The FCC Public Safety Bureau shut down the disaster information reporting system for storms Marco and Laura, said a public notice in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which requested the DIRS be activated for the storms, asked the FCC to close down the reporting. Tuesday’s DIRS report, the last for these storms, showed the effects on communications declining (see 2009080052).
Satellite and wireless interests remain at odds over FCC International Bureau guidance for deploying earth stations in bands higher than 24 GHz, in docket 17-172 replies Wednesday. The guidance got satellite opposition and heavy lobbying (see 2008060055). The Satellite Industry Association said there's general agreement the FCC contradicted itself on the definition of roads and on contour guidance: The only voices otherwise "are a small cadre of wireless commenters [using] the Bureau’s inaccurate and unlawful 'guidance' in an effort to impede broadband deployment by competitive satellite operators." Viasat said the guidance's assertion satellite operators have to account for state road determinations when siting earth stations is unlawful and the spectrum frontiers order "left no room for interpretation or need for 'guidance.'” The company said wireless interests "are simply wrong" about Transportation Department regulations, which clearly say it's the federal government, not states, that decides which state roads are treated as highways. Amazon's Kuiper said wireless interests try to brush off the significance of guidance about roadways that earth station contours can't cross, but it's "not a small change" and the approach wireless advocates are backing "would impose a considerable burden that substantially increases the difficulty" for a fixed satellite service trying to find earth station sites. OneWeb backed SIA. Defending the guidance and urging dismissal of SIA's petition, T-Mobile said arguments it goes beyond or contradicts FCC rules ignore the agency's intent and are unreasonable in interpretation of spectrum frontiers decisions. Verizon said no SIA backers identify where the guidance is contrary to rules, instead they focus on not getting more flexibility. Wireless operators have spent billions of dollars on millimeter wave spectrum and satellite operators had the option of buying exclusive use licenses in areas where they planned earth stations, but opted not to bid, it said.
The FCC got suggestions of changes to its broadband mapping and data collection rulemaking approved in July (see 2007160062), in docket 19-195 comments posted Wednesday. USTelecom and the Wireless ISP Association said the FCC shouldn't require providers to supply testing or other latency verification and it should exclude non-mass market business-only services. They said that verification can't happen until the fabric is created and that geocoordinates should become the standard format when evaluating outside data. They said the FCC should end broadband deployment data collection that's part of its Form 477. Connected Nation said the FCC should either collect speed information below 25/3 Mbps in three speed tiers or the baseline should be reporting at 3 Mbps/768 kbps with two speed tiers, and should collect round-trip latency information, defining the points on the network between which latency is measured. The Competitive Carriers Association said a standard way of reporting signal strength has benefits, but mobile operators look at a wide variety of variables that influence a link budget. CCA said the agency should provide guidance on in-vehicle penetration on a per-frequency basis and make sure verification procedures aren't a sizable burden. AT&T said providers shouldn't have to submit “business-only” broadband service availability data, but all carriers should have to identify the latency capability of fixed broadband service. It backed requiring service technologies to certify to the same latency threshold but said there's a need to differentiate among technologies with higher latency standards. The Broadband Data Act doesn't require changing the broadband data the commission collects from satellite providers because what the agency gets now is accurate, nor is latency information needed, Hughes said. If the FCC decides it wants additional latency information, all providers should report whether their service offerings fall above or below a certain threshold, Hughes said. Incompas said when the FCC refers to its facilities-based definition for broadband providers that must file polygons, it should use a different definition of facilities-based provider, or it will end up with results overstating availability. Next Century Cities urged collecting additional location-specific speed and pricing data. WTA said the approach to defining locations should differ for broadband mapping and Connect America Fund buildout purposes. CTIA's petition for reconsideration said the FCC should look again at its disparate treatment of link budget information of mobile and fixed wireless providers, and at its requiring modeling of in-vehicle usage coverage in addition to outdoor stationary coverage for each mobile wireless technology.
About 22% of cellsites are out of service in the five Louisiana counties where the FCC’s disaster information reporting system remains active for storms Laura and Marco, said Tuesday’s DIRS report. One public safety answering point is rerouting calls, and 74,181 cable and wireline subscribers are out of service. No TV stations are down, but six FM stations and one AM are out of service, the report said. The FCC narrowed the areas covered by DIRS Friday.
Claims that a stay of the C-band lump sum election deadline could jeopardize the timing of the band's auction are "fanciful" as bidders face much bigger uncertainties than the lump sum elections, ACA Connects told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a reply Monday (docket 20-1327, in Pacer). ACA said excluding integrated receiver/decoder costs from the lump sum amount is "illogical." Its filing was in response to oppositions from the FCC and others to its proposed stay. The FCC, in its opposition Friday to the petition for writ of mandamus, said ACA's stay is about getting a larger lump sum reimbursement amount to pay for replacing satellite distribution via the C band with fiber, but the lump sum isn't supposed to "provide a windfall" or cover fiber costs. Intelsat, SES and content companies Discover, Disney, Fox and ViacomCBS said a delay in the lump sum election could mean uncertainty and delays that "impair the ongoing planning, purchasing, and work necessary to carry out the C-Band transition on the FCC’s tight schedule." Also opposing ACA's stay were AT&T, Verizon and CTIA.
