Digital interoperable public safety communication equipment got a boost in a bill passed Thurs. by the House Commerce Committee. The Committee approved a substitute version of the Faster & Smarter Funding for First Responders Act (HR-3266) that made several changes to the bill. Committee sources said the original legislation didn’t allow enough leeway on communications equipment and appeared to favor more archaic analog equipment. The new version allowed for more digital purchases. The bill doesn’t specifically allocate money for interoperability, but that’s one of several first responder priorities -- along with training and equipment purchases -- eligible for grants. The bill creates about $3.4 billion in grants that the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) could distribute. During the markup, Rep. Stupak (D-Mich.) offered and then withdrew an amendment that would put more emphasis on interoperability. Details of the amendment weren’t revealed, but he emphasized the importance of interoperability and noted that while HR-3266 has some provisions directed at that characteristic, the bill doesn’t directly authorize any spending on interoperability. “The least we can do is make sure the radios talk to each other,” he said. Stupak has introduced legislation (HR-3370) that would use proceeds from spectrum auctions to fund interoperability grants, which would be distributed by NTIA. The bill has 18 co-sponsors. Stupak isn’t a co-sponsor of HR-4400, by Rep. Lowey (D-N.Y.), which would establish a DHS office devoted to interoperability. The bill has 40 co- sponsors, all Democrats. House Homeland Security Committee Chmn. Cox (R-Cal.), sponsor of HR-3266, said he was pleased with most revisions the Commerce Committee made to the bill, but said a task force comprised of first responders should be restored. He said he was pleased with a change allocating more funding to places more likely to suffer terrorist attacks. However, the House Transportation Emergency Management Subcommittee approved the bill Tues. and rejected efforts to change the funding formula to favor districts that are more likely to be targeted by terrorists, according to Yucel Ors of the Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials.
Public TV has to come up with creative ways now to benefit from an early return of the analog spectrum because a “window of opportunity” is closing, the PBS board was told Tues. The Assn. of Public TV Stations (APTS) is working on the details of a proposal for PTV stations to embrace a hard date for analog switch off in return for the creation of a public broadcasting trust fund from the proceeds of the spectrum auction. “If we can do this, we have to find creative ways to do it now… and to benefit we have to make sure that we get something considerable out of that,” Norman Ornstein said in a legislative update to the board. He said Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.) would soon introduce a bill that “puts into play this notion of early spectrum return” for a public broadcasting trust fund. Ornstein, an American Enterprise Institute resident scholar representing Md. PTV, said based on recent spectrum auctions, the analog spectrum controlled by PTV was worth $70 billion. Former FCC Chief Economist Thomas Hazlett had estimated that based on the social value of wireless phone services, the TV band was worth more than $500 billion at $300 million a station, he said. But these figures are all speculative, he cautioned. The Media Bureau plan that would expedite return of the analog spectrum is provoking a lot of serious discussion on Capitol Hill and at the FCC, he said. The Dept. of Homeland Security is also interested in public TV’s analog return plans, he said. In a “lengthy” meeting with Secy. Tom Ridge last month, Ornstein said he had told him that PTV’s plan would help solve the Dept.’s problem of getting spectrum for public safety and security uses: “We are also working on partnerships on homeland security and public safety.” PBS Pres. Pat Mitchell, who has been advocating a different funding model for PTV, said APTS and PBS were exploring “this window of opportunity that now exists about a new funding model for public broadcasting.” She said Ridge “really appreciated” the opportunity to work with public TV on homeland security issues. She said Powell told her at a meeting to discuss PTV’s analog switch off plan that “we have only a small window of opportunity here. It is getting shorter. We want to help you guys to figure out how to use it best.” Much was made at the board meeting of the changed attitudes of lawmakers at a recent hearing on CPB appropriations by the House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee. Mitchell characterized it as the “most positive, upbeat” hearing. Ornstein said that unlike in the past, when “we had taken flak from members… especially on issues of bias,” the hearing turned out to be “extraordinarily positive.” Part of the reason, he said, was the heat the commercial broadcasters were taking over indecency. He said public broadcasters could benefit from this ruckus -- but they must ensure that they had no wardrobe malfunction of their own.
Despite evoking scant interest in their commercial counterparts, public broadcasters are pressing ahead with their proposal for TV stations to embrace a hard date for analog switch-off. The Assn. of Public TV Stations (APTS) will submit a draft plan for stations to adopt a hard date for moving into digital-only operations to its board at public TV’s annual Capitol Hill Day in Washington Feb. 24-25, APTS Pres. John Lawson told us. The public broadcasters are planning to use the offer of an early return of analog spectrum to achieve a long-standing demand for a trust fund for public TV. PTV officials wouldn’t provide estimates of the size of the proposed trust fund, or the cost of set-top boxes.
