The FCC gave the go-ahead to EchoStar's request this week for extensions of milestones in its 5G network buildout. In a notation Friday in the FCC's Universal Licensing System, the agency said it granted the extension request contingent on EchoStar fulfilling the conditions it made with its application. EchoStar previously cited issues ranging from the pandemic's impact on supply chains to the cost of moving Boost subscribers from the legacy Sprint CDMA network to the T-Mobile network as reasons for delaying its 5G work. Accordingly, it asked that the FCC extend 2025 milestone deadlines into late 2026.

Ron Repasi, chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, is leaving the agency. An email sent to industry on Monday announced a retirement party in the commission meeting room Sept. 26. Repasi took over from longtime OET Chief Julius Knapp, initially in an acting capacity, in late 2019. Knapp had led the OET since 2004. Repasi has been in the middle of most spectrum policy issues at the FCC, from 6 GHz rules to the future of the citizens broadband radio service, lower 12 GHz and other bands, industry officials said. Repasi became chief FCC engineer on a permanent basis 18 months ago. “Please join us for a retirement celebration honoring … Repasi on his many accomplishments during his 32 years of Government service,” said the email on his retirement.

The FCC approved an order establishing a multi-round reverse auction to pay out up to $9 billion to bring voice and 5G mobile broadband service to rural areas of the U.S. otherwise unlikely to see 5G. The vote was 4-1, with a dissent by Commissioner Brendan Carr. The commission plans a public notice to announce the start date of the auction. It also released a Further NPRM on related tribal issues.

The program relies on mobile coverage data from the agency's broadband data collection program, including the FCC’s mobile speed test app, the FCC said.

“With the progress we’ve made in mapping broadband service availability, there is no reason to wait to put the 5G Fund to work connecting households and businesses in rural communities across the country,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

Rosenworcel proposed the fund in March (see 2403200071). Commissioners initially approved a $9 billion fund in 2020, over partial dissents by Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks (see 2010230056).

“As a threshold matter, I cannot support today’s decision because it puts the cart before the horse,” Carr said: “Unlike our 2020 decision, which aligned with [rural digital opportunities fund] funding decisions, the Commission is moving forward today before the results of the Administration’s $42 billion [broadband equity, access and deployment] program are known.”

A three-judge panel in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the FCC's net neutrality order Thursday (see 2407220044). Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton concurred with the ruling, noting that in only the past three years has the FCC "taken its current position that broadband internet access service qualifies as a telecommunications service as opposed to an information service." The panel noted that ISPs have "shown that they are likely to succeed on the merits and that the equities support them" (docket 24-7000). The court found that the final rule "implicates a major question" and the FCC "failed to satisfy the high bar for imposing such regulations." Net neutrality "is likely a major question requiring clear congressional authorization," the ruling said, adding that the Communications Act "does not plainly authorize the commission to resolve" this issue. The court declined to reach a determination on the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's Brand X decision. The court set oral argument for its fall sitting "so that a randomly drawn merits panel may consider the case." Opening briefs for petitioners are due by Aug. 12. The FCC has until Sept. 11 or 30 days after petitioners file to submit its own brief. The FCC didn't immediately comment.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is temporarily staying the FCC's net neutrality order until Aug. 5. In an order Friday (docket 24-7000), the three-judge panel granted an administrative stay "to provide sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the motion to stay" the order. The judges gave a July 19 deadline for filing supplemental briefs regarding the application of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 Brand X decision. The FCC didn't immediately comment.

The Senate Commerce Committee is again postponing a planned markup of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207), a spokesperson confirmed Monday night. The Tuesday meeting would have been Senate Commerce’s fourth attempt to vote on S-4207, which in a revised form unveiled last week would renew the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority for five years but mandated no sales of specific bands. S-4207’s prospects of getting bipartisan support had appeared doubtful Monday, but the bill’s backers were continuing that afternoon to court a handful of Republican holdouts to back it.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized Republicans for again torpedoing Commerce movement on S-4207. Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and other Republicans were poised to seek roll-call votes on a litany of amendments if the Tuesday meeting had gone ahead, lobbyists said. The package “would unlock much needed funding for the 24 million Americans who rely on the Affordable Connectivity Program, invest in America’s competitiveness, help outcompete the Chinese Communist Party, give law enforcement much needed funding to upgrade our life-saving 911 system, and provides millions for minority serving institutions,” Schumer said in a statement. “Sadly, it is clear” Cruz “is more interested in carrying water for big corporations than helping working families in Texas.” Cruz “has chosen to obstruct and delay the committee process with petty partisan culture wars all to serve wealthy and well-connected corporations at the cost of working Americans who are struggling to get by,” Schumer said.

