Satellite broadband providers should be “allowed to operate free from unnecessary common carrier obligations,” the Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) told the FCC last week. Commenting on the Commission’s Broadband NPRM (WC 05-271), the SIA said it “stands with the diverse array of commenters that have urged the Commission to refrain from imposing common carrier obligations on broadband Internet access service providers.” The SIA urged the Commission to preempt state regulation on the issue and “to act affirmatively” to ensure healthy competition. Satellite broadband remains especially valuable to rural residents, SIA said: “Large portions of the U.S. are not now, and may never be, served by either cable or DSL due to the cost of wiring remote areas or technical limitations.” Satellite broadband shouldn’t be hindered by the common carrier obligations proposed in the NPRM, which would “stymie competition and innovation among satellite broadband providers,” SIA argued. The Assn. said it “urges the FCC to observe its historical policy in favor of minimal regulation of satellite services.” In a similar vein, the Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) told the FCC it welcomes lawmakers’ efforts to reform the USF contribution methodology. But the SIA wants reform to be “competitively neutral” so as to promote broadband deployment to all Americans, including satellite broadband, the Assn. said in a different ex parte to the FCC. The SIA told the FCC it supports a retail numbers-based USF system. Each phone number in retail use, regardless of service technology, should pay the same USF contribution, the SIA said in an ex parte to the FCC. That way, retail service providers can pass the USF obligation to end users on a “competitively neutral” basis, the SIA said. But the Commission shouldn’t impose USF charges on Internet access connections, SIA argued. USF should be collected from broadband VoIP providers using telephone numbers for voice services over the Internet, but not for Internet access connections alone, they said.
The satellite industry may have been key to the recovery after hurricanes smashed terrestrial telecom infrastructure in 2005, but govt. emergency communication procurement processes don’t reflect that, satellite industry officials lamented Thurs. at Satellite 2006. FCC Chmn. Martin admitted satellite communication’s importance in disasters in Hill testimony, but at the Homeland Security Dept. and other agencies, “nobody’s home” when it comes to procurement, industry officials said at the conference, sponsored by Via Satellite magazine.
Senators should adopt the House conference version of the Defense appropriations bill (H.R. 2863), in Senate review at our deadline, the Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) said Wed. The House version, as now written, would put $2 billion toward interoperable emergency communications gear for state and local govts. Of the $2 billion, 75% would go to states via the Homeland Security Dept. based on risk and threat, with the other 25% divided equally among states for equipment “with satellite capability.” Remember Hurricane Katrina’s lessons, SIA said. “This provision will provide much needed funding for States and local governments to begin to incorporate redundant, interoperable, and back-up communications into their emergency response plans for natural disasters or terrorist acts,” SIA Exec. Dir. David Cavossa said in a letter to lawmakers. Alluding to like comments by FCC Chmn. Martin in post-Katrina Hill testimony, the bill’s text said satellite services remain operable even when “towers, central offices, or other critical infrastructure such as power facilities are destroyed or disrupted.”
The satellite industry Tues. urged the FCC to reform the Universal Service Fund to promote broadband deployment in rural America, citing the President’s 2007 broadband goal and satellite broadband as an option. Chiming in on USF remedies in ex parte meetings at the Commission, Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) officials called for a “technologically neutral” fix to the USF, which they called “complicated to administer” and “ill- suited to a world of convergence.”
The satellite industry Tues. urged the FCC to reform the Universal Service Fund to promote broadband deployment in rural America, citing the President’s 2007 broadband goal and satellite broadband as an option. Chiming in on USF remedies in ex parte meetings at the Commission, Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) officials called for a “technologically neutral” fix to the USF, which they called “complicated to administer” and “ill-suited to a world of convergence.”
XM joined the Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) as an associate member, the SIA said Thurs. The firm is the first satellite radio competitor to join the SIA.
Satellite service integrators accustomed to focusing on military operations abroad said they're eager to help at home, but lack of coordination on the ground and ad hoc federal procurement leave satellite services underutilized. Amid 2005’s storms, lawmakers, U.S. agencies, and state and municipal govts. are seeing the need for back-up tools for when terrestrial systems fail and local wireless networks are down or overwhelmed. To address such needs, satellite communication services [satcom] firms told us they're adjusting their business strategies. Even so, they said, the system needs a makeover.
FCC Chmn. Martin is to testify Thurs. at a House Commerce Telecom Subcommittee hearing on emergency communications, a House source said. Other panelists include: Timothy Roemer, former congressman and member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the U.S.; Lt. Col. Thomas Miller, Michigan State Police; David Boyd, deputy dir.-Office of Systems Engineering and Development, Dept. of Homeland Security; Art Botterell, communications consultant on interoperability, National Academy of Sciences; Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) Chmn. Tony Trujillo; and Harold Kramer, CEO-American Radio Relay League.
The WiMAX Forum joined the opposition to a Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) petition seeking reconsideration of the 3.6 GHz order to protect Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) networks in the adjacent 3700-4200 MHz band from interference (CD June 14 p2). The SIA’s proposed out-of- band emission limits and reduced power levels “overly restrictive,” the Forum said. The order establishes the out-of-band emissions limit at -43 dBW/MHz, which the SIA wants changed to -71.25 dBW/MHz. The WiMAX Forum said the limits set by the order “strike the proper balance of allowing for rapid rollout of wireless broadband solutions in the band while protecting adjacent FSS licensees.” The SIA also asked the FCC to reduce the 25 w power limit for wireless ISP devices, or to limit full-power wireless ISP transmissions to the lower half of the 3.6 GHz band to protect low-noise block-downcoverters (LNBs), which are amplification devices used in FSS earth stations. The WiMAX Forum backed a Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) opposition, saying “ultimately satellite receiver front ends that do not provide sufficient adjacent channel rejection should not govern regulatory decisions for operation in nearby bands. Doing so would unjustly restrict transmit power levels for systems operating in 3650 MHz and severely impact the use of the band to deliver broadband services to the public.” Meanwhile, the SIA countered oppositions to its petition by WCA, Verizon and the Coalition of Champaign Urbana Community Wireless Network. The trade group said critics “ignore the basis and undeniable fact that the large power differential between immediately adjacent services authorized in the order is a recipe for disaster, particularly considering the unique sensitivity and critical importance of affected satellite operations and the novel characteristics of new operations in the 3650-3700 MHz band.” In a separate motion, BRN Phoenix asked the FCC to extend to Sept. 6 a deadline for filing a reply to Motorola, WCA and SIA oppositions to its reconsideration petition: “There is an emergency situation due to the temporary unavailability of the persons with whom BRNP must coordinate… to craft its reply.”
Industry and consumer groups pledged support for an FCC “Strategic Plan” in comments released last week, but many weren’t shy about pushing favorite regulatory issues. Under the 1993 Govt. Performance & Results Act, the FCC must devise a plan outlining its future direction. In its July 5 release of a draft 2006-2011 plan, the FCC asked for comments by Aug. 5 and last week released 19 comments filed on the plan.