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This Week's Wireless News Headlines:

• One secret to the success of pagers. (The answer might surprise you.)
• A woman put an AirTag in one of her boxes and caught her mover lying about his location
• Motorola Frontier 22: Leak reveals 200 MP camera, 144 Hz P-OLED, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus, other incredible specs of July-bound flagship
• The New York Times has an inside look at the spyware that’s changing cyberwar.
• LMCC Changes Name to the National Wireless Communications Council
• How Mayht, a small startup, is taking on the world of speaker goliaths
• After Million-Mile Journey, James Webb Telescope Reaches Destination
• Inside Towers
  • FCC Appoints Industry Experts to its Technological Advisory Council
  • FCC Votes to Modernize Equipment Authorization Rules
  • Tower Fatality in Ontario, Canada
• BloostonLaw Telecom Update
  • FCC Urges Carriers to Review Cybersecurity Practices
  • Comment Sought on RF Standards
  • FCC to Consider MTE Broadband Rules
  • FCC Releases Affordable Connectivity Order
  • 700 MHz Guard Band Licensee and Band Manager Annual Reports Due March 1
  • Comment Sought on Safeguards for Network Outage/DIRS Data Sharing
  • Comment Sought on Neutrality of Local Number Portability Administrator
  • FCC Announces Final Group of Telehealth Program Awards
  • Deadlines
  • BloostonLaw Contacts
  • Calendar At-a-Glance
• LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
  • Clay Amb
  • Chris Baldwin
• TECHNICIAN'S CORNER
  • Basics of Capacitor Leakage
• THIS WEEK'S MUSIC VIDEO
  • “Playing For Change”

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.

I spend the whole week searching the INTERNET for news that I think may be of interest to you — so you won’t have to. This newsletter is an aggregator — a service that aggregates news from other news sources. You can help our community by sharing any interesting news that you find.

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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One secret to the success of pagers. (The answer might surprise you.)

January 13, 2022

In a study by the Journal of Hospital Medicine, nearly 50% of the clinicians responding reported that the most common way they receive patient care-related communication is by pager. To paraphrase a beloved American author, “The reports of the death of pagers are greatly exaggerated.” Pagers are still a top communication tool, especially for hospitals.

Some critics claim that the lack of two-way communication is a primary disadvantage of pagers. Did you know that two-way communication is not only possible in pagers, but that the capability has been around for years?

When two-way communication is a must, pagers continue to offer unmatched reliability, low cost, and convenience, and are just one more way that paging remains relevant for today’s on-the-go healthcare workers.

What are two-way pagers?

As the name implies, two-way pagers allow users to receive text messages and e-mail, and reply with a standard message or, if the pager has a QWERTY keyboard, allows users to type a response. For hospitals and health systems, they also offer encryption to support HIPAA-compliant messaging. And they have enhanced security options such as display lock and the ability to wipe data if the device is lost or stolen. With the added capability of supporting return message delivery and read receipts, the two-way pager is a convenient tool to add to a hospital’s communication device mix.

When did the first two-way pager come out?

Motorola introduced the world’s first two-way pager, the Tango two-way personal messaging pager, in 1995. It allowed users to receive text messages and e-mail and reply with a standard response.

Since then, companies like Spok have continued to improve on two-way paging technology. Today, Spok offers the nation’s largest paging network, supporting code calls and disaster scenarios with reliable two-way and one-way paging services.

What does two-way paging technology look like in 2022?

Two-way messaging allows users to receive wireless messages, emails, trouble tickets, or automated system alerts as well as to initiate and reply to messages. This allows users to stay connected with their team as they coordinate patient care. Plus, with the T52, exclusively from Spok, you can communicate with smartphones, pagers, handhelds, PCs, and other two-way devices. This enables you to stay in touch with people across the hospital regardless of the devices they use. In addition, when you enable the encryption service from Spok, the T52’s secure messaging and display lock security features help your organization meet HIPAA compliance requirements.

The future of paging

Although no one can truly predict the future of paging, the facts remain that there are still advantages to pagers, especially in healthcare settings:

• Pagers can work in emergency situations where smartphones might not
• They’re convenient
• They use long-lasting batteries that don’t require a charge
• With  99.92% network reliability, care team members can be confident that their patient care or emergency response messages make it to the right people

In short, pagers save lives by providing reliable one- and two-way messaging in critical situations. When used as part of a comprehensive secure messaging strategy, paging helps provide coverage for the broad range of clinical situations facing healthcare today.

By John Deboer, Vice President of Technology Engineering John joined Spok in 1999 and has more than 25 years of experience in the telephony, paging, and wireless technology fields. At Spok he has held numerous positions, including vendor manager and director of program management. Prior to joining Spok, he worked at Alcatel and Glenayre Technologies in international sales engineering and project management roles. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electrical engineering from Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada.

50 years experience providing and supporting radio and paging customers worldwide. Call us anytime we can be useful!

			Minitor VI
Leavitt sells and supports most pager brands. We stock Unication G1, G5, Secure and some Elegant pagers. Call or e-mail for price and availability.

A woman put an AirTag in one of her boxes and caught her mover lying about his location

An Apple AirTag pairs with its owner's iPhone, which gets secure updates about its location through the Find My app. (Jonathan Baran/The Washington Post)

By Marisa Iati

January 25, 2022 at 3:52 p.m. EST

By the time her cross-country move came around in December, Valerie McNulty had heard too many horror stories about delays and theft during military relocations to take any chances.

So she took the bracelet with an Apple AirTag that her 4-year-old son had been wearing to school and dropped it into a box of his toys. Off it went, from the family’s home in Fort Carson, Colo., toward their new base in Fort Drum, N.Y. — until the expected delivery date came and passed with no sign of their belongings.

In the days that followed, McNulty used the AirTag’s Bluetooth-enabled tracking capability to catch her moving-truck driver in a lie and pinpoint the location of her family’s items.

“I didn’t think that we would have to really use it or rely on it,” McNulty said of the AirTag, “but I’m thankful that we had that option that we could.”

McNulty’s experience, which was first reported in the Military Times, comes amid a robust debate about the small plastic-and-metal disks, which launched last spring: Are they creepy or helpful? The trackers have been found on expensive cars, presumably so they could be stolen. But they can also be attached to commonly lost valuables, like keys, to make finding them easier.

[Apple’s AirTags can be as creepy as they are helpful. Finding them with some phones is easier than with others.]

In McNulty’s case, her AirTag might have saved the day. After she reported her family’s missing items in early January, she said, the company that the Army had contracted with to coordinate their move promised that the boxes would arrive the next day — a Saturday.

Then the driver called. He said he had just picked up their items in Colorado and would drop them off that Monday, McNulty recalled.

That’s when McNulty, 33, swiped to her iPhone’s Find My app and checked the location of her AirTag. It was in Pennsylvania, she said, about four hours from her family’s new home.

McNulty pointed this out to the driver, who, she said, promptly hung up the phone. He called back a few minutes later and said he could get her the delivery that Sunday or Monday, she said. Then he called one more time, McNulty recalled, and said he was going to see his romantic partner in New Jersey but would still bring her the truck the next day.

McNulty took screenshots of the AirTag’s location through the night, she said, to hold the driver accountable to his word. The next day, Jan. 8, the truck finally arrived.

“Had we not had the AirTag, we definitely would have been waiting until Monday,” McNulty said. “Because there’s no way for someone to call him out on it.”

[I found my stolen Honda Civic using a Bluetooth tracker. It’s the latest controversial weapon against theft.]

Stan Burke, owner of Virginia-based Regal Moving Services, said his truck driver’s stop in Elizabeth, N.J., was within the bounds of company rules letting drivers pause long trips overnight. But, he said, the driver should have been honest about his plans.

