The Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband Spectrum (JOBS) Act, passed by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications last week, has been rolled into a House Republican bill unveiled today to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits into 2012. The JOBS Act, introduced by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), includes provisions for non-public safety entities to access the 700 MHz public safety broadband network - a key issue for utilities. The legislation allocates the spectrum to public safety agencies, but would require first responders to give back another the 14 MHz of narrowband spectrum they are currently using. It would set aside about $6.5 billion for that network. House and Senate committee staff are already working to iron out differences between the JOBS Act and S. 911, passed by the Senate Commerce Committee last July. Those differences concern the governance structure, amount of funding for network construction, maintenance and operations and the public safety narrowband spectrum reallocation. A Senate staffer noted that the House and Senate are close to agreement. UTC is working with committee staff to ensure that utilities are provided an opportunity to partner with public safety in the network buildout and operations.

The House Subcommittee on Communications of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a mark-up of spectrum legislation introduced by Rep. Walden (R-OR) which includes provisions for non-public safety entities to access the 700 MHz public safety broadband network - a key issue for utilities. The bill, entitled the "Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband Spectrum Act of 2011" or the "JOBS Act of 2011," provides that each State may negotiate with private sector entities to construct, manage, maintain and operate the network. Furthermore, the private sector partners could be allowed under contract to access the network to provide services that are not "public safety services," as well as to share infrastructure (including antennas and towers) with public safety entities. In addition, the bill provides that the Administrator of the National Public Safety Communications Plan may contract with non-public safety entities to permit access in order to promote interoperability between those non-public safety entities and public safety entities during emergencies.
Thus, there are effectively two options for utilities and other non-public safety entities to access the 700 MHz public safety broadband network (i.e. through partnership or contract), but there are conditions. Read more »

Rep. Greg Walden, chair of the Subcommittee on Communications of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has announced that the subcommittee will hold a mark-up of spectrum legislation on Thursday, December 1.  The bill, named the Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband Spectrum (JOBS) Act of 2011, will include spectrum to be auctioned for commercial wireless services, as well as the creation of a Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN) in the 700 MHz band. Read more »

It had been widely expected that the $1.2 trillion package produced by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (Super Committee) would have included spectrum auctions and funded the creation of a 700 MHz public safety broadband network (PSBN). But on Tuesday, with the committee's formal announcment that an agreement could not be reached, hopes to use that package as a vehicle for the spectrum legislation were dashed.  This is the second time that spectrum legislation has failed to pass as part of a larger package; the first was the debt ceiling bill passed earlier this year. 

Several legislative vehicles are now being considered, including an omnibus apppropriations bill to fund the government for the remainder of FY12, or individual appropriations bills.  In the meantime, standalone bills will be proceeding under "regular order" in both the Senate and the House.

In the House, the Energy and Commerce Committee has been working on a revision of the Republican draft released in July.  With the failure of the Super Committee, the committee may resume consideration of the bill, with possible mark-up in December.  

In the Senate, S. 911 was passed by the Commerce Committee but has yet to be scheduled for a Floor vote. 

Throughout the deliberations of the Super Committee and now going forward, UTC has continued to carry its message to key congressional staff and Members about the public policy, operational, and monetary benefits that utilities bring to the table as partners in the construction and operations of the PSBN. Our main focus has been to ensure that utilities can share the 700 MHz spectrum and access the network notwithstanding Section 337 of the Communications Act and that State or regional partnership agreements between public safety and utilities, including terms related to traffic management, be given federal recognition.

The creation of the PSBN is on the priority list of both Sen. Rockefeller, chair of the Commerce Committee, and Rep. Upton, chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee.  Final enactment, whether as part of a larger package or as standalone legislation, is anticipated in the near term.     

