Welcome

Wishing a safe and happy weekend for all readers of The Wireless Messaging News.

A NEW YEAR

I hope the new year is starting off as well for you as it is for me. One reader really liked the last issue of 2016 newsletter and sent in a large donation.

Positive thinking is a valuable skill, but it requires practice. We shouldn't let circumstances get us down. I know that, and I try to practice this skill. However, many of us feel a little (or a lot sometimes) down after the holidays. An unexpected positive change to one's circumstances can't help but produce a boost in morale. It's those negative changes that we have to watch out for.

So here's the deal once again: “Paging is not over until we all give up, and we're not giving up.”

2017 is going to a great year for Paging and other forms of Wireless Messaging because we are going to make it so.

I played a little football in my younger days. I played end (end of the bench ha ha). I was never a cheerleader but I do consider myself a cheerleader for Paging. I remember games when the players did much better because the cheerleaders and the fans cheered the team on — the louder the better!

Let's do it!

Advertisers are invited to submit more product announcements and application notes. Stories about how your customers are successfully using your products and services are good too.

Many of us gained important skills during our working years and it is important that we pass what we have learned along to the younger folks who are taking our place in the industry. That is exactly what The Wireless Messaging News and The Paging Information Resource are supposed to do. The newsletter and the web site serve as a public library of information about Paging and Wireless Messaging. Sub-topics include tips on sales, marketing, and many engineering details that can't be found anywhere else. There is a library of downloadable maintenance manuals and schematics for several types of paging infrastructure, and I always welcome more.

So please send me articles!

When I started writing I confided in a friend that I felt unqualified to write since there were so many talented people with more knowledge. He said “that may be true, but most of them don't write, and if you don't do it, it won't get done.” That has kept me going for over twenty years.

Once-in-a-while I include some trivia about the area where I grew up here in Southern Illinois. I hope you enjoy these occasional off-topic reports.

CAHOKIA, ILLINOIS

A pre-Columbian Native American city (c. 600–1400 AD) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri.

Cahokia's population at its peak in the 13^th century, an estimated 40,000, would not be surpassed by any city in the United States until the late 18^th century. Today, Cahokia Mounds is considered the largest and most complex archaeological site north of the great pre-Columbian cities in Mexico.

It was the largest pre-Columbian city in what became the United States, bigger than London or Paris at the time.

BloostonLaw Telecom Update reports that “Commissioner Rosenworcel’s Term Officially Ends” and then the FCC reports, “Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler issued a statement on President Obama’s reappointment of Jessica Rosenworcel to serve a second term on the Commission.” This is not a contradiction, one happened after the other. Rosenworcel was going to leave the FCC but was reappointed at the last minute.

Now on to more news and views.

Wayne County, Illinois

Emergency Radio Communications Wireless Messaging Critical Messaging Two-way Radio Technology Telemetry Science Paging Wi-Fi

Wireless Messaging

This doesn't mean that nothing is ever published here that mentions a political party—it just means that the editorial policy of this newsletter is to remain neutral on all political issues. We don't take sides.

A new issue of the Wireless Messaging Newsletter is posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon central US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the web. That way it doesn’t fill up your incoming e-mail account.

There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world’s major Paging and Wireless Messaging companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers — so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It’s all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology.

I regularly get readers’ comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Messaging communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my web site. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it.

I spend the whole week searching the Internet for news that I think may be of interest to you — so you won’t have to. This newsletter is an aggregator — a service that aggregates news from other news sources. You can help our community by sharing any interesting news that you find.

Editorial Opinion pieces present only the opinions of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of any of advertisers or supporters. This newsletter is independent of any trade association.

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Still The Most Reliable Protocol For Wireless Messaging!

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KillDisk cyber sabotage tool evolves into ransomware

The malware is now encrypting files on both Windows and Linux systems and asks for $216,000 to restore them

By Lucian Constantin
Romania Correspondent
IDG News Service
JAN 5, 2017 4:19 PM PT

Credit: IDGNS

A malicious program called KillDisk that has been used in the past to wipe data from computers during cyberespionage attacks is now encrypting files and asking for an unusually large ransom.

KillDisk was one of the components associated with the Black Energy malware that a group of attackers used in December 2015 to hit several Ukrainian power stations, cutting power for thousands of people. A month before that, it was used against a major news agency in Ukraine.

Since then, KillDisk has been used in other attacks, most recently against several targets from the shipping sector, according to security researchers from antivirus vendor ESET.

However, the latest versions have evolved and now act like ransomware. Instead of wiping the data from the disk, the malware encrypts it and displays a message asking for 222 bitcoins to restore them. That's the equivalent of $216,000, an unusually large sum of money for a ransomware attack.

What's even more interesting is that there's also a Linux variant of KillDisk that can infect both desktop and server systems, the ESET researchers said Thursday in blog post. The encryption routine and algorithms are different between the Windows and the Linux versions, and on Linux, there's another catch: The encryption keys are neither saved locally nor sent to a command-and-control server, and the attackers can't actually get to them.

"The cyber criminals behind this KillDisk variant cannot supply their victims with the decryption keys to recover their files, despite those victims paying the extremely large sum demanded by this ransomware," the ESET researchers said.

The good news is that there's a weakness in the encryption mechanism for the Linux version that makes it possible — though difficult — for the victim to recover the files. With the Windows version, they can't.

It's not clear why the KillDisk creators have added this encryption feature. It could be that they're achieving the same goal as in the past — destruction of data — but with the ransomware tactic there's also a small chance that they'll walk away with a large sum of money.

Source:

PC World

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A Problem

The Motorola Nucleus II Paging Base Station is a great paging transmitter. The Nucleus I, however, had some problems.

One of the best features of this product was its modular construction. Most of the Nucleus' component parts were in plug-in modules that were field replaceable making maintenance much easier.

One issue was (and still is) that two of the modules had to always be kept together. They are called the “matched pair.”

Motorola used some tricks to keep people in the field from trying to match unmatched pairs, and force them to send SCM and Exciter modules back to the factory for calibrating them with precision laboratory equipment.

The serial numbers have to match in the Nucleus programing software or you can't transmit. Specifically the 4-level alignment ID parameter contained in the SCM has to match the Exciter ID parameter.

Even if someone could modify the programing software to “fudge” these parameters, that would not let them use unmatched modules effectively without recalibrating them to exact factory specifications.

So now that there is no longer a Motorola factory laboratory to send them to, what do we do?

