Utilities and other critical infrastructure industries (CII) continue to have concerns about using commercial service providers to support their mission-critical, smart grid and other communications applications. In reply comments filed in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proceeding on the reliability of communications networks, UTC re-iterated that the Commission should not force utilities to use commercial service providers; instead it should allow utilities the ability to choose between private internal networks and commercial service providers as appropriate. Moreover, UTC recommended that the FCC provide utilities with access to suitable auction-exempt spectrum to ensure the safe, efficient and reliable delivery of essential electric, gas and water services to the public at large. Read more »

In the wake of massive consumer complaints about the performance of carrier networks in the aftermath of Tuesday's 5.9 earthquake in Virginia, Admiral Jamie Barnett, Chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau stated that the bureau is contacting wireless carriers and public safety call centers to determine the "cause of reported outages in an immediate effort to identify and address the problems." TR Daily reported that Adm. Barnett said the Commission "[was] very concerned by incidents where emergency wireless calls to 9-1-1 after yesterday's earthquake were hampered by network congestion. Thankfully, there have been no reports thus far about serious injuries or lives lost. Nevertheless, these are the moments when mobile phone service is needed most - and disruptions put lives at risk.”

Representatives from the public safety community seized on the issue to urge Congress to address pending legislation that would reallocate the 700 MHz D-block for public safety. "The events of today once again prove how powerful the argument for dedicated spectrum is for public safety, and becomes so understandable for those today that tried to reach their loved ones by wireless devices and could not do so," said APCO International spokesman Sean Kirkendall in a statement issued earlier this week. APCO’s statement was echoed by Charles Dowd, deputy chief of the New York Police Department, who said "Yesterday's earthquake again highlighted the need for a dedicated nationwide PS broadband network,” adding that “[f]irst responders need mission critical communications that assure the public the level of life saving services they rightfully have come to expect."

Currently, this legislation has been stalled over the debate on whether to auction off the 700 MHz D-block spectrum or directly allocate it to public safety. Furthermore, the cost of building out the network is another matter of contention. UTC recognizes the challenges facing emergency communications response, and supports the creation of a nationwide interoperable public safety network. Additionally, utilities actively support public safety needs on regional and local levels through shared networks, and UTC has been promoting to Congress the merits of encouraging utility partnerships with public safety in building out the proposed 700 MHz public safety broadband network. A partnership between utilities and public safety would boost emergency response and significantly lower the cost of building out this network. UTC will continue to keep its members posted on developments to this legislation.

UTC and EEI filed a joint opposition to the petition for reconsideration or clarification ("petition") by the National Cable and Telecom Association (NCTA), COMPTEL and tw telecom inc., which seeks to further reduce the rate for telecommunications attachments on utility poles. UTC and EEI explained that the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) should reject the petition because it is procedurally defective and proposes relief that is contrary to the statute, arbitrary and capricious.

UTC and EEI stated that the petition is procedurally defective because it proposes a new rate structure that is beyond the scope of the FCC's pole attachment order, which could have been proposed at an earlier stage in the proceeding. They then explained that the petition is contrary to the statute, arbitrary and capricious because it would introduce five or six definitions of "cost" into the rate formula that have no basis in the statute or case law or economic theory; these different percentages would effectively nullify the provisions in the statute that apportion the cost of the unusable space among attaching entities and which guarantee cost recovery of 2/3ds of the unusable space costs. UTC and EEI also opposed the Petition for proposing alternative relief that would lower the telecom rate down to either the cable rate or a rate that excludes capital costs, whichever is higher. They explained that the Petition presents no new facts that would justify reconsideration of this alternative relief which is akin to the relief that the Commission already considered and rejected.

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission filed a “Motion to Hold Case in Abeyance” with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, arguing that pending petitions for reconsideration of the FCC’s April 7th pole attachment order touch on issues that are currently pending before the court. The FCC further argues that the FCC’s decision on those pending petitions for reconsideration could potentially conflict with any decision by the court. As a legal matter, the FCC claims that “it is a common practice for the reviewing court, on request by the agency or by other parties, to hold its review proceeding in abeyance pending agency action on the petitions for reconsideration.” Moreover, the FCC argues “that approach makes sense in these circumstances,” because allowing FCC to address the issues on reconsideration first would “simplify judicial review by resolving issues that the Court otherwise would need to address, or by clarifying or providing additional analysis of issues that remain in dispute,” and it would “mitigate the possibility of piecemeal (and possibly inconsistent) judicial review…” For more information, contact the UTC Legal/Regulatory Department.

