Enterprise Wireless Insider® Volume 7, Issue 15

Keep an Eye on those Expiration Dates!

Texas Soaring Association (TSA) was issued a fine of $9,000 for the repeated violation of operating an unauthorized license for five years and failure to file a timely renewal.

The FCC commented that TSA "knew [or should have known] that it had an ongoing and affirmative duty to maintain operating authority for its station, including the duty to ensure timely renewal of the station’s license."  They further noted that "[e]ven if administrative oversight, inadvertence, or a lack of familiarity with the Rules may have contributed to the violation, they do not preclude a finding of willfulness where an omission is the basis for liability."

The FCC notes that it is no longer accepting the argument that operating on an expired license is at least a lesser sin than operating a "pirate" station that was never licensed in the first place. So if your license expires, they are going to treat you just like the pirates that pick a frequency and fire up their transmitter without ever bothering to apply for a license in the first place. In short, it seems the FCC pendulum has now swung back toward taking a harder line against failures to timely renew licenses. Keep an eye on those expiration dates!

Steep Fine for GPS Jamming

A New Jersey resident was fined $31,875 by the FCC for interfering with a GPS-navigation system at the Newark, NJ Airport. The resident used a jamming device he installed in his truck to block the GPS-tracking system installed by his employer. 

FCC 8th Floor Nominations

Michael O’Rielly has been nominated to fill the vacant Republican slot at the FCC and the process of confirming both him and Tom Wheeler as Chairman is expected to now move forward quickly.

Construction Waivers Denied

The FCC recently denied a request for waiver from Allied Communication Services, for a late filing of a construction certification. The fact that the licensee had twice previously requested extensions of the construction deadline may have influenced the FCC’s reaction to the claim that the station had been built on time.

Three days later, similar requests were denied to three Local Multipoint Distribution Service (27-29 GHz) licensees for extensions or waivers of their construction obligations.  The FCC noted that these licenses were initially granted in 1998, which may have been at least one factor in the denials. (DA 13-1688; DA13-1692; DA-131696)

Protecting 470-512 MHz From Mobile “White-Space” Devices

The FCC recently reaffirmed its prohibition against the operation of personal/portable TVBDs on TV channels 14-20, spectrum that has been shared successfully by Private Land Mobile Radio Services (“PLMRS”) in eleven of the largest markets in the county for some forty years.  As the FCC explained, “We also remain concerned about possible interference from unlicensed TVBDs to public safety and other important communications operations in the PLMRS. While the geo-location/database and client operation provisions of the rules we are adopting herein will serve to provide a high degree of assurance that PLMRS…and other authorized services on channels 14-20 are protected, we continue to believe that the nomadic nature and expected high numbers of personal/portable devices poses some potential for interference to those services.”

EWA supports this FCC position, but it is still to be determined how this policy will actually play out in the real world. Who knows how much TV White Space activity there is, but EWA has not heard of any interference problems as yet.  Of course, Google’s database was approved last month and they said originally they would allow access to it for free. That may increase the level of activity in the band.

“Pre-coordination” Process at 800 MHz

The LMCC is scheduled to hold a meeting on August 28 to potentially formulate a consensus to develop a “pre-coordination” process for applications that seek access to 800 MHz Expansion and Guard band spectrum. In a related matter, in a July 22 letter to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, EWA noted that these bands are essentially the first “new” allocation of channels for Industrial/Business and Specialized Mobile Radio applicants in decades which require that all applicable FCC rules and frequency coordination requirements are followed.