An objection from Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., appears to have all but killed a deal telecom-focused congressional leaders struck over the weekend to attach modified language from the Senate version of the Spectrum Innovation Act (S-4117) to a planned FY 2023 appropriations omnibus package, a congressional aide and several communications industry lobbyists told us Monday. Another short-term renewal of the FCC’s auction authority is, however, still expected to be in the package, lobbyists said. Hill leaders were expected to release the omnibus’ text Monday, but it still wasn’t available that afternoon.

The deal that Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and other leaders struck over the weekend appears to have used parts of S-4117’s filed text, which diverged significantly from how House-passed companion HR-7624 dealt with the framework for repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band, lobbyists said. The version of HR-7624 the House passed in July calls for identifying ways to use all 350 MHz on the band for either nonfederal use or shared use with federal incumbents, which got DOD criticism in the days leading up to its approval in the chamber. S-4117 envisions an FCC auction of at least 200 MHz on the frequency.

Cantwell, Wicker and others agreed to include language modifying the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s original 3.1-3.45 GHz auction framework to restore NTIA’s spectrum management authority, lobbyists said. IIJA’s passed language gave DOD more power to identify how much of the band the federal government makes available for commercial 5G. The modified language appeared to have support from NTIA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, lobbyists said.

Senate Commerce and Rounds, a Senate Armed Services Committee member, didn’t immediately comment.

Given the exploding space economy and rocketing demand for FCC regulatory reviews of space-related matters, the commission hopes to create a Space Bureau, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday. A stand-alone Office of International Affairs also would be set up, she said. The chairwoman's office didn't comment on its hoped-for time frame for an agency reorganization. At a Satellite Industry Association organized event announcing the reorg, Rosenworcel aide Umair Javed said the chairwoman's office has already begun discussions with lawmakers and unions. The commission has applications representing 64,000 satellites pending before it, while it has seen an eightfold increase in the past year for fixed satellite service earth stations, she said.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated for a vote Wednesday an order and NPRM on the 4.9 GHz band, industry and FCC officials confirmed. The item wasn't circulated for action at the FCC’s Nov. 17 meeting. The order would establish a national band manager, which would govern the leasing process in the band, and the NPRM asks for feedback on details of how the leasing process could work, officials said. The order would allow public safety to interrupt any commercial operations. In May 2021, shortly after becoming acting chair, Rosenworcel got the FCC to stay a 2020 order that gave states control over how the band is used (see 2105270071), over a dissent by Commissioner Brendan Carr. Both Rosenworcel and fellow Democrat Geoffrey Starks had opposed the earlier order (see 2009300050). In September 2021, commissioners asked new questions in a Further NPRM (see 2109300053).

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Monday she will seek a vote on a 12 GHz for 5G notice of inquiry at the commission’s Oct. 27 open meeting. Rosenworcel told NTIA’s Spectrum Policy Symposium she shared a draft NOI with NTIA earlier this month.

“We need more mid-band spectrum in the pipeline, and we need it sooner rather than later,” Rosenworcel said: “While Congress works on auction reauthorization there is no rest for the weary. We need to keep up our efforts to find more airwaves in the mid-band spectrum pipeline.” The NOI proposes opening up to 550 MHz of new mid-band spectrum for 5G, she said.

Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry will retire at the end of the year, citing health reasons, the group announced Wednesday. Berry will be replaced by Tim Donovan, now the group's senior vice president-legislative affairs, CCA said. CCA Senior Vice President Lucy Tutwiler Hodas is being named chief operating officer. Berry joined the group 13 years ago when it was still the Rural Cellular Association. He was formerly a top lobbyist for NTCA and CTIA.

T-Mobile, as expected, dominated the 2.5 GHz auction (see 2208300021), winning 7,156 licenses for $304.3 million, the FCC announced Thursday. The auction had gross proceeds of $427.8 million. PTI Pacifica was the second-highest bidder, at $17.7 million. TeleGuam Holdings bid $16.6 million. By number of licenses won, the No. 2 bidder was North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation, with 107. The FCC said 63 bidders won a total of 7,872 licenses.

