinated action, we will continue to lag behind in both rural and poverty-level Internet connectivity.
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In the first item below, the FCC denies Miami-Dade a waiver request on additional time re 800 rebanding and requires Miami-Dade and Sprint to conclude actions in 90 days. The latter two items are additional FCC enforcement actions re energy efficient lighting, imposing a $15K and $55K penalties, respectively.
IMPROVING PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS IN THE 800 MHZ BAND\r\n. Denies Miami-Dade County’s Request for a Further Extension of Jun 26, 2008 Deadline. (Dkt No 02-55). Action by: Chief, Policy and Licensing Division, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. Adopted: 2018-07-02 by ORDER. (DA No. 18-685). WTB PSHSB. DA-18-685A1.docx DA-18-685A1.pdf DA-18-685A1.txt
CIRRUS SYSTEMS, INC . Resolves an investigation into whether Cirrus Systems marketed LED signs used in digital billboards and other commercial and industrial applications, in violation of the Commission’s equipment marketing rules. Action by: Deputy Chief, Enforcement Bureau. Adopted: 2018-06-29 by Order/Consent Decree. (DA No. 18-628). EB. DA-18-628A1.pdf DA-18-628A1.txt
EBSCO SIGN GROUP, LLC. Resolves an investigation into whether EBSCO Sign Group marketed LED signs used in digital billboards and other commercial and industrial applications, in violation of the Commission’s equipment marketing rules. Action by: Deputy Chief, Enforcement Bureau. Adopted: 2018-06-29 by Order/Consent Decree. (DA No. 18-655). EB. DA-18-655A1.pdf DA-18-655A1.txt
FirstNet Progress and Coverage Issues. It appears from information provided by FirstNet that more than 1,000 public safety agencies have signed on to the network and are commencing to put it to use. However, some agencies are waiting because they are being told they will get a better deal and service by staying with Verizon. Other agencies have told us they are not convinced FirstNet coverage as it stands today is sufficient for their needs and are waiting to see how FirstNet fills in their coverage area.
On the plus side for FirstNet, many departments that have run comparison coverage tests between Verizon and FirstNet have been pleasantly surprised at how good FirstNet coverage already is in their area. Other agencies are in discussion with FirstNet (Built by AT&T) to expedite extended coverage plans. New devices are being approved for use on FirstNet all the time. The latest is the Sierra Wireless MG-90 vehicular modem. While Sierra is not a client of mine, it has provided me with an MG-90 that is installed in my car along with my three JVCKenwood VHF, UHF, and 700/800 radios. This has become a valuable tool for me as I can now check both Verizon and FirstNet coverage and store the results for future use. I can also compare the coverage to LMR systems in an area.
800 megahertz rebanding is complete in Region 43 (Washington state), the 800 MHz band transition administrator told the FCC yesterday in a filing in WT docket 02-55.