I hope someone can help us resolve this serious problem for users of the Nucleus paging transmitter.

Please let me know if you can help. [click here]

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Noise Floor: Where Do We Go From Here?

Here’s what NAB, SBE, ARRL and others told FCC advisors about this growing problem

By Tom F. King
December 7, 2016
The News Source for Radio Managers and Engineers

This article summarizes comments that were filed in a noise floor technical inquiry conducted by the Technological Advisory Council of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology. The TAC had asked users of public communications spectrum, including broadcasters, for input to help it set goals for a radio spectrum noise study.

The author is president of Kintronic Labs Inc.; he was invited to prepare this summary for a presentation to the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society. This paper summarizes responses and concludes with the author’s recommendations. A copy also was filed with the commission.

The subject of this paper concerns the licensed and unlicensed users of electromagnetic spectrum and the growing concern over the degradation in achieving reliable (1) analog and HD AM and FM as well as DTV broadcast reception, (2) wireless communications service, (3) amateur radio reception and (4) broadband internet service as a result of a decreasing signal-to-noise ratio due to an apparent increase in the noise floor in the DC to >1 GHz frequency band.

It is for this reason that the Federal Communications Commission Technical advisory Council under the direction of the office of Engineering and Technology issued a Technical inquiry under ET docket No. 16-191 in order to request spectral noise measured data from any and all licensed and unlicensed users of electromagnetic spectrum and to respond to a list of questions that included the following:

• Is there a noise floor problem?
• Where does the problem exist? Spectrally? Spatially? Temporally?
• Is there quantitative evidence of the overall increase in the total integrated noise floor across various segments of the radio frequency spectrum?
• How should a noise study be performed?

The responses to these questions will serve to establish a basis from which the TAC could develop a set of achievable goals to present to the chairman of the FCC to act on in an effort to improve the reliability of broadcast and communication services that are being adversely affected by an increasing noise environ- ment. The responsibility for this noise study will be the responsibility of the TAC Spectrum and Receiver Performance working group that is currently co-chaired by Dr. Greg Lapin, who represents the American Radio Relay league, and Lynn Claudy, senior vice president for technology at the National Association of Broadcasters.

GENERAL RESPONSE SUMMARY TO THE TAC TI

According to a summary report prepared by Geoff Mendenhall, consultant to Gates Air Corp. and who is currently serving on the TAC Spectrum and Receiver Performance working group, a total of 93 submissions were received at the FCC Electronic Filing System, some of which were duplicates. Responses were received from 73 different people or organizations. The breakdown on responders was as follows:

• 23 companies/industry organizations
• 39 RF professionals (broadcast and wireless)
• 31 licensed radio amateurs
• 9 responders did not reply to the questions asked

The four [bullets] below illustrate the most widely used services that are affected by the increasing noise floor.

• Cellphone and broadband internet service
• AM/FM/DTV reception
• Police, fire and emergency responder communications
• Amateur radio two-way communications

individuals and companies representing each of these sectors of public communications submitted responses to the TAC TI.

HIGHLIGHTS OF SPECIFIC RESPONDERS

[The sections below summarize the filed comments of the named organizations.]

I. ARRL

The FCC classification of noise emitters is as follows:

• Intentional emitters, such as broadcast stations or mobile telecom cell sites.
• Unintentional emitters, such as high-efficiency fluorescent and light emitting diode (LED) lights, computers, plasma TVs and switching power supplies
• Incidental emitters, such as overhead power lines and motors

Man-made noise sources fall under one of these three categories and together attribute to the overall spectral noise floor with the highest levels being in the large, metropolitan urban areas and the lowest levels being in the rural areas. The ARRL response noted that Section 15.5 of the FCC rules calls for operators of an interference-causing RF device to cease operating the device if interference to authorized services develops.

Operators should be aware of this rule and seek FCC enforcement with supporting documented evidence.

In addition Chris Imlay, the author of the ARRL response, referred to an IEEE Recommended Practice on the resolution of power line noise complaints (P1987) that is being developed by the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society Standards Development and Education Committee. This document should be distributed to all operators of broadcast and wireless communications services when available.

II. Society of Broadcast Engineers

On May 26, 1999 the FCC requested that the TAC study the noise floor and propose new approaches to spectrum management based on emerging and future technologies. The commission has since 1999 skipped the urgent step of evaluating the RF environment before repeatedly and constantly making allocation decisions. The time is now to proceed with a well-planned comprehensive nationwide noise floor study.

The commercially available range of RF devices has expanded significantly resulting in a previously limited range of 30 MHz to 3 GHz as per the current FCC Part 15 and 18 rules to an expanded range up to 70 GHz; hence a review and updating of the current rules relating to noise interference is in order.

The IEEE is in the process of revising Std. 473, a standard on site surveys, which does include test methodology for the measurement of signals and noise at test sites and at locations of equipment. This should be made available to TAC when completed.

SBE recommendations to the TAC:

• Increased cooperation is needed between manufacturers of Part 15 devices and users of radio spectrum to identify noise sources and take appropriate remedial action.
• Radiated emission limits below 30 MHz in the FCC Part 15 rules for unintentional emitters should be enacted. There are presently no radiated emission limits below 30 MHz for most unintentional emitters.
• Reduced Part 15 limits for LED lights should be enacted to be harmonized with the Part 18 lower limits for fluorescent bulbs.
• Better labeling on packaging for Part 18 fluorescent bulbs and ballasts to better inform consumers of potential interference to radio, TV and cellphone reception in the residential environment.
• Specific radiated and/or conducted emission limits for incidental emitters, such as motors or power lines, should be enacted.
• Conducted emission limits on pulse-width motor controllers used in appliances should be enacted.
• Substantially increase the visibility of enforcement in power line interference cases.

III. National Association of Broadcasters

The FCC was created to address the interference chaos that threatened to destroy nascent radio services in the early 20th century. The FCC has unfortunately relinquished this role to self-regulation of the manufacturers of consumer products with associated RF emissions, which clearly has led to de-regulation of the noise floor contributors and a resulting increase in the noise floor.

The NAB pointed out that (1) FM HD injection was increased from -20 dBc to -10 dBc in some cases due to the need to overcome the ambient noise floor, and (2) numerous VHF DTV stations moved to the UHF band to avoid noise interference issues. These are examples of how the FCC has avoided attacking the real source of the problem, which is a rising noise floor.