The FCC’s 2.5 GHz auction ended Monday, after 73 bidding rounds, hitting net proceeds of $427.8 million. The FCC found winning bidders for 7,872 of the 8,017 licenses offered. New Street’s Phillip Burnett predicted the imminent closing in a Sunday note to investors. “Assuming the auction ends this week, we should get results about a week following close, putting us in the ‘early-to mid-September’ timeframe,” he said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday upheld the FCC’s 2020 5.9 GHz order, allocating 45 MHz of the band for Wi-Fi and 30 MHz for cellular vehicle-to-everything technology. In January oral argument, judges appeared sympathetic to the FCC in a case brought by ITS America and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

“We agree that the FCC does not control intelligent transportation systems,” said the decision by Judge Justin Walker. “But it has a statutory duty to allocate the spectrum to its best use,” he wrote: “Figuring out how much of the spectrum is needed to support a particular activity is exactly what the FCC does. Sometimes that involves analyzing the technical features of a spectrum use to figure out what range is actually needed, as the FCC did here.”

The FCC’s 2.5 GHz auction rose above $200 million Thursday, hitting $208.2 million after two bidding rounds for the day. Sasha Javid, BitPath chief operating officer, predicted Wednesday the auction would hit that mark Thursday but questioned whether total bids will rise above $300 million. The auction started July 29. Two more rounds are scheduled for Thursday.

Senate Democratic leaders have abandoned talk of seeking a vote this week to discharge FCC nominee Gigi Sohn from the Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction, panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday night. Democratic leaders had earlier been eyeing whether they could pursue a discharge vote this week because all 50 Democratic caucus members were available and a handful of Republicans were absent from the chamber.

Sen. Ken Cramer of North Dakota was the only Republican still absent as of Thursday. He’s recovering at home following a serious injury to his right hand but expects to return to Capitol Hill after a two-week recess set to end July 11. His absence and that of Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania allowed the chamber to move earlier in the week on several of President Joe Biden’s nominees who have faced strong GOP headwinds, including a 50-48 Wednesday vote to confirm Mary Boyle to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Senate Democratic leaders decided against a vote on Sohn after further evaluating Republican “attendance” and because “they got stuck” in the floor process for considering the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act as an amendment to shell bill S-2938, Cantwell said: “We’re just going to make guns the priority until we get off” for the recess. Two of three Democratic senators who have been undecided on Sohn -- Mark Kelly of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- indicated Thursday they still hadn’t made up their minds.

The FCC will reopen for visitors Thursday, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced at the end of Wednesday’s commission meeting. This will be the first time the FCC’s new headquarters has been open to the public. The FCC’s July 14 meeting will be open to the public, she said.

Rosenworcel announced “a new step back to the new normal, whatever normal looks like now.” The FCC has been closed to the public since March 2020. “For those who have not been in these parts, you'll notice we have replaced the famed eighth floor with the 10th floor, so get used to it,” she said.

The Supreme Court blocked Texas’ social media law HB 20 from being enforced while under consideration by the lower courts with a 5-4 emergency ruling late Tuesday in NetChoice v. Ken Paxton. Justices Elena Kagan, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch opposed the request from CCIA and NetChoice to vacate the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ lifting of a preliminary injunction against HB 20. The only opinion provided was a dissent from Alito, joined by Thomas and Gorsuch, arguing that the tech groups aren’t likely to prevail on the merits and that by vacating the stay, SCOTUS is interfering with the authority of lower courts and the Texas state government. “The preliminary injunction entered by the District Court was itself a significant intrusion on state sovereignty, and Texas should not be required to seek preclearance from the federal courts before its laws go into effect,” Alito wrote. Said CCIA in a release: “We are encouraged that this attack on First Amendment rights has been halted until a court can fully evaluate the repercussions of Texas’s ill-conceived statute ... This ruling means that private American companies will have an opportunity to be heard in court before they are forced to disseminate vile, abusive or extremist content under this Texas law.” The Texas Attorney General’s office did not immediately comment.

