Enterprise Wireless Insider® Volume 4, Issue 7

Phonejammer.com fined $25,000

A $25,000 fine was issued to Phonejammer.com after they had continued to market two models of phone jammers despite a citation and inquiry from the FCC. Phonejammer.com did not respond to a citation from the FCC for marketing radio frequency devices that intentionally interfered with cellular and Personal Communications Services (PCS). After a company in Carrollton, Texas was found operating a Phonejammer.com device, the FCC issued a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) to Phonejammer.com. In their response, the company denied that they were marketing or shipping units to consumers in the United States. Phonejammer.com was asked to attest to the truth and accuracy of the information contained in their response by providing a signed affidavit or sworn statement but failed to do so. The Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) asserts that the two systems that had been sold did in fact interfere with licensed cellular and PCS frequencies.  MORE

Motorola Requests Extension of Reply Date

Motorola has asked the FCC for additional time to respond to industry concerns associated with their request to license non-standard pairings for certain low power applications at fixed sites. The Commission has extended the Reply Comment date to May 14, 2010.  MORE  EWA Comments

Don’t Forget the Quiet Zones

Licensees who are within a quiet zone for radio astronomy, research and receiving installations must obtain concurrence from these entities prior to their submitting a modification through the Universal Licensing System (ULS) to reduce their bandwidth on an emission for a narrowband application. If you have any questions concerning Quiet Zone coordination, please contact Ms. Ila Dudley at 703.797.5125 or Ila.Dudley@enterprisewireless.org.   Rule 1.924   MORE

AAPC Urges Maintaining CMRS Fee

The American Association of Paging Carriers (AAPC) has urged the FCC to maintain the CMRS Messaging fee at the $0.08 per unit for fiscal year 2010. The current per unit fee was established in 2002, and has remained the same since 2003 when it was noted that the paging industry was experiencing a declining subscriber base.
AAPC Comments   MORE

New Tower Regulations may be on the Horizon

The Infrastructure Coalition composed of CTIA, NAB, PCIA and NATE, and the American Bird Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society, successfully negotiated a memorandum of understanding concerning interim Antenna Survey Registration procedures. These collective efforts are intended to facilitate tower construction crucial to new wireless services, but at the same time, reduce incidences of bird mortalities. Read MOU  MORE

Auction or Reallocation of the D Block?

U. S. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) has introduced bipartisan legislation to reallocate the 700 MHz D block spectrum to public safety. The FCC had recommended, in its national broadband plan, that the D Block be auctioned and that Congress provide $12 to $16 billion in funding for a national, interoperable broadband public safety network. King’s bill requires broadband technology conformance among public safety systems and networks, but does not provide any funding for a public safety network. National public safety organizations have long supported the reallocation of this 10 MHz block of spectrum for their use. MORE

EWA on the Road ...

One of the membership service highlights for me is to be invited to attend and provide presentations to EWA member customer expositions. EWA staff have attended a few recently and it’s always great to help loyal EWA members by relaying the latest in FCC regulatory news, reminding licensees of their forthcoming system narrowbanding requirements, and licensing priorities.  I especially like discussing the myths and rumors associated with the decades-long system narrowbanding mandates. The list just seems to be getting longer and longer as the critical dates get closer and closer. Just this past week, I was asked by a technician, “I hear that it’s illegal to tune 25 kHz radios after January 1, 2011?” I answered that it is perfectly acceptable to tune 25 kHz radios up to January 1, 2013.  Based on the reaction of a few salesmen in the audience, however, I don’t think that’s the answer they wanted to hear from me. 

 At another event, a salesman asked me to please refrain from mentioning the NPSTC request to delay the January 1, 2011, “manufacturer’s narrowbanding date certain.” He said that “we don’t need to give customers any more excuses to keep buying 25 kHz equipment that they can only use for just over two years ... we need them to buy 12.5 kHz equipment now.” Of course, I agreed with him, and the request to delay that critical first narrowbanding date is still pending at the Commission.  I doubt it, but maybe the Commission won’t get around to acting on that request until after the first of the year. It seems a bit crazy to me to approve a global delay when one-off waivers are all that is necessary.

We find that some licensees remain a bit flummoxed by the FCC’s statements of a couple of years ago that they should consider bypassing 12.5 kHz and going straight to skinny narrowband.  I tell people that FCC administration is long gone, and that this FCC administration is focusing on broadband policy, not narrowband policy - in other words, a 500 MHz chunk of broadband spectrum, not 6.25 kHz or equivalent pieces of spectrum.  And finally, we suggest that customers determine what they have in inventory, which devices must be replaced, which devices need only reprogramming, and chart a course of action.  January 1, 2013, will get here quicker than we might anticipate.

I don’t have the time to accommodate all member requests to appear before their customers, so I am thankful that other EWA staff members are more than capable of speaking and covering what needs to be said.  In the past couple of weeks I have been in Cleveland, Ohio, Williamsburg, Virginia, Morgantown and Wheeling, West Virginia, attending events sponsored by Independence Communications, the EDMSSA and Lauttamus Communications.  I think I have a date at Chicago Communications next month. Nancy Gruen spent nearly a week in New Mexico at three events hosted by Advanced Communications, and I also want to thank Cheryl Slaybaugh and Bill Sterner who assisted at several of these events as well. We learn a lot on how better to serve you and your customers when we attend these functions.  Please keep the invitations coming.