NAB's recommendations to the TAC:

• The FCC should review the general Part 15 emission limits to determine what improvements are necessary to protect licensed services and adopt strict and enforceable limits that will limit noise interference. As a minimum the commission should adopt and enforce a radiated emissions limit of 0.025 mV/m measured at a distance of 10 meters to protect AM radio operators.
• The FCC should re-examine Section 15.13 of its rules that states that manufacturers of incidental radiators should employ "good engineering practices to minimize the risk of harmful interference."

The NAB proposed the following harmful interference levels shown in Table 1 below.

IV. National Public Safety Telecommunications Council

Public Law 110-140-DEC.19, 2007, Subtitle B, Lighting Energy Efficiency: Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 established requirements for improvements in energy efficiency of lighting equipment, which set the transition from incandescent to high-efficiency fluorescent and LED lighting on a fast track. Section R404.1 of the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code requires that a minimum of 75 percent of lamps in permanently installed lighting fixtures should be high-efficiency lamps. High-efficiency lamp types include:

• Compact fluorescent lamps
• A T8 or smaller linear fluorescent lamp
• Any lamp meeting minimum efficiency requirements:
  1. 60 lumens/watt for lamps over 40 watts
  2. 50 lumens/watt for lamps over 15 watts, but no 1nore than 40 watts
  3. 40 lumens/watt for lamps rated at 15 watts or less

The NPSTC response included a list of noise interference to public safety communications examples among which are the following two examples:

1. Reported by the New York Department of Transportation: Multi-voltage ballasts for fluorescent lighting in a particular building resulted in noise in the VHF low band, loss of coverage, and garbled transmissions impacting portables, mobiles and base receivers within 50 yards of the building.
2. Industry Canada: Electronic ballasts for fluorescent lights in a nearby store produced 20 MHz wide broadband noise in the 800 MHz cellular band resulting in loss of coverage or dropped calls within 2 km of the store location.

V. State of California Governor's Office of Emergency Services & Public Safety Communications

The response for the CalOES included the following statement: "During the last 20 years, and even more so over the last 5 years, we have encountered more and more interference from sources that were not causing interference prior to that time." In their response they listed the following major sources of noise interference:

• Fluorescent lights
• LED lights
• Computers and embedded controllers
• Switching power supplies and battery chargers
• Industrial equipment
• Power tools
• Solar panel inverters
• Cable TV/internet distribution systems
• Power line communications (PLC) and Broadband over Power Lines (BPL)
• Electric automobiles

In response to the question as to what levels does the noise floor cause harmful interference to particular radio service, CalOES responded with the following levels shown in Table 2 below.

*Noise floor should be at least 10 dB below these levels.

VI. CTIA Representing the U.S. Wireless Communications Industry

CTIA highlighted the following RF emitters as major sources of noise interference to the US wireless services:

1. Incidental radiators
   1. Electric motors
   2. Light dimmers
   3. Switching power supplies
2. Unintentional radiators
   1. High-efficiency lights
   2. Computers
   3. Garage door receivers

Commercial Mobile Radio Service is impacted by an increasing noise floor as follows:

• Reduction in carrier's reliable service area
• Lost coverage for cell sites at the outer boundary of a carrier's network
• More dropped calls traveling between cell sites
• Diminished voice quality
• Slower data transmission or lost data packets

Considering the number of cell sites that are presently in operation in the USA, the cost to the service providers in reduced quality of service resulting from noise interference has to be a staggering amount.

VII. AT&T

AT&T has had marginal success in working with large manufacturers of industrial lighting to encourage the incorporation of noise filtering in the associated power modules. In the midst of our government's drive toward the increase usage of high­ efficiency lighting, manufacturers are motivated to disregard noise concerns due to the higher product cost of adding filter components.

At&T is particularly concerned about the potential impact of noise on small cells sharing a support with LED lights. A single faulty power supply conducting noise through power lines can compromise their network service out to a distance of a half mile, which is a significantly large area.

Harmonics from unintentional radiators, i.e. FM broadcast transmitters, are the greatest noise source impacting AT&T Mobility Services. FM station interference can degrade the uplink signal in the 700-2300 MHz band within 2,000 feet of the station. Also data speeds in the 3-4 GHz range between a computer and other ancillary devices, such as a video display, create harmonics and noise products that interfere with cellphone service.

AT&T recommendations to TAC:

• Noise from incidental radiators could be mitigated through updated industry standards, better testing protocols for device manufacturers, and clarity in commission regulations for spurious emissions
• Improved testing at a wider frequency range up to 6 GHz would identify the potential for interference to commercial mobile and public safety licensees, avoiding the inefficient and piecemeal approach of identifying and mitigating noise after it occurs.
• The commission should create incentives for FM broadcasters to encourage the use of FM transmitter cabinets that are properly bonded and shielded in an effort to comply with mobile service providers' minimum receiver signal levels.
• Better and updated standards and specifically higher frequency standards for designing, constructing and testing incidental radiators would minimize noise from data busses and interfaces in computing devices.

VIII. National Electrical Manufacturers Association

The NEMA response made reference to two publications on the subject of man-made noise measurements in the United Kingdom and in the U.S. [The publications are Wagstaff & Merricks, "Manmade Noise Measurement Programme," 2009; and Achatz & Dalke, "Man-made Noise Power Measurements at VHF and UHF Frequencies," NTIA Report 02-390, US Department of Commerce, 2001.]

As a result the noise measurements were found to be in good agreement for the most part and resulted in the following recorded noise floor levels as shown in Table 3 below.

This data clearly shows that the Medium-Frequency AM band is significantly more affected by the noise floor than the VHF, UHF or mobile cellphone service bands. A reduction of 9-11 dB in the noise floor level is realized between the city and rural environments over the 300 kHz to 100MHz band.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

There is a clear consensus from the great majority of the responders to the TAC technical inquiry that a noise floor study is not only needed, but is way overdue. Even though the measured evidence of noise interference was very scarce in the responses, the experiences of broadcasters, public safety communications service providers, amateur radio operators and mobile phone and internet service providers that specifically stated the reduction in service reliability that they have been experiencing in recent years on an increasing scale should be sufficient evidence to the TAC to prove that a thoroughly planned and implemented noise study with inputs from all parties concerned is definitely needed.

