Big Company Equals Bigger Fine
Union Oil Company of California (UOCC), former licensee of station WPHA630, Nikiski, Alaska, and Aeronautical and Fixed Advisory (UNICOM) station WAL7, Cook Inlet, Alaska, was issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture for $96,200 for the continued usage of both station licenses after their expiration and failure to file the necessary forms for to continue operations in a timely manner.
UOCC admitted that they failed to renew both station licenses and continued to operate both for approximately fourteen years total for both licenses until STA’s were granted. UOCC cited that its acquisition by Chevron (August 2005) which occurred around this time the licenses expired was primarily the reason the licenses were not renewed on time because they did not make their way into Chevron’s internal FCC license tracking database on time. Given the violation of failing to renew both licenses in a timely manner and UOCC’s continued operation of the unlicensed equipment for an extended period of time, along with the fact that Chevron is a multi-billion dollar company- (UOCC’s parent company), the Commission concluded that a significant upward adjustment of the base forfeiture was warranted.
Grinch Reconsiders Comment Deadline
Some Grinch at the FCC had originally established the comments in this proceeding to be filed the day after Thanksgiving (November 23) and the day before Christmas (December 24), or maybe it was intended as a cruel joke all along. But recognizing that selecting these two days might affect the quality and quantity of potential comments, the FCC acknowledged that these dates fell rather close to a couple of Federal Holidays, and in an effort to “encourage more thoughtful consideration for the issues at hand”, Comment and Reply Comment dates were extended to November 28, 2012 and January 7, 2013 respectively. Order
Category: In the newsRevised Dates Set in Wireless Microphones Proceeding
The Commission has revised the Comment Due and Comment Reply deadline dates regarding the 2010 Wireless Microphones Further Notice. Comments are due on or before November 21, 2012, and Reply Comments are due on or before December 12, 2012 for this proceeding. Public Notice
Category: In the newsLMDS Construction Extension Requests Denied
The FCC has denied multiple requests for additional time to comply with the substantial service requirement for Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) licenses. In each case, they stated that the licensee had not demonstrated circumstances beyond its control as justification for not having deployed facilities.
Category: In the newsPSCC Suggests Amendments to VHF Digital Coordination Standards
The Public Safety Communications Council (PSCC) has proposed the following coordination standards for VHF public safety digital applications: (1) 250 km protection from proposed base station to co-channel and 7.5 kHz adjacent channel incumbent mobile licensees; (2) incumbent mobile receiver antenna height assumed equal to transmitter antenna height; (3) assumption of a 60 m receiver antenna if receiver antenna cannot be inferred from 2 above; (4) proposed digital systems will have a Longley-Rice study conducted at 50% (time), 50% (location), and 50% probability applied; and (5) a signal level of -110 dBm or greater at incumbent site will cause proposed station to fail the protection standard.
Category: In the newsEWA Meets with the FCC
Mark Crosby and Liz Sachs met with FCC staff members last week to check on the progress of a number of critical matters, including the potential to lift the 900 MHz Industrial/Business application freeze before the end of 2012 and the opportunity to expand the efficiency of the 800 MHz band by allowing the use of 12.5 kHz interstitial channels at 854-861/809-816 MHz. Other topics of discussion included the LMCC’s request to allow frequency advisory committees to ignore non-compliant narrowband systems after February 1, 2013, during spectrum determinations; the T-Band application freeze; and pending amendments to the FCC’s trunking system frequency coordination and licensing regulations. Several of these issues we will see progress soon; others will not be addressed until 2013.
Category: EWA On Your SideEWA Recommends Expanding 4.9 GHz Access
In Comments filed on November 1, EWA recommended that the 4.9 GHz band be made available for all private internal systems – those that are used to meet internal communications requirements only and that are not used to provide service to third parties on a for-profit basis. This would include systems beyond those the FCC historically has classified as Critical Infrastructure Industries (CII). EWA urged the FCC to revisit its current interpretation of entities that properly can be identified as CII to ensure that this categorization is consistent with the public interest.
EWA also suggested that if the FCC determines to make this spectrum available for backhaul purposes, whether by the First Responder Network Authority (“FirstNet”), the expanded eligibility class recommended by EWA or by public safety directly, that use would be enhanced by a coordination approach similar to the Part 101 rules. The Alliance believes this alternative would be superior to a licensed regimen based entirely on registration rather than defined protection criteria, an approach that most closely mirrors the entirely unlicensed microwave bands available today. While such facilities may be acceptable in a non-critical, consumer-oriented environment, they would not provide the grade of service levels appropriate for public safety or enterprise users for whom communications facilities are essential to safety and/or the efficient operation of their businesses. EWA agreed that a more detailed database of system information will benefit both existing and prospective users by enabling new entrants to make responsible frequencies choices, especially if 4.9 GHz eligibility is expanded as recommended above.
Category: EWA On Your Side