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Welcome Back To The Wireless Messaging News
14/11/2018 ONE DAY AFTER PARIS ATTACKS ANNIVERSARY, EU PUSHES FOR PUBLIC SAFETY
European Parliament makes public warning mandatory for all member states 14 November 2018, Strasbourg — The European Parliament just voted on a legislation to update the way emergency calls are managed in the European Union (EU). The telecommunications legislation — European Electronic Communications Code, or EECC — is one of the most important for European safety with provisions on public warning, emergency location, accessibility and more. MAIN HIGHLIGHTS Just one day after the third anniversary of the Paris terrorist attacks, the European Parliament made modern public warning (or reverse 112) obligatory for all member states, in a landmark decision. Citizens in a high risk area will be able to receive an SMS or alert on their mobile phone in case of an emergency, informing them what is happening and how to remain safe. Benoît Vivier, Public Affairs Manager at EENA, admitted Europe had some shortcomings until now. “Take any of the large emergencies in Europe and you will realise that in most cases modern public warning was not in place” he said. “We have the means and the technology but we have largely failed to put them to good use. The new legislation ensures that from now on we do.” Levent Altan, Executive Director at Victim Support Europe, shared the same feeling. “We want a Europe that puts safety first and the new legislation is an important step in that direction,” he mentioned. “Modern public warning will provide people with the right information at the right time, leading to less victims and more lives saved.” EENA also spoke with Dita Charanzova, Czech Member of the European Parliament and IMCO Rapporteur for opinion on the legislation. She noted that "As we mark the Paris attacks, and hope that such events never happen again, we must better prepare ourselves if they do. Europe's new mobile public warning system will be an important tool in making sure that citizens get accurate information and instructions. Quick, reliable information will help to save lives. I am proud to have had an important role in getting this adopted and I only hope that Member States will put the system in place even before the deadline to act." The impact on public safety The EECC is a binding legislation; all member states will need to implement it within two years (unless otherwise stated for specific provisions that require more time). The legislation also covers emergency caller location, accessibility for people with disabilities, access to 112 from online platforms, and more. “Implementation is going to be key” Vivier insisted. “Member states need to carry out the provisions in a timely and effective manner. Otherwise, citizens will miss a big opportunity.” EENA has prepared a document summarising the legislation, focusing on the 112 service. You can download the briefing below.
This newsletter has been published almost every Friday for sixteen years. If you like it, or if you have benefited from any of the news that has been re-published here, a donation or a new advertisement to help cover expenses would be sincerely appreciated. Please click on the Donate button in the right-hand column. |
NO POLITICS HERE
This doesn't mean that nothing is ever published here that mentions a US political party—it just means that the editorial policy of this newsletter is to remain neutral on all political issues. We don't take sides.
A new issue of the Wireless Messaging Newsletter is posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon central US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the web. That way it doesn’t fill up your incoming e-mail account. There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world’s major Paging and Wireless Messaging companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers — so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It’s all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology.
I regularly get readers’ comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Messaging communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my web site. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it.
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Editorial Opinion pieces present only the opinions of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of any of advertisers or supporters. This newsletter is independent of any trade association. I don't intend to hurt anyone's feelings, but I do freely express my own opinions.
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Microsoft resumes Windows 10 update after fixing data loss bugIt also defended its software testing methods. Jon Fingas, @jonfingas
At last, Microsoft has resumed delivering its Windows 10 October update after pulling it over a data loss bug. The company is confident it has fixed the flaw and has seen “no further evidence” of data loss. With that said, it's being particularly cautious this time around. It's “slowing” the deployment to watch device data and will only give you the device update when it thinks there won't be a problem, such as an incompatible app. The company also used the re-release as an opportunity to defend its software testing methods. It introduced new uses of “data and feedback” to improve its software quality, and uses extensive automated testing, external labs, partner vendors and 'self-hosting' (where development teams run their own software builds) as part of the testing process. It also tracked evidence to suggest quality was improving. Customer support chats and calls have been declining for much of Windows 10's lifetime, Microsoft said. The problem, of course, is that this process still let a data loss bug slip through. Many of these testing methods are also familiar on some level — self-hosting is usually called “dogfooding” and represents a common industry practice. These kind of serious update bugs tend to be rare, but it's not clear if there are any testing changes in place to reduce the chances of such a significant flaw popping up in the future. |
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Paging Transmitters 150/900 MHz The RFI High Performance Paging Transmitter is designed for use in campus, city, state and country-wide paging systems. Designed for use where reliable simulcast systems where RF signal overlap coverage is critical.
