/>iFirstNet Releases Final Interpretations
Last week, FirstNet released two public notices (available here and here) that include more than 60 key legal interpretations and definitions. One definition finalized by FirstNet last week is the term “rural.” The definition adopted by the agency mirrors the definition under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, which defines the term “rural” as any area that is not a city, town, or incorporated area with a population of greater than 20,000 inhabitants, or any urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to a city or town with a population of more than 50,000 inhabitants. FirstNet also confirmed it will require fee revenues from states assuming responsibility for building their own radio access networks (RANs) to be reinvested into the nationwide system.
FCC High Band Spectrum Proposal
The FCC will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to create new service rules to promote additional use of certain bands above 24 GHz at its Open Meeting on October 22. The NPRM stems from a Notice of Inquiry issued by the Commission last year that sought input on how the Commission could revise its rules to enable mobile deployment in high-band spectrum. The NOI posed a series of questions relating to how the Commission should treat incumbents in the various bands that would be affected and whether the bands are suitable for mobile operations, including in the 70/80/90 GHz band used by critical infrastructure entities and others for point-to-point operations.
APCO 4.9 GHz Proposal
Last month, APCO International submitted a report to the FCC urging frequency coordination procedures be adopted for the 4.9 GHz band. The band currently is available to public safety entities under certain circumstances. APCO argued that adopting frequency coordination procedures would increase the extent to which it can be used by public safety entities. The report indicated that the public safety community is reluctant to invest in the 4.9 GHz band because the Commission’s current jurisdictional licensing model is “too similar to an unlicensed structure.” The Commission is expected to issue a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking later this year proposing to allow electric utilities, oil and gas companies and other critical infrastructure companies to share the 4.9 GHz band on a co-primary basis with public safety.
NTIA Broadband Workshop
Earlier this month, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced a Community Broadband Workshop in Mountain View, California on November 17 to help communities expand their broadband capacity and increase broadband utilization. At the Workshop, NTIA will provide best practices and lessons learned from network infrastructure build-outs and digital inclusion programs from California and surrounding states, including projects funded by the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and State Broadband Initiative (SBI) grant programs.
FCC Enforcement
Earlier this month, Kajeet Inc. entered into a Consent Decree with the FCC, agreeing to pay a civil penalty of $450,000 and adopt a compliance plan for failing to contribute to the Universal Service Fund (“USF”), Telecommunications Relay Service (“TRS”) fund, and Local Number Portability (“LNP”) cost recovery mechanism. Kajeet provides prepaid wireless services.
