The House Armed Services Committee advanced its FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395) Wednesday on a 56-0 vote. The committee added two anti-Ligado amendments to the measure (see 2007010070). Additional amendments House Armed Services advanced include several that would implement March recommendations of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission (see 2003110076). Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., meanwhile, was able reach a deal on a manager’s amendment to that committee’s FY21 NDAA (S-4049), which also has anti-Ligado language. The manager’s amendment now includes language from the Utilizing Strategic Allied (USA) Telecom Act (HR-6624/S-3189) and the Open Technology Fund Authorization Act (HR-6621/S-3820). HR-6624/S-3189 aims to fund creation of an NTIA-managed open radio access network R&D fund to spur movement to open-architecture, software-based wireless technologies (see 2001140067). The modified text would repurpose $75 million from the FCC Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Fund for R&D purposes. The original HR-6621/S-3189 would have provided more, which would have been drawn from spectrum auction proceeds. HR-6621/S-3820 would establish the Open Technology Fund as an independent grantee of the U.S. Agency for Global Media charged with “countering internet censorship and repressive surveillance and protecting the internet as a platform for the free exchange of ideas." The new Inhofe manager's amendment, as earlier, includes language from at least three other tech and telecom bills: the Developing Innovation and Growing the Internet of Things (Digit) Act (S-1611), Deepfake Report Act (S-2065) and Harvesting American Cybersecurity Knowledge through Education (Hacked) Act (S-2775). Senate leaders agreed to vote once the Senate returns from a two-week recess on an amendment to attach the text of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (Chips) for America Act. S-3933 would allocate $10 billion to match state and local incentives and direct the Commerce Department to establish a $3 billion grant program.
The FCC is getting broad satellite industry agreement for better defining spectrum sharing rights between non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service (FSS) systems authorized in different processing rounds. There's little consensus beyond that in replies Wednesday on SpaceX's petition for revised spectrum-sharing rules among NGSOs (see 2006160045). Most agree the FCC needs to clarify the relationship between licensees authorized in different processing rounds and revisit the mechanism to determine the order in which licensees select “home” spectrum in the absence of coordination, SpaceX said. The company urged "a swift rulemaking" because any delay would perpetuate the lack of clarity in rules while the clock is ticking on NGSO operators' deployment milestones. Amazon's Kuiper said due to lack of agreement, next should be a notice of inquiry to gather more ideas to inform an NPRM. "The time is ripe" for a rulemaking to define spectrum sharing rights among different processing round NGSOs, giving superior rights to earlier round systems while providing opportunities for new entrants and system expansion, O3b said. SpaceX's approach would discourage coordination between parties, while merging processing rounds or relying on ITU priority to determine relative spectrum rights conflict with FCC policy, it said. Also critical, OneWeb said there's general agreement licensees from earlier NGSO FSS processing rounds should be entitled to some interference protection from applicants in subsequent ones. Telesat said there's no general agreement on defining and implementing interference protection, and whatever route the FCC goes shouldn't depend on sharing beam pointing information in real time, which couldn't be implemented for systems that assign frequencies dynamically and would require competitors to exchange highly sensitive proprietary information. The FCC should get input via an NPRM regarding how to define sharing procedures for NGSO FSS systems, Kepler Communications said. It said using ITU priority as the basis for spectrum sharing would go against long-held FCC position that applications should all have equal access to available spectrum.
