Donald Vasek, UTC's Director of Spectrum Services, was elected Vice President of the Land Mobile Communications Council's Board of Directors (LMCC) at the LMCC's Annual Meeting held on April 18, 2012. Vasek previously also served on the LMCC Board as a Director-at-Large from 2010 to 2011 as well as Secretary/Treasurer from 2001-2010. Additionally, the LMCC formed a TV-band task force to decide how to handle the upcoming transition/clearing of the 470-512 MHz shared TV band, necessitated by the blanket narrowbanding waiver and freeze in that band (see related story). Klaus Bender, UTC's Senior Director of Standards and Engineering, will serve on the task force.

David Furth, acting Bureau Chief of the Federal Communication Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau announced today that the FCC will immediately freeze applications for new stations and major modification in the 470-512 MHz private land mobile band, also known as the “T-Band”. The announcement was made at the annual meeting of the Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) annual meeting in Washington DC. LMCC is the association of FCC certification frequency advisory committees, or frequency coordinators. Mr. Furth said the FCC would issue a public notice detailing the parameters of the freeze within a week. He said applications for minor changes to existing systems would be accepted, but applications for major changes to existing operations, and new systems, would be dismissed and not processed. Mr. Furth did not comment on what the FCC would do with applications currently pending at the Commission, but UTC believes it is likely these applications will not be processed.

The basis for the action results from the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, recently signed into law by President Obama. The act allocates the 700 MHz “D” block to the public safety community and sets the stage for the construction and operation of a nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network. In exchange for the D block allocation, the public safety community agreed to begin vacating this spectrum nine years after the signing of the legislation. Mr. Furth indicated that applications for new systems and major modifications could still be filed, but must be accompanied by a waiver request indicating the unusual or emergency nature of the proposed operations.
The FCC authorized land mobile operations in the T-band in thirteen cities in the US for private land mobile use. The band is not used exclusively by public safety. Several utilities and other critical infrastructure entities have large systems in the band. Once the existing systems have been cleared, the FCC intends to auction the spectrum and the proceeds would be used to help fund the national broadband network. Therefore, all licensees, including utilities must vacate the band.
Mr. Furth also advised the LMCC audience that existing operations in the T-band would be exempt for the January 1, 2013 deadline to narrow single voice channel operations from 25 kHz to 12.5 kHz. He said licensees that operate in both the T-Band and other UHF spectrum are still required to narrow non-T Band channels.
Questions on this action, and other decisions at the LMCC meeting should be directed to UTC’s Spectrum Services Director, Don Vasek, or Klaus Bender, Senior Director of Engineering and Standards.

The staff of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) filed a "non-binding" memorandum on the minimum interoperability requirements for the 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband Network (700 MHz PSBN) in FCC Docket No. 12-74. The memo was sent to the Technical Board for First Responder Interoperability (Interoperability Board), which was established under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Spectrum Act) and which must submit baseline technical requirements for the 700 MHz PSBN by May 22, 2012.
While the Interoperability Board is independent from the FCC, it requested the FCC's PSHSB issue an assessment and is likely to give serious consideration of the FCC's assessment when it develops its baseline technical requirements. The specific issues analyzed by the staff included the definition of "interoperability;" technology platforms and system interfaces; prioritization and quality of service; performance; security; conformance testing; and other issues.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Public Notice on April 6, 2012 inviting comments on the "Transition Process for 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband Waiver Recipients." Specifically, the FCC is seeking comment on "the most expedient and cost-effective way to transition the Waiver Recipients' authorizations."
On May 11, 2010 the FCC granted 21 waivers and on May 12, 2011 in granted an additional waiver to authorize certain state and local jurisdictions to construct 700 MHz public safety broadband networks (PSBNs) prior to the development of rules for the nationwide PSBN. Some of these networks are nearing completion, while others are still in early stages of development.
The passage of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Spectrum Act) raises questions about the future for these waiver recipients because the Spectrum Act gives authority over the PSBN to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), which is an independent authority to be formed within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the Department of Commerce. Thus, as part of the transition process to FirstNet, the FCC is considering various options for moving forward including whether:

• It should issue a stay and halt construction.
• It should treat some waiver recipients differently than others.
• It should cancel the licenses and if so when and how.
• It should issue a Special Temporary Authority (STA).