“It’s not like he went the opposite direction, which would be a fireable offense,” Burke said. “It was within the limitations of company policy and within the limitations of what we’re responsible for with military shipments.”

McNulty shared her experience on Facebook in a post that has since been shared thousands of times. The point, she said, was to advise other families that it might be worth spending about $30 on an AirTag to track their belongings during military moves, which are notoriously fraught with delays.

“From now on, anytime we [move], I will be using them,” McNulty said. “And I used only one this time, but I would definitely use more.”

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.

• Commercial Paging systems.
• Healthcare Paging systems.
• Public Safety Emergency Services Paging systems.
• Demand Response Energy Grid Management.

Built-in custom interface for Prism-IPX ipBSC Base Controller for remote control, management and alarm reporting.

• Use as a stand-alone unit or in wide area network.
• Mix with other transmitter brands in an existing paging network.
• Adjustable from 20-250 watts.
• 110/240 VAC or 48VDC.
• Absolute Delay Correction.
• Remote Diagnostics.
• Configurable alarm thresholds.
• Integrated Isolator.
• Superb Reliability.
• Improved amplifier efficiency.
• Most reliable high-powered paging transmitter available.

Prism-IPX Systems LLC.

11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
Ph: 678-242-5290 Email: sales@prism-ipx.com
prism-ipx.com

The Wireless Messaging News
Board of Advisors

The Board of Advisor members are people with whom I have developed a special rapport, and have met personally. They are not obligated to support the newsletter in any way, except with advice, and maybe an occasional letter to the editor.

Can You Help The Newsletter?

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Motorola Frontier 22: Leak reveals 200 MP camera, 144 Hz P-OLED, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus, other incredible specs of July-bound flagship

The Motorola Frontier 22. (Source: Winfuture)The Motorola Frontier 22. (Source: Winfuture)

A new report has now detailed Motorola's upcoming flagship phone, codenamed the Motorola "Frontier 22". Set for a July debut, the Frontier 22 will feature a slew of incredible specs including a 200 MP camera, 144 Hz P-OLED, and 125 W wired charging.

Just over a week ago, word of a Motorola "Frontier" flagship phone surfaced, hyping up the phone to feature an assortment of incredible specs including a 200 MP camera. A new report has now thrown even more light on the phone, which is codenamed the "Frontier 22".

As revealed by Roland Quandt of Winfuture, the Motorola Frontier 22 will debut in July. The Frontier 22 will sport a 6.67-inch 144 Hz FHD+ curved P-OLED. Under the hood will be Qualcomm's SM4750. Considering Qualcomm's naming scheme, that looks likely to be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus. The flagship chipset will be aided by up to 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage.

As previously reported, the Frontier 22 will feature a 200 MP main camera. At the moment, that limits the Frontier 22 to either Omnivision's 1/1.28-inch OVB0B or Samsung's 1/1.22-inch ISOCELL HP1. In addition to the 200 MP, the flagship will sport a 50 MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 12 MP 2x telephoto camera. At the front will be a 60 MP selfie camera. Other specs include a 4500 mAh battery, 125 W wired charging, 35 W or 50 W wireless charging, Android 12, and stereo speakers.

Providing Expert Support and Service Contracts for all Glenayre Paging Systems.

The GL3000 is the most prolific paging system in the world and Easy Solutions gladly welcomes you to join us in providing reliable support to the paging industry for many more decades in the future.

Easy Solutions provides cost effective computer and wireless solutions at affordable prices. We can help in most any situation with your communications systems. We have many years of experience and a vast network of resources to support the industry, your system and an ever changing completive landscape.

• We treat our customers like family. We don’t just fix problems . . . We recommend and implement better cost-effective solutions.
• We are not just another vendor . . . We are a part of your team. All the advantages of high priced full-time employment without the cost.
• We are not in the Technical Services business . . . We are in the Customer Satisfaction business.

Experts in Paging Infrastructure

• Glenayre, Motorola, Unipage, etc.
• Excellent Service Contracts
• Full Service—Beyond Factory Support
• Making systems More Reliable and MORE PROFITABLE for over 30 years.

Please see our web site for exciting solutions designed specifically for the Wireless Industry. We also maintain a diagnostic lab and provide important repair and replacement parts services for Motorola and Glenayre equipment. Call or e-mail us for more information.

Easy Solutions
3220 San Simeon Way
Plano, Texas 75023
Vaughan Bowden
Telephone: 972-898-1119
Telephone: 214 785-8255
Website: www.EasySolutions4You.com
E-mail: vaughan@easysolutions4you.com

GLENAYRE INFRASTRUCTURE

Service Contracts

I 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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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

• Database of up to 5000 subscribers.
• 4 serial ports on board.
• Up to 8 phone lines (DID or POTS).
• Can be configured for auto-fail-over to hot swap standby.
• 1RU rack mount unit appliance—no moving parts.
• Easily secure legacy system messages leaving site for HIPAA compliance.
• Only purchase the protocols/options you need.
• Add Paging Encryption for HIPAA compliance on site.

Prism-IPX Systems LLC.

11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
Ph: 678-242-5290 e-mail: sales@prism-ipx.com
prism-ipx.com

The New York Times

January 28, 2022
By David Leonhardt

Good morning. The Times has an inside look at the spyware that’s changing cyberwar.

A Pegasus facility in Sapir, Israel. Amir Levy/Getty Images

The new espionage

When an Israeli company released a new spyware product known as Pegasus in 2011, it changed cyberwarfare. Pegasus could reliably decipher the communications of smartphones without the phone’s user knowing and without the cooperation of AT&T, Apple or any other company.

Mexico’s government bought Pegasus — from NSO Group, the Israeli start-up that created it — and used it to capture El Chapo, the drug lord. European investigators used the product to break up a child sex-abuse ring and stop terrorist plots.

But Pegasus also created some problems, and they quickly started becoming clear, too. Governments could use it to monitor and suppress critics and political opponents. Mexico was an example: It deployed the spyware not only against El Chapo but also against dissidents and journalists. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates used it against civil rights activists.

The F.B.I. bought a version of Pegasus in 2019, according to a new Times Magazine investigation by Ronen Bergman and Mark Mazzetti. Since then, U.S. officials across the Trump and Biden administrations have debated whether to use it within this country as well as abroad.

For now, the F.B.I. has decided not to do so. The Commerce Department went further, adding NSO to a list of foreign companies that it says jeopardize national security and preventing U.S. companies from working with it. Even so, the American government’s copy of Pegasus continues to sit in a New Jersey office building, ready to be turned on if the federal government changes its policy.

Ronen’s and Mark’s story is full of other revelations, too:

• Israel has used Pegasus as a diplomatic sweetener. It gave the U.A.E. and Bahrain access to it, which helped lead to the Abraham Accords, the 2020 pact in which the Arab countries normalized relations with Israel. At one point, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, threatened to block a crucial part of the deal unless Israel renewed Saudi Arabia’s license to use Pegasus.
• The C.I.A. bought a copy of Pegasus for Djibouti, to assist it in combating terrorism — despite the country’s record of human rights abuses, including the torture of dissidents.
• Pegasus has helped knit together right-wing nationalist governments around the world, with Hungary, India and Poland collaborating on its use. Benjamin Netanyahu, then Israel’s prime minister, decided not to order Poland’s Pegasus system to be cut off even after the country passed laws that many in Israel saw as Holocaust denial, and the Polish prime minister spoke of “Jewish perpetrators” of the genocide.