Dish Network entered the retail wireless business after completing its $1.4 billion purchase of Sprint's Boost Mobile (see 2007010017), it said Wednesday. Some 9.3 million customers are involved, T-Mobile said. Dish's buy of Sprint's prepaid business was a government condition for T-Mobile's Sprint acquisition. "T-Mobile followed through on fulfilling one of the most significant commitments we made as part of this merger process," said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. "Today’s action is a key step towards promoting vigorous competition in the wireless marketplace, particularly for price-conscious consumers in our nation’s cities," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "With this divestiture and its existing spectrum resources, DISH has the potential to make a big impact on a wireless marketplace that is transitioning to 5G." Pai vowed to stay vigilant to ensure "T-Mobile and DISH comply in the coming months and years" with FCC conditions. Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim said: “This deal is a significant milestone in realizing" DOJ’s remedy "designed to strengthen competition for high-quality 5G networks.” Dish said it will keep the Boost brand, and reinstituted a popular payment plan that Boost ended six years ago. Dish said its "$hrink-It!" plan starts at $45 monthly for 15 GB and goes down by $5 after three on-time payments and another $5 after six. Dish is introducing a $35 monthly 10 GB plan. Bill Ho, analyst at 556 Ventures, said he's optimistic about Dish's short-term prospects in wireless provided it spends to keep prepaid customers. Companies "can buy any customer," he said, but it takes subsidies to keep them or gain new ones. Incompas CEO Chip Pickering predicted Dish will price Boost competitively and succeed at keeping and building that customer base and could use the cash flow to help fund its 5G network. Pickering said the prepaid mobile business is more valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic because there's more demand for low-cost service and new public policy in the works to subsidize it. New Street's Blair Levin expected Dish will attempt to "leapfrog" competitors with new technology and spectrum capacity when it transitions to its own 5G network. The Utility Reform Network, "always happy to see a new competitor," remains skeptical whether Dish can competitively affect the facilities-based market, said Managing Director Christine Mailloux.
The first joint DOJ/FTC vertical merger guidelines, issued Tuesday, should give more transparency and predictability about how government views such deals, DOJ said. It said the agencies might apply both horizontal and vertical merger guidelines in a deal evaluation since transactions often present elements of both. It said when agencies identify a potential competitive concern in a relevant market, they will also specify one or more related products. It said the guidelines identify conditions under which a vertical combination wouldn't require an extensive investigation because the deal wouldn't create or enhance the combined firm's ability or incentive to hurt rivals. TechFreedom said while the new guidelines recognize vertical deals can be pro-competition and reject creating a presumption against vertical combinations in the tech sector, they also "create substantial uncertainty by eliminating a safe harbor for smaller vertical mergers.” The American Antitrust Institute said including the safe harbor “would have impaired vertical merger enforcement,” but the guidelines don't provide guidance supporting strong enforcement, such as a presumption certain vertical combos are likely to harm competition but rebuttable by evidence that the deal wouldn't enhance market power.
FCC approval of terrestrial L-band use by Ligado will result in costs of tens of billions of dollars to GPS users, and lives lost from signal degradation or loss resulting in reduced position accuracy or false position information, DOD, Department of Transportation and Commerce officials told FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, recapped a docket 11-109 posting Monday. They said a conversation with Commissioner Brendan Carr is being scheduled. NTIA said DOD officials presented and discussed classified materials. DOT and Commerce said DOT GPS adjacent band compatibility test results clearly show an interference danger to GPS. They said a single 9.8 dBW transmitter on the National Mall in Washington showed widespread interference across a wide radius of downtown, and general aviation GPS would be affected as much as a kilometer away. They said helicopter terrain awareness and warning systems could be severely harmed. They argued for the 1 dB interference standard, which they said major GPS receiver makers support. They said Ligado's proposed spacing would mean transmitter power would have to be reduced by a factor of 10,000 to protect all existing receivers. The FCC didn't comment Tuesday.
Groups from the broadcast, MVPD, direct broadcast satellite and submarine cable industry disagreed how the FCC should calculate FY 2020 regulatory fees, in replies posted in docket 20-105 Tuesday. Don’t treat all satellite companies the same on fees, said Astranis and Myriota. “Large 'one-size-fits-all' satellite regulatory fees will limit the expansion of satellite-based Internet access to the most underserved areas of the United States,” said Astranis. Build a contingency in to prepare for agency changes to fees for non-U.S. satellite operators being knocked down in court, said Kineis. “Reject arguments that incorrectly assert that non-U.S.-licensed systems somehow derive materially less benefit from access to the U.S. market than U.S. licensees,” said SpaceX. “It is long past time for the Commission to complete its phase-in of the DBS regulatory fee,” filed America’s Communications Association and NCTA. The proposed unified seven-tier fee schedule would lead to “unreasonably large fee increases,” said AT&T. “Maintain the existing separate [international bearer circuit] fee categories.” Cut "the fees proposed for submarine cables across all tiers,” said CenturyLink. Submarine cable operators are “mistaken” that FCC use of capacity to allocate tiers is improper, CenturyLink added. The Submarine Cable Coalition disagreed, asking the agency to "reassess its methodology for apportioning regulatory fees to submarine cable providers.” Reject broadcaster proposals to assess regulatory fees based on FCC policy objectives such as propagating 5G, suggested CTIA. NAB called the FCC’s regulatory proposal “an abject failure” for not providing a rationale for fee increases, and for raising fees on radio broadcasters during the pandemic. “The Commission’s approach violates the law by not properly explaining the basis for the increases nor tying them to any discernible increase in the work performed on behalf of broadcasters,” NAB said.
