https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • Microwave/RF
    • T&D World
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

Commentary


FCC bashing is easy, but not always justified

FCC bashing is easy, but not always justified

I'm not sure where I stand on reincarnation. It seems a bit far-fetched, but I suppose that in the event an omnipotent being truly is responsible for us, our planet and the universe through which we hurtle, then that being would be powerful enough to ...
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 30th December 2004

I’m not sure where I stand on reincarnation. It seems a bit far-fetched, but I suppose that in the event an omnipotent being truly is responsible for us, our planet and the universe through which we hurtle, then that being would be powerful enough to conjure something like reincarnation.

Having said that, I am much more certain that I was a salmon in a past life, or will be a salmon in a future life, because I am forever swimming against the current. Case in point: while it has grown increasingly popular to criticize the FCC, I write this week in praise of the commission.

When I covered the FCC over a three-year period for Telephony, another Primedia Business publication, I periodically wrote critically of the commission’s deliberate — read sloth-like — approach to policy decisions. Seemingly, evolution has played out at a faster clip than some of the commission’s proceedings, particularly over the past several years.

For example, the FCC took about 2-1/2 years to finalize its rules that govern when and how incumbent telephone companies must share their facilities with competitors, as mandated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. More recently, the commission took an enormous amount of time to craft its order that dictates the terms and conditions for alleviating interference in the 800 MHz band that plagues public-safety communications nationwide.

While I still would like to see the FCC move faster, I have had something of a change of heart. When contemplating why it takes the FCC so long to make decisions, it’s useful to consider the commission’s history. Congress created the FCC when it enacted the Communications Act of 1934. At the time, the FCC’s primary responsibility was to make sure broadcast radio stations met their obligations to air public-interest programming.

Congress presciently and wisely reasoned that broadcasters, if left to their own devices without the scrutiny of a watchdog organization, would eschew such programming — including news — for more lucrative fare. Congress’s intent was to ensure that the still-developing medium fulfilled its potential to inform as well as entertain. The FCC also was given the responsibility of ensuring basic telephone service for all Americans, regardless of where they lived.

Today, the FCC has a great deal more on its plate. And while it would be correct to point out that the commission staff is enormous, the ability to throw considerably more resources at challenges doesn’t necessarily extrapolate into finding faster solutions, because the issues before the commission in this era are incredibly complex with far-reaching implications. The FCC in the Michael Powell era has shown a tendency to avoid knee-jerk reactions in favor of thoroughly contemplated, well-reasoned and evenly balanced orders.

The 800 MHz saga is a good example. The FCC could have caved to the pressures put upon it by public safety and quickly and blindly adopted the so-called Consensus Plan when it was first floated by Nextel. Instead, the commission dug in, did its job, and in the end public safety got a much better deal. Similarly, the FCC fulfilled its obligations and gave serious consideration to Nextel’s challenge to the order — despite Verizon Wireless’s absurd contention that the commission and Nextel were engaged in clandestine and allegedly illegal post-order negotiations. In the end, the FCC fairly reduced Nextel’s cash contribution to fund the 800 MHz rebanding because the carrier was able to convince the commission that the formula used to value Nextel’s spectrum holdings was flawed.

I often am amused by baseball fans who sit in the stands or in taverns and venomously criticize players for their lack of proficiency. The reason I’m amused is that most baseball fans have never stood in a batter’s box when a rock-hard orb is zipping towards them at speeds generally between 80 and 90 miles per hour. (When facing a 90 mph heater, for example, a batter has less than a quarter second to decide whether to swing.) If they had, they would instinctively know that a baseball player’s job is incredibly difficult. Despite some recent censorship-related decisions that would make the Founding Fathers raise their eyebrows if they were still with us today, I think the same can be said for the FCC.

E-mail me at [email protected].

P.S. From all of us at MRT, best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year.

Tags: Commentary Commentary Newsletters Policy Policy & Law Commentary

Most Recent


  • Polaris Wireless: Manlio Allegra talks 911 Z-axis tech, future IoT opportunities
      Manlio Allegra, co-founder and CEO at Polaris Wireless, outlines the latest developments in 911 location, including recent announcements of industry compliance with FCC requirements to provide Z-axis vertical-location information for all 911 callers, even when calling wirelessly from inside a multi-story building. In addition to providing this Z-axis location for feature-phone makers like Schok, […]
  • Biden's net-neutrality strategy looks doomed
    There is mounting evidence that Gigi Sohn, President Biden’s nomination to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), may never get Senate approval. That could spell the end of his efforts to reinstate the agency’s net neutrality guidelines trashed by former President Trump. “All indications suggest that it’s over and [the White House] is just figuring out how to […]
  • Only 3% of open-source software bugs are actually attackable, researchers say
    With vulnerability-management workloads ballooning in the era of heightened software supply chain security risks, a study out today suggests that only about 3% of today’s flaws are actually reachable by attackers. The data implies that if application security (appsec) pros and developers work to focus on fixing and mitigating what’s truly attackable, they could drastically […]
  • Autonomous vehicles in slow lane as robots accelerate
    While robotics advances at pace in many industrial settings these days, the robotic or autonomous vehicle remains a nebulous prospect for many. Emily Shao, partner at McKinsey & Co, says the reality is that the widespread adoption of Level 5 autonomous vehicles is decades away from becoming a common reality.  She also clarifies the prevalence […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • New Orleans-area 911 center inks multiyear APEX deal with Carbyne to replace call-handling system
  • FCC bashing is easy, but not always justified
    Newscan: Feds recover millions from pipeline ransom hackers, hint at U.S. Internet tactic
  • Cyber is the new Cold War, and AI is the arms race
  • Private wireless networks in the US start going public

Commentary


LTE and liability: Why the fire service must move forward with digital incident command

  • 2
6th May 2022

Partnership and collaboration must be the foundation for emergency communications

18th April 2022

FirstNet success means no hypothetical ‘shots’ need to be fired, Swenson says

22nd February 2022
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Polaris Wireless: Manlio Allegra talks 911 Z-axis tech, future IoT opportunities dlvr.it/ST1384

28th June 2022
UrgentComm

Biden’s net-neutrality strategy looks doomed dlvr.it/SSyQ7d

28th June 2022
UrgentComm

Only 3% of open-source software bugs are actually attackable, researchers say dlvr.it/SSxjxK

27th June 2022
UrgentComm

Cabinless self-driving trucks get the green light dlvr.it/SSxghf

27th June 2022
UrgentComm

Autonomous vehicles in slow lane as robots accelerate dlvr.it/SSxPDQ

27th June 2022
UrgentComm

Southern Linc official discusses MCPTT migration, interoperability with new partner Catalyst dlvr.it/SSr8VD

25th June 2022
UrgentComm

Newscan: NYPD’s bomb-sniffing dogs get a high-tech upgrade to keep city safe dlvr.it/SSpSD1

25th June 2022
UrgentComm

Chinese APT group likely using ransomware attacks as cover for IP theft dlvr.it/SSmJNm

24th June 2022

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • Microwave/RF
  • T&D World
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X