Government may not restrict content moderation by social media platforms, the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in a 3-0 opinion Monday on Florida’s law that makes it illegal for social media sites to deplatform political candidates and requires them to be transparent about policing. The court allowed most of the law’s disclosure rules.

The 11th Circuit maintained a lower court’s preliminary injunction on the Florida law’s content-moderation rules and one "particularly onerous" disclosure rule requiring platforms to give a thorough rationale for every moderation decision. The court lifted preliminary injunction on other "far less burdensome" disclosure provisions that the court found are unlikely to violate the First Amendment.

"We hold that it is substantially likely that social-media companies -- even the biggest ones -- are 'private actors' whose rights the First Amendment protects, ... that their so-called 'content-moderation' decisions constitute protected exercises of editorial judgment, and that the provisions of the new Florida law that restrict large platforms’ ability to engage in content moderation unconstitutionally burden that prerogative,” wrote Judge Kevin Newsom with judges Gerald Tjoflat and Ed Carnes.

The ruling is “good news for internet users, the First Amendment and free speech in a democracy,” said Matt Schruers, president of plaintiff Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA).

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is “pleased the court recognized the state’s authority to rein in social media companies and upheld major portions of Florida’s law leading the way in doing so,” the Republican tweeted. “We will continue to vigorously defend Florida’s authority to demand accountability from Big Tech.”

The 11th Circuit ruling follows the 5th Circuit lifting a preliminary injunction on a similar Texas law. CCIA and NetChoice have filed an emergency challenge of that ruling at the Supreme Court.

Grant Spellmeyer, UScellular vice president-government affairs, will take over the reins of ACA Connects when President Matt Polka leaves in July, the trade group said Tuesday. Spellmeyer "is highly respected for his knowledge and thought leadership. He understands the challenges ACAC members face every day, and he has the expertise to advocate on our behalf to influence positive change," said Patty Jo Boyers, Boycom Vision president and ACA board chairwoman.

Spellmeyer has been with UScellular in policy positions since 2006, and before that spent more than five years at TDS Telecom. ACA said he will start June 1, and will be officially introduced to members at the Independent Show in July at DisneyWorld.

Tech groups asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay late Friday of a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order allowing a Texas social media law to be enforced. Plaintiffs NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) applied for the stay with Supreme Court Justice for the 5th Circuit Samuel Alito, who may rule unilaterally or circulate the matter with the full court.

The appeals court decided 2-1 Wednesday to grant the state’s request to stay a lower court’s preliminary injunction, meaning Texas could start enforcing its law prohibiting larger platforms from blocking, deplatforming or otherwise discriminating against users based on viewpoint or location within Texas. The plaintiffs argued Friday that there is a reasonable probability that most justices would grant certiorari and a more-than-fair prospect that most justices would overrule the lower court’s decision. Denying stay would mean irreparable harm for social platforms covered by the Texas law, with no harm to Texas from keeping the status quo, they said.

“The divided panel’s shocking decision to greenlight an unconstitutional law -- without explanation -- demanded the extraordinary response of seeking emergency Supreme Court intervention,” said NetChoice Policy Counsel Chris Marchese.

The Texas attorney general's office couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel tested positive for COVID-19, she tweeted Monday. Rosenworcel, who is fully vaccinated and has "mild" symptoms, said she will "follow CDC guidance" and work from home "for now." The FCC didn't immediately comment on whether any staffers are quarantining or whether commissioners will meet again in person for their April 21 meeting.