Built-in custom interface for Prism-IPX ipBSC Base Controller for remote control, management and alarm reporting.
Prism-IPX Systems LLC.
11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
Back To Paging
Still The Most Reliable Protocol For Wireless Messaging!
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Top new features Microsoft is working on for Windows 10 in 2019Now that 19H1 development has kicked off, it's time to look in and check on what we're most looking forward to in Windows 10's next feature update. ZAC BOWDEN 15 Nov 2018
Windows 10's next feature update, codenamed 19H1, is now in development, and we've already seen some interesting new features show up in Insiders builds. Here's what we're excited about seeing in Windows 10 19H1 and 19H2 in 2019. Improved quick actions
One of the biggest new changes coming in Windows 10 19H1 is the overhauled quick actions area within the Action Center. On the surface, it looks pretty much the same, but if you expand it, you'll find a new brightness slider located at the very bottom, which allows for granular brightness control unlike the old brightness button. In addition, Microsoft has completely redone the editing process for quick actions. No longer do you need to dive into Settings to configure which actions you want in the quick actions area, it's all done directly from within the Action Center now. You can pin, unpin, add, and remove actions without leaving Action Center. Improved Windows Search
Search in Windows 10 has never really been a strong point, but starting with 19H1, that's going to change. Microsoft is working on improving Windows Search throughout both 2019 releases, and starting with 19H1 we should see a lot of that take place. We've already seen improved indexing features for Windows Search, which will index your files faster, and there's now more granular control over where Windows is looking when it searches for files, in addition to your personal user profile. I suspect we'll be seeing lots more improvements to Windows Search over the coming months in 19H1 and 19H2. Light Theme
Building a light theme into the Windows Shell has been on Microsoft's to-do list for years now. You've probably seen concept art from Microsoft which envisions this theme, but it's only now just coming into fruition. While Windows 10 has technically had a light theme since November 2015, Microsoft is taking it up a notch in 2019. In 19H1, Microsoft is building a new system theme option into the OS which will allow the user to change the Windows Shell from dark to light, giving the entire user-interface a clean feel. This includes the Start menu, Action Center, and Taskbar. New music control
Microsoft is building a music applet into the System Trays volume control flyout, which looks fantastic and is a fitting replacement for the old music control that uses Windows 8 design. While this isn't in Insider builds just yet, it shouldn't be long before Microsoft is testing it in the Fast ring. It should definitely be showing up in 2019 officially. Cloud Clipboard for phones
This feature hasn't yet been announced by Microsoft but we've already seen it show up for a few Insiders online. Microsoft is bringing Cloud Clipboard syncing to Android, meaning you will be able to share copied data across your PC and phone without even thinking about it. It works just like Cloud Clipboard currently works. You copy something, and that data gets sent to the cloud and synced across all your logged in devices. On your phone, it will function through SwiftKey, and will show up in your clipboard history. From there, you can paste it, and go on your way. It works the same the other way too, copy something on your phone, and your PC will see it in Cloud Clipboard and present a little phone icon next to it so you know it was copied from your phone.
More fluent design
19H1 see's Microsoft continue its adventure in adding its new design language to Windows 10. We'll see it in more context menus, jump lists, and even on the login screen with an Acrylic effect which blurs the wallpaper as you're logging in to Windows. We should also expect to see drop-shadow effects show up in more areas too, including behind context menus. This gives additional depth to the UI, which looks great when in use. The combination of reveal, acrylic and shadow are all being used in the name of making Windows 10 prettier, which is a good thing. What are you looking forward to? So, that's just a few things on our list that we're looking forward to in Windows 10 19H1 and 19H2. |
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GLENAYRE INFRASTRUCTUREI would like to recommend Easy Solutions for Support of all Glenayre Paging Equipment. This Texas company is owned and operated by Vaughan Bowden. I have known Vaughan for over 35 years. Without going into a long list of his experience and qualifications, let me just say that he was the V.P. of Engineering at PageNet which was—at that time—the largest paging company in the world. So Vaughan knows Paging. GTES is no longer offering support contracts. GTES was the original group from Vancouver that was setup to offer support to customers that wanted to continue with the legacy Glenayre support. Many U.S. customers chose not to use this service because of the price and the original requirement to upgrade to version 8.0 software (which required expensive hardware upgrades, etc.). Most contracts ended as of February 2018. If you are at all concerned about future support of Glenayre products, especially the “king of the hill” the GL3000 paging control terminal, I encourage you to talk to Vaughan about a service contract and please tell him about my recommendation.
