Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

FCC Chief of Staff Marsha MacBride told Public Safety National Coordination Committee (NCC) Fri. that public safety interoperability and other issues were part of emphasis of Commission’s homeland security efforts. MacBride was named by FCC Chmn. Powell in Nov. to head agency’s Homeland Security Policy Council. In presentation to NCC, MacBride outlined homeland security efforts that were stressing broader areas than in past for network protection, including mass media and wireless. Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC), which played key coordinating role during FCC’s Y2K efforts, is refocused on homeland security, including lessons learned and existing vulnerabilities, MacBride said. Composition of NRIC has shifted from historical wireline emphasis to include wireless, cable and Internet service providers, she said. In broadcasting and multichannel video programming, Commission is starting Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) to examine infrastructure reliability and security issues. Among other themes that emerged during NCC general membership meeting was need for better public safety interoperability, which has gained renewed public attention following Sept. 11 attacks.

FCC Chmn. Powell’s special counsel Mary Beth Richards said Thurs. she was “confident” Congress would approve overhaul of agency in coming days. She said she had spent much of this week, and would spend much of next, with Hill staffers to “make sure they are comfortable with the plan and understand the benefits.” Letter outlining changes went up to Congress Jan. 17, and congressional appropriators of FCC budget have 15 days in which to express objections. “I am hopeful that there are no surprises. I am hopeful that they all agree that it is a wise and judicious decision,” Richards said in conference call hosted by Communications Daily. Given that changes must be published in Federal Register before they can take effect, Richards said she expected effective date either in late Feb. or early March. In meantime, once congressional approval is assured, Commission plans to issue news release outlining staff changes, specifically who will head divisions and makeup of front office staff. Release, to include structural charts, also will be posted at Commission’s Web site, Richards said.

FCC is “very sympathetic to regulation parity” between broadband services provided by cable companies and telcos “but there are limits to what the Commission can do,” Comr. Martin said Wed. in Comnet session in Washington. In What’s Ahead in Communication Policy and Regulation he said 2 deployment models were “regulated very differently.” Citing current cable open access proceeding at FCC, Martin said he was “hesitant to apply legacy regulations” to cable industry: “I am worried about regulating up.” When Commission opens proceeding and then fails to reach decision, uncertainty created can dampen investments in new technology, he said: “The Commission needs to be careful with regulatory parity” and “not impose new burdens on new technology.” Regulatory parity should be implemented “with very subtle tools,” otherwise it could “slow deployments [in markets] where cable has been very successful,” he said.

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.