Furthermore in these times of natural disasters, war or terrorist activities, secure, clear wireless communications are of the utmost importance. The growing vulnerability of the internet to hackers has to be causing our government, military and the banking industry to consider other forms of communication that are more secure. We cannot afford to allow the producers of products with associated RF emissions in our limited electromagnetic spectrum to be proliferated, without regulatory action. The matter of our understanding the noise floor versus frequency and what sources contribute to it is of great strategic importance to assure reliable and secure public communications for the safety of all citizens of the USA. The SBE response made reference to the following statement: "It would be impossible for the commission to engage in effective spectrum management until it develops a more complete understanding the current state of the radio noise environment." [FCC TAC, Second Meeting Report at 1, 9 (Oct 28, 1999.] This further substantiates the need for the noise floor study.

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FBI dispute with DNC over hacked servers may fuel doubt on Russia role

The FBI never gained access to the DNC's hacked servers, instead relying on evidence provided from CrowdStrike

By Michael Kan
U.S. Correspondent
IDG News Service
JAN 5, 2017 7:28 PM PT

FBI Headquarters in Washington D.C. Credit: FBI

The FBI may have been forced into a misstep when investigating whether Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee — the agency never directly examined the DNC servers that were breached.

Instead, the FBI had to rely on forensic evidence provided by third-party cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which the DNC hired to mitigate the breach.

“The FBI repeatedly stressed to DNC officials the necessity of obtaining direct access to servers and data, only to be rebuffed,” the agency said on Thursday in a statement.

The incident threatens to spark more skepticism over whether the U.S. properly arrived at its conclusion that Russian cyberspies were responsible for the breach.

“The FBI may have all the evidence or not,” said John Bambenek, a researcher with Fidelis Cybersecurity. “But this case has been handled so unusually, it gives everyone a reason to latch on and cast doubt.”

News that the FBI failed to directly examine the hacked servers came on Wednesday, when Buzzfeed reported that a DNC spokesman said that the agency had never requested access.

On Thursday, the FBI contested that claim, saying the denial of access "caused significant delays and inhibited the FBI from addressing the intrusion earlier."

It's unclear why the DNC allegedly blocked access to the servers. But companies that have been breached are sometimes fearful of exposing sensitive data to outside parties, said Andrei Barysevich, a director at security firm Recorded Future.

“The FBI was investigating Hillary Clinton at the time (over her private e-mail server),” he said. “So it’s totally possible, the DNC didn’t want them involved at any stage of the investigation because of that.”

Nor can the FBI force an affected party to turn a server over, Barysevich said. However, the whole incident may raise questions over whether federal agents saw all the evidence related to the breach. “CrowdStrike is not obligated to share everything with law enforcement,” Barysevich said. “That could have potentially interfered with the investigation.”

CrowdStrike didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But it wasn’t the only private security firm to examine the breach. Fidelis Cybersecurity was brought in to look at the malware samples, and concluded that suspected elite Russian hackers were behind the intrusion.

Nevertheless, the FBI should have conducted its own review of the hacked servers, Bambenek said. “This is a highly political case, and perception matters,” he said. "In this situation, they need to be building credibility."

Critics might now question if the FBI missed pieces of evidence in its investigation or if U.S. intelligence agencies rushed to blame Russia for the hack.

“You’re telling me the law enforcement community didn’t actually look at the (server) drives themselves? Are you trying to sow conspiracy theories?” Bambenek said.

U.S. intelligence agencies, including the FBI, have blamed the DNC breach and other high-profile political hacks on the Kremlin attempting to influence last year’s election. To retaliate, the White House last month expelled Russian diplomats from the U.S. and ordered sanctions against the country.

U.S. President Barack Obama may very well shed more light on why the U.S. believes Russia was involved. He has ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to come out with a full report that will detail the Kremlin's role in the election-related hacks. A declassified version of that report is scheduled to become public on Monday.

However incoming President Donald Trump remains skeptical that Russia is to blame. His camp previously rejected U.S. intelligence findings on the matter, saying “these are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.”

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DiCal is the digital paging system developed and manufactured by Swissphone. It is designed to meet the specific needs of public safety organizations. Fire and EMS rely on these types of networks to improve incident response time. DiCal systems are designed and engineered to provide maximum indoor paging coverage across an entire county. In a disaster situation, when one or several connections in a simulcast solution are disrupted or interrupted, the radio network automatically switches to fall back operating mode. Full functionality is preserved at all times. This new system is the next level of what we know as “Simulcast Paging” here in the U.S.

Swissphone offers high-quality pagers, very robust and waterproof. Swissphone offers the best sensitivity in the industry, and battery autonomy of up to three months. First responder may choose between a smart s.QUAD pager, which is able to connect with a smartphone and the Hurricane DUO pager, the only digital pager who offers text-to-voice functionality.

Bluetooth technology makes it possible to connect the s.QUAD with a compatible smartphone, and ultimately with various s.ONE software solutions from Swissphone. Thanks to Bluetooth pairing, the s.QUAD combines the reliability of an independent paging system with the benefits of commercial cellular network. Dispatched team members can respond back to the call, directly from the pager. The alert message is sent to the pager via paging and cellular at the same time. This hybrid solution makes the alert faster and more secure. Paging ensures alerting even if the commercial network fails or is overloaded.

Swissphone sets new standards in paging:

Paging Network

• It’s much faster to send individual and stacked pages digitally than with analog voice.
• If you want better indoor coverage, you put sites closer together at lower heights.
• A self-healing system that also remains reliable in various disaster situations.
• Place base station where you need them, without the usage of an expensive backhaul network.
• Protect victim confidentiality and prevent unauthorized use of public safety communications, with integrated encryption service.

Pager

• Reliable message reception, thanks to the best sensitivity in the industry.
• Ruggedized and waterproof, IP67 and 6 1/2-feet drop test-certified products.
• Battery autonomy of up to three months, with a standard AA battery.
• Bluetooth enables the new s.QUAD pager to respond back to the dispatch center or fire chief.

Dispatching:

• Two-way CAD interfaces will make dispatching much easier.
• The new s.ONE solution enables the dispatcher or fire chiefs to view the availability of relief forces.
• A graphical screen shows how many of the dispatched team members have responded to the call.

Swissphone provides a proven solution at an affordable cost. Do you want to learn more?
Visit: www.swissphone.com or call 800-596-1914.

Friday, January 6, 2017	Volume 5 | Issue 4

Citi 2017 Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference

American Tower’s Focus is on its 20,000 Lease Agreements

One of the main things American Tower Corporation is focused on for 2017 is strengthening is master lease agreements. President/CEO Jim Taiclet said the current real estate model for ground and rooftop leases that includes amendments and escalators “is absolutely durable.”