At least two of the four Senate Commerce Republicans who lobbyists identified as the likeliest in their party to back the measure – Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Strategic Forces Subcommittee ranking member Deb Fischer of Nebraska -- told reporters Monday night they had serious misgivings about the revised version of the measure. “I think it's going to have to go back to the drawing board,” Wicker said. “I think the administration grossly overcalculated” in its handling of the endorsement Commerce Department, DOD and Joint Chiefs of Staff officials gave S-4207’s changes last week.

Fischer said it was “very disappointing” that DOD officials “didn’t fight harder” in negotiating with Cantwell’s office on the revised S-4207 “to get what they really needed to defend this country.” She indicated some of her own proposed amendments to the bill would have better reflected what Pentagon officials previously indicated they preferred.

The Senate Commerce Committee is postponing a planned Wednesday vote on the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207), a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday night. That marks the third time the panel has postponed consideration of S-4207 since early May amid continued stumbling blocks in talks aimed at garnering GOP support for the measure. S-4207 would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2029, allocate money to the expired affordable connectivity program and fully pay for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., cast doubt on Senate Commerce's ability to move forward on S-4207 late Tuesday afternoon, citing the state of proposed revisions to the bill. “My understanding is the deal [Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.] struck is something that doesn't enjoy support from any Republicans, and I'm not sure it'll have all the Democrats,” he said in an interview. Negotiations with other panel Republicans, including Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, “are not in a good place.” Cantwell has been trying to court Fischer and other Senate Commerce Republicans who are also part of the Armed Services Committee, who want assurances a spectrum package won't allow FCC auctions of spectrum on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and some other frequencies with incumbent military users.

“We're still working” to reach a deal to advance S-4207 out of Commerce on a bipartisan vote, Cantwell told us before the postponement, adding that there were “still conversations with Commerce members” set for that evening.

A coalition of industry groups on Friday challenged the FCC's net neutrality order and declaratory ruling reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title II telecom service.

The coalition, which included USTelecom, NCTA, CTIA, ACA Connects and several state broadband associations, asked the FCC to stay the effective date of its order and declaratory ruling pending judicial review. In addition, CTIA filed a petition for review of the FCC order at the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society also sought partial review of the order at the D.C. Circuit.

The framework is "unlawful under both the major-questions doctrine and ordinary principles of statutory interpretation," the industry groups said in the petition filed with the FCC Friday. The groups warned that its members will "immediately be required to reevaluate, put on hold, and potentially scrap new offerings and business initiatives" if the order takes effect. The public "would suffer minimal harm from putting the Commission’s rule on hold," the groups said.

Mission Broadcasting is withdrawing from its proposed $75 million purchase of WADL Mount Clemens, Michigan, according to documents obtained Wednesday by Communications Daily. The FCC approved the sale in April but with a host of conditions that would essentially prevent Nexstar from operating the station through a local marketing agreement, as had been planned. The FCC order “constitutes a law that prohibits the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the purchase agreement,” Mission said in a letter to WADL owner Adell Broadcasting. The order conditionally granting the sale said that if Mission didn’t accept the conditions, the matter would be designated for hearing. The transaction won’t be consummated, “thus obviating any basis for a hearing,” Mission told the FCC in a rejection of grant filing Wednesday. Broadcast attorneys have told us that they expect that the dissolution of the deal would lead to the FCC not moving forward with the hearing, but it’s not certain how the agency will proceed. Last year, a hearing on the Standard General/Tegna deal was terminated on the deal’s breakup. Attorneys have said that a hearing proceeding could be a threat to the licenses held by Mission and Nexstar. Adell Broadcasting CEO Kevin Adell told us he believes a hearing would have been a “dumb risk” for Mission and Nexstar and said he isn’t bothered by the deal’s dissolution. “It doesn’t matter to Kevin Adell,” he said. Adell said Nexstar still needs to find a home for the CW network in the Detroit market by the end of August, and that he believes his company could reach a deal with Nexstar to carry the network through a local marketing agreement. Adell had previously threatened to pursue legal action against Mission if the deal weren't consummated. He didn't comment Wednesday on whether he was still planning to pursue the matter in court. Nexstar and Mission didn’t immediately comment.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., said Thursday night he has secured commitments from chamber leaders to move forward on allocating $6 billion in stopgap funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and $3.08 billion for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program amid last-minute talks to pass an FAA reauthorization package. The Senate was still voting Thursday night on passing an amended version of the FAA Reauthorization Act (HR-3935) that doesn’t include the ACP/rip-and-replace language Lujan and others sought, as expected.

