The Federal Communications Commission has extended by 45 days the deadline by which carriers must report their telephone number utilization. A coalition of telecommunications trade associations had urged the FCC to extend the Aug. 1 deadline by 90 days.
The FCC told the chairman of the House telecommunications subcommittee that it intends to issue a notice of proposed rule making in October to ensure that automatic meter-reading services, such as those provided by Itron Inc., have sufficient spectrum. The July 28 letter to Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) was necessitated when top FCC staffers were unable to answer questions at a July 19 hearing as to why the FCC “had ignored” a letter from Itron and the American Hospital Association that indicated it was possible for both medical telemetry and AMR devices to share spectrum in the 14 MHz band.
The United States has begun the consulting process at the World Trade Organization regarding Mexico’s telecommunications policies. U.S. long-distance giants AT&T Corp. and WorldCom Inc. urged the action after they said the dominant carrier in Mexico engaged in unfair trade practices. The Mexican Embassy denied the allegations.
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement on coordination and use of frequencies by the licensees of wireless communications services and digital audio radio, complementing a similar agreement with Canada. The agreement gives Mexican DARs operators access to six megahertz from WCS at 2317-2320 MHz and 2350-2353 MHz and another eight megahertz from the middle of the DARs band. Recently, some WCS interests asked for compensation for parts of spectrum that won’t be guaranteed against interference. BellSouth Corp. said it was disappointed with the agreement.
The FCC granted a satellite license to Intelsat L.L.C., contingent on the 143-member intergovernmental satellite organization becoming a private entity. The target date for such action is April 1. FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth partially dissented from the decision.
