A $302 million cut in the NTIA’s Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program, signed into law by President Barack Obama this week (CD Aug 12 p8), raises questions for applicants -- many of which spent tens of thousands of dollars in their efforts -- and for public safety agencies across the country that hope to use grants to build out networks in 700 MHz spectrum. RUS’s broadband program was not cut. Many applicants were surprised by the cut, which came in a bill providing $26.1 billion to states for Medicaid and teachers’ jobs.

NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling warned the Department of Defense spectrum symposium Wednesday that the Obama administration is attentive to wireless carrier calls for more commercial spectrum. Strickling mentioned FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s speech at CTIA last week and that group’s pronouncements a week earlier that the industry would require another 800 MHz of spectrum over time. “The handwriting is on the wall,” Strickling said. “Looking for new spectrum for mobile broadband uses is going to be a priority for policymakers.”

Maps in a draft ITU-R recommendation on where to locate International Mobile Telecommunications stations operating in the 3,400-3,600 MHz band may incorrectly suggest that deploying the technologies in the coordination zones is impossible, Sweden will tell a study group meeting this week on the mobile technologies, said a source familiar with the country’s position. Sweden noted the large size of the zones and the significant number of base stations to coordinate. Sweden and a group of nine companies said mitigation techniques could spur further deployments. Further study is needed for the most efficient spectrum use, the group said. The companies were Alcatel-Lucent France, Alcatel-Lucent USA, Telefon AB-LM Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia Corporation, Nokia Siemens Networks, France Telecom Orange, Societe Francaise du Radiotelephone and Telefonica O2. The draft recommendation offers three methods to decide in bilateral or multilateral talks whether an IMT base or mobile station in the 3.4-3.6 GHz band would meet power flux density requirements in the Radio Regulations. Satellite interests have given the draft recommendation preliminary approval. But rules required them to give mobile interests a chance to consider it.

Meteorology interests are pressing European administrations to reduce the number of channels available for future wireless local area networks on aircraft because of interference with radars, sources said. Wireless and airline industry executives are concerned that military and other radar users will try to further limit use of the 5 GHz band in Europe and on aircraft. Onboard wireless systems are proposed to use various 5 GHz band frequencies for wireless in-flight entertainment distribution systems, crew information services, passenger Internet access, emergency lighting, attendant headphones, and radio frequency identification.

AsiaSat wants to make sure that harmonization of frequencies for electronic newsgathering adequately protects the fixed satellite and broadcasting-satellite services, it told ITU-R subgroups dealing with the issue. The potential tuning ranges under consideration for regional or worldwide harmonization include the 3,400-3,600 MHz, 4,400-5,000 MHz and 21.20-24.50 GHz bands, AsiaSat said. The 3,400-3,600 MHz band has been used for the fixed satellite service for 40 years, AsiaSat said. The 4,500-4,800 MHz band is the downlink band defined in regulatory and technical requirements for certain fixed satellite networks, AsiaSat said. The 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference will “decide on spectrum use of the 21.4 to 22 GHz band for the broadcasting-satellite service and the associated feeder link bands” in Europe, Africa, the former Soviet states and Asia. AsiaSat is also concerned about other frequencies that have the potential for ENG harmonization. The 5,850-6,725 MHz band is used as an uplink with the 3,400-4,200 MHz downlink band by almost all countries, AsiaSat said. The 6,725-7,025 MHz band is used for uplink with the 4,500-4,800 MHz downlink band, it said. Important government networks often use the 7,900-8,400 MHz uplink band and the corresponding 7,250-7,750 MHz downlink band, it said. The 7,025-7,075 MHz band is used for uplinks, sometimes to feed broadcasting satellite networks, AsiaSat said. It’s also worried about the 10.95- 13.25 GHz band, used by the fixed satellite service. An ITU- R working party coordinating studies for the possible worldwide/regional harmonization of spectrum for electronic newsgathering at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference “must show conclusively that existing or future deployment of [fixed satellite service] transmitting earth stations is not unduly limited,” AsiaSat said.