“There’s a commitment to move in such a way that there will be votes” to allocate more money to ACP, which is set to see its funding run out at the end of May, Lujan told reporters Thursday night. He had been talking with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other leaders on the floor minutes earlier. Lujan said he had refiled as a standalone measure the ACP/rip-and-replace amendment he previously sought to attach to the FAA package. He denied he was holding up consideration of a House-passed one-week extension of the FAA’s mandate (HR-8289) to secure commitments on his proposal.

Lujan expects the ACP/rip-and-replace measure to come up during a Senate Commerce Committee markup next week, either as a standalone bill or as an amendment to the revised draft Spectrum and National Security Act, which itself proposed funding both FCC programs. The Lujan proposal includes language to modify ACP rules, including subsidy eligibility thresholds. “I’m hoping that they’ll receive bipartisan support and that there’s a solution there,” Lujan said.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and four other senators joined forces Tuesday night to file an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill that would allocate $6 billion to the FCC’s affordable connectivity program for FY 2024 and $3.08 billion to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Senate leaders were still in talks Tuesday night on what amendments to the FAA package they would allow floor votes on in hopes of securing a time agreement to speed consideration of the measure.

The amendment’s ACP language strikes a compromise with an earlier proposal from Vance and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., that would have allocated $7 billion in stopgap ACP funding for FY24. Welch is cosponsoring the Lujan-led proposal. The amendment appears to mirror several ACP-related elements of a coming congressional Universal Service Fund working group proposal, including an end of the affordability initiative’s $100 device subsidy. It would also alter ACP eligibility rules, including tightening language that confers subsidy eligibility on households with children who attend schools with an Agriculture Department Community Eligibility Provision designation to provide free breakfasts and lunches for all enrolled students.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., signed on as a cosponsor of the amendment, which includes language from his Supporting National Security with Spectrum Act (S-4049) that would offset the additional rip and replace funding by authorizing a reauction of the 197 AWS-3 licenses that Dish and affiliated designated entities returned to the commission last year. Daines previously filed an amendment to the FAA package containing S-4049's text. Former Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) are also cosponsors. Incompas swiftly backed the proposal.

The Senate Commerce Committee is postponing markups of an amended version of the draft Spectrum and National Security Act and other bills that were set for consideration during a Wednesday executive session, the panel announced Tuesday night. Senate Commerce still planned to vote Wednesday on a slate of nominations and will consider the postponed bills at an unspecified later date. A panel spokesperson said the postponement was due to time constraints, including ones related to floor consideration of the FAA Reauthorization Act.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., confirmed to us before Senate Commerce announced the postponement that he planned to vote against the Spectrum and National Security Act, as expected. Panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was seeking Republican members’ votes in favor of the spectrum bill ahead of the markup session but was already assured of having unanimous support from all 14 Democratic members.

The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing a May 1 vote on the to-be-filed Spectrum and National Security Act from panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., lobbyists told us. A general notice on the Senate Commerce markup session was online Wednesday night but the committee hadn’t formally announced its agenda. It wasn’t certain Wednesday night whether the Spectrum and National Security Act would actually be part of the meeting. The executive session will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. There are five other telecom and tech-focused bills on the docket: the Rural Broadband Protection Act (S-275), Network Equipment Transparency Act (S-690), Protecting Kids on Social Media Act (S-1291), Create AI Act (S-2714) and Future of AI Innovation Act (S-4178).

A draft summary of the Spectrum and National Security Act indicates the bill would mirror some elements of a Cantwell proposal for a five-year renewal, through Sept. 30, 2029, of the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority that she got the Congressional Budget Office to evaluate earlier this year. The measure mandates the FCC auction off portions of the upper 12 GHz band in three years, the draft summary said.

The draft legislation wouldn’t authorize sales of other specific bands but directs NTIA and “co-leading agencies” to conduct feasibility assessments of some frequencies. The legislation would mandate the federal government study the 7 and 8 GHz bands “to determine whether more Federal spectrum can be made available for non-Federal use, for shared or exclusive use,” the draft summary said. An assessment of the 37 GHz band would eye it for federal and non-federal use. The measure would require NTIA to establish “national testbeds for dynamic spectrum sharing” and implement a framework for “public-private sector spectrum coordination,” the summary said. It would mandate the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy develop a national spectrum research and development plan.