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Critical Messaging that works
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NOVEMBER 16, 2018 ES’HAIL-2: FIRST GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE WITH AMATEUR RADIO TRANSPONDERS SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOYEDToday SpaceX have successfully launched and deployed the Es'hail-2 satellite which is now in geostationary orbit. This launch is special for amateur radio enthusiasts because it is the first geostationary satellite that contains an amateur radio transponder on it. The satellite is positioned at 25.5°E which is over Africa. It will cover Africa, Europe, the Middle East, India, eastern Brazil and the west half of Russia/Asia. Unfortunately, North America, Japan, most of South America, Australia and NZ miss out.
The satellite has a two bandwidth segments, a 250 kHz narrow band for modes like SSB, FreeDV, CW, RTTY etc, and a 8 MHz wide band for digital amateur TV (DATV) modes like DVB-S and DVB-T. The downlink frequencies are at 10 GHz so a low cost TV LNB could be used as the antenna. For receiving the narrowband modes, an RTL-SDR or similar SDR could be used, and for the 8 MHz DATV modes a standard DVB-S2 set top box can be used to receive and decode the video. For uplink, the transmission frequency is at 2.4 GHz. According to the commissioning order of the satellite, it is expected that the AMSAT transponders will be activated only after all tests have been passed, and after other higher priority commercial telecommunications systems have been activated. This is expected to take about 1-2 months. |
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Click on the image above for more info about advertising here.
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INTERNET Protocol Terminal
The IPT accepts INTERNET or serial messaging using various protocols and can easily convert them to different protocols, or send them out as paging messages. An ideal platform for hospitals, on-site paging applications, or converting legacy systems to modern protocols.
Additional/Optional Features
Prism-IPX Systems LLC.
11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
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Amateur Radio Volunteers at the Ready for California Fire Duty11/13/2018 [Updated 2018 November 13 @ 1024 UTC] Amateur Radio volunteers have been active or are standing by on several fronts as wildfires continue to rage in large sections of California. Camp Fire In Butte County, in Northern California, the Camp Fire, the state’s deadliest wildfire, triggered a call up of ARES members for communication support. A small wildfire that started in a mountainous area of Butte County quickly grew to some 20,000 acres, due to high winds and gusts of more than 50 MPH. Evacuations were ordered by the county, and eventually more than 25,000 people were evacuated. As multiple shelters opened to assist the evacuees, five Sacramento Valley ARES groups were called out to support communication between the Red Cross Disaster Operations Center (DOC) and the shelters. The uncontrolled wildfire eventually consumed the town of Paradise, and the town of 27,000 residents has been devastated. As of November 13, the Camp Fire covered some 125,000 acres, and more than 40 people had died, many while escaping the fires or trapped in their homes. More than 7,600 structures have been destroyed. An additional 15,500 residences are in danger. Utilizing mutual assistance, more than 20 ARES members from five ARES groups are supporting the shelters. ARES members have also been tasked by Red Cross to shadow Red Cross delivery vehicles to provide communication in the mountain areas to the shelters. ARES communication at the shelters has been carried out using voice, Winlink, and email to pass shelter counts, and tactical messages between the shelter and the Red Cross Disaster Operations Center and Cal Office of Emergency Services. The Red Cross is supporting ARES at the shelters with hot spots and backup radios. Working 12-hour shifts, Sacramento Valley Section District Emergency Coordinator 3 Michael Joseph, KK6GZB, has been staffing the Red Cross radio station as net control for the DOC, passing messages and tracking ARES personnel. Sacramento ARES members have been pitching in as needed. Joseph also has been coordinating ARES deployments as needed. Visit the ARRL Sacramento Valley Section Facebook page or Twitter account for more information. — Thanks to Sacramento Valley Section Emergency Coordinator Greg Kruckewit, KG6SJT Woolsey Fire
The Woolsey Fire that swept through the westernmost portion of Los Angeles County, including Malibu, and the easternmost area of Ventura County in the ARRL Santa Barbara Section, requiring the evacuation of more than 200,000 Los Angeles County residents — an unprecedented amount in recent decades. Evacuees included several celebrities, several of whom lost homes in the fire. Nearly 50 people have died in all fires. “Nevertheless, governmental radio systems used by fire and sheriff held up well, even though cell phone and Internet service went out in many fire areas because of burned utility poles,” Los Angeles Section Manager Diana Feinberg, AI6DF. “Evacuees went to areas where cell phone service was generally available.” Feinberg said Los Angeles ARES (ARES LAX) has not been activated because no county hospitals are in the affected area and no hospital outside the fire zone was in danger of losing communication. She added, though, that a sizable team of ARES LAX operators organized by LAX-Northwest District Emergency Coordinator Roozy Moabery, W1EH, did extensive logistics work over the November 10 – 11 weekend at a major drop-off site in the San Fernando Valley for evacuee supplies. ARES team members worked with other volunteers to accept nearly 10 tons of pet food, plus thousands of boxes of items such as soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, razors, lotion, feminine products, and sunscreen, as well as baby food, formula, diapers, and wipes, towels and bedding, snacks, and non-perishable food items, Feinberg said.
