Tenn. Regulatory Authority (TRA) fined BellSouth $169,200 for offering untariffed promotional program for business services and for failing to make program available to resellers. Telco’s “Select Points” program allowed small business customers to earn reward points by buying and using BellSouth services that they could redeem for merchandise or other BS services. Original program awarded points to eligible customers who spent at least $100 monthly on BellSouth regulated services and subscribed to at least one BS unregulated service. CLECs (Case 01-00868) complained program was unlawful and discriminatory rebate because it provided untariffed discounts on regulated services to preferred customers. BS revised program last Oct. so bonus points no longer could be earned or redeemed for regulated services. Fine covers time period during which program included regulated services. BS offers similar program in its other states. At least one other BS state, Fla., is looking into points program.
Country of origin cases
When commercial users need more wireless spectrum, “the federal government cannot continue to be the spectrum grocery store,” Badri Younes, Defense Dept. dir. of spectrum management, said Thurs. “This is not right,” he told Washington conference of World Computer & Internet Law Congress, sponsored by FCBA and Computer Law Assn. While he said federal govt. users such as DoD were interested in coming up with solutions on where additional spectrum for 3G would come from, he raised series of questions that he said must be answered first. FCC and NTIA last fall undertook scaled-back assessment of bands available for 3G, including 1710-1770 MHz now occupied by federal govt. users, mostly military. Younes said questions included whether spectrum could be reallocated from existing users without endangering national security and whether FCC had done all it could to ensure that industry had incentives to use spectrum efficiently. Younes also questioned 200 MHz of spectrum that CTIA has cited as needed for provision of advanced wireless services, based on past ITU estimates. Many assumptions on which ITU based estimate “have not been looked at very carefully,” Younes said. In particular, he said that 3G services haven’t developed as quickly as originally thought, with Merrill Lynch estimating that many systems aren’t expected to begin operating until 2005, Younes said. He called for more “realistic” assessment of 3G prospects, compared to optimistic estimates created in late 1990s when financial markets were brighter. “The need is not real,” he said. “We need more time to make public policy decisions on advanced spectrum services.” He reiterated view of several DoD officials at recent public policy forums that there is imbalance in how policy decisions are made when officials weigh national security and public safety needs of federal users versus need to accommodate growth of commercial services. “The current public policy debate shows the imbalance in how spectrum is evaluated and allocated,” Younes said. “Dropped calls should not take precedence over misdropped bombs,” he said. Stressing need for interagency coordination, he raised possibility of “White House-level oversight committee” in which diverse entities could be brought together to decide such issues. Noting difficulties in preliminary assessment of whether parts of 1710-1770 MHz band could be freed for 3G, he said “nobody should assume that band is going to be made available” although DoD, NTIA and FCC are continuing to work together. In keynote, NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory said spectrum search for new technologies or expanded uses of existing ones “often seems to pit the innovators against the incumbents. The debates get cast an either/or proposition. That needs to change.” Outlining themes from recent NTIA Spectrum Summit, Victory noted policymakers “need to remove the clouds over spectrum availability and provide certainty for the deployment of new services.” Among areas of intense debate over additional wireless spectrum is 800 MHz band and spectrum under evaluation for 3G, she said. Victory called recent FCC proposal to examine alternatives for mitigating interference to public safety users at 800 MHz “a good starting point and a catalyst for rethinking how things should be done in the future.” She said federal, state and local public safety systems “need a plan for an effective and orderly transition to a fully interoperable web of systems.”
Efforts by competitors to stop SBC-backed state legislation to require regulatory parity between incumbent telcos and their competitors for DSL and other broadband services proved unsuccessful in first of 4 SBC states to consider such bills this year. Okla. Gov. Frank Keating (R) signed bill (HB-2796) that prohibits Okla. Corp. Commission from regulating high-speed Internet access services such as DSL and all other broadband services, “regardless of the technology or medium used” for providing service. State broadband service regulation of SBC/Southwestern Bell and all other providers in state must cease as of July 1. New law requires carriers to obey any network unbundling requirements imposed by FCC, but otherwise contains no prerequisites or tradeoffs for broadband deregulation. Bill defines broadband as any digital service operating at speeds over 150 kbps.
New interface for connecting digital AV products that could satisfy copyright owners’ insistence on content protection will be developed by CE and IT industries. Joint statement by 7 CE companies late Tues. announced formation of working group to develop specifications for so-called “High Definition Multimedia Interface” (HDMI) that will transport high-definition video and multichannel digital audio among CE devices via single connection.
National Communications System (NCS) approved contract award to VoiceStream Wireless to provide priority access service for Washington and N.Y. metro areas. Approval had been expected since FCC granted VoiceStream temporary waiver earlier this month of its wireless priority access service (PAS) rules for GSM-based system that will provide national security and emergency personnel (NS/EP) access to wireless networks during emergencies. VoiceStream said it expected PAS system to be operational within 60 days. DynCorp, systems integration contractor for NCS’s wireline Govt. Emergency Telecom Service (GETS), awarded contract to VoiceStream. Carrier said agreement allowed its handsets to be provided by govt. to NS/EP users at federal, state and local level. Percentage of NS/EP users on wireless network compared with network’s customer base is expected to be less than 0.1%, VoiceStream said. It hasn’t attached dollar figure to contract, to which 5,000 users will have access in both cities on subscription basis, spokeswoman said. NCS Deputy Mgr. Brent Greene said agency would continue to work with VoiceStream and other wireless carriers toward national solution to wireless NS/EP communications by end of year. He said system would “enable us to balance national security and emergency preparedness needs while minimizing the impact on consumer access to the same wireless infrastructures.” FCC in 2000 issued rules on how NS/EP users could gain access in emergencies to next available wireless channel to originate call without preempting calls already in progress. Commission didn’t require carriers to provide PAS but created uniform operating protocols.