In continued back-and-forth at the FCC on the 800 MHz proceeding, Nextel shot back at a CTIA filing earlier this month that argued that the “consensus plan” to realign that spectrum would violate the competitive bidding provisions of Sec. 309(j) of the Communications Act. Nextel accused the plan’s opponents of unleashing a “campaign of misinformation” in the last few weeks, “audaciously twisting the application of regulation to serve their myopic interest.” In its latest filing, Nextel argued that the FCC had full legal authority to approve the consensus plan, which also was backed by some private wireless groups, PCIA and the Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials. The plan is designed to mitigate interference to public safety operations at 800 MHz and would involve reconfiguring parts of 700, 800 and 900 MHz. CTIA’s most recent criticism had focused on the part of the plan that would give Nextel a nationwide license for 10 MHz at 1.9 GHz as part of a spectrum swap for capacity it was giving up in other bands. CTIA raised concerns about the extent to which the proposal would run counter to Sec. 309(j), which outlined the principals for the FCC’s offering spectrum at auction and would circumvent the Commission’s standard license assignment process. “CTIA applies inapposite precedent, distorts the comparative value of Nextel’s current licenses and proposed replacement spectrum and ignores the enormous societal benefits that would result from the consensus plan,” Nextel told the FCC. “The Commission should reject this last-ditch effort, and should instead move expeditiously to adopt the consensus plan in its entirety.” Nextel, a member of CTIA, told the Commission that this was not the first time the group had weighed in at the 11th hour in a spectrum proceeding to raise new arguments. Nextel cited the mobile satellite service rulemaking, in which CTIA argued late in the proceeding about potential interference to 1.9 GHz PCS operations. As for the 800 MHz proceeding, Nextel said it could implement the consensus plan and modify its licenses without triggering the competitive bidding requirements of Sec. 309(j). Nextel contended that provision applied only to the awarding of initial licenses. Instead, it said, the consensus plan would be modifying only Nextel’s already existing licenses. It said the FCC had authority to assign that spectrum to Nextel as a license modification under Sec. 316 of the Act. Nextel said important public interest provisions underlay the competitive bidding provisions of Sec. 309. “In the case of the 800 MHz proceeding, however, the compelling public interest benefits that would result from the consensus plan outweigh the public interest in spectrum auctions,” Nextel said. Nextel Vp-Govt. Affairs Lawrence Krevor said: “The consensus plan will eliminate the dangerous problem of public safety radio interference and we look forward to CTIA rallying to the cause.”
The FCC Inspector Gen.’s Office said more than $1.9 million in “inappropriate” e-rate disbursements had been recovered as the result of investigations of the first 3 years of the program, which began in 1998. The audits, which have been going on for several years (CD June 4 p8), are conducted by accounting firms contracted by the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC). In the latest report, Inspector Gen. Walker Feaster said USAC had initiated action to recover more than $2.3 million more and planned soon to issue “recovery letters” for another $6.98 million. The e- rate program, which offers schools and libraries discounts for projects to upgrade their computer infrastructure, has been criticized for not having strict enough controls over the contractors doing the work and their prices. Repeating concerns expressed earlier about lack of funding, the report concluded that “until such time as resources and funding are available to provide adequate oversight for the USF [Universal Service Fund] program, we are unable to give the Chairman, Congress and the public an appropriate level of assurance that the program is protected from fraud, waste and abuse.” In other areas, audits still continuing at the time of the semiannual report included one on financial management of auction proceeds. “This audit is being conducted to evaluate any potential duplicative efforts in the operation and management of the auction’s process,” the report said. Language in the House version of omnibus appropriations legislation would limit the FCC to $85 million of auction revenue to fund the program, rather than the current practice of funding the administrative costs of spectrum auctions from the money raised in the auctions.
Congress will attempt to fix a “broken” FCC next year, 2 senior Hill staffers told a Public Law Institute conference Thurs. A bill by Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R- Ariz.) and ranking Democrat Hollings (S.C.), S-1264, already has cleared that committee, and the House Commerce Committee will be playing catch-up, said Howard Waltzman, telecom counsel for House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.). Kevin Kayes, Democratic staff dir. for the Senate Commerce Committee, said he could envision as a follow-up in the next Congress an attempt to rewrite the Telecom Act. That would be popular in this town, he said: “I think there’s a tremendous interest by lobbyists and lawyers and everybody to do a new Act because it’s a huge amount of business.”
