ACA Connects, which asked for a response by Aug. 20 to its request that the deadline for C-band earth station lump sum elections be stayed (see 2008170003), now is amending its ask to an Aug. 26 deadline. It said in a docket 18-122 post Monday that without a decision by then, it will seek a stay of the Sept. 14 deadline from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The FCC moved the deadline from Aug. 31 to Sept. 14 last week, but never addressed ACA's petition (see 2008200052). T-Mobile officials told Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff T-Mobile doesn't oppose a brief deadline extension, but other deadlines leading up to and including the C-band auction start need to remain the same. It said satellite operators also need adequate time to update their C-band transition plans after all the lump sum elections are made.
Presentations by members of the FCC’s World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee (WAC) are exempt from ex parte rules, the agency said in a Friday notice. “This exemption covers presentations from WAC members to FCC staff and Commissioners in other settings only to the extent that the WAC members are presenting the views of the WAC or its working groups, as opposed to an individual member’s own views or that of a member’s organization,” the FCC said in docket 16-185: “This modification of the ex parte rules is in the public interest because it will allow the WAC to develop and shape its advice and recommendations to the Commission more efficiently and effectively.”
RSM talked up its bona fides as potential C-band relocation coordinator (see 2008030049) in talks with FCC staff including acting General Counsel Ashley Boizelle, Wireless Bureau Chief Don Stockdale and Managing Director Mark Stephens, said a docket 18-122 ex parte post Friday. RSM said it and its partner firms, along with other experts, have "the requisite project management skills and technical expertise to fulfill the FCC-mandated requirements regarding stakeholder disputes."
The FCC activated the disaster information reporting system (DIRS) for Tropical Storm Laura in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Public Safety Bureau said Friday. Reports were due at 10 a.m. daily starting Saturday until the FCC deactivates DIRS. Bureaus released procedures and contact information.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's rejecting two FCC conditions on Charter Communications' buy of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (see 2008140018) is more evidence the commission needs to quit imposing supposedly "voluntary" conditions unrelated to compliance with existing statutory or regulatory requirements. That per Free State Foundation President Randy May in a blog post Thursday for Yale Journal on Regulation. He said Congress should revise the FCC's merger review process, but neither that nor the FCC's "adopting a new policy of self-restraint in its transaction review process" seems likely in the foreseeable future.
The FCC deactivated the disaster information reporting system for the 24 Iowa counties affected by the recent derecho, said a public notice Wednesday. The deactivation was at the request of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Coordinating Center for Communications and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the PN said. The final report, also released Wednesday, said there were 21,570 cable and wireline subscribers without service, outages at 1.9 % of cellsites in those areas, and eight FM stations and one AM remain down.
The FCC’s World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee plans its first meeting, virtually, to prep for the next WRC, starting at 11 a.m. EDT Tuesday. “This first meeting will focus on WRC processes, among others, the final charter, committee structure including the appointed chairmen and vice-chairmen, and the working method guidance,” said Wednesday's Federal Register.
Accounting firm CohnReznick and its subcontractors Squire Patton Boggs and Intellicom Technologies don't have the relevant experience managing complicated transactions, and shouldn't be named as C-band relocation payment clearinghouse, said Vertix Consulting in a docket 18-122 posting Wednesday. It said the clearinghouse team suggested by the search team (see 2008030049) also hasn't shown how it will carry out "the robust duties ... vital to protecting the public interest" in processing and administering the estimated $13 billion in transition costs and accelerated clearing incentive payments, and lacks a financial institution that's party to the clearinghouse agreement, as required. The team proposal doesn't show any methodology to collect and distribute relocation payments, or that it has an existing methodology that it used successfully in the past, Vertix said. Nor does it show accounting methodology, similar risk management experience or demonstrated approach to prevent waste, fraud and abuse, it said. Truist Financial is mentioned as a partner to the team, but Truist hasn't agreed to the FCC C-band order terms and conditions, it said. The FCC and CohnReznick didn't comment. Vertix said it was representing a team including Deloitte, Bank of New York Mellon, Lerman Senter and Venable. Boeing didn't object to the team but said the FCC should direct it to act to prevent conflicts of interest involving clearinghouse work and participants in the C-band clearing. It suggested the 800 MHz transition administrator's independent management plan as a guide.
FCC commissioners split 3-2 on a notice of inquiry released Wednesday seeking comment for the next broadband deployment report. Democrats dissented as they did on the 2020 report (see 2004230060), which said broadband was “reasonable and timely” deployed nationwide. Comments are due Sept. 18, replies Oct. 5, in docket 20-269. “This proceeding is the perfect place to detail the extent of our nation’s broadband challenges,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The last report “found all was well,” she said: “It clapped its hands and said job done. That’s just not right. For starters, the FCC concluded that there were only 18 million people in the United States without access to broadband. That number wildly understates the extent of the digital divide in the country.” The FCC “continues to repeat its mistakes,” including comparing providers’ deployment in one year against past years to measure progress, said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “We also continue to rely on the Commission’s misleading Form 477 data,” he said, “despite broad recognition that Form 477 has distorted our view of the digital divide.” Only they released statements. “While the 2020 Report acknowledged there is still work to be done to fully close the digital divide, more Americans than ever before now have access to the benefits of broadband as the Commission’s policies have created a regulatory environment to stimulate broadband investment and deployment,” the NOI said. Commissioners approved the NOI Aug. 7.
There are 23,477 cable and wireline subscribers without service in the 24 Iowa counties affected by the recent Midwest derecho, said the FCC’s disaster information reporting system in Tuesday’s report. There were 23,522 without service Monday. The affected areas also have outages at 2% of cellsites, compared with 2.4% Monday. As was the case Monday, eight FM stations and one AM remain out of service, and no public safety answering point reported being down in the affected areas.