Enterprise Wireless Insider® Volume 7, Issue 11

Coming to Your Town Soon – FCC Violation Notices

A Notice of Violation was issued to Chauvin Communications in Louisiana for programming radios for a fire district with an unauthorized frequency and, on the same day, to Cherokee County, GA for operating a VHF channel with a digital emission when only authorized for analog operation. A business entity was also cited in Detroit, Michigan for operating a radio system without a proper license. 

Nextel iDen Network Still Scheduled for June 30 Shutdown

Plans to end Nextel iDen network service at the end of June are confirmed by Sprint, which urges customers to migrate from the iDen network quickly to avoid service disruptions. Sprint notes that this transition is part of the company’s Network Vision plans which will “add net economic value for Sprint from reduced roaming costs, cell site reduction, backhaul efficiencies, more efficient use of capital, and energy cost savings.”

Sprint News

Establishing Future Regulatory Fees

The Commission is now seeking comments on how to modify its processes for assigning regulatory fees to categories of licensees within its various Bureaus. The FCC specifically noted in this item that perhaps its “methodology may be burdensome on the industry and of negligible value to the Commission, due to the administrative burden of assessing the fee on many very small companies.”  Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
 

Make A Decision Already

The Supreme Court upheld the FCC’s “shot clock” siting rule that states it is “presumptively reasonable” to require municipalities to process co-location requests in 90 days and requests for new towers in 150 days. The Court’s decision may have long-term significance for the legal question of who decides the scope of an agency’s jurisdiction, but it a win for the FCC, tower owners, and carriers who are supporting the expansion of the nations’ commercial communications networks. The rule had been challenged by two towns in Texas as exceeding the FCC’s regulatory authority.

FCC Denies 14 GHz Petition

Almost five years after its submission, the FCC denied a UTC Petition for Rulemaking that sought a new secondary fixed service in the 14-14.5 GHz band for critical infrastructure (CII) users.  In denying the request, the FCC said that there was no basis for concluding that this use would be able to avoid and/or resolve interference to primary satellite service.  It also disagreed with UTC’s position that CII operations were a basis for an exemption from the general Congressional directive to assign spectrum by auction in instances of mutually exclusivity.  
 

TA’s Role Must End Eventually – But Not Yet!

While progress has been significant, the need for the Transition Administrator’s (TA) management services is obviously not as necessary at it may have been at the outset of the 800 MHz rebanding initiative. Regardless, the TA has again recommended that the FCC postpone the 800 MHz rebanding financial true-up which would maintain the TA’s active presence.  In a recent letter to the FCC, the TA declared that a true-up on July 1 “would not include a significant amount of Sprint Nextel’s reconfiguration expenditures,” and recommended a new December 31, 2013, deadline. 

EWA Launches Search for National Sales Director

EWA has retained the services of JDG Associates, Rockville, Maryland, to conduct a professional search for a National Sales Director, Membership and Services. This person will be responsible for the successful strategic direction and management of all EWA sales objectives directed towards membership recruitment and retention. In addition, this position is responsible for developing new business initiatives and proactively translating them into successful strategies that will result in increased sales of current and prospective educational and technical service programs.

It’s Unanimous – Ease Up on T-Band

Not surprisingly, in comments filed in May, virtually the entire land mobile industry suggested that it would be a disaster to repurpose the T-Band spectrum since it is such an essential asset for public safety and business enterprise users. The majority of commenters also noted that there is a shortage of comparable replacement spectrum in most of the T-Band markets for public safety users, and none at all for I/B users.  Comments were near unanimous as well that the FCC should lift the application licensing freeze that has been in effect for nearly a year noting that while legislation has mandated the relocation of public safety entities, the timing and scope of the T-Band application freeze is entirely within the FCC’s purview.  EWA will be filing further comments in this matter on June 11.   

FCC Supports Signal Booster Recommendations

To minimize the administrative burden on industrial/business entities that have deployed hundreds if not thousands of signal boosters, EWA recently suggested that the FCC should adopt a uniform deadline for registering all Consumer and Part 90 Class B signal boosters in operation as of February 20, 2013, and to clarify what registration information is required for embedded signal boosters. More recently, EWA was contacted by the FCC noting that the requests made sense and that they would need time to determine the “best and fastest” way to address them.