In addition to these fascinating details, the story underscores a larger point about cyberwarfare. As Ronen and Mark write:

Cyberweapons have changed international relations more profoundly than any advance since the advent of the atomic bomb. In some ways, they are even more profoundly destabilizing — they are cheap, easily distributed and can be deployed without consequences to the attacker. Dealing with their proliferation is radically changing the nature of state relations, as Israel long ago discovered and the rest of the world is now also beginning to understand.

More than 75 years after the invention of nuclear weapons, only nine countries appear to have a usable one. But dozens of countries already have cyberweapons. “Everybody seems to want them,” Mark told me, “and this gives enormous power to the countries who sell them and can use them for diplomatic advantage.”

It has also led to a huge increase in government spying, for good and for ill.

For more: Here are more highlights of the investigation.

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.

• Option—decode capcode list or all messages.
• Large capcode capacity.
• Serial, USB and Ethernet output.
• POCSAG or FLEX page decoding, special SA protocols.
• Receivers for paging bands in VHF, UHF, 900 MHz.
• Message activated Alarm Output.
• 8 programmable relay outputs.
• Send notifications of a system problem.

• Synthesized Receiver Tuning.
• Selectivity better than 60 dB.
• Frequencies 148-174, 450-470, 929-932 MHz.
• Image Rejection better than 55 dB.
• Spurious Rejection better than 55 dB.
• Channel Spacing 12.5 or 25 kHz.
• Power 5VDC.
• Receiving Sensitivity 5µV at 1200 bps.

Prism-IPX Systems LLC.

11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
Ph: 678-242-5290 e-mail: sales@prism-ipx.com
prism-ipx.com

Wireless Network Planners
Wireless Specialists

R.H. (Ron) Mercer Consultant 217 First Street East Northport, NY 11731
Telephone: 631-786-9359
www.wirelessplanners.com
wirelessplannerron@gmail.com

For Immediate Release

Contact: Andrea Cumpston
Email: andrea.cumpston@enterprisewireless.org
Phone: 703-797-5111

LMCC Changes Name to the
National Wireless Communications Council

January 27, 2022 (Herndon, Virginia) — After fifty years, the membership of the Land Mobile Communications Council unanimously agreed to change the organization’s name to the “National Wireless Communications Council” (NWCC) to better reflect the association’s purpose and advocacy initiatives conducted on behalf of its membership and member constituencies. The LMCC played an active role in FCC Docket Nos. 18261 and 18262 in the early 1970s that led to the sharing of broadcast spectrum, today known as “T-Band” and the reassignment of TV channels 70-83, spectrum that today is utilized for the 800/900 MHz B/ILT and SMR, as well as cellular services. Today, under the auspices of the National Wireless Communications Council, the organization will continue its long history of advocacy for its membership in critical telecommunication issues.

David Smith, LMCC President noted that ”fifty years ago ‘land mobile’ best represented the state of the wireless world, but not so much today. The name change will better position the NWCC before the Commission and the wireless industry as it pursues meaningful national wireless communication policies for its unique membership of trade associations that represent business industrial, public safety and equipment manufacturers.”

About NWCC
The National Wireless Communications Council is a nonprofit association of organizations that represent the wireless communications interests of public safety, critical infrastructure, business, industrial, transportation, private and common carriers as well as manufacturers of wireless communications equipment.

Brad Dye, Ron Mercer, Allan Angus, Vic Jackson, and Ira Wiesenfeld are friends and colleagues who work both together and independently, on wireline and wireless communications projects.

Click here for a summary of their qualifications and experience. Each one has unique abilities. We would be happy to help you with a project, and maybe save you some time and money.

Note: We do not like Patent Trolls, i.e. “a person or company who enforces patent rights against accused infringers in an attempt to collect licensing fees, but does not manufacture products or supply services based upon the patents in question.” We have helped some prominent law firms defend their clients against this annoyance, and would be happy to do some more of this same kind of work.

Some people use the title “consultant” when they don't have a real job. We actually do consulting work, and help others based on our many years of experience.

“If you would know the road ahead, ask someone who has traveled it.” — Chinese Proverb

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:

• RJ45 for A, B and Common connectors.
• Manual push button or use Prism IP commands to switch one or more relays.
• Single or Dual Port Control card for IP or Serial connection.
• Form C relay—control local connection.
• Power Loss Indicator.
• Rear Panel Connector for controlling the switch externally.
• Power Source: 5VDC for ABX-1; 12VDC for ABX-3.

Prism-IPX Systems LLC.

11175 Cicero Dr., Alpharetta, GA 30022
Ph: 678-242-5290 e-mail: sales@prism-ipx.com
prism-ipx.com

How Mayht, a small startup, is taking on the world of speaker goliaths

Haje Jan Kamps@Haje / 2:50 PM CST • January 19, 2022

Image Credits: Mayht

There are many ways of spinning up a startup, but it takes a particularly brave set of founders to take on a deeply entrenched industry with a small number of incumbents who have the market all sown up. You’d have to be a special flavor of bold to take on Internet search for example — where the name of the leading company is literally synonymous with searching for something on the Internet The world of speakers is similar; the technology has barely moved in the past hundred years, and only a handful of manufacturers create almost every single speaker element that plays the sweet dulcet tones of Shania Twain into the ether around you.

Plenty of startups think they can put a dent in this world, and every year, I see dozens of pitches for companies that are “making speakers better” in various ways. And every year, it falls flat. Yes, innovations are happening, but core speaker technology rarely moves in a way that could be described as truly innovative. At CES this year, I got to talking with the team of Mayht, which might just be the exception to that general rule.

The company has created speakers that are pointing in opposite directions of each other, with motors that move the speaker elements apart at the same time — creating a similar motion to you clapping your hands. That means that the speakers are perfectly balanced. The company claims the impact is more bang for the buck, and that the more-compact speakers can be more energy efficient in use, and smaller to ship and store. The speaker tech is interesting, but what really piqued my interest was how a small rag-tag bunch of innovators from the Netherlands is planning to shake things up.

Mayht is a technology company. Early on in its journey, it realized that in the world of speaker tech, there’s not much point in going head-to-head against the behemoths in the space. Armed with a handful of patents and some cool reference speakers (i.e. prototypes they can show off to potential partners), the company is hoping to build what is essentially an outsourced R&D arm. They are the skunkworks that creates new and interesting tech, before licencing it to the well-known speaker brands out there. I decided to take a closer look at the little Dutch startup, and how it is taking on one of the most well-entrenched industries in consumer electronics.

In this interview, I talk with the Mayht team and its investors to figure out what the special sauce is when you’re a scrappy David in a world of Goliaths.

“We’ve been working on this speaker technology since 2016. In the first couple of years we were just creating prototypes, but now we got a lot of stuff that is really close to mass production — or in mass production. We’re not a manufacturer of drivers, we just defend the technology and we license it,” explains Mattias Scheek, CEO at Mayht. “We can finally show our technology in different kinds of applications — from soundbars to small subwoofers to small voice-assistant speakers. We believe the latter, in particular, will really disrupt the market. If say, an Echo Dot can have the same sound as the Sonos One, or a soundbar. Or if a speaker without a subwoofer can have the same sound as something that does have one. It makes a big change in the market. We are finally able to show those things to the public.”

The company claims it has invented a new generation of speaker drivers. Whereas a typical speaker driver has a membrane, it can make limited movement, because the whole motor structure is behind the membrane. Mayht’s innovation is to put the motor structures at the sides of the membrane. That means more movement, and more displacement. You see a similar thing in automobile engines: A “bigger” engine can work in one of two ways — either you make each cylinder bigger, which means that more gas and air mixture can explode and create power. Or you make the stroke longer. Mayht is applying the same idea to speakers here. Speakers need to be smaller in a lot of different applications — the company suggests smart home speakers like the Google Mini and Alexa’s speakers, but also in vehicle tech, where space is at a premium. The company also claims that its speaker tech reduces rattle:

The company doesn’t have many kind words for the current generations of smart speakers — while adding voice controllability, mesh Wi-Fi, great design, power management and great user experience were all meaningful innovations, the speaker tech itself is pretty underwhelming.

