Matt Daneman

Half of the World Radiocommunication Conference-19 agenda is made up of items suggested by the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), including proposals on use of bands below 6 GHz for international mobile telecom (IMT) and bandwidth for high-altitude platform stations, said Julie Zoller, deputy head of the U.S. delegation to WRC-15. The tentative WRC-19 agenda -- still to be finalized by the ITU Council -- also includes CITEL-sponsored proposals on spectrum needs for a global aeronautical distress and safety system, 5 GHz radio local area networks, development of regulations for non-nongeostationary orbit fixed satellite service (FSS) systems in the V-band, a possible allocation of Earth exploration-satellite service in the 460-470 MHz band, and orbital position limits rules, Zoller said. She spoke Tuesday at the U.S. ITU Association (USITUA) annual meeting.

John Deere and LightSquared came to agreement on their mutual L-band use. LightSquared said Tuesday it will forego use of 1545-1555 MHz to end some disputes with Deere over its planned ground-and-satellite-based LTE broadband network. The Deere agreement "sets the framework for broadband/GPS compatibility," LightSquared President Doug Smith told us Tuesday. "The two services can coexist peacefully. This will be a good step forward." The CEO had set out to reach such deals (see 1512040039).

Pointing to entry into the mobile services market and better services for small and mid-sized businesses, Charter Communications is trying to shore up its public interest argument for its proposed purchases of Bright House Network and Time Warner Cable. But critics of the $89.1 billion pair of transactions continue to issue broadsides.

Experts believe the California PUC will follow its own schedule, rather than the FCC's shot clock, in reviewing Charter Communications' acquisitions of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. No one expects the deal to be done within the FCC's 180 days, particularly given the volume of data requested by the FCC, Paul Goodman, telecommunications senior legal counsel at the Greenlining Institute, told us. Given the Charter/TWC/BHN size, “this is more like an eight- or nine-month process,” he said, saying the CPUC typically “works hard to match” the FCC schedule. Any California delays (see 1511270047) shouldn’t derail the deal unless Charter starts to see signs federal or state regulators won’t be satisfied with answers or conditions and no sign-off is likely, Goodman said.

Its bankruptcy practically behind it, LightSquared CEO Doug Smith told us Friday its priority now is finding common ground with the GPS industry on LightSquared's terrestrial broadband plans and resolving that long-standing clash. "We're thrilled to have the bankruptcy completed," Smith said after the FCC's ruling earlier that day on LightSquared's change of control application: "We can get back to work resolving the remaining issues around the spectrum itself. That's our primary focus -- coexistence with GPS. I think there's an opportunity for common ground here."

LTE-U Forum backers and 3GPP allies continue to duke it out before the FCC. CTIA fired back Thursday at complaints that efforts to ensure coexistence between LTE-unlicensed and Wi-Fi are being partially hijacked. Those calls "for a formal standards review upends the permissionless innovation that is the hallmark of unlicensed spectrum policy," CTIA said in a submission in docket 15-105.

Labeling prospective programming bundling as a bad-faith negotiation tactic and eliminating the list of presumptively good-faith tactics altogether, were among suggestions multichannel video programming distributors and MVPD allies had for the FCC on reforming retransmission consent negotiation rules. Some went beyond the list of practices the agency said it's considering as potential violations of good-faith negotiating. Meanwhile, broadcasters and their allies again said the retrans market doesn't require fixing.

Broadcasters and opponents each said they have the weaker hand facing off against one another in retransmission consent negotiation talks, in FCC filings posted Tuesday in docket 15-216. Tuesday was the deadline for comments on an NPRM on possible changes to its "totality of circumstances" test in retrans good-faith negotiations, which follows the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization requirement for the review. The American Television Alliance (ATVA) and NAB each said they're the ones with the lesser leverage.

Aviat and Fastback networks' waiver requests for smaller antenna use in the 71-76 and 81-86 GHz bands have gotten lots of support, and the sole opponent would keep those bands underutilized, the two companies said in FCC filings posted Monday and Tuesday (see here and here) in docket 15-244. The Wireless Bureau in October sought comment on the Aviat/Fastback proposals (see 1510130030). Monday was the deadline for replies.

Defining 5G characteristics and carving out spectrum for it "clearly will be a major goal" for the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference, said Decker Anstrom, U.S. ambassador to WRC-15. The WRC also will take a U.S.-favored approach of identifying 11 specific bands between 24 and 86 GHz that would be looked at, Anstrom said on a call with reporters Monday. "We learned from WRC-15, leaving this open ended for a variety of bands to be looked at was not a helpful process," he said. "We wanted to be clear about the bands that would be studied."