The price of rent per gigabyte of late has come down over the years. “Our goal is to provide [tenants] the lowest life cycle cost,” he said at the Citi 2017 Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas on Thursday. “We have some 20,000 leases,” and roughly one-third of each major carrier is on one of his company’s towers. “Those networks will be out there for some time.”

A goal for 2017, is to acquire fill-in towers and small cells both here and in other countries. “We like small cells and want to grow” those even though the company hasn’t seen a good return on them yet, according to Taiclet. DAS prototypes in venues like a casino or shopping mall or outdoors at a racetrack or stadium “drives multi-tenant leasing.”

Asked how the award of the FirstNet deal might impact towercos, Taiclet said generally, it will result in “more equipment being placed on U.S. infrastructure,” however how that can affect a bottom line is “highly dependent” on who the winning party is, the nature of the agreement between that party and the federal government, plus anything that’s required of the carrier and the timing of those requirements. “We don’t know any of this now. Overall, I think equipment will be deployed in a way it’s never been before.”

Wireless Communication Solutions

USB Paging Encoder

• Single channel up to eight zones
• Connects to Linux computer via USB
• Programmable timeouts and batch sizes
• Supports 2-tone, 5/6-tone, POCSAG 512/1200/2400, GOLAY
• Supports Tone Only, Voice, Numeric, and Alphanumeric
• PURC or direct connect
• Pictured version mounts in 5.25" drive bay
• Other mounting options available
• Available as a daughter board for our embedded Internet Paging Terminal (IPT)

Paging Data Receiver (PDR)

• Frequency agile—only one receiver to stock
• USB or RS-232 interface
• Two contact closures
• End-user programmable w/o requiring special hardware
• 16 capcodes
• POCSAG
• Eight contact closure version also available
• Product customization available

Other products

Please see our web site for other products including Internet Messaging Gateways, Unified Messaging Servers, test equipment, and Paging Terminals.

Contact

Hark Technologies 717 Old Trolley Rd Ste 6 #163 Summerville, SC 29485

Tel: 843-821-6888

Fax: 843-821-6894

E-mail: sales@harktech.com CLICK

Web: http://www.harktech.com CLICK

SEE WEB FOR COMPLETE LIST:

www.preferredwireless.com/equipment

Rick McMichael
Preferred Wireless, Inc.
Telephone: 888-429-4171
(If you are calling from outside of the USA, please use: 314-575-8425)
rickm@preferredwireless.com

When a Failure to Communicate is Not an Option^®

New Product Release

InfoRad Inc
800-228-8998 x31
216-531-1313 x31
sales@inforad.com
http://www.inforad.com

Announcing InfoRad Wireless Pro Messenger Gateway

InfoRad Wireless Pro Messenger desktop messaging software provides connectivity to InfoRad's cloud based Messaging Gateway to send text messages to cell phones, pagers, or other wireless devices i.e. IOT & M2M. 100% network reliability with 99.7% of messages delivered in 30 seconds.

InfoRad Wireless Pro Messenger software messages through the InfoRad Messaging Gateway which eliminates the need to obtain a special account with each carrier for enterprise level messaging over the Internet and / or using unreliable email-to-text messaging. Additionally, the InfoRad Messaging Gateway provides other messaging enhancements such as text to voice, and response options. Message delivery reliability is 99.7 % in 30 seconds along with redundant network support. The InfoRad Wireless Pro Messenger desktop software license is free. Message bundles are purchased in advance and never expire.

Contact InfoRad sales today or click on the following link to register your request for your FREE copy of InfoRad Wireless Pro Messenger Software which includes a FREE 30-day / 1000 message bundle trial of the InfoRad Messaging Gateway:

http://www.inforad.com/InfoRadGatewayRequest.html

On receipt of your request you will receive an email with a download link for InfoRad Wireless Pro Messenger software and your InfoRad Messaging Gateway Account setup information.

Current InfoRad customers of other products may also request a FREE 30-day / 1000 message bundle trial of the InfoRad Messaging Gateway (requires product version v10.4.2).

About InfoRad Inc.

Since 1983, InfoRad, Inc. has been developing and integrating wireless messaging technology, serving a broad range of wireless users in public safety, medical, industrial, and commercial markets. With continued advances in Smartphones, tablets, text pagers and infrastructure technology (IOT & M2M), InfoRad has maintained a leadership role in the industry. By designing and incorporating new features, providing first class support, and being customer focused, the more than one-half million InfoRad users continue to benefit from our software and system solutions that are robust, cost effective and state-of-the-art.

When a Failure to Communicate is Not an Option^®

Selected portions of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, and/or the BloostonLaw Private Users Update — newsletters from the Law Offices of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP — are reproduced in this section with the firm’s permission.

HAC Report Deadline Approaching – January 17, 2017

The next Hearing Aid Compatible (HAC) reporting deadline for digital commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) providers (including carriers that provide service using AWS-1 spectrum and resellers of cellular, broadband PCS and/or AWS services) is Tuesday, January 17, 2016. All service providers subject to the FCC’s HAC rules – including companies that qualify for the de minimis exception – must participate in annual HAC reporting. To the extent that your company is a provider of broadband PCS, cellular and/or interconnected SMR services, if you are a CMRS reseller and/or if you have plans to provide CMRS using newly licensed (or partitioned) AWS or 700 MHz spectrum, you and your company will need to be familiar with the FCC’s revised rules.

Given the complicated nature of the report and the approaching holidays, we recommend clients start the information gathering process now and contact our firm with any questions.

BloostonLaw contacts: Cary Mitchell, John Prendergast, and Sal Taillefer.

Headlines

Commissioner Rosenworcel’s Term Officially Ends

Yesterday, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel officially completed her term as FCC Commissioner, leaving the FCC in a 2-2 party deadlock – that is, until Chairman Tom Wheeler resigns later this month. As we reported in a previous edition of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, the U.S. Senate adjourned the final session of the previous Congress without appointing FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to the second term to which she had been nominated.

However, Politico reports that today President Barack Obama today renominated Rosenworcel for another term at the agency. This would appear to give the Senate another opportunity to retain her spot on the FCC. President-elect Trump could leave Rosenworcel's nomination in place after he takes office, or he could pick his own nominee for her position, which must be filled by a Democrat.