Monday's Supreme Court decision on whether the president can fire the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director doesn’t have much bearing on the FCC, said attorneys and academics in interviews. Seila Law v. CFPB hinged on whether provisions protecting the CFPB director from removal were legal. The court struck down those rules in a 5-4 decision. Chief Justice John Roberts said protections against removal for agencies headed by multimember commissions or boards from both parties -- such as the FCC or FTC -- are distinct from protections for those headed by a single individual, such as the CFPB. That means the ruling is unlikely to have much application for the FCC or FTC, said University of Minnesota School of Journalism assistant professor-media law Christopher Terry and Andrew Schwartzman, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society senior counselor.
Petitions for reconsideration of the FCC C-band order (see 2005270031) got a flurry of amens and oppositions, in docket 18-122 postings Monday. Eutelsat said Intelsat's recon petition is an attempt to protect its tracking, telemetry and control while hurting terrestrial buildout, and delaying telemetry, tracking and control gateway earth station consolidation from December 2021 to December 2023 will limit the efficiency of the transition and otherwise delay provision of 5G services. It said the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization's recon petition is trying to impermissibly expand reimbursement costs beyond what's needed for the transition. Inmarsat and Hughes/EchoStar agreed with Eutelsat the FCC should clarify the order to make clear that reimbursements to C-Band operators are for only reasonable and necessary costs, and that satellites built using reimbursed funds are dedicated to serving the U.S. only in the band for the entirety of their useful lives. SES said Eutelsat's recon petition was "a transparent effort to undermine the transition" of SES and other eligible satellite operators as it tries to "graft new, arbitrary conditions onto the standards for reimbursement of relocation costs." Intelsat also opposed Eutelsat's petition and said requiring satellite operators to buy satellites with a C-band-only payload providing coverage solely to the contiguous U.S. would deviate from industry practice, introduce significant new cost burdens and inefficiencies and create inevitable delays. Intelsat said the FCC will have oversight of the relocation payment clearinghouse to prevent reimbursement of unnecessary costs. Boeing also opposed Eutelsat's recon petition. Some petitions, such as Charter's, reargue issues the C-band order fully addressed, while Intelsat's makes requests that would introduce uncertainty in the transition process, CTIA said, urging they all be denied. AT&T, also urging they all be rejected, said they improperly seek preemptive determinations on the reasonableness of specific transition reimbursement claims, which are decisions the FCC delegated to the clearinghouse. T-Mobile and Verizon also said they all should be denied. NCTA said Intelsat's recon petition raises valid red flags about out-of-band emissions and the FCC should clarify that new 3.7 GHz service licensees must protect incumbent earth stations from harmful interference and cooperate in good faith with earth station operators to remediate harmful interference. Also to be clarified are respective roles of 3.7 GHz service licensees and satellite operators in preventing and resolving harmful interference to earth stations from new 3.7 GHz service licensees during and after the transition period, the association said.
FCC employees will keep working remotely at least until the agency completes its move into its new headquarters near Union Station in Washington, with that switch finished by Aug. 27, said an agencywide staff memo Monday, the commission told us (see 2006290034). Whether the 1,800-some workers at the current HQ will report to the new building immediately after Aug. 27 hasn't been determined. Employees have begun signing up to move their personal effects out through Aug. 10. The agency then will move office equipment, furniture and cubicles Aug. 10-27. The FCC expects telework to remain an option at least through August's end, and it anticipates being more liberal in telework policies (see 2006040050).
The FCC is appealing a lower court's summary judgment against it in a fight over a Freedom of Information Act request to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2005010056), said Friday's notice of appeal (in Pacer, docket 18-cv-08607). New York Times Co. sued after being denied its request for the IP addresses, user-agent headers and related time stamps of net neutrality proceeding comments filed in the FCC electronic comment filing system (see 1809200023). The company emailed it's "disappointed that the FCC continues its efforts to keep the public from knowing what really happened during the net neutrality debate. We look forward to defending the district court's careful and well-reasoned decision before the Second Circuit."