The Spectrum and National Security Act would allocate “short-term funding” for the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program and $3.08 billion to fully pay back Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program participants, the draft summary said. The legislation would also include money for next-generation 911 tech upgrades and “provides funding for tech hubs, R&D for spectrum technologies, and a grant program to prepare minority students to participate in the telecommunications and spectrum workforce.”

The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act FY 2024 minibus spending bill released early Thursday morning doesn't include stopgap funding for the FCC's affordable connectivity program or the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, as expected. The measure allocates almost $390.2 million to the FCC for FY24 and $425.7 million to the FTC. It also includes $535 million for CPB in FY 2026, turning back House Appropriations Committee Republicans' attempt to end that entity's advance funding.

The Senate Commerce Committee plans a March 21 spectrum policy hearing that will focus at least in part on a potential clean FCC auction mandate renewal in the face of stalled talks on a more comprehensive package, panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday. Senate Commerce hadn’t yet formally noticed the hearing Thursday afternoon. Cantwell has been eyeing a five-to-seven-year FCC reauthorization and has received a score on the proposal from the Congressional Budget Office, communications policy lobbyists told us.

A clean FCC reauthorization would be in line with Cantwell’s pursuit of a slimmed-down measure to succeed the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565), which has encountered Senate resistance and hasn’t advanced to the floor since the House Commerce Committee passed it in May. The hearing is likely to also include discussion about the 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act (S-3909), an alternative proposal led by Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, lobbyists told us.

NTIA has released the implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy. Under the plan, released today, studies for the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands -- top priorities of wireless carriers -- are due to start this month and be completed in October 2026. They would be the last of the bands to see completed studies. A final report on 37.0-37.6 GHz will be due this November and should be the first to be completed.

“The Implementation Plan, which is intended to be a living document, outlines the beginning and expected completion dates of the specific outcomes for each strategic objective in the Strategy,” said an NTIA news release. The work on the band studies “will begin this year, with the technical aspects of studies expected to be completed by the end of next year.”

The Senate reconfirmed Democratic FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and approved Republican commission nominees Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak Thursday night on voice votes, setting the body up to soon return to a 3-2 Democratic majority. The commission hasn't had any Republican members since former Commissioner Christine Wilson departed in March 2023. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., lifted his hold on Ferguson earlier Thursday after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted for Hawley’s Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act (S-3853). Ferguson, Virginia's solicitor general, is a former McConnell aide. The chamber also unanimously confirmed FCC inspector general nominee Fara Damelin, setting up the watchdog office to have its first permanent leader since Congress made it independent of the agency in 2018.

The FCC approved, 3-2, an order reinstating the collection of broadcaster workforce demographic data, with both Republican commissioners dissenting and issuing multipage statements. "We must get our arms around this issue,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, who has long pushed for the policy. “As always with good government, we start with data. And data is most effective when it is available to everyone.” By requiring that the data is publicly posted in broadcaster online files, the order will create “a race and gender scorecard for each and every TV and radio broadcast station in the country,” and violate the Constitution, said Commissioner Brendan Carr in his dissent. The order isn't "a radical break outside of this agency’s authority," said Starks. “Reinstatement of the Form 395-B data collection in a publicly available manner is wholly consistent with the equal protection guarantee contained in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” said the order. Collection of data in a publicly available format “remains the best approach” for accurately analyzing workforce trends in broadcasting, the order said. “We will summarily dismiss any petition filed by a third party based on Form 395-B employment data” and “will not use this data as a basis for conducting audits or inquiries,” the order said. Both Carr and Commissioner Nathan Simington said they wouldn’t have opposed an order that kept the data anonymized. If the data collection is purely to inform policy, why does the FCC need to publicly disclose it? Simington asked. “Because the public disclosure of attributable demographic employment data this Order implements predictably serves to increase pressure on broadcast licensees to engage in racially conscious hiring,” he said. Prior to the order's release, NAB President Curtis LeGeyt told us broadcasters “are committed to ensuring our newsrooms reflect the diversity of the communities we serve." Broadcasters "encourage the Commission to partner with us on this important work to truly move the ball forward, rather than to assume that reporting alone somehow meets the moment," LeGeyt said.

A California appeals court reversed a lower court’s decision to delay a state agency’s enforcement of California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) regulations Friday.

