Correction: Asst. Secy. of Commerce for Technology Policy oversees Dept. of Commerce’s Office of Technology Policy but not National Institute of Standards & Technology or National Technical Information Service (CD April 4 p5).
Cisco lobbyist Bruce Mehlman has been nominated to be Asst. Secy. of Commerce for Technology Policy, White House announced Tues. Mehlman, who was on President Bush’s transition team, joined Cisco in 1999 as telecom policy counsel. Before that, he was gen. counsel of House Republican Conference, working on Y2K and other high-tech issues. He also was legal counsel to National Republican Congressional Committee. Mehlman appears to be well- versed in telecom policy and last year gave talk on high-tech issues such as 3G wireless services at FCBA lunch at Wiley, Rein & Fielding offices. In new position, he would oversee Commerce Dept.’s Office of Technology Policy, National Institute of Standards & Technology, National Technical Information Service.
Commerce Dept. is seeking comment on Intelsat privatization that’s planned to be completed by July 18. Deadline for comments is May 3.
Publishers who own TV stations were prime movers behind affiliates’ petition to FCC calling for inquiry into Big 4 TV networks “illegal” activities (CD March 9 p2), NBC Pres. Robert Wright said at “Big Picture” conference in N.Y. He charged NAB (which isn’t party to affiliates’ FCC filing) had been “captured” by “publishers” who own TV stations. “They are the drivers of NAB,” Wright told us later. Affiliates, he said, want their relationships with Big 4 networks to return to “gold standard” days of yore but NBC doesn’t have same assets (with several cable networks now) and doesn’t operate same way it did 20 years ago. News Corp. Pres. Peter Chernin called affiliates’ filing “clearly unfortunate” but had no comment on Wright’s statement.
PTV stations will commit one multicast digital channel for formal education services in exchange of greater federal funding for digital conversion under new strategy approved by APTS board April 1. PTV stations would offer equivalent of one multicast digital channel -- average data rate of 4.5 Mbps -- for formal educational services such as K-12, college telecourses and workforce training. They will also commit to providing broadband data services for educational purposes and educate viewers about benefits of digital broadcasting services. In exchange for wireless broadband digital capacity valued at $2.4 billion year, APTS will seek federal funding of $699 million over 5 years out of total estimated transition cost of $1.8 billion. As part of deal, PTV stations also would get cable carriage of PTV signals during transition and carriage of all DTV multicast streams. Calling it “2-pot” strategy, new APTS Pres. John Lawson said it consisted of getting “what you can out of PTFP [Public Telecom Facilities Program] but also getting what you can out of the CPB appropriations.” Explaining rationale behind move, Lawson told board that problem with PTFP funding was that “committee that funds Dept. of Commerce that PTFP is now under never has the kind of funding final authority that the committee that funds CPB has. We have gone to Capitol Hill 3 times now without success in getting an authorization for more funds.” He said among few areas of growth in Bush Administration budget request to Congress was education funding, which is under Labor-HHS subcommittees. “That where the money is.” Saying that APTS needed to calibrate its strategy to reflect interests in Congress, he said one major area of interest was use of technology for teaching or learning. “There is a major ramp-up in federal outlays for education technologies,” he said.
Rep. Berman (D-Cal.) is working on 2nd draft of bill that would return satellite export licensing jurisdiction to Commerce Dept. from State Dept. and expects to introduce legislation after April recess, staffer said. Revision reportedly bolsters security protections found in first draft, though staffer wouldn’t elaborate. But he acknowledged that initial proposal to incorporate State and Defense Dept. special review process for satellite exports to China remains integral part of bill. Rep. Cox (R-Cal.), staunch national security proponent, recently said (CD March 7 p4) he'd oppose Berman bill. Berman aide said he was hopeful Cox would reconsider after reviewing revised draft. Bill has several cosponsors and Berman expects more to come on board, particularly other members from Cal. who are concerned about impact of slow State Dept. export license review and its negative impact on state’s high tech industry, according to staffer.
