The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.
US Senate
The U.S Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet will hold a hearing on June 5, 2014, entitled “Preserving Public Safety and Network Reliability in the IP Transition.” The Subcommittee will examine the public safety implications of the ongoing evolution of the nation’s communications networks and how best to preserve consumer access to those networks and vital life-saving information during and after emergency situations. Witnesses include:
- Colette D. Honorable, Chairman of the Board and President, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
- Jonathan Banks, Senior Vice President, Law and Policy, USTelecom
- Jodi Griffin, Senior Staff Attorney, Public Knowledge
- Gigi Smith, President, APCO International
- Henning Schulzrinne, Chief Technology Officer, FCC
FCC
The FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology, in conjunction with the International Bureau, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, will host a workshop on GPS Protection and Receiver Performance on Friday, June 20, 2014. The workshop can be viewed on the FCC’s webpage at www.fcc.gov/live. Viewers will be able to submit questions during the workshop by e-mail to livequestions@fcc.gov. The objectives of the workshop are to consider: (1) The importance of GPS operations, particularly to Critical Infrastructure and Public Safety users; (2) Benefits of multi-constellation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) operations; (3) Approaches to protect the Radionavigation-Satellite Service (RNSS) spectrum from neighboring transmitters; (4) GPS and GNSS receiver performance capabilities in the presence of neighboring transmitters; and (5) A comprehensive path forward to protect GPS operations from harmful interference, potentially including an industry-driven GPS device certification program and transition plan.
The FCC announced the selection of the Perkins School for the Blind (Perkins) for certification to participate in the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program (NDBEDP) for the state of Vermont and the selection of the Nebraska Assistive Technology Partnership (NATP) to participate in the NDBEDP for the state of Nebraska. Certification for both Perkins and NATP will become effective July 1, 2014. The new selections were made because the entities currently serving Vermont and Nebraska informed the FCC that they would they be unable to continue to participate in the NDBEDP and would be relinquishing their certifications. See the Regulatory Mix dated April 23, 2014.
