The FCC International Bureau said Pegasus had satisfied its construction commencement milestone for its Ka-band satellite to be located at 107 degrees W. Pegasus’s original application for the satellite included a provision for intersatellite links (ISLs), which weren’t included in the construction contract the company submitted to the bureau, it said: “We find that declaring Pegasus’ entire Ka-band license null and void for failure to incorporate an ancillary package would not advance the purpose of our milestone policy. As the Bureau recently held, ISLs, unlike Ka-band service links, are not necessary in this case to provide Ka- band service to the end user.”
Country of origin cases
A bipartisan group of members is urging House-Senate Agriculture Appropriations Bill conferees to restore full funding of the Rural Utilities Service Rural Broadband Loan & Loan Guarantee Program. In passing its agriculture spending bill, the Senate restored $6 million in funding for the program to raise spending to $15.1 million, which is still short of the $20 million originally authorized. The House agriculture appropriations bill provided only $9.1 million. The letter, authored by Rep. Stupak (D-Mich.) and signed by 60 other members, including 25 Republicans, asks the conference to retain $15.1 million in funding. The program would leverage that funding into $1 billion in loan guarantees for rural broadband deployment. “The rural electric program showed that federal loan programs can bring service to rural Americans, and this innovative broadband loan program can achieve similar advances in broadband deployment to rural areas,” the letter said. The letter was sent to House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee Chmn. Bonilla (R-Tex.), ranking Democrat Kaptur (O.), Senate Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee Chmn. Bennett (R- Utah) and ranking Democrat Kohl (Wis.). Signers included: Reps. Shimkus (R-Ill.), Boucher (D-Va.), Terry (R-Neb.), Boehlert (R-N.Y.), Upton (R-Mich.), Goodlatte (R-Va.).
The FCC Thurs. expanded the scope of some Enhanced 911 requirements, including a mandate that certain mobile satellite service (MSS) providers create call centers for routing emergency calls. In an order and further notice adopted unanimously at its agenda meeting, the Commission also concluded that, for now, state and local govts. were better positioned to set rules for E911 deployment by multiline telephone systems (MLTS). It expanded E911 mandates to certain telematics services and resellers of mobile wireless services, including prepaid calling cards.
The FCC opened an inquiry and adopted a proposal on a controversial “interference temperature” model for quantifying and managing interference among different services, potentially paving the way for new licensed and unlicensed services in existing bands. But several commissioners said that concept requires a cautious approach. Comr. Adelstein said he was worried it was “premature” to move forward with proposed rules “when we haven’t even engaged in a preliminary discussion on the interference temperature approach as a whole.” The proposal called for testing the model on a limited basis at 6 GHz and 12 GHz.
Law enforcement continues to be the theme of antipiracy legislation in the current Congress vs. a technology-mandate focus of the 107th Congress, as 2 U.S. senators Thurs. announced upcoming legislation to crack down on prerelease video and audio content that ended up distributed on the Internet. The proposed Artists’ Rights & Theft Prevention Act (ART Act) by Sens. Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Feinstein (D-Cal.) was to be introduced Thurs. but was delayed because of a technical concern by Senate Judiciary Committee Chmn. Hatch (R-Utah). Cornyn said staff was ironing out that “glitch” and he expected Hatch to be an original co-sponsor, helpful since the bill would be referred to Hatch’s committee.
MARINA DEL REY, Cal. -- The FCC and Congress should replace the 85% “trigger” on DTV household penetration with a “hard” deadline for turning off analog TV service, James Sanduski, vp-mktg., Samsung Visual Display Products Group, told an HDTV Forum opening keynote session here Wed.
Facing a marathon debate on judicial nominations, the Senate Commerce Justice State (CJS) appropriations bill (S- 1585) appeared destined for the omnibus process. The CJS bill includes a measure to roll back the broadcast ownership cap to 35% and a controversial provision that could allow Northpoint Technology to receive spectrum without going through an auction, among other communications-related provisions. Senate sources said Majority Leader Frist (R- Tenn.) was likely to include in an omnibus package any appropriations measure that hadn’t been resolved before the judicial debate was to begin at 6 p.m. Wed. CJS originally was scheduled for floor action on Mon., but Minority Whip Reid (D-Nev.) blocked debate by conducting a 9-hour filibuster. A Reid spokeswoman said he was focusing on judicial nominations, employment and other issues and didn’t delay proceedings on CJS because of any particular concerns with that bill. A spokeswoman for Senate Appropriations Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said he remained hopeful work could be done on individual spending measures. While Frist won’t allow a full day of floor debate on any one spending measure, Stevens has said parts of legislative days could be devoted to appropriations measures.
CTIA Pres. Steve Largent said Wed. that wireless-to- wireless porting had to go forward at the same time as wireline-to-wireless local number portability (LNP), expressing concern about possible Bell company forays on Capitol Hill. Largent said his group wasn’t planning to battle LNP on the Hill but expressed concern the Bells might try to delay the wireline-to-wireless piece through court or Hill action. “I have witnessed first hand the incredible muscle they have to push regulators and legislators around,” he said of LEC lobbying efforts. “We want to see simultaneous implementation,” Largent told a media breakfast.
In a long-awaited wireline-to-wireless local number portability (LNP) order, the FCC said Mon. that wireline carriers must port numbers to wireless carriers whose coverage area overlapped the rate center in which the wireline number was assigned as long as the mobile operator kept the original rate center designation. In an order that appeared to be a blow to many arguments raised by USTA and some rural LECs, the Commission said wireline-to-wireless porting must occur in most cases, but it limited porting in the rarer other direction -- wireless to wireline -- to within a rate center until certain questions were answered in a further notice.
Uncertainty over how much revenue taxing the Internet backbone would raise stalled discussions on congressional passage of a moratorium on discriminatory Internet and access taxes. Hill staff involved in the negotiations said backbone taxes were the unresolved issue; supporters of a permanent moratorium want backbone transactions tax-exempt and detractors disagree. Acknowledging the impasse, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) took to the floor Mon. to say he hoped for a resolution “before we leave for Christmas break.”