Republicans had previously stated that Commissioner Rosenworcel would not be confirmed unless Chairman Wheeler agreed to resign, as at least one Democrat must leave the FCC to give way for a third Republican. By the time Chairman Tom Wheeler finally made that commitment to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, it was apparently too late. This means that when Chairman Wheeler resigns on January 20, the Republicans will have a 2-1 advantage at the FCC.

It is expected that Commissioner Ajit Pai will be appointed interim Chairman when Chairman Wheeler resigns.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

FCC Adopts Voluntary Wireless Network Resiliency Cooperative Framework

On December 20, the FCC released its Order adopting the “Wireless Network Resiliency Cooperative Framework” (Framework) as submitted by AT&T, CTIA – The Wireless Association (CTIA), Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon. The FCC found that the industry proposal “presents a more appropriate path forward to improving wireless resiliency and provider transparency.”

The Framework sets out a five-pronged framework for enhancing coordination during an emergency:

1. providing for reasonable roaming under disaster arrangements (RuDs) when technically feasible;
2. fostering mutual aid among wireless carriers during emergencies;
3. enhancing municipal preparedness and restoration by convening with local government public safety representatives to develop best practices, and establishing a provider/PSAP contact database;
4. increasing readiness and preparation through development and dissemination with consumer groups of a Consumer Readiness Checklist; and
5. improving public awareness and stakeholder communications on service and restoration status, through FCC posting of data on cell site outages on an aggregated, county-by-county basis in the relevant area through its Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS).

Applicability of the commitments contained in the Framework is limited to when the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) or any entity authorized to declare Emergency Support Function 2 (ESF-2) activates ESF-2 for a given emergency or disaster and the FCC activates DIRS. The Framework further limits applicability of its RuD proposal to “where:

1. a requesting carrier’s network has become inoperable and the requesting carrier has taken all appropriate steps to attempt to restore its own network, and
2. the home carrier has determined that roaming is technically feasible and will not adversely affect service to the home carrier’s own subscribers,” adding that “[s]uch arrangements will be limited in duration and contingent on the requesting carrier taking all possible steps to restore service on its own network as quickly as possible.”

As a result of the industry framework’s adoption, the FCC has formally declined to adopt the rules it had proposed on the subject, and terminated PS Docket No. 13-239.

BloostonLaw Contacts: John Prendergast and Cary Mitchell.

PSHSB Releases Initial Findings Regarding 2016 EAS Test

On December 28, the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau issued a Public Notice providing an initial overview of the nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) test results. Specifically, the Bureau found that the nationwide EAS Test was successful, and that initial test data indicates that “the vast majority of EAS Participants successfully received and retransmitted the National Periodic Test (NPT) code that was used for the test. “The Bureau also noted that the improvements made to the EAS using the lessons learned from the 2011 nationwide EAS test and the implementation of the EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) “appear to have significantly improved test performance over what was observed during the 2011 test.”

The Bureau’s Public Notice also includes recommendations on how the FCC can improve the EAS. Areas where the FCC could take steps to potentially strengthen the EAS include:

• Some EAS Participants experienced poor quality audio and were not able to deliver the Spanish language alert because they received the test from an over-the-air broadcast source before their EAS equipment performed its regular check of the IPAWS Internet feed (which typically occurs every 30 seconds). Requiring EAS Participants to check the Internet-based IPAWS feed upon receiving a broadcast alert and transmit the corresponding CAP alert, if available, would ensure that the most timely and content-rich version of the alert is broadcast. This would be particularly important for time sensitive alerts where seconds matter, like earthquake early warnings. The CAP alert would contain a crystal-clear digital audio file as well as any available text or audio files in languages other than English.
• Some people with disabilities reported difficulty receiving or understanding alert text or audio. EAS tests can be made more accessible by applying to EAS tests the accessibility rules that already apply to live EAS alerts.
• The preparations for the test highlighted shortfalls in some state EAS plans. Some plans were difficult for EAS Participants to locate, while others presented monitoring obligations and other information in a manner that EAS Participants found difficult to implement. The Commission can take steps to further facilitate the centralization and standardization of plan information.
• Some EAS Participants did not receive the alert because they did not properly configure or maintain their equipment. The Bureau, in coordination with State Emergency Communications Committees, state broadcast associations and other stakeholders, will use the test results to provide guidance to those EAS Participants that experienced technical difficulties.
• This test was conducted in an environment that posed a low threat for cyberattacks. A system whereby EAS Participants would integrate basic cyber security guidelines into the EAS equipment readiness rules so that they could self-assess and self-correct vulnerabilities in their facilities would harden the EAS against the range of cybersecurity threats that is generally present for actual alerts and tests.

The Bureau indicated that it will continue to analyze the results of the test and will release more detailed findings and recommendations in the future.

BloostonLaw Contacts: John Prendergast and Cary Mitchell.

Law & Regulation

Total Call Mobile Settles Lifeline Fraud Investigation for $30 Million; Gets Banned from Lifeline

On December 22, the FCC announced that Total Call Mobile will pay $30 million to resolve fraud investigations by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York into allegations that the company enrolled tens of thousands of duplicate and ineligible consumers into the Lifeline program. As a condition of the settlement, Total Call admits to engaging in “fraudulent practices” and will permanently lose its authorizations to participate in the Lifeline program anywhere in the country.

According to a press release, Total Call admits that “hundreds of its sales agents enrolled duplicate and ineligible subscribers into the Lifeline program by using fake and repeated eligibility cards and false subscriber information;” that its “managers failed to take corrective action when they received reports of these fraudulent activities and failed to put in place systems to prevent fraudulent conduct;” that it “failed to implement effective policies and procedures to ensure eligibility of Lifeline subscribers and monitor compliance;” that it “failed to properly train its sales agents,” and that it “requested and received funds from the Universal Service Fund for tens of thousands of consumers that did not meet the Lifeline eligibility requirements while it knew its policies and procedures to ensure compliance with Lifeline rules were deficient.”

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

Birch Communications Settles Deceptive Marketing Investigation for $6.1 Million

On December 29, the FCC announced a settlement with Birch Communications that resolves an Enforcement Bureau investigation into whether the company engaged in deceptive and abusive marketing practices. Specifically, the investigation concerned whether Birch “slammed” consumers by switching their preferred phone carriers without authorization, “crammed” unauthorized charges on its customers’ bills and engaged in deceptive marketing.