“It’s exactly the same story for all the manufacturers — Bang & Olufsen, Bose, Sony. Every company uses the same technology and the same drivers because they essentially come from the same factories. There are three or four major manufacturers and all those different speaker brands take their drivers from those manufacturers. It’s not strange that there is no innovation in that field,” laments Scheek. “Because the manufacturers themselves don’t really develop drivers, they are not pushed to make higher-quality tech. They may move the needle by 1 or 2% but not to change the complete architecture of the driver. Doing so would mean changing their whole manufacturing setup, which is just a huge risk for those companies.”

Taking apart a Sonos One shows you that underneath all the fancy technology is… some pretty underwhelming-looking speaker elements. (Image Credits: Haje Kamps for a Bolt teardown)

“The speaker companies are not rewarded to really, truly innovate. From a cost perspective, they have to perform for the best quality with the lowest level of cost. And so there’s no incentive for speaker manufacturers to really think out of the box to bring out something really new and innovative,” explains Max van den Berg, Mayht’s chief commercial officer. “To put this into perspective, we’ve spoken to around 45 speaker companies globally since the start of this company. None of them have seen anything like this before — this is truly disruptive innovation.”

The company raised a total of €4 million in its most recent round, led by Forward One; I caught up with the partner who spearheaded the investment, to figure out why it felt confident to put its money behind a company that from the outside seems like it is facing an uphill battle.

“I think the team makes Mayht special. The two founding brothers have been working with speakers since they were seven years old really impressed me,” said Frederik Gerner, partner at Forward One, a Netherlands-based venture capital firm that is investing in hardware startups. “Their story on how they want to disrupt the speaker industry just makes so much sense! It’s a massive and still-growing market that has been operating for decades on the same technology, and it’s ready for disruption. Hardware is a real means to create a step-change in many industries, and we see the need for high-tech hardware innovation as more achievable and more important than ever.”

Building out a factory to out-manufacture the existing speaker element manufacturers would be a fools’ errand — one that the company is cleverly side-stepping by taking a licencing approach instead, building a very lean, engineering-focused team, and raising relatively small amounts of money. Mayht currently has 20 employees, 70% or so of whom are on the engineering side. The company also made the shrewd move of stacking its advisory board with strategically powerful folks who can add a tremendous amount of leverage, and may just be the key to building this type of company going forward.

“We have some very experienced people in our advisory board who are really active in the team. There are two people who formerly worked at Philips in the licensing department. One of them actually led the licensing department and made that side of Philips a huge business. He’s really helping us with the licensing structure, but also with how you handle [patent] litigation. He’s also an incredible deal-maker,” explains Scheek.

A Mayht speaker prototype next to a (much larger) Sonos speaker. The company claims the two speakers have the same sound volume and quality. Image Credits: Mayht

The company highlights the importance of building a company that fits well with the type of startup you are building. For example, Mayht also added Piet Coelewij, who was the managing director and VP of Global Operations for Sonos for five years, to its advisory board. It also highlights the company’s chief commercial officer, Max van den Berg, who was the marketing manager for personal audio for Sony in the mid 1990s, and continued in senior executive positions within Sony for several decades after that. “Having the right people in the room really helps open doors,” Scheek mentions in what might be the understatement of the year.

The company created a brand that it’s hoping to use to co-brand with other companies; a shrewd move that solves a significant branding problem. Most people don’t know who made the speaker elements inside their speakers — and why would they care. But there are predicates in other industries; unless you’re a very special kind of nerd, most people don’t care who made the processors inside their computers — not until Intel decided to pick up the fight and create the “Intel inside” campaign when AMD started nipping at its heels. Mayht is taking a sheet from the same playbook, and trademarked the Heartmotion brand. It hopes that it can convince its licensees to co-brand their speakers. “Sonos powered by Heartmotion” — that sort of thing.

“Yeah, so our technology brand for licensing would be Heartmotion. We called it that because the speaker looks like a pumping heart,” says Scheek. “Our goal is to have that on every product, and that our partners that use our technology will use it as part of the marketing on the box of the product.”

By minimizing the size and weight of the speaker tech, the company has a couple of clever talking points at its disposal. For car and RV makers, it means that they can cram more sound into smaller spaces — such as door panels and dashboards — without compromising on sound output. Those are obvious, but I was particularly impressed by how Mayht is tapping into a number of marketing messages that work particularly well in the current climate, where (finally!) people are starting to show some interest in greener tech. Packaging smaller speakers that have big performance and low energy consumption has a number of perhaps unexpected impacts. One example is the company’s prototype speaker that is clad in Powerfoyle light-harvesting tech, which means it’s possible to create a Bluetooth speaker that just keeps on going. Energy consumption aside, smaller form factors mean less weight and less shipping volume, which has a ton of second-hand environmental benefits.

Mayht’s Heartmotion prototype speaker lineup. Image Credits: Mayht

Between Mayht’s licencing-first business model backed by a patent portfolio strategy, a great founder story, an advisory board staffed with a who’s-who of licensing and audio experts, and the willingness to move slow enough to get things right the first time around, the company is slowly positioning itself for an interesting 2022. The team hopes it is well resourced as it’s gearing up for a year of execution after many years of research and setting the stage.

“This is the year of getting our products into consumers’ hands, and I am excited to see that happen. We’ve been working on it while staying under the radar for quite some time. It’s been really strange — the industry knows that this is amazing, but the consumer hasn’t experienced it yet. For us, this is the year of the big reveal. In addition to working with our partners to get this to the consumer, we are going to do something ourselves…” Sheek trails off, itching to tell me the details, but remembering the recorder is running. “We’re going to announce it quite soon — in Q2 of this year. I can’t tell you much, but we are working on a reference product that the consumer can buy directly from us. We want consumers to experience this, so we are making a limited edition speaker for people to try.”

The company told me it isn’t really planning to make much money on its own product; this is really a mass-produced sample to help build brand awareness.

“We are building a product with the [3-inch] T3 driver ourselves because the whole industry is really starting to move once you prove yourself. We made a lot of prototypes over the past years,” explains van den Berg. The problem is that it takes a bit of time to design a new product, and the big speaker brands take their time in doing so. To really hit the ground running, the company is taking a risk and taking matters into its own hands. “We feel [third-party designed speakers] are a bit of a longer process; they need time to make decisions. Most likely, their products will be on the market by the end of 2022 or in early 2023. In the meantime, we think it’s very important that we announce this technology to the consumers. We don’t want to be a competitor of anybody out there, but we think what we are doing is cool, and we are excited to release a limited edition product; a beautiful Bluetooth speaker powered by Heartmotion.”

After Million-Mile Journey, James Webb Telescope Reaches Destination

The telescope’s safe arrival is a relief to scientists who plan to spend the next 10 or more years using it to study ancient galaxies.

An artist’s impression of the James Webb Space Telescope, which arrived at the second Lagrange point as it orbits the sun alongside Earth, a million miles away. Adriana Manrique Gutierrez/NASA

By Joey Roulette Published Jan. 24, 2022 Updated Jan. 25, 2022, 10:36 a.m. ET

After traveling nearly one million miles, the James Webb Space Telescope arrived at its new home on Monday. The spacecraft’s arrival checks off another tricky step as scientists on Earth prepare to spend at least a decade using the observatory to study distant light from the beginning of time.