On the air for the Woolsey Fire, both the Los Angeles County Disaster Communications Service (DCS) — Amateur Radio volunteers overseen by the Sheriff’s Department — and the City of Los Angeles Fire Department Auxiliary Communication Service (ACS) operated nets and monitored their respective frequencies. “The DCS group at Lost Hills Sheriff Station covers most of the Los Angeles County areas affected by the Woolsey Fire and communicated with organized amateurs in the cities of Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Westlake Village, and unincorporated mountain areas when not affected by respective mandatory evacuation orders,” Feinberg said. “The City of Los Angeles’ ACS group was involved when the city’s West Hills neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley became the fire’s northeastern front, forcing about half the West Hills community to evacuate.” Feinberg said ACS members have also been involved with delivering food and water supplies to LAFD firefighters and performing fire patrols. American Red Cross volunteers are reported to be using Amateur Radio in connection with some of their fire response activities, Feinberg reported. The Woolsey Fire covers nearly 100,000 acres and was reported 36% contained as of November 13. ARES members in the Los Angeles and other ARRL California Sections will be heavily involved on Thursday, November 15, during the 2018 California Statewide Healthcare and Medical Exercise. ARES LAX plans to operate from most of the 73 hospitals in Los Angeles County that have emergency rooms, as well as at the county’s Medical Alert Center that coordinates hospital bed availability. — Thanks to Diana Feinberg, AI6DF |
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Paging Data Receiver PDR-4 The PDR-4 is a multi-function paging data receiver that decodes paging messages and outputs them via the serial port, USB or Ethernet connectors. Designed for use with Prism-IPX ECHO software Message Logging Software to receive messages and log the information for proof of transmission over the air, and if the data was error free.
Prism-IPX Systems LLC.
11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
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Wireless Network Planners
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Remote AB Switches ABX-1 switches are often used at remote transmitter sites to convert from old, outdated and unsupported controllers to the new modern Prism-IPX ipBSC base station controllers. Remotely switch to new controllers with GUI commands. ABX-1
ABX-3 switches are widely used for enabling or disabling remote equipment and switching I/O connections between redundant messaging systems. ABX-3
Common Features:
Prism-IPX Systems LLC.
11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
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Written by: Swissphone | Published: 14 November 2018
(Advertorial) With its Triple Resilience alerting concept based on two-way paging, the PageOne network is enjoying an upsurge in usage. Chief Executive Chris Jones answers questions from Richard Lambley Chris Jones (CJ): PageOne is now the only wide-area paging operator in the UK, after Vodafone closed its network in the middle of last year. PageOne has been very successful in migrating customers from the Vodafone network on to the PageOne network. The exercise itself underlined the need these customers had to continue using wide-area paging. All of those Vodafone customers were using simple, receiving only, one-way paging. As part of that migration process, a high number of those customers opted for two-way pagers instead of one-way – and in particular, PageOne’s Triple Resilience paging. Although there’s an increased cost, there’s also an increased benefit that comes with that. This migration exercise showed that significant customers still want to use wide-area paging, simply because it has the unique characteristic of being able to broadcast a single message to a practically unlimited number of people at once. When you start looking at cell-based technologies like GSM, and how they become limiting when you want to send a message to lots of people very quickly, you can see why. Richard Lambley (RL): What kind of people are using paging today? CJ: Predominantly, it is anybody that sees operational or critical messaging as important to them. The NHS, emergency services, oil, gas and nuclear industries still use wide-area paging. Where you come across the need to send messages to lots of people very quickly, paging comes into its own. You have to carry the pagers, but if it is mission-critical, people will carry them. RL: How long has PageOne been into two-way paging? CJ: We launched two-way paging back in 2009, as Swissphone innovated the RES.Q pager featuring a GSM back channel. We tried to solve what we saw as a problem with one-way POCSAG paging, in that the sender of that message doesn’t know whether the message has got there or not. Closing this loop with acknowledgment and reply messaging via GSM was something that we thought quite important. So first we tried to sell that extra feature in terms of confirming delivery. But we didn’t get the traction that we were hoping for, because of how much the extra two-way paging cost versus the benefit of it. Most customers were quite happy with one-way paging because it was reliable, and the coverage was good. So we didn’t quite make the business case. Then, we launched the ability to switch the pager into GSM mode if there was no paging coverage. But we still could not make the business case work. What we found was people were interested in getting messages to the pager in the most resilient way possible. That was the key catalyst that we saw two or three years ago. And that’s how we have been able now to promote Triple Resilience paging. It’s what we offered the migrating Vodafone customers, who then took large quantities of these devices because the business case was so compelling.