Under the terms of the settlement, Birch will pay a $4.2 million penalty, refund at least $1.9 million to consumers who filed complaints about unauthorized carrier changes or unauthorized charges within the past two years, and adopt a compliance plan. The investigation was launched in 2015 after reviewing consumer complaints suggesting that Birch’s telemarketers repeatedly misrepresented their identity and the purpose of their telemarketing calls when contacting potential customers, including claiming to be affiliated with the consumers’ own carriers, in order to fraudulently switch consumers to Birch’s service and place unwanted charges on their bills. In many cases, the FCC noted, Birch assessed substantial early termination fees against consumers when they cancelled the unauthorized and unwanted service. Consumers, including small businesses and law offices, reportedly spent “a considerable amount of time and effort” trying to return to their preferred carriers and restore the services they had before the unauthorized switches.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

Deadlines

JANUARY 17: HAC REPORTING DEADLINE. The next Hearing Aid Compatible (HAC) reporting deadline for digital commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) providers (including carriers that provide service using AWS-1 spectrum and resellers of cellular, broadband PCS and/or AWS services) is Tuesday, January 17, 2017 (by operation of FCC rules, the Sunday, January 15^th date is pushed to the next business day and Monday the 16^th is the Martin Luther King Day federal holiday). Non-Tier I service providers must offer to consumers at least 50 percent of the handset models per air interface, or a minimum of ten handset models per air interface, that meet or exceed the M3 rating, and at least one-third of the handset models per air interface, or a minimum of ten handset models per air interface, that meet or exceed the T3 rating. Month-to-month handset offering information provided in annual reports must be current through the end of 2016. With many of our clients adjusting their handset offerings and making new devices available to customers throughout the year, it is very easy for even the most diligent carriers to stumble unknowingly into a non-compliance situation, resulting in fines starting at $15,000 for each HAC-enabled handset they are deficient. Following the T-Mobile USA Notice of Apparent Liability (FCC 12-39), the FCC’s enforcement policy calls for multiplying the $15,000 per-handset fine by the number of months of the deficiency, creating the potential for very steep fines. It is therefore crucial that our clients pay close attention to their HAC regulatory compliance, and monthly checks are strongly recommended. In this regard, we have prepared a HAC reporting template to assist our clients in keeping track of their HAC handset offerings, and other regulatory compliance efforts. ALL SERVICE PROVIDERS SUBJECT TO THE COMMISSION’S HAC RULES – INCLUDING COMPANIES THAT QUALIFY FOR THE DE MINIMIS EXCEPTION – MUST PARTICIPATE IN ANNUAL HAC REPORTING. To the extent that your company is a provider of broadband PCS, cellular and/or interconnected SMR services, if you are a CMRS reseller and/or if you have plans to provide CMRS using newly licensed (or partitioned) AWS or 700 MHz spectrum, you and your company will need to be familiar with the FCC’s revised rules.

BloostonLaw contacts: Cary Mitchell and Sal Taillefer.

FEBRUARY 1: FCC FORM 499-Q, TELECOMMUNICATIONS REPORTING WORKSHEET. All telecommunications common carriers that expect to contribute more than $10,000 to federal Universal Service Fund (USF) support mechanisms must file this quarterly form. The FCC has modified this form in light of its decision to establish interim measures for USF contribution assessments. The form contains revenue information from the prior quarter plus projections for the next quarter. Form 499-Q relates only to USF contributions. It does not relate to the cost recovery mechanisms for the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund, the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA), and the shared costs of local number portability (LNP), which are covered in the annual Form 499-A that is due April 1.
BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

FEBRUARY 1: FCC FORM 502, NUMBER UTILIZATION AND FORECAST REPORT. Any wireless or wireline carrier (including paging companies) that have received number blocks--including 100, 1,000, or 10,000 number blocks--from the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), a Pooling Administrator, or from another carrier, must file Form 502 by February 1. Carriers porting numbers for the purpose of transferring an established customer’s service to another service provider must also report, but the carrier receiving numbers through porting does not. Resold services should also be treated like ported numbers, meaning the carrier transferring the resold service to another carrier is required to report those numbers but the carrier receiving such numbers should not report them. Reporting carriers are required to include their FCC Registration Number (FRN). Reporting carriers file utilization and forecast reports semiannually on or before February 1 for the preceding six-month reporting period ending December 31, and on or before August 1 for the preceding six-month reporting period ending June 30.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

MARCH 1: COPYRIGHT STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT FORM FOR CABLE COMPANIES. This form, plus royalty payment for the second half of calendar year 2016, is due March 1. The form covers the period July 1 to December 31, 2016, and is due to be mailed directly to cable TV operators by the Library of Congress’ Copyright Office. If you do not receive the form, please contact Gerry Duffy.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Gerry Duffy.

MARCH 1: CPNI ANNUAL CERTIFICATION. Carriers should modify (as necessary) and complete their “Annual Certification of CPNI Compliance” for 2017. The certification must be filed with the FCC by March 1. Note that the annual certification should include the following three required Exhibits: (a) a detailed Statement Explaining How The Company’s Operating Procedures Ensure Compliance With The FCC’S CPNI Rules to reflect the Company’s policies and information; (b) a Statement of Actions Taken Against Data Brokers; and (c) a Summary of Customer Complaints Regarding Unauthorized Release of CPNI. A company officer with personal knowledge that the company has established operating procedures adequate to ensure compliance with the rules must execute the Certification, place a copy of the Certification and accompanying Exhibits in the Company’s CPNI Compliance Records, and file the certification with the FCC in the correct fashion. Our clients can forward the original to BloostonLaw in time for the firm to make the filing with the FCC by March 1, if desired. BloostonLaw is prepared to help our clients meet this requirement, which we expect will be strictly enforced, by assisting with preparation of their certification filing; reviewing the filing to make sure that the required showings are made; filing the certification with the FCC, and obtaining a proof-of-filing copy for your records. Clients interested in obtaining BloostonLaw's CPNI compliance manual should contact Gerry Duffy (202-828-5528) or Mary Sisak (202-828-5554). Note: If you file the CPNI certification, you must also file the FCC Form 499-A Telecom Reporting Worksheet by April 1.

BloostonLaw contacts: Gerry Duffy and Mary Sisak.