NTIA and FCC released final reports Fri. providing details on challenges to sharing, segmenting or clearing Dept. of Defense- occupied bands and MMDS and ITFS spectrum, setting stage for what some see as need for high-level 3-way talks on possible compromise among FCC, Pentagon and Commerce Dept. DoD evaluation, appendix to NTIA report, said terrestrial military systems couldn’t vacate 1.7 GHz until 2010 and legacy space systems would need access until 2017, dates much later than timelines in federal 3G studies. Still, several industry sources said they were heartened by what they called realistic relocation cost estimates that NTIA provided for 3 options, which range from $2.2 billion to $4.5 billion. NTIA report laid out 3 options for band sharing or segmentation, including recently emerged alternative that involves out-of-band pairing and phased-in migration of incumbents. Despite alternatives, “this does not necessarily mean that the government band is the right choice for 3G,” Naval Rear Adm. Robert Nutwell said at NTIA briefing. He called on wireless industry to make “better case” for 3G spectrum needs.
Loral CEO Bernard Schwartz expressed confidence State Dept. finally would approve sale of ChinaSat 8 communications satellite, following months of delay. In briefing at Satellite 2001 in Washington, Schwartz said he was “more optimistic now than I was before,” deal would go through, citing change in Administration: “The new Administration relieves the focus on the political issues to some degree. It’s a more favorable climate.” State Dept. spokesman had no comment.
Commerce Secy. Donald Evans met with wireless industry Thurs. on 3rd generation wireless issues, sending signal that all spectrum bands still were on table, sources said. Evans held hastily-called 30-min. meeting with wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers in advance of final reports that are set for release today (Fri.) from FCC and NTIA on options for additional spectrum for advanced wireless services. “The report that is coming out tomorrow is a first step in the process,” Evans spokesman said. Several sources indicated meeting appeared to be proactive step by Administration to allay industry concerns over serious questions raised by Dept. of Defense on challenge of sharing spectrum with commercial wireless systems in short term.
Wireless industry is watching closely final reports due Fri. from FCC and NTIA on potential spectrum that can be tapped for advanced wireless services, including 3G. Several sources have indicated they didn’t expect significant changes in FCC draft report issued last fall, which said segmenting and sharing in MMDS and ITFS bands to allow operations of advanced mobile services would pose technical challenges. One widely expected change is that final NTIA report will be much more inclusive than draft on interference concerns raised by Defense Dept. NTIA interim report last year had outlined potential spectrum sharing and segmentation opportunities in some cases between new wireless users and govt. incumbents. Serious challenge draft cited was sharing with uplink satellite control systems. But Pentagon sent letter to Commerce Secy. Donald Evans last month raising concerns that loss of access to spectrum beyond that relinquished by military in Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 and 1997 Balanced Budget Act “would jeopardize the DoD’s ability to execute its mission.” DoD is submitting report to NTIA for inclusion in final report. Letter to Evans says DoD report concludes that sharing 1755-1850 MHz isn’t possible “due to predictable, mutual interference over large geographic areas and major metropolitan centers.” Mitigating expected interference “would require unacceptable restrictions on military operations, training and readiness,” former Deputy Defense Secy. Rudy De Leon said. He told Evans that DoD report concluded that “regardless of financial investment,” Pentagon couldn’t vacate or segment band until at least 2010 for nonspace systems and at least 2017 for space systems. Those dates could stretch out to 2030 for some satellites, he wrote. DoD said that such conclusions were based on principle that DoD couldn’t accept any degradation of its mission capability as result of spectrum reallocation. “The 1755-1850 MHz band is indispensable to the defense of the United States and its allies,” DoD wrote. “Our nation’s armed forces would be at a substantial strategic and tactical disadvantage in combat and the execution of military operations could be jeopardized if the Department lost its use of the band.” “I think that they are viewing the DoD report as the basis of their report and they are going to follow it,” said one industry source of upcoming NTIA report. Industry, on other hand, has outlined scenarios in which segmentation and sharing are possible in band at least in short-term to mitigate interference issues. With both FCC and NTIA reports expected to focus on challenges to sharing in respective bands, attention in industry is turning to who in Bush administration will take most active role as FCC and NTIA negotiate, sources said. “As a matter of practical negotiation, FCC doesn’t hold many strong cards,” said Precursor Group analyst Rudy Baca. “FCC is asking NTIA/the government for some of their spectrum ‘please.’ The response is usually, ‘No, it’s ours and we need all of it.'” As result, it becomes more difficult to carry out simple negotiations between FCC and NTIA, when former lacks full complement of commissioners and latter doesn’t yet have permanent director, Baca said. “It is going to take someone higher up in the Administration -- maybe Secy. of Commerce Don Evans or somebody in the White House.” MG