RL: Can you explain what you mean by Triple Resilience? CJ: The pager listens to our national wide-area paging network, and it also listens to a dedicated on-site paging network using a separate PageOne frequency. At the same time, the pager is always connected via GPRS to the PageOne system using a keep alive handshake. So when we send a paging message, we send it simultaneously over all three networks — wide-area paging, on-site paging and GPRS/GSM. And while the pager receives that message almost instantaneously, three times, it only bleeps and displays the message once! Triple resilience means making sure that the message gets there in a robust, resilient way, and very quickly. This is what customers see as a real benefit. The business case of cost verses benefit was now made. RL: The kind of pager you are talking about — it sounds as though it could be heavy on batteries, and also expensive to use with the GPRS/GSM channel. CJ: That’s an interesting point, because we are using an M2M mobile sim, which means just a very small bit of data, so it’s probably the cheapest sim you can buy. And although there is a cellular module in the pager, but there is only one paging receiver — which is actually scanning the two network frequencies. What we are trying to do is to make the GPRS/GSM channel as cheap as possible and to allow the battery life to last longer. Although the Triple Resilience pagers that we are selling at the moment are very good on battery life, they are not as good as a one-way pagers — though I would say they are certainly much better than the smart phone I’ve got! But I think there’s still more to be done and that’s what Swissphone’s new RES.Q LTE pager can address. Without a doubt, the evolution with upcoming LTE IoT technologies that the mobile operators are employing with LTE-M (LTE Cat M1) / NB-IoT (LTE Cat NB1) is just fantastic!
RL: What are the benefits that the users will see with LTE-M / NB-IoT? CJ: Users will be seeing improved battery life, extended indoor coverage and new possibilities that other IoT technologies were purporting to deliver two or three years ago without really the infrastructure to do it. Also, operating costs should be coming down! As the cellular world is pushing back on competing unlicensed IoT technologies such as LoRa or Sigfox with LTE-M and NB-IoT, the prices will become significantly more competitive for very small amounts of data. So, I expect that would help drive down costs of mobile access. Once you’ve made the business case for Triple Resilience paging, there are other things you can do thanks to the back channel. So having an emergency button to press in case of emergency; and being able to know where a person’s location is with GPS is also an advantage. We also have customers who use the pagers to book on and book off. The back channel can enable a lot of efficiency gains for customers. RL: Where do you want to go next with your Triple Resilient approach? CJ: After the successful Vodafone customer migration, we are seeing opportunities for triple-resilience paging to deliver real benefits into the NHS, where they are currently using one-way onsite pagers. If you take a hospital today which uses an on-site paging system — if that system fails, then they’ve got to call somebody out to fix it. They might have a spare system which they can switch in at an extra cost, and make sure it works; but what you’ve got is dead time. Our triple-resilience approach offers inherent resilience without additional infrastructure eliminating downtime and furthermore pagers can seamlessly operate whether on or off site. And that’s a real, real benefit to those customers and end users. |
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In The Path of Hell
Inside Towers’ database shows over 150 registered tower sites within a 30-mile radius of Chico, CA, the epicenter of the Camp Fire. A full list of sites within that zone can be found on the Inside Towers database. A report on ASR-registered tower sites in that radius shows all three of the major towercos have an equal footprint in the area. Carriers, broadcasters and state-owned towers are in the path possible destruction as well.
