Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Stakeholders who are deploying Enhanced 911, including state regulators, wireless carriers and public safety officials, told the FCC Tues. that coordination efforts were improving, in part due to a culture shift toward more cooperation. But at the first meeting of the agency’s E911 Coordination Initiative, they cited remaining challenges, including the raiding of state E911 funds for other purposes and the extent to which new wireless devices should be built with E911 in mind. National Emergency Number Assn. Pres. John Melcher said a new estimate forecast that it would cost public safety agencies $8.4 billion over the next 5 years to implement wireless E911 in every county.

The FCC this month made 2 enforcement decisions that had legal significance because they asserted the agency’s jurisdiction in interconnection disputes, FCC Comr. Abernathy said at an FCBA seminar Mon. The seminar offered lawyers basic information about the FCC’s enforcement activities. Abernathy said there had been uncertainty about the Commission’s authority under Sec. 208 of the Communications Act and it could be resolved only in a complaint proceeding. She said the cases, which involved CLEC complaints against SBC and Verizon (CD April 18 p5, April 24 p8), were significant not because of the merits as much as the fact that “the Commission has now grappled with this difficult jurisdictional question and we unanimously found that Sec. 208 does provide jurisdiction to adjudicate interconnection disputes.” She said the courts would have the final say on the issue but she expected them to agree with the FCC. She emphasized, however, that she thought the agency’s involvement in adjudicating violations of interconnection agreements would be limited. There are 2 reasons for that, she said: (1) Sec. 208 would apply only if the complaining party had adhered to all the requirements of the interconnection agreement, including “change-of-law provisions that govern how FCC decisions will be implemented.” A CLEC can’t file an FCC complaint before going through the contractually prescribed steps, she said. (2) A carrier that invokes arbitration by a state commission and loses has no alternative but to file an appeal in federal district court and can’t “collaterally attack the state action before the FCC in a Sec. 208 complaint.”

An upcoming report by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), drafted by a commission led by former Defense Secy. James Schlesinger, will recommend a White House-level body examine spectrum policy. The recommendation has received broad backing from govt., industry and academic participants involved in the drafting. The report, to be released next month, comes as the concept of a White House-level structure to take a broad look at spectrum management has gained traction among federal policymakers, sources said.

The FCC and the National Communications System (NCS) opened a national campaign Thurs. to urge public safety answering points (PSAPs) to register in the Telecom Service Priority (TSP) program. The FCC said joint research conducted with NCS indicated less than 10% of 7,500 PSAPs in the U.S. now participated. The program, created in 1988, gives govts. and key industries priority over other telecom users in emergencies. In case of a national emergency, the program ensures certain dedicated voice, backbone and access circuits for priority users can operate despite severe network congestion or disruption. The FCC said 911 centers “readily qualify” because they offer services essential to health and safety. NCS Deputy Mgr. Brenton Greene and FCC Office of Engineering & Technology Chief Edmond Thomas wrote to the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA), National Assn. of State 911 Administrators (NASNA) and the Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), which are part of the campaign on TSP. “Lack of participation could jeopardize the restoration of essential service provided by the PSAP administrators during times of disaster and could put citizens at substantial risk of injury or loss of property at times when they are most vulnerable,” they wrote. The FCC said it would be the federal TSP sponsor for all PSAP administrators because, under the program, all non-federal organizations seeking coverage must have a federal sponsor. The Commission developed initial guidelines to help PSAPs enroll. It said in an attachment to the letters to the public safety community that since Sept. 11, 2001, the agencies had been reviewing the “scope and effectiveness” of the TSP program. While they found it operated well in disasters, certain groups were underrepresented, particularly PSAPs. “This lack of participation by certain key organizations represents a serious vulnerability in our homeland security,” FCC and NCS said. The current lag in PSAP participation “could jeopardize the restoration of essential services provided by the PSAP administrators during times of disaster and, therefore, put citizens at substantial risk of injury or loss of property at times when they are most vulnerable.” NCS and the FCC said PSAPs might not join the program because they mistakenly believed telecom service providers automatically gave a high priority to restoring their lines in emergencies. NCS said it would expedite its processing of TSP applications by PSAPs. Current rules give NCS up to 30 days to do so, but it pledged to process valid PSAP TSP applications within 14 days -- only 3 days for most of them. APCO said that, along with industry standards bodies, it would develop additional “industry-specific guidelines” for PSAPs to assist in their enrollments. The FCC stressed Thurs. that a PSAP user didn’t have to purchase TSP coverage for all its lines. Typically, there’s a one- time charge of $100 for a local line and a monthly charge of about $3, but it said most TSP users sought coverage for only a portion of their lines to keep costs down. NASNA said it would provide information to its members to help enroll in the program and do follow-up with 911 center administrators. NENA said it also would provide information to its members and propose revisions in its standards to reflect adequate levels of TSP participation by PSAPs.

The FCC opened an inquiry Wed., asking for comments on whether providing broadband communications services over power lines could cause interference and how to best measure emissions. Commissioners said the technology could offer consumers a 3rd way to obtain broadband service, in addition to DSL and cable modems, although it still was in the experimental stage.

WorldCom asked the FCC Wireless Bureau to rule that SkyTel and its other wireless affiliates were eligible to participate in Commission auctions. In dispute is whether SkyTel qualifies to compete in a May 13 paging band auction amid questions over the default status of 2 Multipoint Distribution Services (MDS) licenses held by Wireless One, another WorldCom affiliate. FCC rules stipulate bidders are eligible to take part in an auction only if they have satisfied outstanding installment payment defaults.

A wireless industry challenge to the FCC’s retention of local number portability (LNP) faced tough questions Tues. from the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C. Attorneys for both sides sparred over the meaning of “necessary” as viewed by the agency in its rejection of forbearance on wireless LNP, which takes effect Nov. 24.

FCC Chmn. Powell emphasized to members of Congress Tues. that he didn’t plan to delay the June 2 completion of the FCC’s media ownership review. He used a 3-page letter to reply to nearly a month’s worth of letters from Capitol Hill -- some of which asked Powell to expedite the proceedings while others sought a delay.

The American Cable Assn. (ACA) is afraid the merger between News Corp. and DirecTV will give the new company too much power over small cable operators that compete with satellite. ACA Pres. Matthew Polka asked for strict federal oversight of the deal. “Given the enormous vertical integration of Fox/News Corp. and DirecTV, the Federal Communications Commission, Congress and the Department of Justice must be actively involved to ensure that this vertical integration is not abused in any way,” he said. The ACA said federal agencies should focus on retransmission consent practices, consumer information about programming costs and possibilities of tiering and a la carte pricing, tying and bundling practices, ensuring regulatory parity between cable and satellite and extending program access laws and regulations to prevent self-dealing. Polka said News Corp. in the past had used tying and bundling of its services and had raised its rates in excess of inflation. The ACA asked the FCC to investigate the company’s retransmission consent practices, report them to Congress and provide protection through access regulations, retransmission consent regulations and other means.

The Parents TV Council (PTC) is urging parents to sign a complaint it’s sending to the FCC, saying its $27,500 fine against Infinity Bcstg. for an indecent broadcast on WKRK(FM) Detroit was nothing more than a slap on the wrist. “Broadcasters keep putting totally disgusting obscenity on the airwaves and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does nothing!” PTC said in an alert sent to its members. The group is demanding tougher enforcement. PTC said the fine was “pocket change to Infinity, which has coughed up over $1.5 million in previous indecency fines -- not surprising, since Infinity is the radio home of the vile Howard Stern program.” A lawyer for Infinity said the company would have a response in a few weeks.