The FCC Public Safety Bureau denied a request by Del Norte County, California, for a permanent waiver of the commission’s rule requiring the narrowbanding of all private land mobile radio licensees operating in the 150-174 MHz and 450-512 MHz bands. The county told the FCC it had completed the narrowbanding but as a result experienced a 40 percent loss of coverage in its operational area, the bureau said. Del Norte County told the commission it would have to build three to five towers to supplement its current two-tower system to restore its network to its previous capacity but doesn’t have the funding to do that. The county didn’t offer “sufficient facts” to justify a permanent waiver, the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1qHvon8). “We recognize the financial constraints Del Norte faces to construct additional towers, but this circumstance is not unusual or unique among licensees that have been subject to the narrowbanding requirement,” the bureau said. “While Del Norte’s financial constraints could weigh in favor of a temporary waiver to afford the County additional time to upgrade its system, they do not justify a permanent waiver.” The FCC has required licensees to use narrower channels to remedy congestion in the VHF and UHF bands.

The FCC Wireless Bureau extended the deadline for reply comments on rules for spectrum sharing in the 3.5 GHz band from Aug. 1 until Aug. 15, said a Monday public notice. Various industry groups, starting with the Satellite Industry Association, had asked for a delay, the bureau noted. “We agree that an extension of time to file reply comments is warranted to ensure that the Commission obtains a complete and thorough record,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1tTOC6w).

Despite the FCC’s recent crackdown on Lifeline fraud, more work needs to be done to rein in the growth in spending of a program that’s more than doubled in five years, Commissioner Ajit Pai told Citizens Against Government Waste Monday. Pai proposed setting an annual budget for Lifeline to “increase incentives to eliminate fraud and improve accountability within the program.” A cap on Lifeline spending would “prevent any future explosion in spending without direct Commission accountability,” he said. The FCC could prohibit Lifeline wireless carriers from giving free service for the program, Pai said, to remove the incentive for recipients to improperly sign up for more than one account. “Requiring some skin in the game would align the Lifeline program with our other universal service programs, each of which requires some contribution by recipients to cut down on waste, fraud and abuse,” he said. The FCC could empower states to play a stronger enforcement role by clarifying that states are free to take steps to ensure the program’s integrity, Pai said. Another option would be to lower the $9.25 monthly subsidy to “cut both the incentive for fraud and the phone bills for consumers who pay into the USF,” he said. The FCC should also begin requiring Lifeline carriers to keep proof of consumer eligibility for the program, Pai said. Companies that violate Lifeline regulations should be subject to forfeitures, he said.

The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council supports the FCC’s order giving Grain Management and similarly situated companies a waiver of parts of the commission’s designated entity (DE) rules (CD July 24 p3), the group said in a news release Thursday. Grain sought a waiver of the attributable material relationship (AMR) rule, which limits the ability of a DE to lease out spectrum licenses it buys to another carrier rather than build out its own network. MMTC hopes the FCC will eliminate the AMR rule in its entirety “because it impedes a DE’s ability to create flexible business plans and access the capital necessary to participate in FCC spectrum auctions,” the group said. “On Wednesday, the Commission took a step in the right direction by enabling greater, near-term participation by small businesses in the upcoming AWS-3 auction and in the secondary markets,” said David Honig, MMTC president. The FCC is looking at more sweeping changes to the DE rules, but agency officials said they're unlikely to be released prior to the AWS-3 auction. “In line with Congress’s mandate to advance small business participation in wireless auctions, the FCC’s decision to engage Designated Entities in November’s AWS-3 auction will increase their participation in wireless spectrum ownership,” MMTC said.

The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council and the Canadian Interoperability Technology Interest Group (CITIG) said Friday they're seeking volunteers for a new working group to examine cross-border voice and data communications issues. The working group is to prepare a report for a presentation at CITIG’s Canada-U.S. Bi-National Cross Border Interoperability Workshop Oct. 20-22 in Windsor, Ontario, the groups said in a news release.

The government should issue “strong, enforceable rules -- not voluntary best practices -- that protect the privacy rights of American citizens” from commercial drone use, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in a letter Thursday to President Barack Obama (http://1.usa.gov/1ny613b). Politico reported Thursday the White House was planning to issue an executive order telling the NTIA to develop a multistakeholder privacy code of conduct for commercial drone use (http://politi.co/1jWfIJq). The NTIA has overseen the creation of a voluntary mobile privacy code of conduct and is now facilitating the creation of a facial recognition technology code of conduct (CD July 25 p14). Originally, it was thought that privacy issues in the deployment of small commercial drones would fall under the Federal Aviation Administration’s jurisdiction in a rulemaking due this fall (CD July 23 p13). “We believe only strong, enforceable rules will force potentially bad actors to respect privacy,” said the letter. Drone privacy rules should require commercial drone operators to disclose their data collection, sharing, use and deletion plans, the duo said. Law enforcement should also be required to obtain a warrant before using drones, and a public website should list all drone flight plans, said the lawmakers. The recommendations are mostly in line with corresponding House and Senate bills, the Drone Aircraft Privacy and Transparency Act (HR-2868 and S-1639) (http://1.usa.gov/1lDFv4k). The White House had no comment.

The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition, the Utilities Telecom Council and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association jointly asked the FCC to delay for two weeks the reply comment deadline on rules for the 3.5 GHz band. Industry commenters raised concerns about the FCC’s proposals for dedicating the band to a three-tiered system for sharing in the initial comment round (CD July 16 p4). The groups asked the FCC to extend the deadline until Aug. 15. Some 60 comments were filed and many raised “new and novel positions” that take time to digest, the groups said. “Many of the comments address complicated technical issues related to the size of federal and earth station exclusion zones, the requirements for the proposed Spectrum Access System and other interference and network management challenges.” The filing (http://bit.ly/1pkG7NI) was posted Friday in docket 12-354.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler named Brian Daly of AT&T and Robert Kubik of Samsung as chairs of the FCC Technological Advisory Council’s Working Group on Mobile Device Theft Prevention. The working group is to develop industrywide recommendations for reducing device theft, the FCC said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1sZbow3). Wheeler also appointed panel members from industry, law enforcement and consumer groups.

Correction: The reply comment deadline on T-Mobile data roaming petition is Aug. 20 (CD July 24 p11).

As of March 31, remaining expenditures for non-Sprint licensee costs to complete the 800 MHz rebanding were projected to be $441.6 million, the 800 MHz Transition Administrator said in a filing at the FCC in docket 02-55. The administrator provided the information at the request of the FCC Public Safety Bureau, the filing said (http://bit.ly/1pgsSO1). The FCC approved an order in 2004 that launched the rebanding. The commission’s goal was to eliminate interference to public safety systems in the 800 MHz band.