Shutdown Update

02 10, 13 16:42 Filed in: Shutdown

shutdown

FCC has announced that except for 38 employees and a few contractors the agency has been shutdown due to the current budget impasse. No one in OET is included in the 38. In a separate action FCC announced that filings due during the shutdown will be now due the 2nd day after work resumes. (How do you file reply comments if you have not have access to the comments in a proceeding?) Other questions have not been addressed on the minimal remaining FCC website. What about licenses that are about to expire but whose renewal has not been issued? I thought I the past these were extended, but no word yet. Will radio and TV broadcast stations have to go off the air? (New cellular base station do not require FCC action so routine growth in the cellular community will not be affected although FCC won’t be able to help with the zoning and permitting disputes that are so common..)

220px-how_the_grinch_stole_christmas_cover

Equipment authorizations? Word from a prominent test lab is that they can test and approve new equipment modeled but the approval is not effective until registered with FCC which can’t be done. Will FCC be the “Grinch Who Stole Christmas” if high tech toys for the holiday season that need TCB approval, generally those with transmitters like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, are not approved and thus can not be imported?

How in the world will the incentive auction be implemented with such a gap in planning since the schedule was already rather tight?

Will the Commission ever get back to 5 members if Congress is so distracted?

FCC already has done too little recruiting of new staffers for many years in a row and will likely suffer from this in the future. This distraction will just make that problem worse and creating problems 10+ years in the future when there are too few qualified middle managers.

Tags: Shutdown