Illegal Jammers Beware
An Enforcement Advisory was released by the FCC cautioning consumers once again that it is unlawful to use a cellular or GPS jammer that blocks or “interferes with authorized communications, as well as to import, advertise, sell, or ship such a device.” The advisory also advises that penalties for such offenses can exceed $100,000 per violation.
A new Jammers Tip Line is expected to manage and enforce the issue of illegal jamming. The tip line, 1-888-55-NOJAM or (1-855-556-6526) was created to assist the reporting of use or sale of illegal jamming devices. More
Further demonstrating this enforcement commitment, the Commission recently took action against six individuals for advertising and selling jamming devices on Craigslist, and said it plans to impose substantial monetary penalties. The Commission reminds everyone that “Jammers are indiscriminate—they can block critical public safety and other emergency communications along with the targeted transmissions. As a result, it is a violation of federal law to market, sell, or use a jammer in the United States." More
Category: Enforcement CornerNarrowbanding Deadline Close – Real Close
There are now just over 68 days until January 1, 2013, and fewer than 48 business days until this narrowbanding deadline is reached. A valued EWA member from California suggested that we alert everyone to the fast approaching deadline and to remind members that the forthcoming holidays may make it more difficult to get everything done by the end of the year.
Category: EWA On Your SideT-Mobile Extension Request Denied
T-Mobile’s request for additional time to comply with the substantial service requirement for a number of Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) licenses has been denied by the FCC. In asking for more time to deploy these 27-31 GHz licenses, in addition to the 4-year extension previously granted to all LMDS licensees, T-Mobile argued that the equipment marketplace had not improved and that LMDS had not yet proven an “attractive alternative to other backhaul technologies.” The fact that other LMDS licensees had met their substantial service deadline presumably weighed heavily in the FCC’s decision. According to the FCC, T-Mobile had not demonstrated circumstances beyond its control, including it’s a failure to show that it had attempted to encourage equipment development in the band. Order
Category: In the newsFCC Seeks to Update Record for Wireless Microphones
In a recent Public Notice, the Commission has invited interested parties to update and refresh the record pertaining to two specific issues raised in the Commission’s 2010 Wireless Microphones Further Notice, specifically whether the Commission should provide for a limited expansion of license eligibility that would permit some wireless microphone and other low power auxiliary station users, which currently operate in the TV broadcast spectrum on an unlicensed basis to operate on a licensed basis under the Part 74 rules applicable to low power auxiliary stations (LPAS); and what steps the Commission should take to promote more efficient use of this spectrum by wireless microphones. The FCC asked that respondents take into consideration recent industry developments, including advances in wireless microphone technologies, as well as related Commission proceedings that affect use of wireless microphones, including the TV White Spaces proceeding.
Category: In the newsFCC Enforces No Expansion of 25 kHz Non-Narrowbanded System Rule
The FCC recently denied a request for reconsideration submitted by the Boyd Gaming Corporation that sought acceptance of an application after January 1, 2011, that would modify Boyd’s license by relocating the center coordinates of the mobile operating area and increasing the service radius from three kilometers to thirty-two kilometers, and adding a narrowband emission designator to the existing wideband emission designator. Section 90.209(b)(6)(ii) of the Commission’s Rules provides that beginning January 1, 2011, no modification application that increases a wideband PLMR station’s interference contour will be acceptable for filing. Because the application proposed to increase Boyd’s wideband interference contour, it was dismissed on April 17, 2012.
Category: In the newsFCC Weather Report - Canadian Freeze Continues
Once again, the FCC extended the 800 MHz freeze in the Canadian Border Regions, this time until April 15, 2013, explaining that some incumbents have not yet executed agreements with Sprint Nextel and others are still implementing their rebanding plans. Further, the FCC stated that “some relocating licensees have yet to complete their system retunes. Accordingly, to preserve currently vacant channels for use by these licensees and avoid potential licensing conflicts that could delay rebanding; we have determined that temporarily extending the freeze is in the public interest.”
Category: In the newsEWA Supports Yet Another Victim of T-Band Freeze
EWA filed comments earlier this week in support of NSTAR’s request for waiver of the T-Band licensing freeze to permit the deployment of additional transmitter sites within the greater Boston, Massachusetts area. This is another instance where a licensee filed an application prior to the initiation of the application freeze, and the application was subsequently dismissed by the FCC given its concerns that the spectral landscape would be adversely affected.
In this case, NSTAR explained that it began the process of migrating its operations from VHF to T-Band in response to the Commission’s requirement that virtually all Part 90 licensees in the VHF and UHF bands convert to narrowband technology by January 1, 2013. NSTAR determined that a narrowband T-Band replacement system would best meet the requirements of users throughout its operating area by providing “a common radio platform, eliminating the need to change radios when moving between service territories.” NSTAR has already deployed this system in two of its three service territories, but its September 2011 application to add the third region was not coordinated and filed with the FCC until April 23, 2012, just days before the T-Band freeze was announced. NSTAR is now in the untenable position of having migrated much of its work force from VHF to T-Band, while the remainder is stranded in a state of regulatory limbo of unknown duration.
In its remarks, EWA informed the FCC that the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 did not intend, require or even suggest such a disastrous result. The Commission adopted the freeze saying that “prudent spectrum management dictates that we should stabilize the existing spectrum landscape by suspending the acceptance and processing of T-Band licensing applications that could alter the spectrum landscape and thereby make implementing the [Spectrum] Act more difficult or costly.” EWA stated that the future cost of clearing this spectrum is clearly less relevant than meeting the ongoing spectrum requirements of private land mobile radio (“PLMR”) entities such as NSTAR that need T-Band spectrum today to meet critical communications needs. The wisdom of and necessity for imposing a freeze on all spectrum in all T-Band markets almost a decade before the reallocation mandated by the Act, at best, is questionable. It reflects a balancing of the public interest that, in EWA’s opinion, without any economic analyses or recognition of the benefits that accrue to the American public through the use of T-Band spectrum by companies such as NSTAR, improperly elevates the benefit of cost containment for future bidders over the immediate and ongoing communications needs of public safety, critical infrastructure, and other important PLMR user requirements. Press Release
Category: EWA On Your Side