The FCC spectrum auction program could suffer a budget cut if the omnibus appropriations legislation remains as reported in the House last week. The bill would limit the FCC to $85 million of auction revenue to fund that program. It had been funding the administrative costs of spectrum auctions from the money raised in the auctions without submitting budget requests to Congress. The cost of the program has risen steadily over the years and the Commission had estimated it would need $97 million to fund the program this year. It was unclear whether the FCC would devote funds from its budget to make up the difference.
Rep. Towns (D-N.Y.) raised the possibility Wed. of setting timelines for spectrum auctions to provide more certainty about the funds available for a digital trust fund to promote technology and education programs. However, proponents of a Digital Opportunity Investment Trust (DOIT), including former FCC Chmn. Newton Minow, couldn’t address the desirability of setting timelines at a hearing of the House Commerce Telecom Subcommittee Wed. Minow said his understanding was that the FCC had set 2 auction dates but that further auctions would depend on how soon the Dept. of Defense vacated spectrum. Towns said setting a time for the auctions would help determine how much money would be available for the trust and sought the views of witnesses on whether congressional action would be desirable. Committee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) wanted to know from the witnesses whether they had any revenue projections from the sale of spectrum that would go into the trust. The only known figures were $5 billion from the 700 MHz auction and triple that amount from the 3G auction, he said. Minow said his projection of $20 billion was estimated to come over the years and only the interest from the fund was proposed to be used for technology and education programs. Backing the proposal for a trust fund, Upton said in today’s global marketplace, children and workers of all ages should be equipped with high-tech skills to remain competitive with the rest of the world’s work force. It was proposed that 30% of the proceeds from spectrum auctions be invested in DOIT for digital education and technology programs and for Telecom Development Fund (TDF) enhancement, a portion of the winning bidders’ down payments would be added to TDF’s existing funding for investment in new-technology ventures, he said. The proposals also call for “walling off” spectrum auction proceeds from the normal budgetary process, Upton said. However, while funding DOIT, the question of whether it would preclude funding for other programs such as veterans benefits, highway construction, homeland security and agriculture disaster support had to be considered, he said. Ranking member Markey (D-Mass.) said the issue was not merely one of “whether we can afford it.” Millions of jobs were being lost and companies were outsourcing software jobs to countries such as India and those were real challenges that needed to be tackled, he said. To a question on possible anticompetitive concerns relating to DOIT raised by Rep. Shimkus (R-Ill.), Minow said the “impressive” list of companies, especially technology firms, that had supported the DOIT proposal should set such concerns at rest. Businesses know that more education would bring them more success in the marketplace, he said. Former National Science Foundation Chmn. Eamon Kelly said DOIT would lead to increased competition in the same way that the National Science Foundation had stimulated competition and economic activity.
The Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA), in a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.), disputed Northpoint Technology statements about its treatment by the FCC. SIA disputed Northpoint’s claim that it was at a regulatory disadvantage to satellite providers. In an Oct. letter to McCain, Northpoint said Multichannel Video Distribution & Data Services (MVDDS) should be exempt from spectrum auctions because they would provide a competing service to satellite DBS providers (CD Oct 30 p14). Northpoint is lobbying for amendments that would grant such an auction exception. One such amendment was added to the Senate Commerce Justice State appropriations bill (S-1585). “Northpoint’s assertion contrasts sharply with the position of the Honorable [FCC] Chairman Michael Powell, who indicated in an October 23, 2003, letter to you that the last decade has seen ‘explosive wireless growth, innovation and competition,'” the Nov. 11 letter said. SIA also said that while the FCC hadn’t held an auction for domestic DBS licenses in more than 6 years, the Commission had auctioned satellite licenses in another domestic satellite service, including the Digital Audio Radio Satellite (DARS). The FCC also will auction several DBS orbital positions soon, the letter said. SIA said Northpoint also was wrong when it said the FCC had given Boeing spectrum without auction. The FCC didn’t give Boeing spectrum in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band, as SIA said Northpoint reported, and the spectrum award was analogous to satellite earth stations, which also aren’t auctioned.
Rep. Stupak (D-Mich.) introduced a bill Tues. designed to improve public safety communications interoperability. His proposed Public Safety Interoperability Implementation Act would establish a Public Safety Communications Trust Fund to be administered by NTIA in collaboration with the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS). Stupak told the House that DHS was “still sluggish in responding to the needs of our nation.” NTIA, with its telecom expertise, is better prepared to address the interoperability issue, he said. The trust fund would authorize up to $500 million per year through the standard appropriations cycle. After 3 years, the trust fund would receive up to 50% of net revenue from spectrum auctions. Reps. Fossella (R-N.Y.) and Engel (D-N.Y.) are co- sponsors.