The Camp Fire in northern California has burned more than 140,000 acres as of Thursday and was assessed as 40 percent contained. It’s now the most destructive fire in the state’s history, reports KGO-TV, San Francisco. In southern California, the Woolsey Fire, which has burned more than 98,000 acres, was 57 percent contained as of Thursday, and the Hill fire, which has burned 4,531 acres, was 97 percent contained, according to fire.ca.gov. TIA Appoints David Bain, New Vice President of Standards
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), named David Bain Vice President of Standards. TIA is an ANSI-accredited Standards Developing Organization. TIA CEO Wes Johnston, said Bain previously served on TIA's TR-34 Satellite Engineering Standards Committee. “We’re excited to expand his leadership over our critical standards work.” He added “Bain's exceptional knowledge across the breadth of many ICT technologies and experience in global standards and entrepreneurship will help TIA be a catalyst for innovation and new engagement in the standards domain.” Bain joins TIA from the Technology Safety Council, which promotes safety and sustainability best practices to technology users, suppliers, and regulators. Prior, he spent seven years as CEO and Director of Industry and Government Affairs for TM Technologies, which specializes in efficient, secure forms of wireless modulation. In addition, TIA says his experience as a presenter, university lecturer and panelist on Capitol Hill brings a superior level of messaging to TIA’s senior leadership team. |
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| Source: | Inside Towers newsletter | Courtesy of the editor of Inside Towers. |
| BloostonLaw Newsletter |
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Selected portions [sometimes more — sometimes less] of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update and/or the BloostonLaw Private Users Update — newsletters from the Law Offices of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP — are reproduced in this section of The Wireless Messaging News with kind permission from the firm. The firm's contact information is included at the end of this section of the newsletter.
Accessible User Interface Deadline for Small MVPDs is Dec 20On November 5, the FCC issued a Public Notice reminding small and medium MVPD operators – that is, MVPD operators with 400,000 or fewer subscribers as of year-end 2012, and MVPD systems with 20,000 or fewer subscribers that are not affiliated with an operator serving more than 10 percent of all MVPD subscribers as of year-end 2012, respectively — of the end of the two-year deferred compliance deadline of the FCC’s requirement to make user interfaces and video programming guides and menus accessible on televisions, set-top boxes, and other devices used to view video programming. See the article below for more information. BloostonLaw Contacts: Gerry Duffy. HeadlinesFCC Announces Official Agenda for November 15 Open MeetingOn November 8, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing the tentative agenda for its upcoming Open Meeting, which is currently scheduled for November 15. The FCC publicly releases the draft text of each item expected to be considered at this Open Commission Meeting with the exception of items involving specific, enforcement-related matters. One-page cover sheets are included in the public drafts to help summarize each item. Links to these materials are embedded in the text below. At the meeting, the FCC will consider:
Open Meetings are streamed live at www.fcc.gov/live and can be followed on social media with #OpenMtgFCC. BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and John Prendergast. FCC Reminds Small and Medium MVPDs of User Interface Accessibility DeadlineOn November 5, the FCC issued a Public Notice reminding small and medium MVPD operators — that is, MVPD operators with 400,000 or fewer subscribers as of year-end 2012, and MVPD systems with 20,000 or fewer subscribers that are not affiliated with an operator serving more than 10 percent of all MVPD subscribers as of year-end 2012, respectively — of the end of the two-year deferred compliance deadline of the FCC’s requirement to make user interfaces and video programming guides and menus accessible on televisions, set-top boxes, and other devices used to view video programming. Specifically, with respect to set-top boxes and other types of navigation devices, the accessible user interfaces rules require that on-screen text menus and guides provided by such devices for the display or selection of multichannel video programming be audibly accessible in real time upon request by individuals who are blind or visually impaired, if achievable. In addition, navigation devices with built-in closed captioning capability must include a mechanism that is reasonably comparable to a button, key, or icon for activating the closed captioning. MVPDs that lease or sell navigation devices, as well as navigation device manufacturers, are responsible for compliance with these rules. In accordance with further rules adopted in 2015, MVPDs and manufacturers of navigation devices are also required to ensure that individuals with disabilities are aware of the availability of accessible navigation devices and have ready access to information and support that will allow them to operate such devices. Shortly before the FCC issued its reminder, however, it also granted two waivers of its rules requiring the accessibility of user interfaces on covered navigation devices for certain small and mid-sized MVPDs, as requested by the American Cable Association (ACA). First, the FCC granted ACA’s request for a limited waiver