The winners of the FCC’s annual Excellence in Economic Analysis and Excellence in Engineering Awards have been unveiled by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
Taking the “Excellence in Engineering” Award are Robert Pavlak from the Office of Engineering and Technology and Kamran Etemad from the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. They share the 2024 Excellence in Engineering Award for their outstanding work in developing a novel framework, Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS), to enable direct satellite-to-mobile device services overlaying terrestrial cellular to extend wireless service to unserved areas.
“Their work will help greatly expand service options to wireless phones already in people’s hands to operate anywhere while not degrading the service they currently receive from the terrestrial service,” the FCC said. “SCS will ensure that rapid, efficient, nationwide radio communications service is available to all the people of the United States.”
The “Excellence in Economic Analysis” Awards saw an award go to Steven Kauffman, Jeffrey Ocker, and Alexander Simmons for their creation and implementation of the population distribution methodology needed to fully incorporate the Broadband Data Collection into the Commission’s work.
The methodology leverages data from the U.S. Census, the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric, and the Broadband Data Collection to create granular analyses of fixed and mobile broadband service availability. “These critical analyses provide the foundation for important Commission reports—such as the Section 706 Report and the Communications Marketplace Report—and inform its rulemakings,” the FCC said.
A second award in the category was presented to Paul LaFontaine for his economic analysis in the “Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet” proceeding. “Paul’s outstanding analysis of the deficiencies in the studies claiming that reclassification of Broadband Internet Access Service (BIAS) would have a significant deterrent effect on telecommunications investment provided critical support for the Commission’s decision to adopt Open Internet safeguards,” the FCC said.
— RBR+TVBR in Washington, D.C.
