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The Commission rejected a request by the Tennessee Technological University (TTU) to reduce a Forfeiture Order it had received in the amount of $1,500 for failing to file a timely license renewal. TTU claimed that the violation was inadvertent and requested a reduction of the fine based on financial hardship. A copy of TTU’s budget, as opposed to tax filings was submitted as evidence of the hardship. The Commission stated that the budget was not adequate representation of TTU’s revenues and “declined to cancel or reduce the proposed forfeiture.”
Category: Enforcement CornerProgramming Unauthorized Frequencies
Flatcode Communications, Bronx, New York, was cited for programming a General Mobile Radio Service frequency into a customer’s two-way portable radios “for which the operator of the transmitter was not authorized,” in violation of Rule 90.427(b). The FCC instructed Flatcode to “take immediate steps to come into compliance and to avoid any recurrence of this misconduct, or potentially face monetary forfeitures of up to $16,000 for each such violation or each day of a continuing violation and up to $112,500 for any single act or failure to act.” FCC Citation
Category: Enforcement CornerBroadband Target: Public Rights of Way and Wireless Facilities
Comments are due July 18 and reply comments by August 30 to the FCC’s April Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on accelerating broadband deployment by improving rights of way policies and wireless facilities siting requirements of the various stakeholders, including state and local governments, other Federal agencies, Tribal governments, consumer advocates and the private sector. FCC Public Notice
Category:Broadband for Rural America
Chairman Genachowski, in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture, and in response to a requirement of the 2008 Farm Bill (yes, the Farm Bill), delivered a report to Congress entitled Bringing Broadband to Rural America: Update to Report on a Rural Broadband Strategy. The unsurprising conclusion warned that “While significant progress has been made to increase rural broadband deployment and adoption since the publication of the 2009 Rural Broadband Report, and a number of private- and public-sector initiatives are underway, additional efforts and new policies – including major universal service policy reform – are still required to ensure that rural American fully shares in the benefits of the emerging broadband economy.” The report identifies various spectrum and other initiatives undertaken by the FCC and intended to facilitate rural broadband deployment. Statement of Chairman Genachowski
Category:Signal Booster Comment Deadline Extended
The Commission has extended the deadlines for rules to facilitate development and deployment of “well-designed signal boosters” to July 25 for comments and August 24 for reply comments. EWA reported last month that the FCC’s regulatory proceeding was initiated to gather comments and suggestions on how best to permit greater use of signal boosters to improve wireless coverage for consumers, businesses and public safety entities. The FCC originally sought comments in January, noting that “although signal boosters hold great promise” for improving coverage, improperly designed or malfunctioning boosters can interfere with networks, including emergency calls. FCC Order
Category: In the newsImproving Public Safety Communications at 800 MHz
The FCC has postponed the 800 MHz rebanding financial reconciliation “true-up” from June 30 to December 31, 2011. It further instructs, as if to forecast further delay, the 800 MHz Transition Administrator to file its recommendation by November 15 if the true-up date should occur as scheduled…or be postponed further. FCC Order
Category: In the newsA Subtle Message on Public Safety Broadband?
In a White House address on agency plans for a Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network, FCC Chairman Genachowski began by thanking Vice President Biden and Congressional leaders for their work on getting “closer than ever to achieving the vital goal of funding and building a nationwide interoperable communications network for our first responders.” The Chairman’s remarks concluded with a call to action for “the need for legislative action … of finally funding and building a mobile broadband public safety network for our first responders.” Chairman Genachowski Remarks
Category: In the newsNew Fee Structure for PLMR
In the aftermath of proposing new rules to “increase transparency and disclosure on phone bills, aiming to protect Americans from ‘mystery fees’ and ‘cramming,’ which is the illegal placement of an unauthorized fee onto a consumer’s monthly phone bill,” the FCC announced new procedures on June 16 whereby upfront regulatory fees such as those paid by most PLMR applicants for their entire license term will no longer be bundled together with the application fee, but will be split out into two separate payments. Each of the application and regulatory fees now will have a separate fee payment code and must be listed as a separate line item on the Form 159. FCC Public Notice
Category: In the newsLightSquared Requests Time Extension
LightSquared requested the FCC to provide a short time extension for its FCC required working group to file its final report which will provide details concerning interference to GPS receivers from LightSquared’s terrestrial operations. The extension request states that the parties have been working diligently, but that, based on preliminary test results, additional testing, including alternative frequency plans, need to be investigated. The request appears to be consistent with rumors that LightSquared would attempt to settle this matter – at least on an interim basis – by confining its operations to the half of its allocation farthest away from the GPS band.
Category: In the newsGreater Public Interest Under Review
It seems the Commission is now not consistently reminding public safety licensees, who are seeking to expand operations within the 470-512 MHz band, that further requests may not be treated so kindly. Specifically, the FCC has now stated on a number of occasions that as it “takes steps to further broadband spectrum initiatives, it is likely that additional waiver requests for public safety use of spectrum currently allocated for the TV broadcast service will have different and more significant effects on Commission plans for this spectrum, and that it will accordingly become much more difficult to conclude that such waivers would, on the whole, serve the public interest.” It is anticipated that the industry will soon remind the FCC of the substantial benefits that are directly attributable to the use of this band by both public safety and business enterprises that may exceed the benefits that may result from repurposing this spectrum for broadband. FCC NPR
Category: In the newsEWA Releases Best Practices on Monitoring Requirements
Licensees are reminded that compliance with FCC Section 90.403(e) is important, by "monitoring the transmit frequency for communications in progress and such other measures as may be necessary to minimize the potential for causing interference." For trunked radio systems, however, there are three exceptions to this rule, so EWA prepared a Best Practices document to remind licensees when channel monitoring is required.
Category: EWA On Your SideTETRA – Treat as Other Digital Technologies
EWA has filed comments earlier this week in response to the FCC’s NPRM that seeks industry input on proposed technical rules that would allow Part 90 users to deploy Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) equipment. While EWA has consistently supported the introduction of spectrally efficient technologies, in this proceeding EWA conditioned its support for TETRA on its requirement to be deployed without causing interference to incumbent licensees which appears to be an issue that the Commission, for some reason, has yet to consider. With that view in mind, EWA’s comments stated that the FCC must ensure that whatever rules it adopts, it must at a minimum address TETRA’s compatibility with co-channel operations. If TETRA equipment has the ability to monitor co-channel transmissions within the digital user’s authorized bandwidth, then it should be able to co-exist with other systems on shared channels. Absent that capability, then the FCC must make it clear that TETRA technology may only be deployed in the bands below 512 MHz by licensees that are authorized for trunked operations, and that are exempt from monitoring consistent with FCC Rule Section 90.187. EWA's Comments
Category: EWA On Your Side