of the accessible user interfaces requirements for certain mid-sized or smaller systems that utilize quadrature amplified modulation (QAM), as they apply to the system’s two-way service offerings (e.g., video on demand). Additionally, the FCC granted ACA’s request for a waiver of the accessible user interfaces requirements for certain small cable systems that offer any video programming channels in only analog format or do not offer broadband Internet access service to their residential video subscribers. Covered entities that meet the criteria for waiver are not expected to comply by the December 20, 2018 deadline. BloostonLaw Contacts: Gerry Duffy. Comment Sought on Supplemental Analysis in Sprint/T-Mobile MergerOn November 13, the FCC issued a Public Notice seeking comment on a filed a new econometric study filed by T-Mobile US, Inc. (T-Mobile), and Sprint Corporation (Sprint). Comments are due December 4. According to the Public Notice, the new study describes itself as a “merger simulation offer[ing] an economically coherent framework, grounded in detailed industry data, for understanding the competitive significance of the proposed merger.” The analysis represents a substantial body of new material on economic issues central to the review of the proposed transaction. It relies on a newly submitted data set and new methodologies to reach conclusions about the specific effects of the transaction not previously in the record. As we reported in a previous edition of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, applications filed by Sprint and T-Mobile seek FCC consent to the transfer of control of licenses and authorizations from Sprint to T-Mobile, as part of the merger of these companies. On July 18, 2018, the FCC accepted the applications for filing and established a pleading cycle for the proposed transaction. Following the submission of new economic and engineering modeling by the Applicants in September 2018, the FCC paused its informal 180-day clock and extended the deadline for replies to October 31, 2018. Since the economic study is a substantial new submission in support of a transaction after the initial application, the FCC will again pause its 180-day informal time clock to allow for staff and third-party review, as well as public comment. Absent further significant new record submissions, the informal 180-day clock will resume on December 4, 2018, at day 55. BloostonLaw Contacts: John Prendergast and Cary Mitchell. Comment Sought on Implementation of National Suicide Hotline Improvement ActOn November 8, the FCC issued a Public Notice seeking comment on the implementation of the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2018 (the Act). Comments are due December 10. The Act directs the FCC to (1) conduct a study that examines the feasibility of designating a simple, easy-to-remember, 3-digit dialing code to be used for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system; and (2) analyze how well the current National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is working to address the needs of veterans. The Act also directs the FCC to coordinate with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and the North American Numbering Council in conducting the study, and to produce a report on the study by August 14, 2019. The FCC’s report must recommend whether a particular N11 dialing code or simple, easy-to-remember, 3-digit dialing code should be used for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system and, if so, the logistics and costs associated with designating such a dialing code, among other issues. The Wireline Competition Bureau invites comments from interested stakeholders on the issues that the FCC must address in the study and the report required by the Act. Today, the Wireline Competition Bureau also directs the North American Numbering Council to consider and provide recommendations on the issues the FCC must address when conducting the study. BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and John Prendergast. Law & RegulationComment Deadline Established for FM Translator Construction Permit Auction ProceduresOn November 8, the FCC published in the Federal Register its Public Notice announcing Auction 100, for certain cross-service FM translator construction permits, and seeking comment on the procedures to be used for this auction. Comments are due November 15, and reply comments are due November 28. Specifically, Auction 100 will be used to resolve groups of pending mutually exclusive (MX) applications for cross-service FM translator construction permits. The MX groups and engineering proposals involved in the auction are those that remain after two opportunities to resolve mutual exclusivity through settlement or technical modification of the engineering proposals. As such, Auction 100 is a closed auction that will include only the entities already involved in the proceeding. Comment is sought on a variety of auction-specific procedures, including auction design, bidding rounds, the stopping rule, upfront payments, bidding eligibility, activity, reserve prices, minimum opening bids, and others. The Public Notice contains specific descriptions of the proposals being considered. Participants in Auction 100 should contact the firm for more information. BloostonLaw Contacts: John Prendergast and Cary Mitchell. Eighth Circuit Stays Business Data Services Remand Decision for One YearOn November 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an Order granting a motion to stay its decision to remand the FCC’s Business Data Services Report and Order of April 2017 for a period of one year, until November 12, 2019. This will provide the FCC with