The telescope launched to space on Dec. 25, with astronomers all over the world holding their breaths. But the $10 billion telescope still needed to power through the first leg of its setup phase. Earlier this month, astronomers resumed breathing when the observatory unfurled its heat shield and deployed its mirrors and other instruments with few surprises — a remarkable feat given the telescope’s novel design and engineering complexity.

And on Monday around 2:05 p.m. Eastern time, engineers confirmed that the James Webb Space Telescope successfully reached its final destination.

The telescope arrived at a location beyond the moon after a final, roughly five-minute firing of the spacecraft’s main thruster, sweeping itself into a small pocket of stability where the gravitational forces of the sun and Earth commingle. From this outpost, called the second Lagrange Point or L2, the Webb telescope will be dragged around the sun alongside Earth for years to keep a steady eye on outer space without spending much fuel to maintain its position.

“We’re one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe,” Bill Nelson, the administrator of NASA, said in a statement. “And I can’t wait to see Webb’s first new views of the universe this summer!” The James Webb Space Telescope, named after a former NASA administrator who oversaw the formative years of the Apollo program, is seven times more sensitive than the nearly 32-year-old Hubble Space Telescope and three times its size. A follow-up to Hubble, the Webb is designed to see further into the past than its celebrated predecessor in order to study the first stars and galaxies that twinkled alive in the dawn of time, 13.7 billion years ago.

Webb’s launch on Christmas morning capped a risky 25-year development timeline dotted with engineering challenges, mistakes and cost overruns that made its voyage to space all the more nerve-racking for astronomers and space agency administrators. The telescope, tightly bundled up to fit inside a European Ariane rocket, unfurled dozens of mechanical limbs and instruments. These included five layers of a thin foil-like plastic that were stretched taut to the size of a tennis court to shield Webb’s instruments from the sun’s heat. Later, the telescope unfolded a 21-foot-wide array of 18 gold-plated mirrors that will help bounce light from the cosmos into its ultrasensitive infrared sensors.

Engineering teams at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore celebrated the successful unfolding of the second primary mirror wing this month. Bill Ingalls/NASA, via Getty Images

The instrument side of the telescope, facing away from the sun, will be cloaked in frigid darkness, while the other side, or the outermost layer of the sun shield, will deflect temperatures as hot as 230 degrees Fahrenheit. This helps accomplish a key challenge in Webb’s design of keeping the telescope’s sensors cool so that stray heat doesn’t interfere with its infrared scans of ancient galaxies, distant black holes and planets orbiting other stars.

Deploying the telescope to the L2 neighborhood also helps keep the temperatures low while providing enough sunlight for the Webb’s solar panels, which generate electricity. But the telescope isn’t parked at precisely L2 — it will revolve around the point’s center once every 180 days in an orbital ring some 500,000 miles wide to expose its solar arrays to sunlight.

“If we were perfectly there, we would be blocked by the Earth, such that we wouldn’t get our electricity,” said Scott Willoughby, the telescope’s program manager at Northrop Grumman, the primary contractor for the observatory. “So we do this halo orbit.”

Stationing the spacecraft at this distance from Earth will also help conserve its limited fuel supplies.

“If you try to stay closer, you’ve got to expend fuel to stay there,” Mr. Willoughby said. But less fuel is needed to station the Webb at L2, he said, “meaning the mission life for this vehicle will be the longest.” This month, one mission official suggested that the spacecraft could remain operational for up to 20 years.

“The last 30 days, we call that 30 days on the edge, and we’re just so proud to be through that,” said Keith Parrish, NASA’s commissioning manager for the telescope, in a news conference on Monday. “But on the other hand, we were just setting the table.”

With the telescope’s instruments deployed and its arrival at L2 complete, months of smaller steps lie ahead before those of us on Earth can begin to see the spacecraft’s vivid views of the cosmos. For the next three months, engineers will watch as algorithms help fine-tune the position of the Webb’s mirror segments, correcting any misalignments — as accurately as one-10,000th of a hair — to allow the 18 hexagonal pieces in its array to function as a single mirror.

Engineers must then calibrate the Webb’s scientific instruments, test its ability to lock onto known objects and track moving targets before astronomers can use the telescope for science operations beginning this summer. Amber Straughn, a deputy project scientist for the telescope, said during a NASA online broadcast on Monday that the first year of observations using the Webb have already been scheduled.

“The best is yet to come,” Mr. Parrish said.

Correction: Jan. 25, 2022

An earlier version of this article misstated the amount the Webb telescope’s mirrors will be fine-tuned. Engineers will aim for alignments as accurate as one-10,000th of a hair, not a hair follicle.

A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 25, 2022, Section A, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline: After Million-Mile Journey, Webb Telescope Reaches Destination Beyond the Moon.

FCC Appoints Industry Experts to its Technological Advisory Council

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel appointed a diverse group of experts as members of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC). The TAC will hold its first meeting on Monday, February 28, beginning at 10 a.m. EDT via video conference.

Former Qualcomm executive Dean Brenner will serve as Council Chairman.

Telecom-related company representatives include:

• Brian Daly, Assistant Vice President, AT&T Services
• Manish Jindal, Group Vice President – Wireless Research & Development, Charter Communications
• Mark Hess, Senior Vice President for Business and Industry Affairs, Comcast Corporation
• Lisa Guess, Senior Vice President of Global Sales Engineering, CradlePoint, representing Ericsson North America
• Amit Mukhopadhyah, Senior Spectrum Standardization Officer, Nokia
• Charlie Zhang, Vice President, Samsung Research America
• Karri Kuoppamaki, Senior Vice President, Technology Development and Strategy, T-Mobile
• Patrick Welsh, Vice President of Federal Regulatory Affairs, Verizon.

Industry association representatives include:

• Madeleine Noland, President, Advanced Television Systems Committee
• Michael Nawrocki, Vice President of Technology and Solutions, Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solution
• Lynn Claudy, Senior Vice President of Technology, NAB
• Thomas Sawanobori, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, CTIA
• William Check, Chief Technology Officer, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association
• Lynn Merrill, President and Chief Executive Officer, Monte R. Lee and Company, representing NTCA
• Riken Thakker, Chief Technology Officer, Wireless Infrastructure Association
• Andrew Clegg, Chief Technology Officer, Wireless Innovation Forum.

“The United States must lead the world in advancing ambitious 6G research and development,” said Rosenworcel. “We know that maintaining our leadership in high-priority emerging technology requires careful planning and execution. There are signals that need our attention, from the need for more spectrum to the vulnerabilities of supply chains to the changing dynamics of global standards development. We are starting that work here and now by re-establishing the TAC and charging it to conceptualize 6G—to help set the stage for our leadership.”

Read a complete list of TAC members here.

FCC Votes to Modernize Equipment Authorization Rules

To keep pace with rapidly evolving technology developments, FCC Commissioners voted yesterday to consider updates to rules in order to incorporate newly adopted standards for wireless equipment testing and accreditation of laboratories that test wireless devices. “Today’s RF devices are evolving more rapidly than ever before, and we anticipate that this evolution will continue and even accelerate,” says the FCC in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

Specifically, the item concerns updating references to standards related to the commission’s equipment authorization program and modifying the equipment authorization rules to reflect the updated versions of the currently referenced ANSI C63.4 and ISO/IEC 17025 standards. Comments are due to ET dockets 21-363 and 19-48 30 days after Federal Register publication.

Page 5 of the NPRM includes a chart summarizing the proposed changes and the reasoning behind them. The early vote means the item was removed from the Commission’s January meeting agenda for today.

Tower Fatality in Ontario, Canada

A tower fatality was reported on Wednesday in the Township of Minden Hills in Ontario. Haliburton Highlands officials are assisting with a death investigation at the worksite, according to Muskoka 411.