California’s 3rd District Court of Appeal vacated the June decision of the California Superior Court in Sacramento, which had granted a California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) petition and stayed any California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) rules for 12 months after they become final. The lower court must “enter a new order denying such relief and otherwise considering any non-moot issue concerning the propriety of compelling more prompt development of regulations,” ruled the appeals court in case C099130. “Assuming no such issue remains, the superior court shall otherwise enter judgment in favor of the Agency and against the Chamber.”

The privacy agency could have started enforcing CPRA rules July 1, but the lower court’s decision meant rules adopted March 29, wouldn’t take effect for one year. “Because there is no ‘explicit and forceful language’ mandating that the Agency is prohibited from enforcing the Act until (at least) one year after the Agency approves final regulations, the trial court erred in concluding otherwise,” wrote 3rd District Justice Elena Duarte.

“We are pleased with the decision,” said CPPA Executive Director Ashkan Soltani. “This ruling ensures all aspects of the regulations adopted by the California Privacy Protection Agency last year are again enforceable, just as the voters intended when they enacted Proposition 24.” CPPA Enforcement Deputy Director Michael Macko added, “The California voters didn’t intend for businesses to pick and choose which privacy rights to honor.” Agency enforcers stand “ready to take it from here,” he said. CalChamber didn't comment by our deadline.

The FCC has made “significant progress” in its handling of the affordable connectivity program during 2022, but “improvements were needed” in measuring and providing public transparency on grant recipients’ spending of program money, the Office of Inspector General said in a Jan. 22 memo to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other commissioners that publicly circulated Tuesday. Some congressional Republican leaders have raised concerns about the FCC’s handling of ACP amid a push to provide the program stopgap funding to keep it running through the end of this year. The Wireline Bureau said earlier this month it would freeze new enrollments Feb. 8 as part of the program's wind-down process.

A final report on the OIG audit, which circulated with the FCC commissioners’ memo, said the FCC “established program goals and performance measures” for ACP, but “the performance results were not assessed with specific performance indicators and quarterly milestones for the period under audit. The FCC would benefit from a formally documented performance plan with objective(s) and measurable and quantifiable goals for the ACP program.” Kearney & Co., which conducted the audit on OIG’s behalf, “did not identify errors with the FCC or [the Universal Service Administrative Company] controls established to determine participating providers’ eligibility,” the report said: “However, we found that USAC did not have effective controls in place to ensure that manual reviews of subscriber eligibility documents resulted in correct subscriber eligibility decisions. Kearney also found that the FCC and USAC don't have an effective process for determining if providers are maintaining proper documentation that supports reimbursement claims.”

The FCC “established a process for consumers to file the ACP-related complaints for the FCC to investigate complaints and for participating providers to inform subscribers of how to file a complaint; however, the FCC did not publish any consumer complaint reports,” OIG said. “Additionally, the FCC did not create a policy or procedure related to the ACP complaints process.” The commission conducted outreach to promote ACP, but “the methods of outreach, other than grants, were not designed to gather information used to determine effectiveness and were employed prior to FCC establishing monitoring baselines for” the program, OIG said: “Also, not all of the other outreach methods used targeted low income or under- and un-served consumers.”

The FCC “partially” concurred with the OIG’s findings but raised concerns about “some audit statements” and some of the methodology Kearney used to determine that 10 out of the 406 sample ACP reimbursement claims from participating ISPs “could not substantiate” claims. Two of the providers Kearney found “did not respond to requests … stated that they were not contacted by the auditors, and thus not given a chance to provide responses to the auditors in accordance with the auditing standards,” said FCC Managing Director Mark Stephens in a memo attached to the OIG report. “The Commission relayed these facts to the auditor and sought a response. We remain concerned the auditors finalized the Audit Report without allowing time to ensure with confidence the two providers were aware of their response obligations to address the auditor’s concerns.” The FCC “has taken steps to ensure compliance” with both providers, he said.

The finding about the FCC’s outreach program “ignores the underlying challenges, including strict statutory mandates and other requirements, that the Commission overcame in setting up a grant program, and the resulting success of enrolling over 22 million subscribers in the program by the end of 2023,” Stephens said. The FCC “has also implemented a dedicated ACP consumer complaint process and released ACP consumer complaint data to the public in accordance with requirements.”

The FCC is adopting, 3-2 along party lines today, an NPRM on circulation seeking comment on a requirement MVPDs refund subscribers affected by programming blackouts due to retransmission consent negotiations, a 10th-floor official tells us. Commissioners in December adopted, 4-0, a companion NPRM requiring MVPDs to notify the agency of blackouts due to failed retrans talks. Commissioner Nathan Simington expressed skepticism at the legal basis cited for the reporting requirement.