Anna Gomez's appointment to lead U.S. preparations for the next World Radiocommunication Conference is considered positive for U.S. efforts at the upcoming conference. The State Department announced the six-month appointment Thursday (see 2301260072). It didn't mention she also would be given “presidential” ambassador rank, but industry officials told us that designation is likely coming, though it has to wait to avoid the need for Senate confirmation. WRC starts Nov. 20 at the Dubai World Trade Centre in the United Arab Emirates.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should have given its technical advisory committees more time to review its new chip controls before they were published in October (see 2210070049), which would have helped BIS mitigate unintended consequences for a dense and complex set of restrictions, a chip industry official and an advisory committee member said this week. The semiconductor industry also wished BIS had first proposed some of the restrictions for public comment before making them final, the official said, or delayed the effective date to give companies more time to decipher the rules, especially surrounding the new U.S.-persons restrictions.
U.S. share of global semiconductor design revenue has declined over the past decade, partly due to export controls and other trade restrictions, the Semiconductor Industry Association and Boston Consulting Group said in a report last week. If the U.S. continues on its path and doesn’t properly tailor its restrictions, U.S. shares of global revenues could drop 10 percentage points over this decade, the report warned.
MVPD and telecom groups don’t agree with broadcasters on the practicality of revamping the FCC’s regulatory fee system, said reply comments filed in docket 22-301. NAB, a group of 57 smaller broadcasters and nearly all state broadcast associations filed replies in support of proposals from NAB and the Satellite Industry Association to rethink how the FCC parcels out the fees, but the Wireless ISP Association, NCTA and CTIA panned the idea. “The proposals of NAB and SIA are self-serving, impracticable, and would be unmanageable,” said NCTA.
Noting an FCC structure built for another era without mega constellations or space entrepreneurship, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel unveiled plans Thursday for an International Bureau reorganization including creating a Space Bureau to handle all space-related issues and a stand-alone Office of International Affairs. Agency and space industry officials said one hoped-for effect would be swifter processing of space operation applications. The commission didn't comment on expected time frame for the reorganization or what kind of additional resources the new bureau might have.
The FCC should reexamine its proportional allocation of indirect full-time equivalents in the assessment of regulatory fees, said NAB comments responding to the agency’s notice of inquiry in docket 22-301. “Rather than assuming the work performed by all the noncore bureaus and offices of the Commission is so cross-cutting that it cannot be meaningfully disaggregated,” the FCC should examine whether those functions correspond to the way indirect costs are allocated, NAB said. The FCC's current division between indirect and direct FTEs is “too general to be a reasonably accurate proxy for the assignment of Commission work,” the Satellite Industry Association said. “Splitting all FTEs into direct and indirect FTEs based on whether they are assigned to a ‘core’ or ‘non-core’ bureau is an oversimplification.” The agency could assign indirect FTEs for noncore offices to the bureaus they largely support, or create a hybrid, “intersectional FTE,” the SIA said. NAB also called for the FCC to reexamine the Media Bureau FTEs working on broadband matters. “Regulatees in the other core bureaus also benefit from the Commission’s broadband work,” said NAB. “It would be inconsistent with the Commission’s methodology to not require such regulatees to share in the cost.” ACA Connects said the FCC should be cautious about altering the regulatory fee system. The system isn’t perfect, but it works, said the MVPD group. “As part of such an evaluation, the Commission should be guided by a bureaucratic Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm.”
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The Satellite Industry Association recommends the National Space Council make regulatory changes to the U.S.' commercial remote sensing rules and its export control regime for RF remote sensing satellites and data. In a white paper Wednesday, SIA said commercial remote sensing rules should change to reflect emerging applications such as RF remote sensing and the use of hyperspectral and short-waved infrared remote sensing. It said the "Fundamental Goal" for language in the national security policy directive adopted in 2003 should be updated to include economic leadership and commercial space innovation. In a separate paper, the industry group said there should be an interagency review of existing International Trafficking in Arms Regulations rules and "a more pragmatic policy and licensing approach" to ITAR rather than the assumption all RF remote sensing satellite products for all users and use cases fall under the State Department rules. It said an alternative could be putting RF remote sensing with other space systems without ITAR controls.
The Satellite Industry Association recommends that the National Space Council make regulatory changes to the U.S.'s commercial remote sensing rules and its export control regime for radio frequency (RF) remote sensing satellites and data. In a white paper Oct. 19, SIA said commercial remote sensing rules should change to reflect emerging applications such as RF remote sensing and the use of hyperspectral and short-waved infrared remote sensing. It said the "Fundamental Goal" for language in the national security policy directive adopted in 2003 should be updated to include economic leadership and commercial space innovation. In a separate paper, the industry group said there should be an interagency review of existing International Trafficking in Arms Regulations rules and "a more pragmatic policy and licensing approach" to ITAR, rather than the assumption that all RF remote sensing satellite products for all users and use cases fall under the State Department rules. It said an alternative could be putting RF remote sensing with other space systems without ITAR controls.
Trade groups that represent semiconductor manufacturers and customers lauded the Senate's passage of incentives for domestic manufacturing, while unions and a union-funded advocacy group both praised the bill and said trade provisions that were not included still need to pass.