WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission and the Industrial Telecommunications Association have signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow ITA to be the first contact on interference complaints for private wireless users.
The MOU originally was announced at the International Wireless Communications Exhibition in Las Vegas but details did not emerge until this week. The agreement streamlines the FCC’s compliance and enforcement process while promoting fair competition in the land mobile communications market.
Both ITA and the FCC sent out statements announcing the MOU, and the FCC seems very willing to let ITA take the lead. “The hope is that ITA will [be able to] resolve those complaints before they come to the [FCC],” said Dan Phythyon, chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, last week at the annual meeting of the Land Mobile Communications Council.
The MOU outlines a formal arrangement for ITA, through its Frequency Advisory Committees, to work with the FCC’s Compliance and Information Bureau, which is charged with enforcing interference complaints. The FCC now will rely on the FACs to research, verify and attempt to resolve interference and compliance complaints before becoming involved.
Three types of complaints now will be handled first by the FAC: educational, technical and operational. Operational issues concern instances where a licensee operates a radio system in noncompliance with its license authorization, such as a private system providing a commercial service. These operational problems may not cause interference but do negatively impact the competitive environment.
The FACs will handle operational complaints to ensure that fair competition exists. “For a fair competitive environment to thrive, all participants must be on equal regulatory footing and the rules of the marketplace must be applied equally to all,” said Mark E. Crosby, ITA president.
ITA believes the majority of complaints can be resolved simply by informing the offending licensee of the rules. according to the MOU. “It has been ITA’s experience that many interference problems are caused by licensees unwittingly operating beyond the scope of their license authorization. In these cases, resolution of the interference problem can be achieved simply by notifying the offending licensee of its obligation under FCC rules and regulations.”
The FAC’s first responsibility when a technical interference complaint arises is to identify the offender. This should be rather easy but if not, the FAC will provide for local monitoring by either the complaining party, its service representative or an independent provider. Only when all attempts to identify the source of the interference are unsuccessful will the FAC solicit the assistance of the local FCC field office.
Once the licensee has been identified, the FAC will make technical recommendations to resolve the interference complaint. These suggestions might include: reducing power, lowering antenna height, antenna pattern reconfiguration, or selecting an alternative frequency.
The FACs will keep all relevant information concerning complaint resolutions so the FCC can obtain that information at a later date if necessary, the MOU said.
If the offending licensees do not cooperate with the FAC’s recommendation, the complaint then will be turned over to the local FCC office. The Compliance Request Report filed by the FAC will include the parties in the dispute, call signs involved, identified noncompliance, location of the unlicensed system, and the FAC recommendation. Once the FCC solves the complaint, the entire file will remain at the FCC, and the FAC will be notified of its resolution.