Local authorities were contacted at 11:30 a.m., on January 26, regarding a worker who had fallen from a cell tower on Davis Lake Road in Minden Hills. Haliburton County Paramedic Services rushed to the site but pronounced the worker dead at the scene of the accident.

The deceased has been identified as 30-year-old Jacob Lundrigan of Tilbury. The incident is now under investigation by federal and provincial Ministry of Labour, the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario, OPP Forensic Identification Unit and the Haliburton Highlands OPP Crime Unit

Selected portions [sometimes more — sometimes less — sometimes the whole updates] 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's partners. The firm's contact information is included at the end of this section of the newsletter.

FCC Urges Carriers to Review Cybersecurity Practices

On January 21, the FCC issued a Public Notice encouraging communications companies to review the Joint Cybersecurity Advisory “Understanding and Mitigating Russian State-Sponsored Cyber Threats to U.S. Critical Infrastructure”, authored by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and National Security Agency (NSA). A copy of the document can be found here.

The Commission urges all communications companies to take the recommended actions to protect their networks from cyber threats, to detect and notify CISA of cyber threats impacting communications services and infrastructure, and to share threat information with CISA and other industry stakeholders, as appropriate. Concerns have emerged that Russia may seek to engage in cyber attacks in connection with U.S. objections to Russia’s Ukraine actions.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

Headlines

Comment Sought on RF Standards

On January 25, the FCC released the text of its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing “targeted” updates to its rules on radio frequency device rules to incorporate four new and updated standards that are related to the testing of equipment and accreditation of laboratories that test RF devices. Comment deadlines have not yet been established.

Specifically, the FCC’s proposals are limited to the incorporation by reference of standards that are associated with equipment authorization and the recognition of Telecommunication Certification Bodies (TCBs). The four standards subject to these proposals are as follows:

The FCC also seeks comment on whether there are additional conforming or administrative updates to its rules that should be considered, and what other rule modifications, including updating other standards currently referenced in the rules or incorporating by reference additional standards not currently referenced in the rules, would be necessary to give full effect to these proposals. This rulemaking is part of the FCC’s ongoing effort to update its RF rules, which effort already eliminated many of the categorical exemptions that benefited wireless carriers and private radio users, and replaced them with more complex testing, measurement and/or calculation requirements to ensure that a proposed wireless facility will not cause harmful radiation, either alone or in combination with other operations at the antenna site. The proposed rules will focus more on the equipment compliance.

BloostonLaw Contacts: John Prendergast and Cary Mitchell.

FCC to Consider MTE Broadband Rules

On January 21, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced that she has shared a draft Report and Order and Declaratory Ruling aimed at “promot[ing] competition and increas[ing] choice for broadband services for people living and working in multiple tenant environments (MTEs).” Specifically, the Order and Declaratory Ruling would, if adopted:

• Prohibit providers from entering into graduated revenue sharing agreements or exclusive revenue sharing agreements with a building owner;
• Require providers to disclose to tenants in plain language the existence of exclusive marketing arrangements that they have with building owners;
• End a practice that circumvents the FCC’s cable inside wiring rules by clarifying that existing Commission rules prohibit sale-and-leaseback arrangements that effectively block access to alternative providers.

“With more than one-third of the U.S. population living in apartments, mobile home parks, condominiums, and public housing, it’s time to crack down on practices that lock out broadband competition and consumer choice,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Consumers deserve access to a choice of providers in their buildings. I look forward to having my colleagues join me in lifting the obstacles to competitive choice for broadband for the millions of tenants across the nation.”

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

FCC Releases Affordable Connectivity Order

On January 21, the FCC released the text of the Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which formally adopted the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the successor to the Emergency Broadband Program (EBB). As we reported in a previous edition of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, the document was adopted on January 14, and modifies certain existing EBB rules and procedures to accommodate the changes mandated by the Infrastructure Act, as follows:

• Discount. Participating providers are required to make available to eligible households a monthly discount off the amount charged for an Internet service offering up to $30.00 a month (down from $50 under the EBB). For households residing on Tribal lands, the monthly discount may be up to $75.00 a month. These amounts may be used to cover taxes and other government fees as well as the service itself.
• Provider Eligibility. Participating providers will only need to establish the offered broadband services to end-users prior to seeking to participate in the Affordable Connectivity Program. Participating providers will be able to establish through certification that they provided broadband Internet access service and reimbursable Internet service offerings by timely filing the FCC Form 477 and any successor filing. Participating providers that do not file FCC Form 477 must certify, under penalty of perjury, that they provided retail broadband Internet access service to end-users prior to submitting the application.
• • Household Eligibility. Only one ACP monthly broadband benefit and one connected device per household. Participating service providers are required to check their internal records for potential household and individual duplicates. ACP benefits are now also available to households that receive assistance through the WIC Program, established by section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1996, but are no longer available to those that meet the “substantial loss of income” criteria. The maximum income for qualifying based on household income for purposes of the ACP is raised from “135 percent” to “200 percent” of the Federal Poverty Guidelines for a household of that size.
• Usage Requirements. The FCC adopted the Lifeline subscriber usage and non-usage de-enrollment rules for the ACP, which dictate that where a provider does not assess or collect a monthly fee from the subscriber for the supported service, the subscriber must use their service at least once every 30 days, and after 30 consecutive days of non-usage, the provider is required to notify the consumer that they will be de-enrolled if they do not cure their non-usage in 15 days.
• Recertification. The FCC also adopted the Lifeline annual recertification rules for the ACP, with certain modifications to comport with the statutory requirements and rules governing the ACP. As such, ACP subscribers will be given 60 days to respond to a recertification effort, and subscribers who do not respond or fail ACP recertification shall be de-enrolled.

The Report and Order also adopted a number of consumer protection rules that were not part of the EBB:

• Providers may not require applicants to submit to a credit check in order to apply the affordable connectivity benefit, although this provision only applies to services, equipment, and devices covered under the Affordable Connectivity Program.
• Providers may not terminate service before 90 consecutive days of non-payment, the clock for which commences on the due date of the bill.
• Providers must re-enroll households that have been removed from the program for delinquent accounts, but may limit service offerings available to plans that would be fully subsidized by the affordable connectivity benefit and any other applicable benefit, such as Lifeline.
• Providers may not engage in inappropriate upselling or downselling. Inappropriate upselling is any business practice that pressures a prospective or existing subscriber to purchase a service plan or bundled plan in addition to or that is more expensive than what the subscriber initially sought. Inappropriate downselling is any business practice that pressures a subscriber to lower the quality of broadband service (such as reducing bandwidth or speed, or adding or lowering data caps that would not meet the participating household’s needs) to the benefit of the provider rather than the consumer.
• Providers may not engage in any practice that is reasonably likely to cause a household to believe that they are prohibited or restricted from transferring their benefit to a different provider.

These are some of the main differences between the EBB and the ACP. Communications providers with questions about the ACP, including about the transition from the EBB to the ACP, may contact the firm for more information.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

Law and Regulation

700 MHz Guard Band Licensee and Band Manager Annual Reports Due March 1

On January 25, the FCC issued a Public Notice reminding 700 MHz Guard Band Licensees and 220 MHz Band Managers (“Licensees”) of their obligation to file timely annual reports on or before March 1. Licensees must file the required annual report information for each license held through the Commission’s Universal Licensing System (ULS) at https://www.fcc.gov/universal-licensing-system.

In the annual reports, Licensees must provide information about the manner in which the spectrum in each of their markets is being utilized. The information provided should accurately convey the current level of service being offered in each licensed area, including information regarding coverage provided by Licensees’ operations and any spectrum lease agreements. Failure to file an annual report as required may result in enforcement action

BloostonLaw Contact: Cary Mitchell.