Comments are due April 20, 2012. UTC invites member input on this issue. Please contact the Legal/Regulatory Department

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rulemaking on interoperability in the Lower 700 MHz band (698-746 MHz) was published in the Federal Register earlier this week. Thus, the official deadline for comments has been set for June 1, 2012 and for reply comments on July 16, 2012.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) invites comments on whether the Commission should consider requiring interoperability in the Upper 700 MHz band (746-806 MHz) as well as the lower 700 MHz band, is a key issue for utilities who may be interested in sharing the upper 700 MHz band with public safety. The Upper 700 MHz band consists of the C Block, which is comprised of 22 megahertz of paired spectrum for commercial use, two guard bands, the public safety allocation and the D Block, which consists of 10 megahertz of paired spectrum that will be reallocated for use by public safety entities in accordance with the Spectrum Act. Read more »

Industry representatives gathered at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a two-day workshop regarding the possible creation of receiver standards to minimize interference and enable more efficient use of spectrum. Dale Hatfield, former chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology and advocate on this issue was a key moderator on many of the panels. Read more »

A little discussed provision of the legislation is Section 6412, which instructs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide a report, within 9 months, on the status of the 11 GHz, 18 GHz and 23 GHz bands. According to a story in 'Comm Law Blog', Congress is specifically interested in the “rejection” rate of FCC applications for commercial services in these bands. The bands are used for broadband backhaul services over relatively short path lengths. However, the bands are not only used by commercial wireless providers, they are used for critical infrastructure as well. The wording describes the term `rejection rate' to mean the number and percent of applications (whether made to the Commission or to a third-party coordinator) for common carrier use of spectrum that were not granted because of lack of availability of such spectrum or interference concerns of existing licensees.

The fear is that the FCC will allocate this band for auction as a more efficient means of spectrum licensing, forgetting the utility and critical infrastructure systems that also use the channels. UTC will be watching this issue as it progresses through the FCC. For more details, see the blog post at http://www.commlawblog.com/2012/02/articles/unlicensed-operations-and-emer/congress-seeks-info-on-11-18-and-23-ghz-fixed-microwave/

UTC has issued the following statement about the Payroll Tax Report that was approved by Congress last week:

"We applaud Congress on approving this report. For years, UTC has advocated that utilities need access to sufficient spectrum to support their mission critical operations and to meet the overarching national policy objectives of energy independence and security. Congress' action today makes it possible for utilities to access the high quality spectrum that they urgently need."

For more information, please read the entire Press Release on UTC's website. Please contact UTC staff if you have any questions about the implications of this legislation for your utility. You can also read UTC's analysis of the spectrum provisions in this bill here.

Additionally, UTC experts have been quoted in the following industry media:

TR Daily Article (subscribers-only)

Urgent Communications

Congressional legislation that was passed last week would permit use of 700 MHz public safety spectrum for non-public safety services and would open up the 5350-5470 MHz band and guard bands for unlicensed operations, creating opportunities for utilities and CII to access additional spectrum. In addition, it would reallocate and auction the 470-512 MHz public safety frequencies and investigate the use of the 11, 18, and 23 GHz fixed microwave bands for commercial services – raising questions about the future of these bands for private wireless generally. Read more »

Spectrum provisions, including those pertaining to access to the 700 MHz public safety broadband network by non-public safety entities, have been included as part of larger congressional legislation that would extend the 2% reduction in payroll taxes, extend unemployment benefits and prevent a 27% decrease in medicare reimbursements to doctors (the “doc” fix). The legislation is expected to be passed by Congress today, and would clear the way for public safety to share the 700 MHz public safety broadband network (PSBN) with utilities and other critical infrastructure industries. UTC is continuing to work with Congressional staff to enhance the abilities of utilities to participate in the creation of the PSBN and ensure that the synergies between the communications needs of public safety and utilities are most effectively leveraged in the final legislative compromise. The House and Senate are aiming to have a final conference report ready for an up-or-down vote by the end of this week. Congress is currently scheduled to begin its week-long President’s Day recess beginning this Friday, although congressional leaders have threatened to cancel that recess if a compromise is not reached by week’s end. The deadline for passage of the conference report is February 29^th when the current payroll tax reduction expires. 

UPDATE: 11:41 AM - The House has approved the payroll tax conference report, 293-132. The conference report now moved to the Senate, where it will also be voted on shortly.

12:45 PM - The Senate approved the conference report 60-36. The bill moves on for President Obama's signature.