LightSquared filed its much anticipated report with the FCC on the potential of interference to GPS operations, and the report concludes that “transmissions in the 10 MHz band at the top of LightSquared’s downlink frequencies — the band nearest to the GPS frequencies— will adversely affect the performance of a significant number of legacy GPS receivers. LightSquared’s proposed solution is to “permit it to commence operations on the lower 10 MHz portion of its spectrum that poses no risk to the users of over 99 percent of GPS devices and to coordinate and share the cost of underwriting a workable solution for the small number of precision measurement and other devices that may be at risk.” LightSquared will delay using “the upper 10 MHz of its frequencies in which transmissions may jeopardize legacy GPS usage,” but it does intend to ultimately use the “full complement of terrestrial frequencies operating at appropriate power levels.” In its Report, LightSquared blames the GPS industry for failing to filter their receivers, despite knowing since 2003 that there was a risk of adjacent band interference from LIghtSquared and other services in the nearby bands. It also criticizes the GPS industry for having “attempted to deflect public attention from their own failures by subjecting LightSquared to a massive, vitriolic public relations and lobbying effort outside the scope of this proceeding.” For more information, contact the UTC Legal/Regulatory Department.

The issues of spectrum efficiency, transitioning to IPv6, transitioning away from the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) to an all IP Network were discussed in detail at the Federal Communications Commission’s Technology Advisory Council's (TAC) second 2011 meeting held yesterday. The chairman of the Spectrum Efficiency working group Dennis Roberson, who is a vice provost and research professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, presented the key points that the working group recommended to TAC. These included the development of spectrum efficiency metrics, receiver standards, spectrum sharing taxonomy and the acceleration of small cell deployments and spectrum sharing. Further, the group recommended removing application friction points that potentially inhibit the deployment of public and private applications such as utility and public safety applications on wireless carrier networks. The committee recommended doing more research on the types of needs from these applications that can be offloaded onto carrier networks to ensure better spectrum efficiency. To that the end, the working group seeks to solicit input at an action-oriented FCC sponsored workshop involving the various constituencies. They aim to make specific recommendations on this issue at the next TAC meeting. The full presentations from this meeting can be viewed at http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/tac/TACJune2011mtgfullpresentation.pdf

26.2 million Americans still lack access to 3 Mbps/768 kbps or faster fixed broadband services, and 72% of them live in rural areas, according to a new report released by the Federal Communications Commission and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) within the Department of Agriculture (USDA). This number constitutes 28% of rural Americans and is more than nine times as large as the 3% that lack access in non-rural areas. Further, it was noted that rural consumers have fewer choices among technologies and service providers. This new report also recognized the substantial investments that have been made including $8 billion in grants and loans that were given to projects for broadband deployment and adoption via RUS’ Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). It made note of initiatives to improve data collection, and the creation of a National Broadband Map.
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In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) late last week, UTC urged the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to provide access to federal spectrum for utilities and other critical infrastructure industries (CII). The comments were filed in response to a Public Notice from the FCC inviting comment on technical issues associated with the spectrum bands identified in a NTIA Report that was released in October 2010. This report identifies 115 MHz of federal spectrum that could be freed up for broadband purposes. Read more »

One of the biggest challenges facing the deployment of smart grids is inadequate consumer education, which is in some cases is worsened by "over-hyping" the benefits of the smart grid. This general consensus came from UTC Smart Grid Policy Summit, a two-day conference held this week in Washington, DC that featured panel discussions with key policy makers, regulators, utilities and industry associations. While the panels debated issues such as the role of state vs. federal regulators in setting smart grid policy and the pressures of cost-recovery, many of the panels often returned to the need for consumer awareness and trust. Opening Keynote Speaker, Joe Rigby, CEO and Chairman of PEPCO, addressed this concern by discussing his utility's successful pilot programs that were implemented in collaboration with state regulators and consumer groups and showed that consumers do respond positively to dynamic pricing. However, he did note that duplicating the results of a pilot in a larger territory roll-out was not easy. Read more »