Maine should harmonize its Chapter 880 pole-attachment rules with recent FCC rules changes, Comcast and Charter Communications commented last week at the Maine Public Utilities Commission. However, the cable companies disagreed with various Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) recommendations contained in a recent report. Versant Power, an electric utility that owns poles, said Maine needn’t make more regulatory or legislative changes.
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The FCC received unanimous support from commenters that have filed so far for an NTIA proposal that calls for using geofencing to allow higher equivalent isotropically radiated power limits for cellular vehicle-to-everything on-board units in the 5.9 GHz band (see 2406100032). Comments were posted on Friday and Monday (docket 19-138).
The World Radiocommunication Conference was a success for the U.S., Charles Cooper, NTIA Office of Spectrum Management associate administrator, assured the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee at its meeting Tuesday. CSMAC approved unanimously three reports, on the citizens broadband radio service band, 6G (see 2312180052) and electromagnetic compatibility improvements. While this meeting was the last under CSMAC’s current term, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said the group will be rechartered.
The 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference “has been a clear success for U.S. interests," U.S. delegation head Steve Lang, State Department deputy assistant secretary-international information and communications policy, told reporters Friday, minutes after the four-week U.N. event concluded. He said the U.S. delegation "achieved many important objectives," including further harmonization of 5G spectrum across the Americas with an international mobile telecommunications (IMT) identification in the 3.3-3.4 and 3.6-3.8 GHz bands in Region 2. That creates 500 MHz of contiguous spectrum in the 3 GHz band for 5G, Lang said.
The Maine legislature’s joint Judiciary Committee is weighing whether a state consumer privacy law should allow a private right of action, exempt small businesses or limit allowed data collection to what is “strictly necessary,” according to a livestreamed work session Monday. Comments on possible provisions for privacy legislation are due Dec. 18, when the committee is expected to have updated draft language on dueling consumer privacy bills: LD-1977, which is similar to the proposed federal American Data Privacy and Protection Act, and LD-1973, which is based on Connecticut’s privacy statute.
Steve Lang, who recently replaced Anna Gomez as head of the U.S. delegation to the World Radiocommunication Conference (see 2309120069), is already hard at work preparing for the conference, said Austin Bonner, deputy U.S. chief technology officer-policy, at the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas last week. Lang has been “out on the road, meeting his counterparts to help pave the way for U.S. success,” she said. The WRC starts Nov. 20 in Dubai.
The California Privacy Protection Agency is bracing for the imminent introduction of an “even less privacy-protective” U.S. privacy bill than the version it opposed last year, said Maureen Mahoney, deputy director-policy and legislation, at a CPPA board virtual meeting Monday. The board also received updates on advancing California bills, an agency strategic plan and next steps for its 2020 California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) rulemaking.
Encina Communications Chairman Michael Mulcay and others from the company discussed Encina’s proposal to use Part 101 frequency coordination procedures as an alternative to automated frequency coordination (AFC) in the 6 GHz band (see 2208150040), in a call with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, said a filing posted Monday in docket 10-153. “Updating Part 101 Rules to Harmonize with Part 15 Rules requires no changes to Part 15 Rules, nor would it disrupt or undermine in any way the ongoing work to develop” an AFC system, Encina said.
Encina Communications Chairman Michael Mulcay and others from the company explained Encina’s proposal to use Part 101 frequency coordination procedures as an alternative to automated frequency coordination (AFC) in the 6 GHz band (see 2208150040), in a meeting with an aide to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. “Updating Part 101 Rules to Harmonize with Part 15 Rules requires no changes to Part 15 Rules, nor would it disrupt or undermine in any way the ongoing work to develop an” AFC system, said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. “This proposal is also clearly in the public interest as it immediately permits the safe deployment of outdoor Wi-Fi 6E … networks to bring the benefits of Wi-Fi 6E and beyond to the more than 290 million smartphone and fixed wireless access consumers nationwide in urban, suburban and rural areas, including underserved and unserved communities,” Encina said.
The FCC will vote Nov. 17 on rules aimed at improving the delivery of outage information to public safety answering points by requiring operating service providers (OSPs) and covered 911 providers to “utilize special diligence to obtain and maintain up-to-date contact information for each 911 special facility they serve,” said a draft report and order released Thursday. The FCC also announced that it won't be pursuing an inquiry into the agency's reliance on Nielsen ratings in a draft broadcast order on updating the publication used to determine broadcast DMAs (see 2210260081).