Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to implement the Broadcast Television Incentive Auction. The two-sided auction will use market forces to recover spectrum from television broadcasters who voluntarily choose to give up some or all of their spectrum usage rights in exchange for incentive payments, in order to auction new spectrum licenses to wireless providers.

The Incentive Auction will help meet consumers’ skyrocketing demand for mobile broadband services.

Across the country, in both rural and urban areas, consumers and businesses expect to have access to wireless connectivity anywhere, anytime. Today, there are more connected devices than there are people in the US, and about 60 percent of Americans use data-hungry smartphones. By making more spectrum available for mobile broadband use, the Incentive Auction will benefit consumers by easing congestion on wireless networks, expediting the development of new, more robust wireless services and applications and helping fill in coverage gaps particularly in rural America.

Broadcasters that choose to participate in the auction will bid to receive some of the proceeds from auctioning that spectrum to wireless providers. The auction is a once in a lifetime opportunity for broadcasters, but the decision of whether or not to participate is entirely voluntary.

The adopted rules establish the foundation for the incentive auction. Based on these rules the FCC will develop and seek additional public input on detailed, final auction procedures in the pre-auction process.

There are four parts to the rules implementing the Incentive Auction:

1. The reorganized 600 MHz Band, including repacking and unlicensed operations;
2. The Incentive Auction process and design;
3. The post-auction transition for all incumbents in the 600 MHz band; and
4. Post-transition regulatory issues, including channel sharing.

Specifically, the report and order addresses the 600 MHz band plan, incentive auction design, post-auction transition, and post-auction regulatory issues.

New Cingular Wireless PCS, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T, and Unrestricted Subsidiary Funding Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sprint, and together with AT&T have filed an application pursuant to section 310(d) of the Communications Act of 1934, seeking to assign 19 A and B Block Wireless Communications Service (WCS) licenses to AT&T from Sprint.

The proposed transaction involves only the assignment of spectrum; no subscribers would be transferred. AT&T states that the proposed license assignments would facilitate the transition of WCS spectrum to mobile broadband use and allow AT&T to make more efficient use of spectrum to provide new and better services to customers.

Preliminary review indicates that, as a result of the instant transaction, AT&T would be assigned 10 to 20 megahertz of WCS A and B Block spectrum in 713 counties in all or parts of 153 Cellular Market Areas across parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Post-transaction, AT&T would hold 36 to 165 megahertz of spectrum in total in these 713 counties.

When the Federal Communications Commission voted to restrict television broadcasters’ use of joint sales agreements (JSAs), we warned that this decision would lead to “less ownership diversity” and “more television stations going out of business.”

Unfortunately, just two months later, this is coming to pass. Now, Sinclair Television Group announced its intent to surrender to the Commission for cancellation three television station licenses in the Charleston, South Carolina and Birmingham, Alabama markets. Sinclair reported that it was unable to find a viable buyer for any of these stations. As a result, it appears that these three stations will soon be going dark.

So what has the Commission’s decision wrought? Instead of increasing the number of African-American-owned television stations, we are driving stations off the air. This will mean job losses, less service to South Carolinians and Alabamians, and less ownership diversity. We do not see how such an outcome possibly serves the public interest, and we hope that the Commission will take action immediately to correct its misguided restrictions on JSAs.

America needs to fully enter the digital age -- and that starts with our nation’s schools and libraries. I saw that for myself in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Sioux Falls is no anomaly. It’s amazing what schools and libraries across South Dakota have done with so little. Even though promoting broadband across 77,123 square miles is the definition of a high-cost endeavor, South Dakota schools have received about 30% less per student than New Jersey schools. And while the Siouxland Libraries stretch their resources so thinly that some rural libraries only operate three hours a day, library officials told me that they’ve given up applying for E-Rate funding because the process is so burdensome and the rewards for rural libraries so few.

In sum, the E-Rate program just isn’t meeting the needs of rural America. E-Rate’s funding formula favors larger, urban school districts that can afford to hire consultants to navigate the administrative process and draw every dollar E-Rate makes available to them. In contrast, E-Rate offers smaller, rural schools and libraries less funding, even when broadband costs more for them and they don’t have the resources to hire outside help.

A sad refrain I’ve heard over and over is that applying for E-Rate funding just isn’t worth the effort. That’s a digital divide we shouldn’t tolerate. The FCC needs to reform E-Rate to make it more user-friendly and target the needs of students and library patrons. A student-centered E-Rate program would cut the red tape. It would end funding inequities and focus E-Rate on connecting citizens young and old to digital opportunities.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) announces that on June 2, 2014, it will commence a 45-day public trial of a new registration system for Google’s TV band database system.

TV band databases support the operation of unlicensed devices on unused spectrum in the TV band (TV white space or “TVWS”).

Currently, Spectrum Bridge, another approved TV band database administrator, is managing the registration of protected entities on Google's behalf.