Comment Sought on Safeguards for Network Outage/DIRS Data Sharing

On January 19, the FCC issued a Public Notice seeking comment on the cost, manner, and technological feasibility of potential additional safeguards to protect Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) and Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) information that will be shared with agencies granted access pursuant to the Second Report and Order of March 17, 2021. Comment deadlines have not yet been established.

Specifically, the FCC seeks comment on the effectiveness of a Commission process for adding headers and footers to any PDF reports it receives in a NORS account, specifying that the data is “Confidential.” Comment is also sought on the feasibility of including a watermark on documents printed from the NORS/DIRS database by Participating Agencies, and whether the security benefits of requiring documents to be imprinted with a watermark outweigh the loss of data flexibility that results from requiring all exported filed to be converted to locked PDF documents.

As we reported in a previous edition of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, in the Second Report and Order, the Commission set forth a framework to: (1) provide state, federal, local, and Tribal partners (“Participating Agencies”) with access to the critical NORS and DIRS information needed to ensure public safety; (2) safeguard this information while providing access to participating agencies; and (3) preserve the presumptive confidentiality of the information and acknowledge the sensitive nature of the information. Specifically, the Commission adopted the following safeguards: (1) providing read-only access to the NORS and DIRS filings; (2) limiting the number of users with access to NORS and DIRS filings at participating agencies; (3) requiring special training for participating agencies regarding their privileges and obligations under the program; and (4) potentially terminating access to agencies that misuse or improperly disclose NORS and DIRS data.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

Comment Sought on Neutrality of Local Number Portability Administrator

On January 21, the FCC issued a Public Notice seeking comment on a request from iconectiv, LLC (iconectiv) to confirm that, post-close of a pending transaction in which subsidiaries of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Ericsson) will acquire Vonage Holdings Corp. (Vonage), iconectiv will continue to meet the Local Number Portability Administrator (LNPA) neutrality requirements. Comments are due February 7, and reply comments are due February 22.

Vonage operates as, among other things, an interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider (Vonage Consumer) in the United States. iconectiv is a subsidiary of Ericsson. Notwithstanding the planned acquisition, iconectiv argues that existing safeguards (current corporate governance structure, voting trust, and code of conduct) as well as certain other considerations, ensure that iconectiv will not be subject to undue influence by a party with a vested interest in number portability administration.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Sal Taillefer.

Industry

FCC Announces Final Group of Telehealth Program Awards

On January 26, the FCC issued a Press Release announcing the approval of an additional 100 applications for funding commitments totaling $47.89 million for its COVID-19 Telehealth Program. This is the FCC’s sixth and final funding announcement of approved Round 2 applications. As we reported in a previous edition of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, this was the second round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, the first of which was established as part of the CARES Act. Over the course of two funding rounds, this program has approved 986 awards to providers in each state, territory, and the District of Columbia.

“The pandemic has forced us to think differently about how to deliver health care services and the FCC has risen to the challenge through a number of telehealth programs, including our COVID-19 Telehealth Program,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “From offering remote behavioral health services in Decatur, Illinois to supporting the under-insured and those living below the poverty line in Dade City, Florida, the health care providers announced today offer just a snapshot of the breadth of connected health care services this program has helped support in the past year. I want to commend the work of our team in the Wireline Competition Bureau for their dedication to this program that has made such an impact on our nation’s doctors, nurses, and their patients.”

Deadlines

JANUARY 31: Form 855 HAC Compliance Certification. The next Hearing Aid Compatibility regulatory compliance certification, certifying compliance with the FCC’s HAC handset minimums as well as enhanced record retention and website posting requirements for the 2021 calendar year, will be due Monday, January 18, 2022, for all CMRS service providers (including CMRS resellers) that had operations during any portion of 2021. Companies that sold their wireless licenses during the 2021 calendar year will need to file a partial-year HAC compliance certifications if they provided mobile wireless service at any time during the year. Under current FCC rules, at least 66% of a Tier III provider’s handset must meet ratings of M3- or better and T3- or better. The benchmark applicable to Tier III providers will increase from 66% to 85% on April 3, 2023.

BloostonLaw has prepared a 2022 HAC Regulatory Compliance Template to facilitate our clients’ compliance with the revised HAC rules. Contact Cary Mitchell if you would like to obtain a copy of the HAC Regulatory Compliance Template.

BloostonLaw Contact: Cary Mitchell.

JANUARY 31: FCC FORM 555, ANNUAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER CERTIFICATION FORM. All Lifeline Program service providers are required to file the FCC Form 555, except where the National Verifier, state Lifeline administrator, or other entity is responsible. Since January 31 falls on a weekend or holiday this year, Form 555 may be filed by February 1. The FCC Form 555 must be submitted to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) electronically via USAC’s E-File (One Portal). Carriers must also file a copy of their FCC Form 555 in the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System, Docket 14-171, and with their state regulatory commission. The form reports the results of the annual recertification process and non-usage de-enrollments. Recertification results are reported month-by-month based on the subscribers’ anniversary date.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens and John Prendergast.

FEBRUARY 1: FCC FORM 499-Q, TELECOMMUNICATIONS REPORTING WORKSHEET. All telecommunications common carriers that expect to contribute more than $10,000 to federal Universal Service Fund (USF) support mechanisms must file this quarterly form. The FCC has modified this form in light of its decision to establish interim measures for USF contribution assessments. The form contains revenue information from the prior quarter plus projections for the next quarter. Form 499-Q relates only to USF contributions. It does not relate to the cost recovery mechanisms for the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund, the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA), and the shared costs of local number portability (LNP), which are covered in the annual Form 499-A that is due April 1.

FEBRUARY 1: FCC FORM 502, NUMBER UTILIZATION AND FORECAST REPORT. Any wireless or wireline carrier (including paging companies) that have received number blocks—including 100, 1,000, or 10,000 number blocks—from the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), a Pooling Administrator, or from another carrier, must file Form 502 by February 1. Carriers porting numbers for the purpose of transferring an established customer’s service to another service provider must also report, but the carrier receiving numbers through porting does not. Resold services should also be treated like ported numbers, meaning the carrier transferring the resold service to another carrier is required to report those numbers but the carrier receiving such numbers should not report them.

Reporting carriers are required to include their FCC Registration Number (FRN). Reporting carriers file utilization and forecast reports semiannually on or before February 1 for the preceding six-month reporting period ending December 31, and on or before August 1 for the preceding six-month reporting period ending June 30.

BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

FEBRUARY 1: Live 911 Call Data Reports – Non-Nationwide Providers that do not provide coverage in any of the Test Cities must collect and report aggregate data based on the largest county within its footprint to APCO, NENA, and NASNA on the location technologies used for live 911 calls in those areas. Clients should obtain spreadsheets with their company’s compliance data from their E911 service provider (e.g., Intrado / West).

BloostonLaw Contact: Cary Mitchell.

MARCH 1: COPYRIGHT STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT FORM FOR CABLE COMPANIES. This form, plus royalty payment for the second half of last year, is due March 1. The form covers the period July 1 to December 31, and is due to be mailed directly to cable TV operators by the Library of Congress’ Copyright Office.

BloostonLaw Contact: Gerry Duffy.

