Howard Buskirk

The FCC could lose big when the Court of Appeals, D.C., hands down a ruling later this year in a court case filed by the American Council on Education, CompTel and various Internet and education groups, to judge from oral arguments heard Fri. They're challenging how the FCC has applied CALEA to VoIP and other Internet communications.

The FCC has put on a fast-track for approval testing criteria for devices in the 5 GHz band, a proceeding that ultimately will open an additional 255 MHz of spectrum to unlicensed use including Wi-Fi. The Commission set up a lightning-fast comment period, in which all comments and replies must be completed in a total of 15 days. Rather than issue a notice of proposed rulemaking, the FCC sought comment on objections to a 2003 order that were themselves more than 2 years old.

The FTC Wed. filed federal court complaints against 5 web-based data brokers that sell confidential telephone records to 3rd parties, charging them with violating federal law. FTC sought a permanent halt to the sale of the records and asked the courts to order the data brokers to give up the money they made through the illegal operations. The FTC voted 5-0 to lodge the complaints.

Alltel likely will sit out the June FCC advanced wireless services auction, CEO Scott Ford said Wed. in a conference call with analysts on Alltel quarterly results. Ford said he questions how useful the 90 MHz of spectrum being sold would be to Alltel as it builds out its network. One byproduct of the auction is that acquisition activity in the wireless world has ground to a halt, with FCC rules limiting contact between wireless carriers going into the AWS auction.

President Bush nominated John Kneuer to become permanent NTIA dir. He has been acting dir. since Feb. Kneuer, deputy dir. under Michael Gallagher, was expected to be nominated to the post and no other strong candidate emerged (CD Feb 17 p1). He was named deputy dir. in July 2004, after having joined NTIA in Oct. 2003. Previously, Kneuer was an attorney at Piper Rudnick, exec. dir.-govt. relations at the Industrial Telecom Assn. and an attorney-adviser in the FCC Wireless Bureau. When the Senate will act on the nomination remains an open question. “Industry thinks very highly of John,” said one regulatory attorney. The source compared Kneuer with FCC nominee Robert McDowell, whose nomination has been stuck in the Senate: “Everybody likes him, too, and it doesn’t make any difference. Getting any nomination through the Senate requires a good deal of luck and having all the stars lined up.”

DoJ and the Dept. of Homeland Security asked the FCC not to require that carriers dispose of customer calling and other records after a specified date, arguing that customer proprietary network information (CPNI) is used in “virtually every federal, state, and local investigation of consequence.” Meanwhile, an industry source said, the FTC is poised to announce enforcement actions against 5 companies for selling phone records.

Ultra-wideband (UWB) chipmaker Alereon, which predicts UWB could have a breakthrough year in 2006, plans to ask the FCC for permission to transmit at higher power levels at the upper ends of the radio spectrum. Alereon, perhaps in tandem with other UWB firms, plans to ask the FCC to revisit parts of its UWB rules, Alereon CEO Eric Broockman told us. But any proposal for higher power levels for UWB is likely to be controversial.

Transition issues for licensees that the FCC wants cleared from the 2150-2162 MHz band, as well as rural and safe harbor policy calls, are drawing fire after the FCC released its massive report and order on broadband radio service (BRS) and educational broadband service (EBS) spectrum. The Wireless Communications Assn. said it expects to go back to the Commission asking for additional changes to the order. But it’s not clear how many matters it will asked to be reconsidered.

The FCC isn’t giving a date for launching its Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, approved at its March 17 agenda meeting, an FCC official told the Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) Thurs. Industry and public safety officials at the meeting told us group members have many questions about the bureau -- especially a plan to split spectrum licensing, with part staying in the Wireless Bureau and public safety licensing moving to the new bureau.

The FCC late Tues. released revised designated entity (DE) rules, in time for June’s advanced wireless services auction. They don’t bar ties between DEs and carriers, but do put tough new controls on what a DE can do with spectrum it buys at a reduced rate using bidding credits. DE sources said provisions in the order virtually guarantee many DEs will sit out the AWS auction. Comr. Adelstein partly dissented, saying the order doesn’t go far enough.