Google has now developed its own protected facility registration procedures to replace its use of the Spectrum Bridge procedures. This is a limited trial that is intended to allow the public to access and test Google’s new registration procedures to ensure that those procedures properly register certain facilities entitled to protection and that its modified database system provides protection to such registered facilities as specified in the rules.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the following items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for June 13, 2014.
Technology Transitions Presentation: The Commission will hear a presentation with an update on the efforts to transition circuit-switched networks to Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The presentation will include a status report on the voluntary experiments proposed by AT&T designed to assess how the transition to IP networks affects users.
Expanding Community Access to Radio: The Commission will hear a presentation with an update on the continuing efforts to launch new and diverse voices to the American public via increased access to Low Power FM radio stations

Memorial Day weekend also marks the 200th year anniversary of the first official telegraphic message sent over a long distance.

On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse famously telegraphed, “What hath God wrought!” from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, the first official telegraphic message sent over of a long distance. Coincidentally, 18 years later to the day, Abraham Lincoln would send nine telegraph messages to Union generals, becoming the first President to regularly use electronic communications. Eighty years ago, Congress passed a law largely to deal with the network revolution Morse unleashed -- the Communications Act of 1934, which established the FCC.

Fast forward to today, and the Commission is grappling with the transition to the next network revolution -- the digital revolution that is being fueled by ubiquitous high-speed connectivity and increasingly powerful computing devices. June’s open Commission meeting will be highlighted by an update on our efforts to facilitate the transition from the circuit-switched networks of Alexander Graham Bell to a world with fiber, cable and wireless Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

Soon, the Commission will receive a status report on proposed experiments and how best to deploy next-generation networks, while preserving enduring values like universal access, competition and consumer protection. The Commission will also hear a presentation on progress made in processing Low Power FM applications from the October 2013 window.

The mobile experience itself will change in a big way. Consumers will use the airwaves almost as seamlessly as they breathe the air. Speeds and capacities are going to have to increase significantly to meet these demands.

That’s where infrastructure comes in. Carriers are upgrading their networks to support the latest 4G technologies. They’re looking to add capacity by densifying their networks and deploying a variety of small-scale technologies, including microcells, picocells, and distributed antenna systems (or DAS).

What’s holding us back? As you know all too well, regulations can make it tough to deploy infrastructure -- tougher than being a boy named Sue. Byzantine state and local rules often make it impossible to make even minor modifications to wireless facilities. In some cases, municipalities are applying a one-size-fits-all review process. That’s why one of my priorities since I joined the FCC has been removing barriers to infrastructure investment.

So where can we start? First, I propose we make it easier to deploy small cells and DAS. We should modernize our rules and exempt DAS from our environmental processing requirements, except for those involving RF emissions. Given their size and appearance, I believe that DAS meet this standard.

Second, I propose to make clear that local moratoriums on the approval of new wireless infrastructure violate section 332(c)(7) of the Communications Act. At a minimum, the FCC should make it clear that a moratorium is not a loophole that localities can sneak through to avoid the limits of section 332(c)(7).

Third, I call on the FCC to build on its wireless facilities “shot clock”3 to further reduce delays and ease the construction of new networks. The FCC needs to bring down the gavel if a local government does not act on a wireless facilities application by the end of our shot clock deadlines. Similarly, we should clarify that our shot clock does apply to DAS.

In my view, the law is clear: Denial of eligible requests is not an option. Establishing a deemed-grant remedy with a relatively short fuse -- say, 30 days -- should be effective at keeping everyone on track.

Why are many older Americans still hesitant to buy mobile phones, tablets or other devices, access the Internet or become broadband adopters?

According to recent studies, many seniors say they shy away from using new devices because they are not sure how to use them or have trouble seeing the display, using the touch screens, hearing the prompts or learning the appropriate commands. Some are afraid to ask for help or simply don’t know where to get the help they need.

A recent Pew study shows 77 percent of seniors are willing to learn how to use tablets and smartphones, but indicated they would need some assistance. To raise awareness of the benefits of broadband-enabled communications technology and to help facilitate its use, the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau is hosting a special event May 22, 2014, in recognition of Older Americans Month. Presentations and demonstrations will show older Americans, their families and caregivers how they can Stay Safe, Stay Healthy and Stay Connected.

The FCC event will highlight new programs, phone apps, government websites, and discuss how to harness these new resources to maximize access and facilitate healthy, connected living from home. The program will feature consumer information about: staying safe online, text alerts, communicating during emergencies, technologies for people with disabilities, aging in place, telemedicine, digital literacy, and remote access to loved ones and health care providers.

[Coho is in the FCC’s Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division]

The Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau has cited Panasystem, a California-based online electronics retailer, for importing and marketing counterfeit smartphones marked with unauthorized or invalid labels falsely indicating that the devices were certified by the FCC.

“We will not tolerate the importation and marketing of counterfeit devices,” said Travis LeBlanc, Acting Chief of the Enforcement Bureau. “The trafficking of these devices not only robs the intellectual property of legitimate manufacturers, it harms consumers by failing to provide them with safe and certified smartphones that comply with the FCC’s equipment authorization process.”

The FCC investigation identified the smartphones imported by Panasystem as counterfeit Samsung models “Galaxy S Duos” and “Galaxy Ace.” Although these devices were labeled with seemingly-valid Samsung FCC Identifiers, the investigation showed that Samsung neither manufactured the devices nor authorized the FCC Identifier labels.

The investigation also revealed that another set of smartphones imported by Panasystem contained counterfeit BlackBerry model 9790 devices. These smartphones were labeled with invalid FCC Identifiers, which rendered them illegal for sale in the United States.