Telecom Business Alert –Telecom Predictions for 2015 , Vol XII Issue 1
“Net Neutrality will get the press, but spectrum will be the hot topic in 2015. Critical infrastructure companies will continue to cobble-together frequencies as best they can.”
“Despite Congressional opposition, the Net Neutrality debate will be resolved by the FCC, divergent industry interests, and the courts.” – Doug Jarrett, Partner
“Electric utilities, ILECs, and communications attachers will continue to fight it out at the FCC, as the Commission interprets and implements its controversial Pole Attachment Order.”– Tom Magee, Partner
“Expect the FCC to transition the 3.65 GHz band to unlicensed use as part of the new Citizens Broadband Radio Service, even though the 3.65 GHz band was only recently allocated and the hybrid licensing approach has been popular with critical infrastructure companies.”– Greg Kunkle, Partner
“As evidenced by recent events, data security should be on the forefront of issues for companies to look at in 2015. The Federal Trade Commission made it clear that it was taking privacy concerns seriously by filing several lawsuits last year and will likely continue to do so.” – Tracy Marshall, Partner
“FirstNet’s outreach and planning efforts will continue to gain momentum in 2015. The second half of the year will begin to show real-world results as FirstNet learns valuable lessons from its consultations with states. Critical infrastructure entities that are active in this process will benefit.”– Al Catalano, Counsel
“911 issues have been on the front burner at the FCC for the past year and likely will stay there in 2015. Of particular note, a portion of the $44 billion the Commission raised as part of its AWS-3 auction will be made available to States to upgrade PSAP capabilities to NG-911 infrastructure.” – Wes Wright, Associate
“The FCC has tried to adopt net neutrality rules twice and those rules have been struck down by the courts both times. The latest rules are expected in February. Will the third time be the charm? Expect a fight from service providers and stay tuned to see how the new rules will impact the critical infrastructure industry.”
“The FCC’s proposed changes to Part 22 Paging and Radiotelephone Service rules should add flexibility to the VHF and UHF bands that CII licensees already rely on. The FCC won’t provide additional spectrum to meet the industry’s growing need, but relaxing the Part 22 rules to benefit CII entities is a modest victory for the industry. – Tim Doughty, FCC/FAA Licensing Specialist
“FCC application processing time will continue to increase now that wideband emissions must be removed from licenses at renewal. Since renewal/modification applications require manual review at the Commission and many standard renewal applications are Offlined for Alert List Review now, applications will remain at the FCC longer as the year progresses.”
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