MARCH 1: CPNI ANNUAL CERTIFICATION. Carriers should modify (as necessary) and complete their “Annual Certification of CPNI Compliance” for this year. The certification must be filed with the FCC by March 1. Note that the annual certification should include the following three required Exhibits: (a) a detailed Statement Explaining How The Company’s Operating Procedures Ensure Compliance With The FCC’S CPNI Rules to reflect the Company’s policies and information; (b) a Statement of Actions Taken Against Data Brokers; and (c) a Summary of Customer Complaints Regarding Unauthorized Release of CPNI. A company officer with personal knowledge that the company has established operating procedures adequate to ensure compliance with the rules must execute the Certification, place a copy of the Certification and accompanying Exhibits in the Company’s CPNI Compliance Records, and file the certification with the FCC in the correct fashion. Our clients can forward the original to BloostonLaw in time for the firm to make the filing with the FCC by March 1, if desired. BloostonLaw is prepared to help our clients meet this requirement, which we expect will be strictly enforced, by assisting with preparation of their certification filing; reviewing the filing to make sure that the required showings are made; filing the certification with the FCC, and obtaining a proof-of-filing copy for your records. Clients interested in obtaining BloostonLaw's CPNI compliance manual should contact the firm for more information. Note: If you file the CPNI certification, you must also file the FCC Form 499-A Telecom Reporting Worksheet by April 1.

BloostonLaw contacts: Gerry Duffy and Sal Taillefer.

MARCH 1: FCC FORM 477, LOCAL COMPETITION & BROADBAND REPORTING FORM. This annual form is due March 1 and September 1 annually. The FCC requires facilities-based wired, terrestrial fixed wireless, and satellite broadband service providers to report on FCC Form 477 the number of broadband subscribers they have in each census tract they serve. The Census Bureau changed the boundaries of some census tracts as part of the 2010 Census.

Specifically, three types of entities must file this form:

1. Facilities-based Providers of Broadband Connections to End User Locations: Entities that are facilities-based providers of broadband connections – which are wired “lines” or wireless “channels” that enable the end user to receive information from and/or send information to the Internet at information transfer rates exceeding 200 kbps in at least one direction – must complete and file the applicable portions of this form for each state in which the entity provides one or more such connections to end user locations. For the purposes of Form 477, an entity is a “facilities-based” provider of broadband connections to end user locations if it owns the portion of the physical facility that terminates at the end user location, if it obtains unbundled network elements (UNEs), special access lines, or other leased facilities that terminate at the end user location and provisions/equips them as broadband, or if it provisions/equips a broadband wireless channel to the end user location over licensed or unlicensed spectrum. Such entities include incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers (LECs), cable system operators, fixed wireless service providers (including “wireless ISPs”), terrestrial and satellite mobile wireless service providers, BRS providers, electric utilities, municipalities, and other entities. (Such entities do not include equipment suppliers unless the equipment supplier uses the equipment to provision a broadband connection that it offers to the public for sale. Such entities also do not include providers of fixed wireless services (e.g., “Wi-Fi” and other wireless ethernet, or wireless local area network, applications) that only enable local distribution and sharing of a premises broadband facility.)
2. Providers of Wired or Fixed Wireless Local Telephone Services: Incumbent and competitive LECs must complete and file the applicable portions of the form for each state in which they provide local exchange service to one or more end user customers (which may include “dial-up” ISPs).
3. Providers of Mobile Telephony Services: Facilities-based providers of mobile telephony services must complete and file the applicable portions of this form for each state in which they serve one or more mobile telephony subscribers. A mobile telephony service is a real-time, two-way switched voice service that is interconnected with the public switched network using an in-network switching facility that enables the provider to reuse frequencies and accomplish seamless handoff of subscriber calls. A mobile telephony service provider is considered “facilities-based” if it serves a subscriber using spectrum for which the entity holds a license that it manages, or for which it has obtained the right to use via lease or other arrangement with a Band Manager.

BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

MARCH 1: HUBB LOCATION DATA FILING AND CERTIFICATION. Carriers participating in modernized Connect America Fund (CAF) programs with defined broadband buildout obligations have until March 1 of each year to file deployment data with USAC's High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal showing where they built out mass-market, high-speed Internet service in the previous calendar year. Carriers that have no locations to upload must certify this fact in the HUBB. Affected programs include: CAF Phase II Model; Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Original A-CAM) and Revised ACAM; ACAM II; Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS); Rural Broadband Experiments (RBE); Alaska Plan (other than carriers with individualized performance plans that only require them to maintain service at existing levels); CAF Phase II Auction; and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).

Carriers with 2021 deployment milestones must also complete milestone certifications as part of the annual HUBB filing and will face verification reviews tied to those milestones. Carriers subject to defined deployment milestones must notify the FCC and USAC, and relevant state, U.S. Territory or Tribal governments if applicable, within 10 business days after the applicable deadline if they have failed to meet a milestone. Carriers that miss milestones face increased reporting obligations and potential loss of support.

BloostonLaw attorneys have successfully assisted clients in uploading and certifying their HUBB location data, as well as obtain petitions for waiver of the FCC’s rules where necessary.

BloostonLaw Contact: Sal Taillefer.

Law Offices Of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP 2120 L St. NW, Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20037 (202) 659-0830 (202) 828-5568 (fax) — CONTACTS — Benjamin H. Dickens, Jr., 202-828-5510, bhd@bloostonlaw.com Gerard J. Duffy, 202-828-5528, gjd@bloostonlaw.com John A. Prendergast, 202-828-5540, jap@bloostonlaw.com Richard D. Rubino, 202-828-5519, rdr@bloostonlaw.com Mary J. Sisak, 202-828-5554, mjs@bloostonlaw.com D. Cary Mitchell, 202-828-5538, cary@bloostonlaw.com Salvatore Taillefer, Jr., 202-828-5562, sta@bloostonlaw.com This newsletter is not intended to provide legal advice. Those interested in more information should contact the firm.

Calendar At-a-Glance

January
Jan 31 – Comments on SIP Code Usage for Call Blocking are due.
Jan. 31 – Annual Hearing Aid Compatibility Report is due.
Jan. 31 – FCC Form 555 (Annual Lifeline ETC Certification Form) is due.

February
Feb. 1 – FCC Form 499-Q (Quarterly Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet) is due.
Feb. 1 – FCC Form 502 (Number Utilization and Forecast Report) is due.
Feb. 1 – Live 911 Call Data Reports from Non-Nationwide Providers are due.
Feb. 14 – Reply comments on SIP Code Usage for Call Blocking are due.
Feb. 17 – Reply comments are due on Report on the Future of USF.

March
Mar. 1 – Copyright Statement of Account Form for cable companies is due.
Mar. 1 – Annual CPNI Certification is due.
Mar. 1 – FCC Form 477 (Local Competition & Broadband Reporting) is due.
Mar. 1 – Annual HUBB Deployment Report is due.
Mar. 1 – Annual 700 MHz Licensee Report is due.
Mar. 17 – Comments are due on Report on the Future of USF.
Mar. 31 – FCC Form 525 (Delayed Phasedown CETC Line Counts) is due.
Mar. 31 – FCC Form 508 (ICLS Projected Annual Common Line Requirement) is due.
Mar. 31 – FCC Form 507 (Universal Service Line Count – CAF BLS) is due.
Mar. 31 – COVID Lifeline waivers set to expire.

“Playing For Change”

“Playing For Change” is an original song written by our dear friend, GRAMMY award-winning singer/songwriter, Sara Bareilles and features Chris Pierce, the PFC Band and musicians from six countries. This Song Around The World, featured at Peace Through Music 2021, embodies the Playing For Change movement to inspire and connect the world through music. Together we can overcome distances and differences. We hope that you are inspired to “keep playing for love; playing for peace; playing for change.”

MENSA MEMBER

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Brad Dye
P.O. Box 266
Fairfield, IL 62837 USA

Life is good!

I am a person in
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• ex KN9IQY, KN4BK, KM5NK, WB4JCF, ZP5TQ, WA4VXU, WA9RVL, /TI2, /9Y4, /6Y5, /KP4, HH2FJ
• Licensed FCC Amateur Radio operator since 1957
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