Telecom Business Alert -- Cybersecurity Legislation, 3.65 GHz Band, Licensing Above 470 MHz, and Undesignated UHF Channels -- Vol. XI Issue 26
Greg Kunkle Appointed President of LMCC
Last week, the Land Mobile Communications Council reported its appointment of Greg Kunkle, Keller and Heckman Partner, as LMCC President. The LMCC is a nonprofit association of organizations that represent the wireless communications interests of public safety, critical infrastructure, business/industrial, transportation, private and common carriers, and manufacturers of wireless communications equipment.
New Cybersecurity Legislation
Last week Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced the National Cybesecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) Act of 2014. The legislation is aimed at modernizing and addressing challenges to cybersecurity capabilities. The NCCIC currently serves as a situational awareness, incident response, and management center for the Federal government, intelligence community, and law enforcement. The bill calls on the NCCIC to serve as a federal and civilian information sharing interface for cybersecurity. If enacted, the bill will authorize the center to share information and analysis with the private sector concerning cybersecurity threats. For more information, please contact Doug Jarrett (Jarrett@khlaw.com; 202-434-4180).
Licensing Authority Above 470 MHz
Last week, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications and Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureaus issued a Public Notice requesting comment on the Land Mobile Communications Council’s (LMCC) request to extend conditional licensing authority to the 470-512, 806-824/851-866, and 896-901/935-940 MHz bands. LMCC argues that distinguishing between below and above 470 MHz frequency assignments for conditional authority is no longer necessary. LMCC also referred to the recent Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA) temporary waiver request of Section 90.159 in 2013 as further support for its petition. Comments are due July 23 and reply comments are due August 7. For more information, please contact Wes Wright (Wright@khlaw.com; 202-434-4239).
FWCC Petition for 3.65 GHz Band
As discussed in a prior Keller and Heckman Alert, the FCC released a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) earlier this year proposing to create a “Citizens Broadband Radio Service,” based on a three-tiered sharing model to allow operations for consumer use, small cell deployment, fixed mobile broadband services, and other uses in the 3550-3650 MHz band. In light of the FNPRM, the FCC dismissed without prejudice a petition filed by Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) in April of 2010, which requested that the Commission amend Part 90 to establish interference resolution criteria for 3650 MHz band licensees. For more information, please contact Wes Wright (Wright@khlaw.com; 202-434-4239).
Use of Undesignated UHF Channels
On June 17, the FCC granted a rule waiver request filed by Mobile Relay Associates (MRA) to permit MRA to operate on three UHF channels currently allocated for land mobile operations but not designated for use on a primary basis by persons eligible in the Industrial/Business Pool or any other Commission service. The channels are located at the band edges between Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS) and Industrial/Business Part 90 UHF assignments. To minimize the likelihood of adjacent channel interference, MRA and several other applicants have applied for use on these undesignated channels with FB8/MO8 station classes citing heavy congestion in the Private Land Mobile Radio (PLMR) band as justification for the rule waiver. For more information, please contact Greg Kunkle (Kunkle@khlaw.com; 202-434-4178).
LA-RICS Waiver Request
The Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) submitted an ex parte filing last week requesting the FCC to act immediately on a waiver request it filed over 18 months ago to allow it to operate on portions of its new system using 700 MHz narrowband reserve channels. LA-RICS said can no longer wait for a decision in the FCC’s 700 MHz narrowband rulemaking and without an immediate ruling from the Commission, will be forced to proceed with a system design that only includes currently allotted channels. For more information, please contact Al Catalano (Catalano@khlaw.com; 202-434-4207).
Next KH Webinar On Signal Boosters
On July 29 from Noon– 12:45 p.m. (EST), Keller and Heckman partners Doug Jarrett and Greg Kunkle will present a webinar titled, FCC Signal Booster Rules and Challenges. This webinar will review the major decisions, implementation challenges, and outstanding issues in the FCC's signal booster rules adopted in 2013, as well as the business and legal realities facing enterprises and property owners seeking property-wide wireless reception. Please click here for registration information or contact Justine Bedard for more information (bedard@khlaw.com; 202-434-4130).
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Keller and Heckman LLP's Telecom Business Alert is a complimentary weekly electronic update created by the Telecommunications and the Business Counseling and Transactional practice groups of Keller and Heckman LLP. All articles, videos, and quotations are on topics of general interest and do not constitute legal advice for particularized facts. Keller and Heckman LLP's Telecom Business Alert © 2013. All rights reserved. Articles may be copied with attribution. To sign up for our weekly alert, please send us an email at telecomalert@khlaw.com and provide us with your name and email. Please follow us on twitter at @KHtelecom.