ITU member countries will approve revisions to two recommendations on International Mobile Telecommunications- 2000 unless objections arise by Oct. 8, the Radiocommunication Bureau said in a letter. The ITU-R study group on terrestrial services and the working party on IMT preliminarily approved the actions, following a 2007 Radiocommunication Assembly decision seeking “urgent work” on the IEEE 802.16/WiMAX-variant in the recommendations to address emission mask and adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR), a meeting report said. Deleted from both recommendations was identical text that said: “The ACLR parameters in this annex are not intended to be a mandatory regulatory obligation, as it is up to the administrations what part of a Recommendation they want to use in national regulations.” Proposed changes to recommendations on generic unwanted emission characteristics of mobile and base stations using IMT-2000 terrestrial radio interfaces include a new section on unwanted emission limits for IMT-2000 CDMA multi- carrier (CDMA-2000) base stations operating in certain arrangements named by 3GPP2, documents said. New sections were added to each recommendation to note possible significant differences between calculated ACLR information and specified values, the draft texts said. Modifications were also proposed to annexes on IMT-2000 CDMA direct spread universal terrestrial radio access (UTRA) FDD mobile base stations. New frequency bands 2,300-2,400 MHz and 3,400- 3,600 MHz were added to a section on the IEEE 802.16/WiMAX variant, the letter said.

The Senate may take up this week a revised DTV switch delay bill that has bipartisan support and has come closer to a draft offered last week by House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif. But the bill’s fate is uncertain: Opposition remains, and the bill so far is without unanimous support it would need to be marked up in committee and sent to the Senate floor, where it would be open to amendment. That process could be time-consuming, at a time Congress is trying to hasten passage of an economic recovery bill.

Wednesday’s FCC meeting has been moved to Nashville from Washington, D.C., so commissioners can attend an event on childhood obesity that morning, agency officials said. The FCC meeting is set for 10 a.m. Central time, an FCC spokeswoman said late Thursday. Commissioners may not meet if the seven agenda items disclosed late Wednesday are approved earlier, an agency official said. The matters include a DTV-related rulemaking notice and several telecom orders, including one on a deadline for Sprint Nextel to leave 800 MHz interleaved spectrum. But the DTV item continues to draw skepticism from most commissioners (CD Oct 8 p6), FCC sources said.

The digital dividend from the DTV transition won’t narrow the digital gap, participants said Friday at a conference organized by the Alcatel Lucent Foundation in Stuttgart. The discussion on how to allocate freed spectrum still looms, said Alexander Rossnagel, director at the Institute of European Media Law (EMR). Despite the dividend, spectrum is a “scarce resource,” thanks to so many entities being interested in it, said Rossnagel. A political argument for reallocation to mobile operators had been that they would use the spectrum also to offer broadband access in rural areas. “No mobile operator had said, give us 72 MHz and we will solve broadband connection in rural areas,” said Uwe Loewenstein, manager-spectrum technology for Telefonica 02 Europe. Loewenstein cited mobile operators’ calculations that they will need far more spectrum in coming years, perhaps 600 to 1100 MHz. Mobile operators in Germany will start DVB-T mobile broadcasting for the European Soccer Championship, but the list of services to be offered over the new frequencies remains an open question because 4G services are still under development.

The FCC has been asked to exclude small cable systems from a requirement that operators of all sizes carry analog and digital signals of must-carry broadcasters for three years after the DTV transition. In a Sunday filing, the American Cable Association said systems of fewer than 5,000 subscribers or capacity under 552 MHz should be excluded from the rule, which commissioners adopted in September. Compliance will cost small systems at least $28,600 for every channel electing to get guaranteed cable carriage rather than payments from cable operators, said ACA. “A significant number of these low-capacity systems are close to channel-locked and short on capacity for new broadband and other services,” the group said. “Requiring these systems to devote bandwidth to duplicative signals… impedes these systems’ ability to compete with well-financed, bandwidth- rich competitors like DirecTV, EchoStar, Verizon and AT&T.” NCTA recently made a similar request to the FCC (CD Feb 20 p20).