Ky. legislature passed bill to end PSC’s power to override local govt. denials of construction permits for wireless telecom towers. Bill (HB-270) sent to Gov. Paul Patton (D) would repeal state law that allows PSC to overrule adverse local tower decisions and issue state construction permit if wireless carrier can show no feasible alternative site is available and tower construction is in public interest. Bill would require wireless carriers to appeal adverse local govt. tower siting decisions to U.S. Dist. Court. Bill also would authorize local planning/zoning boards to assess $2,500 application fee for wireless tower construction permits. Tower language was attached as Senate floor rider to real estate transaction bill after key Senate members blocked original House-passed tower measure in committee. House promptly concurred with rider and bill passed.
NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory told FCBA policy forum late Tues. that among themes that emerged at recent NTIA spectrum summit were need to address length and complexity of regulatory proceedings, which in some cases were seen as too “reactive.” In other areas, discussion turned to extent that innovative technology in receivers could maximize spectrum use by reducing size of guard bands and channel spacing, she said. “Not surprisingly, there’s a sliding scale between cost and efficiency,” she said. One issue that “surprised me most” at summit was interest in govt. and commercial users in exploring ways to use same system, Victory said. “Obviously this won’t work for all uses,” she said. “But if we can eliminate some redundant systems we can clearly increase efficiency and open up some spectrum for new services.” Among themes from summit that Victory said she expected would figure prominently in NTIA’s spectrum management agenda was “need for teamwork to replace turf wars. Spectrum needs are too important to be undermined by internecine squabbling between and among and within branches of government.” Victory said she planned to talk with FCC Chmn. Powell and David Gross, U.S. deputy asst. secy. of state for international communications, on developing action plan that would “facilitate the efficient functioning of the nation’s spectrum management team at home and abroad.” Victory also said: “We need to make a concerted effort to eliminate unnecessary government micromanaging of spectrum uses. This means a fresh look at legacy rules and restrictions to assess their ability to accommodate emerging technologies or spectrum needs.” In separate panel discussion moderated by Bryan Tramont, senior legal adviser to FCC Comr. Abernathy, Cingular Vp-Federal Relations Brian Fontes expressed dismay at recent Wireless Bureau decision to keep 700 MHz auction date intact. Bureau last week turned down CTIA request to delay June 19 start. Decision by bureau amounted to “no, we will do this auction come hell or high water,” Fontes said, noting that FCC had notice of proposed rulemaking on potentially reconfiguring 800 MHz band that could be affected by decisions in 700 MHz. Nextel Vp-Chief Regulatory Officer Robert Foosaner on separate panel said CTIA had set up committees on 800 MHz NPRM stemming in part from White Paper on band reconfiguration floated by Nextel last fall. Seven other associations have set up similar committees and 5 alternative plans are known to be in works other than Nextel’s original paper, he said: “Spectrum allocation… is about the most difficult decision that faces policymakers at the FCC.” Nextel proposal attempts to address “in a hard and concrete way with $500 million on the table” issue of interference in that band.
Broadband deployment isn’t race to be won by one technology, FCC Senior Adviser-Internet Technology Scott Marcus said at Wed. meeting of FCBA’s Online Communications Committee. Deployment is dependent on such factors as location, continuing incremental investment in existing infrastructure, continuing exploitation of technical skills and varying levels of technological maturity, he said. It’s not important to bring single pipe to everyone in U.S., Marcus said, and deployment will look more like crazy quilt. He said his comments were his own, and not those of his agency.
Spring tradition in Washington has begun anew with Congress trying to reverse Presidential desire to scale back Advanced Technology Program (ATP). Under President Clinton and now with President Bush, Administration budgets have sought to redirect research funds to other efforts, and this year is no exception (CD Feb 5 p1). Members of Congress have past grant recipients in their districts, however, and previous authorizing committees and appropriators have worked together to save it. This year, the process began with Senate Commerce Committee grilling Commerce Dept. Deputy Secy. Samuel Bodman on Administration’s plan to limit funding for new ATP projects to less than $35 million in FY 2003.
Global Crossing and Sprint filed separate protests at General Accounting Office (GAO) over recent decision by Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to award $450 million IP network contract to WorldCom. Contract for Defense Research & Engineering Network (DREN), which is designed to connect Defense Dept. supercomputer users via virtual private network, has been touchstone of controversy since DISA made original award to Global Crossing last summer. DISA rescinded that award after rival bidders AT&T, Qwest, Sprint and WorldCom protested and DISA conducted 2nd round of bidding with what some sources have said were revised criteria in certain areas. Global Crossing said it filed GAO protest after DISA notified company, which filed for Ch. 11 protection in Jan., that it was “ineligible for award” as result of its “current financial situation.” On Fri., Sprint filed separate protest based on what spokesman said were “inconsistencies in the evaluation criteria and errors in the RFP assessment” that DISA used.