Enterprise Wireless Insider® Volume 5, Issue 3

Licensee Found Liable for Contractor Omissions

Cricket Communications, Inc. (Cricket) was issued a $20,000 fine for providing inaccurate information when filing its notice of construction for its fixed point-to-point microwave radio service station WQJE535, and for operating that station along with station WQJF544 for a period of seven months prior to obtaining an FCC license. Cricket claimed that in the past it had relied on its engineering contractors who built its microwave sites to file the appropriate notifications with the FCC but, upon receiving a reminder notice from the FCC about the upcoming construction deadlines, Cricket realized that the construction notifications had not been filed. In its Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, the Commission noted that licensees are responsible for the acts and omissions of their employees and contractors.

You’re Not Even Eligible for the License You Don’t Have

A Scottsdale, Arizona Lexus car dealership purchased over forty radios that were programmed to operate on both Family Radio Service (FRS) and General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) frequencies.  What they didn’t learn at the time of their purchase was that the GMRS is a “land mobile radio service available to persons for short-distance two-way communication to facilitate the activities of licensees and their immediate family members, and the party responsible for a GMRS station must obtain a license prior to transmitting on any channel authorized in the GMRS.” Scottsdale Lexus advised the FCC they did not know a license was needed.

In the Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, the Commission stated that besides operating without a license, Scottsdale Lexus was not even eligible to obtain a GMRS license and was fined $10,000.  The fine levied was not higher due to the fact that the dealership did not have a prior compliance history with the FCC.

Expired License AND the Wrong Airport

The FCC recently visited the offices of South Bay Aviation, Inc. to confirm whether they were operating on 122.95 MHz without a license at the Torrance Airport in Torrance, California. No license was found on the day of the inspection, but the following day South Bay contacted the FCC to advise that they had located the license, but it had expired. Upon further investigation, it was noted that the misplaced license was indeed expired, but authorized the use of 122.95 MHz at the Long Beach Airport, not the Torrance Airport. In a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, the Commission fined South Bay $12,000 for operating without a license for over ten years at both airport locations. 

CPNI Filing Requirements

There continues to be some confusion regarding the FCC's rules regarding the requirement by "telecommunication carriers" to submit by March 1st a Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) certification. EWA offers the following analysis and guidance to assist those members who question their requirement to comply with applicable FCC rules.

First, it is clear that if you are providing a telecommunications service that is interconnected with the public-switch telephone network (PSTN), you are obliged to file a CPNI certification on March 1st. What is not as clear, however, are the certification requirements for telecommunication carriers (this includes private carriers and SMR systems) that ARE NOT interconnected with the PSTN.

Late last year, the Commission issued an Order in which it cancelled a number of $20,000 forfeitures against telecommunications carriers.  Following a review of that Order, EWA requested the FCC to confirm that the forfeiture cancellations were based on the fact that the carriers were not interconnected with the PSTN. We have yet to receive a response from the FCC at this time. Please see EWA Press Release.

We suggest that you have three options:

• Make no CPNI-related filing on March 1, 2011, for calendar year 2010, and rely on the Commission's Order and EWA's effort to request confirmation of exclusion for non-interconnected systems;

• File a letter with the Commission explaining that your system is not interconnected and therefore not subject to the CPNI requirement; or

• Proceed with the regular CPNI filing.

The first course of action would be consistent with the FCC's current interpretation of CPNI requirements, and it would appear defensible in light of the Commission's recent Order. However, there is no explicit FCC statement yet to confirm this. Out of an abundance of caution, members may elect to follow the third course of action.

EWA Attends FCC Narrowbanding Workshop

Hours prior to the DC area’s first significant snow storm of 2011 on January 26, the FCC conducted a workshop on VHF/UHF narrowbanding.  EWA staff reported the goal was to assist licensees in completing the transition to narrowband radio communications by the Commission’s January 1, 2013 deadline.  The two main topics were Impact on Licensees and Potential Funding Sources for public safety licensees.  During the workshop, the FCC was asked what action(s) it expected to take with regard to licensees that do not meet the deadline.  Although the official answer was that such licensees would not be entitled to protection from interference and would be operating in violation of the FCC rules, it also appears that the Commission may be considering other, more persuasive, measures to encourage compliance. A two-hour video and series of workshop slide presentations may be found in the FCC’s archives.

TIA Takes Lead on Intrinsically Safe Radio Issue

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) has recently agreed to form a special engineering subcommittee to address ongoing concerns with FM Approval’s revised certification standards for intrinsically safe radios. TIA further agreed to support and incorporate the ongoing initiatives of several industry associations, including EWA, API, LMCC and NPSTC, all of whom have vigorously opposed revised standards for IS radios that are to become effective on January 1, 2012. TIA committee support will also be provided from Motorola, ICOM, Kenwood, Harris, and TAIT.

FCC To Investigate Rapidly Deployable Aerial Telecommunications

The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released a Public Notice January 28 seeking comments on or before February 28 on initiatives and strategies that could be adopted to support state-of-the-art aerial telecommunications. The Commission referenced unmanned aerial vehicles, balloon-mounted or unmounted systems, and others technologies that could be deployed within an area during the initial hours following a natural disaster. Issues to be considered include how to manage and coordinate such solutions with respect to capacity and bandwidth requirements, interference mitigation techniques, and security. EWA member Space Data is a pioneer in balloon-borne enterprise and military communications. VP Sales and Marketing Rhett Grotzinger tells EWA they welcome the FCC’s interest in aerial telecommunications, and look forward to commenting on the proceedings.

Speedy FCC Decision Favors L-Band Service Provider

In what appears to be one of the most expedited decisions ever made by the FCC, the International Bureau on January 26 granted Mobile Satellite Service licensee LightSquared a conditional waiver of the Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) “integrated service” rules in the 1.5/1.6 GHz L-Band spectrum. Just this past November, LightSquared submitted an application for modification of its existing ATC authorization, asserting that the services it plans to offer would meet the Commission’s integrated service requirements for MSS/ATC L-Band systems. During its deliberations, the Commission noted specifically LightSquared’s efforts to coordinate with other L-Band operators; the level of investment; and steps taken to promote an MSS/ATC marketplace that includes dual-mode satellite/terrestrial devices

FCC Picks All Nine TV White Space Database Administrators

On January 26, the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) issued an Order conditionally designating nine companies as the geo-location database administrators whose objective is to mitigate the potential for interference from unlicensed white devices to incumbent operators. Devices operating on TV white space spectrum are designed to bypass frequencies designated in the databases as being in use and licensed to broadcast and land mobile entities. The OET will continue to monitor the capabilities and performance of these entities, including conducting a series of mandatory workshops and real-world testing of databases, before converting their conditional designations to permanent status.

FCC Favors LTE for Public Safety Interoperability

The FCC adopted a 3rd Report & Order (R&O) and a 4th Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) addressing interoperability on the intended nationwide 700 MHz broadband network.  The R&O requires that all 700 MHz public safety mobile broadband networks use the LTE standard as their air-interface to support roaming and interoperability.  In the FNPRM, the FCC requests comment on matters such as the architectural vision for the network, the implications of open standards, network robustness and reliability, roaming and priority access and interference issues. The FCC released a YouTube video for those less inclined to read the 58-page document, and the FCC will convene on March 4, an Interoperability Forum to gather further input. The matter has been under study for nearly ten years, originally initiated in the aftermath of 9/11 and then the Gulf Coast hurricanes.