MARCH 1: FCC FORM 477, LOCAL COMPETITION & BROADBAND REPORTING FORM. This annual form is due March 1 and September 1 annually. The FCC requires facilities-based wired, terrestrial fixed wireless, and satellite broadband service providers to report on FCC Form 477 the number of broadband subscribers they have in each census tract they serve. The Census Bureau changed the boundaries of some census tracts as part of the 2010 Census.

Specifically, three types of entities must file this form:

1. Facilities-based Providers of Broadband Connections to End User Locations: Entities that are facilities-based providers of broadband connections – which are wired “lines” or wireless “channels” that enable the end user to receive information from and/or send information to the Internet at information transfer rates exceeding 200 kbps in at least one direction – must complete and file the applicable portions of this form for each state in which the entity provides one or more such connections to end user locations. For the purposes of Form 477, an entity is a “facilities-based” provider of broadband connections to end user locations if it owns the portion of the physical facility that terminates at the end user location, if it obtains unbundled network elements (UNEs), special access lines, or other leased facilities that terminate at the end user location and provisions/equips them as broadband, or if it provisions/equips a broadband wireless channel to the end user location over licensed or unlicensed spectrum. Such entities include incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers (LECs), cable system operators, fixed wireless service providers (including “wireless ISPs”), terrestrial and satellite mobile wireless service providers, BRS providers, electric utilities, municipalities, and other entities. (Such entities do not include equipment suppliers unless the equipment supplier uses the equipment to provision a broadband connection that it offers to the public for sale. Such entities also do not include providers of fixed wireless services (e.g., “Wi-Fi” and other wireless ethernet, or wireless local area network, applications) that only enable local distribution and sharing of a premises broadband facility.)
2. Providers of Wired or Fixed Wireless Local Telephone Services: Incumbent and competitive LECs must complete and file the applicable portions of the form for each state in which they provide local exchange service to one or more end user customers (which may include “dial-up” ISPs).
3. Providers of Mobile Telephony Services: Facilities-based providers of mobile telephony services must complete and file the applicable portions of this form for each state in which they serve one or more mobile telephony subscribers. A mobile telephony service is a real-time, two-way switched voice service that is interconnected with the public switched network using an in-network switching facility that enables the provider to reuse frequencies and accomplish seamless handoff of subscriber calls. A mobile telephony service provider is considered “facilities-based” if it serves a subscriber using spectrum for which the entity holds a license that it manages, or for which it has obtained the right to use via lease or other arrangement with a Band Manager.

BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak.

MARCH 31: INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT CAPACITY REPORT. No later than March 31, 2017, all U.S. international carriers that owned or leased bare capacity on a submarine cable between the United States and any foreign point on December 31, 2016 and any person or entity that held a submarine cable landing license on December 31, 2016 must file a Circuit Capacity Report to provide information about the submarine cable capacity it holds. Additionally, cable landing licensees must file information on the Circuit Capacity Report about the amount of available and planned capacity on the submarine cable for which they have a license. Any U.S. International Carrier that owned or leased bare capacity on a terrestrial or satellite facility as of December 31, 2016 must file a Circuit Capacity Report showing its active common carrier circuits for the provision of service to an end-user or resale carrier, including active circuits used by itself or its affiliates. Any satellite licensee that is not a U.S. International Carrier and that owns circuits between the United States and any foreign point as of December 31, 2016 of the reporting period must file a Circuit Capacity Report showing its active circuits sold or leased to any customer, including itself or its affiliates, other than a carrier authorized by the Commission to provide U.S. international common carrier services.

Calendar At-A-Glance

January
Jan. 17 – Annual Hearing Aid Compatibility Report is due.
Jan. 23 – Reply comments are due on the Independent Programming NPRM.
Jan. 31 – FCC Form 555 (Annual Lifeline ETC Certification Form) is due.

February
Feb. 1 – FCC Form 499-Q (Quarterly Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet) is due.
Feb. 1 – FCC Form 502 (Number Utilization and Forecast Report) is due.

March
Mar. 1 – Copyright Statement of Account Form for cable companies is due.
Mar. 1 – Annual CPNI Certification is due.
Mar. 1 – FCC Form 477 (Local Competition & Broadband Reporting) is due.
Mar. 31 – FCC Form 525 (Delayed Phasedown CETC Line Counts) is due.
Mar. 31 – FCC Form 508 (ICLS Projected Annual Common Line Requirement) is due.
Mar. 31 – International Circuit Capacity Report is due.

Media Contact:
Mark Wigfield, (202) 418-0253
mark.wigfield@fcc.gov

For Immediate Release

CHAIRMAN WHEELER STATEMENT ON JESSICA ROSENWORCEL’S REAPPOINTMENT TO THE FCC

——

WASHINGTON, January 4, 2017 – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler issued the following statement today on President Obama’s reappointment of Jessica Rosenworcel to serve a second term on the Commission:

“I applaud President Obama’s reappointment of Jessica Rosenworcel to the FCC, and hope that Congress will act quickly to confirm her nomination.”

###

Office of Media Relations: (202) 418-0500
TTY: (888) 835-5322
Twitter: @FCC
www.fcc.gov/office-media-relations

This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order
constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).

Brad Dye, Ron Mercer, Allan Angus, Vic Jackson, and Ira Wiesenfeld are friends and colleagues who work both together and independently, on wireline and wireless communications projects.

Click here for a summary of their qualifications and experience. Each one has unique abilities. We would be happy to help you with a project, and maybe save you some time and money.

Note: We do not like Patent Trolls, i.e. “a person or company who enforces patent rights against accused infringers in an attempt to collect licensing fees, but does not manufacture products or supply services based upon the patents in question.” We have helped some prominent law firms defend their clients against this annoyance, and would be happy to do some more of this same kind of work.

Some people use the title “consultant” when they don't have a real job. We actually do consulting work, and help others based on our many years of experience.

---

“If you would know the road ahead, ask someone who has traveled it.”
— Chinese Proverb

Wireless Network Planners
Wireless Specialists

www.wirelessplanners.com
wirelessplannerron@gmail.com

R.H. (Ron) Mercer Consultant 217 First Street East Northport, NY 11731
Telephone: 631-786-9359

Almost
“Is Paging Going Away?” by Jim Nelson Click here for English. Click here for German. (Berlin Revision: November 8, 2016) Click here for French. Volunteers needed for translations into other languages.

Benjamin Franklin once quipped:

“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know oneself.”

Fire Dragon Celebrating Chinese New Year

Every Chinese New Year at full moon, there are big celebrations including the fire dragon dance.