additional time to address the problematic portions of the BDS Order. Specifically, in August of 2018, the court had issued an Order granting in part certain petitions for review of the BDS Order, on the ground that the FCC failed to provide adequate notice that it might repeal ex-ante regulation of TDM transport services in the same way that it had repealed ex-ante regulation of last-mile business data services (BDS). On October 10, the FCC filed a motion to stay the Order remanding the BDS Order back to the FCC, arguing that such a stay would allow it to consider the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on TDM transport services that it adopted at its October 23 Open Meeting. BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak. IndustryUSDA Announces $91 Million in Infrastructure Loans and GrantsOn November 13, Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett announced that USDA is investing in infrastructure projects in a dozen states to improve e-Connectivity in rural communities. “In the modern economy, rural broadband is a lifeline to quality of life and economic opportunity,” Hazlett said. “With that impact, USDA is fiercely committed under the leadership of Agriculture Secretary Perdue on expanding access to e-Connectivity in rural America.” Specifically, USDA is investing $91 million through the Telecommunications Programs. The 19 projects will benefit more than 27,000 businesses and households in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia. Examples of the projects in which USDA is investing include:
A full list of the projects can be found here. FCC Announces November 19 Meeting of Diversity and Digital Empowerment CommitteeOn November 9, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing that the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (ACDDE) will meet on Monday, November 19, 2018, beginning at 9:30. The meeting agenda will feature a report from each of the three ACDDE Working Groups. The Digital Empowerment and Inclusion Working Group will report on its assessment of access, adoption, and use of broadband and new technologies by under-resourced communities, and on the supplier diversity workshop for small, female- and minority-owned entrepreneurs it held this summer. The Diversity in Tech Working Group will report on its examination of issues pertaining to hiring, promotion, and retention of women and minorities in tech industries and provide an update on research to develop a “best practices” guide for employers in the tech sector. The Broadcast Diversity and Development Working Group will provide an update on its ongoing initiatives to examine diversity and inclusion in broadcast employment, management and supplier procurement. The FCC will provide audio and/or video coverage of the meeting over the Internet from the FCC’s web page at www.fcc.gov/live. More information about the ACDDE is available at DeadlinesJANUARY 15: HAC REPORTING DEADLINE. At this time, the next Hearing Aid Compatible (HAC) reporting deadline for digital commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) providers (including carriers that provide service using AWS-1 spectrum and resellers of cellular, broadband PCS and/or AWS services) is January 15, 2019. The FCC is considering an item at its November 2018 meeting that may impact this requirement. As of today, non-Tier I service providers must offer to consumers at least 50 percent of the handset models per air interface, or a minimum of ten handset models per air interface, that meet or exceed the M3 rating, and at least one-third of the handset models per air interface, or a minimum of ten handset models per air interface, that meet or exceed the T3 rating. Month-to-month handset offering information provided in annual reports must be current through the end of 2018. With many of our clients adjusting their handset offerings and making new devices available to customers throughout the year, it is very easy for even the most diligent carriers to stumble unknowingly into a non-compliance situation, resulting in fines starting at $15,000 for each HAC-enabled handset they are deficient. Following the T-Mobile USA Notice of Apparent Liability (FCC 12-39), the FCC’s enforcement policy calls for multiplying the $15,000 per-handset fine by the number of months of the deficiency, creating the potential for very steep fines. It is therefore crucial that our clients pay close attention to their HAC regulatory compliance, and monthly checks are strongly recommended. In this regard, we have prepared a HAC reporting template to assist our clients in keeping track of their HAC handset offerings, and other regulatory compliance efforts. ALL SERVICE PROVIDERS SUBJECT TO THE FCC’S HAC RULES – INCLUDING COMPANIES THAT QUALIFY FOR THE DE MINIMIS EXCEPTION – MUST PARTICIPATE IN ANNUAL HAC REPORTING. To the extent that your company is a provider of broadband PCS, cellular and/or interconnected SMR services, if you are a CMRS reseller and/or if you have plans to provide CMRS using newly licensed (or partitioned) AWS or 700 MHz spectrum, you and your company will need to be familiar with the FCC’s revised rules. BloostonLaw contacts: John Prendergast, Cary Mitchell, and Sal Taillefer. Calendar At-a-GlanceNovember December January
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| THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK |
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“Do what is right, not what is easy.” —unknown |
| VIDEO OF THE WEEK |
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“Stormy Monday”
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| Source: | YouTube |
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