The House and Senate Commerce committees are eyeing two hearings next week on telecom issues, communications sector lobbyists told us. House Commerce is expected Thursday to issue a notice on a Sept. 17 FCC oversight hearing, lobbyists said. Senate Commerce, meanwhile, plans a panel on oversight of FirstNet, lobbyists said. The House Commerce hearing would be FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s first public appearance on Capitol Hill since President Donald Trump withdrew his renomination to another term (see 2008030072). The panel is expected to touch on FCC plans for handling NTIA’s petition for regulations defining the scope of Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2007270070). O’Rielly’s reluctance to publicly back FCC OK of the Trump-sought Section 230 petition is considered the main reason his renomination was revoked (see 2008040061). Senate Commerce’s FirstNet hearing would be the first Hill oversight panel on the network since 2017 (see 1711010035). House and Senate Commerce didn’t comment.
Hubbard won’t face monetary penalties for political file violations at a host of its radio stations, according to an FCC Media Bureau order and consent decree. The bureau has reached similar consent decrees with other large groups, including iHeart and Beasley (see 2007300054). Those items were posted on the FCC’s website under the company name, whereas Friday’s Hubbard order and consent decree were labeled by the name of a subsidiary: “Chicago FCC License Sub, LLC, et al.” The subject of the order and consent decree is referred to throughout the documents as “Hubbard.” The bureau and broadcaster didn’t comment. As with a slew of similar consent decrees posted in recent weeks, the bureau pointed to COVID-19 as creating extenuating circumstances that merit resolving the matter with a compliance plan and consent decree. Also like those other cases, the violations came out during the license renewal process, it said. “The Company’s disclosures in its license renewal applications combined with the exceptional circumstances brought about by the pandemic present a unique situation.” The broadcaster will be required to adopt a compliance plan, and its renewals will be processed.
Other consolidated challengers to the C-band clearing order are after "a piece of the financial action" from that clearing, but their businesses won't be impaired, so the FCC sensibly declined to make payments available, SES said in an intervenor brief Friday (in Pacer, docket 20-1142). Small satellite appellants "clearly" weren't launched to provide commercially viable C-band services in the U.S., and PSSI's "alleged woes are the result of market forces," SES said. Counsel for the appellants didn't comment. SES is appealing the order, also calling it a prophylactic measure, and participating in the appeal solely as an intervenor in support of the FCC. Federal law is clear the FCC exercised its authority permissibly to modify C-band licenses in the public interest, rather than fundamentally change them, AT&T, CTIA and Verizon said in an intervenor brief (in Pacer). They said while the appellants object to the accelerated band clearing payments, the wireless interests that will be paying them don't. They said claims about possible 5G interference ignore the 20 MHz guard band protecting incumbents.
Cable ISP interests like NCTA's pole attachment declaratory ruling petition (see 2007170023), while telecom, localities and utilities interests are more mixed, judging by docket 17-84 comments last week. The petition "confirms what the Commission already knows ...: utilities often charge unjust and unreasonable pole replacement fees" that impede network deployment, ACA Connects said. It urged codifying policies including that a utility can't assess pole replacement fees if there isn't "insufficient capacity" on an existing pole. Charter Communications said despite being told make-ready charges must reflect just the costs caused by an attachment, pole owners "frequently leverage their superior bargaining position" to make an attacher seeking access buy a new pole and pay for installation. Altice said it has run into high make-ready fees for replacements, and the FCC needs to clarify that pole owners must share in the cost of replacements in unserved areas. It applauded expedited processing of pole attachment complaints for unserved areas. Calling the petition "anti competitive, misleading and ill-informed," the Coalition of Concerned Utilities said electric utility pole owners often voluntarily replace poles and add capacity. NCTA's petition would require they pay for these capacity expansions and obligate them to expand rapidly, even at the expense of safety and reliability, the coalition said. The Edison Electric Institute, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Utilities Technology Council said the FCC has acknowledged that leaving pole owners with unrecoverable costs would create a disincentive for utilities to build taller poles or replace poles. Next Century Cities said the digital divide won't be closed more quickly by cutting local government authority to determine the cost of replacing poles, with the FCC sole arbiter. Putting attachment complaints on an accelerated docket is a problem for municipalities now, as they lack time and resources to adequately respond that quickly, it said. AT&T said NCTA's push that it's unjust in unserved areas for a pole owner to make a new attacher pay for all the replacement costs is an attempt to change rules. Rules also let access disputes be eligible for an accelerated docket, it said. USTelecom said the issues raised in the petition are better off as part of a rulemaking, adding that cable has been successfully building out networks to new locations. The Wireless Infrastructure Association backed the petition, saying pole owners should share in replacement costs everywhere, not just unserved areas.
Cable and wireline subscribers without service due to tropical storms Laura and Marco has dropped from 133,195 to 124,509 in the affected portions of Louisiana and Texas, said Thursday’s FCC disaster information reporting service release. Cellsites down decreased from 7.7% to 4.7%. One Louisiana public service answering point continues to reroute 911 calls, and KBCA Alexandria, Louisiana, remains down, along with 14 FM stations and two AMs -- one fewer AM than Wednesday (see 2009020061).