Commercial carriers want clear spectrum, rather than sharing it with Federal government users. That was the essence of the first of several recommendations in an outline document on spectrum sharing that was considered during the November 11 meeting of the Commerce Representatives on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC). While carriers prefer reallocation and clearing of spectrum, the outline also recommended sharing should be studied in spectrum bands that cannot be fully cleared in order to determine what impact those federal systems that remain in the band would have on future commercial uses, and what sharing conditions are required to protect incumbent systems. The outline recommended that joint-studies between incumbents and new entrants be conducted to characterize incumbent operations and evaluate compatibility between new entrants and incumbent Federal government operations. Further, the outline recommended the establishment of a joint government-industry technical committee to conduct the studies.
UTC is working with CSMAC to develop opportunities for utilities and other critical infrastructure industries (CII) to share spectrum with Federal government users. Given carriers' preference for cleared spectrum, utilities may have a better opportunity to share spectrum that cannot be cleared. UTC has advocated for shared access to the 1800-1830 MHz band, which is part of the larger 1755-1850 MHz band that the CSMAC is currently evaluating for broadband use. During today’s CSMAC meeting, the “Search for 500 MHz Working Group” recommended reallocating the entire 1755-1850 MHz band for commercial broadband using a two-stage approach by which the 1755-1780 MHz band would be fast-tracked on a "high priority" and the rest of the spectrum from 1780-1850 MHz would be given a "longer term focus" to provide additional time to further develop government reallocation and sharing options and develop pairing options with other spectrum bands. Thus, the CSMAC appears intent on pushing to reallocate and clear the 1800-1830 MHz band for commercial broadband, but the question remains whether incumbent Federal users in the band will agree to move and whether commercial broadband service providers can afford to pay for relocating them. If not, there may still be an opportunity for utilities to share that spectrum with Federal government users.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has reportedly announced that it has completed its analysis of the 1755-1850 MHz band for broadband use. According to TR Daily, NTIA plans to finalize the report and make it publicly available "in the coming weeks." While nothing official has been released yet, the report is expected to conclude that the 1755-1780 MHz portion of the band could be made available for commercial broadband, but that suitable spectrum must be identified for relocating incumbent Federal spectrum users first, which could be a long, drawn-out process.

Meanwhile, NTIA's Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) has scheduled its next meeting for November 10, 2011 at 9:00 am-12:00 pm ET at the US Department of Commerce in Washington, DC. The meeting is open the public and, while a detailed agenda has not been published yet, will review the findings and recommendations of each of CSMAC's four subcommittees: 500 MHz Initiative; Spectrum Sharing; Spectrum Management Improvements; and Unlicensed Spectrum. The CSMAC was established to assist the Commerce Department in its efforts to develop radio frequency policies that will promote new technologies, expand consumer choice and enhance first responder capabilities. It also develops recommendations for improving the federal government's internal spectrum management policies and stimulating more efficient use of the radio spectrum by state and local governments and the private sector. Doug McGinnis, Principal Smart Grid Communications Architect for Exelon Corporation and UTC Smart Networks Council Board of Director, is a representative on CSMAC.

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 »

At a meeting of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) in Boulder, Colorado this week, the “Search for 500 MHz” working group (WG) unveiled an interim report that supports reallocating the 1755-1850 MHz band for commercial services. The 1755-1780 MHz portion of the band would be the highest priority for reallocation, while reallocation of the remainder of the spectrum would be a longer term priority designed to allow more time to develop government relocation and sharing arrangements and to allow for the development of options for pairing the spectrum with other frequency bands. The WG also laid out principles for the band that would favor relocating incumbent Federal government operations entirely out of the band, rather than relocating them into the upper portion of the band. These principles would also limit sharing to short or medium term where necessary, and would only permit long-term sharing to cases where relocation of Federal government incumbents is not possible and where commercial operations would continue to have substantial access to the spectrum. Finally, the WG reported that there was no simple answer to quantifying how much interference that would be acceptable for commercial operations that would be using the band. Instead, the WG recommended case-by-case study of the impact of potential interference. In addition, the WG discouraged the Federal government from instituting exclusion zones as a way of coordinating operations, because such exclusion zones would decrease the value of the spectrum at auction. For more information about the WG Interim Report or for information about other reports during the CSMAC meeting, contact the UTC Legal/Regulatory Department.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its much anticipated report on the estimated cost of S911, the Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act of 2011, and the report concludes that the bill would reduce net direct spending by $6.5 billion over the 2012-2021 period. Proponents of the bill had predicted that the bill would reduce the deficit by $10 billion. This $3.5 billion shortfall could jeopardize the prospects for passage of the bill in its current form, because the bill is being considered as possibly part of the debt ceiling deal that is being developed by the President and Congress. Meanwhile, Republicans in the House Energy and Commerce Committee have circulated a discussion draft version of the bill, which is different from the S911 in several respects – including not reallocating the 700 MHz D-Block for Public Safety. House Republicans favor auctioning the 700 MHz D-block to help reduce the national debt. Read more »

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.