Multiple industry officials told us they expect current White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Legislative Affairs Director Narda Jones to soon be named FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s chief of staff, and for her to be joined on staff by Priscilla Argeris, who left Rosenworcel’s staff in 2015 to eventually join then-Facebook. The announcements are expected soon, possibly at the start of April. Longtime Rosenworcel staffer Travis Litman has been her acting chief of staff since she became chairwoman. Jones worked for 10 years in the FCC’s Wireline and International bureaus before joining the staff of Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., in 2014 and eventually serving as senior technology policy adviser and counsel for the Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Transportation and Science. Jones joined the White House in 2021. Numerous industry officials agreed that, in the words of one, Jones as chief of staff would “make a lot of sense,” and they pointed to the fact that both she and Rosenworcel worked for Senate Commerce. Argeris was a senior legal adviser to Rosenworcel when the chairwoman was still a commissioner. In a 2015 news release announcing her departure, Rosenworcel called Argeris “a trusted advisor who has been by my side since the very earliest days in my office” and a “fantastic public servant, policy whiz, and eagle-eyed lawyer.” Jones, Argeris, the White House and the FCC didn’t comment.

Senate Democratic leaders are actively eyeing whether enough of its caucus will be in town to potentially conduct initial votes later this week on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn or FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya, Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., told us in interviews Tuesday. Senate Commerce voted 14-14 earlier this month on Bedoya and Sohn, meaning the full chamber would need to hold votes to discharge both nominees from committee jurisdiction before lawmakers could move forward on their confirmations.

Senate aides and lobbyists told us Bedoya is the likelier of the two nominees to get a discharge vote this week. The office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., didn’t immediately comment.

There’s “been some discussion about whether or not” Senate leaders will try to hold discharge votes on Bedoya, Sohn and Federal Reserve board nominee Lisa Cook “later this week,” said Thune, who’s also Communications Subcommittee ranking member. Whether the Senate holds discharge votes on any of the trio this week is “going to be [the Democrats’] call” and will be “somewhat based on whether they have enough people here” from the Democratic caucus to get them through. Discharge votes on any of those nominees would likely end up “50-50” with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaker, Thune said.

“It’s all about attendance” on the Democratic side of the aisle, Cantwell said. “If people are there” in enough numbers to ensure a tie, “they’ll try to get it done.” Cantwell is “not going to speculate” on whether all 50 Senate Democrats are now on board with Sohn and Bedoya, alluding to pushback she received after telling reporters last month that Commerce Democratic member Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona backed Sohn before the committee vote occurred. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, seen as the most likely swing Democratic vote on Bedoya and Sohn, didn’t immediately comment on whether he backs the nominees.

Utah could be the fourth state with a comprehensive privacy law. The Senate voted 25-0 Thursday to concur with House amendments to SB-227.

SB-227 sponsor Sen. Kirk Cullimore (R) has said his bill is less burdensome for businesses than privacy laws in other states. At a hearing last month, it was generally supported by industry and opposed by Consumer Reports.

The bill would take effect Dec. 31, 2023 and be enforced by the state attorney general. The bill still needs a signature from Gov. Spencer Cox (R).

Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn struck back against what she deems “unrelenting, unfair, and outright false criticism and scrutiny” in written testimony we obtained ahead of a Wednesday appearance before the Senate Commerce Committee widely seen as a follow-up confirmation hearing. The panel, which began at 10 a.m., is expected to largely focus on Sohn’s role as a board member for Locast operator Sports Fans Coalition and her January commitment to temporarily recuse herself from some FCC proceedings involving retransmission consent and broadcast copyright matters.

Sohn countered claims that she misled Senate Commerce members in her responses to follow-up questions from her December confirmation hearing by not mentioning that parties in the Locast lawsuit agreed to reduce the original $32 million settlement down to $700,000 of the shuttered rebroadcaster’s remaining cash and liquidation of its used servers. The then-confidential agreement “barred me” and other parties “from mentioning the terms of the agreement in writing,” Sohn said. “This was a fact that whoever leaked the agreement to the press conveniently omitted.”

Also “omitted was the fact that the enforceable term sheet setting forth the particulars of the settlement was signed on” Oct. 12, “two weeks before I was nominated” for the FCC seat, Sohn said. At that time “I had no idea whether or when I would be nominated.” She “took very seriously my duty to keep the terms of the settlement agreement confidential,” but “others did not, and exploited my inability to defend myself. Now freed by the public disclosure of this information … I’m here to answer the baseless rumors that have swirled around this issue.”

Sohn noted her revised recusal “is voluntary, temporary, extremely narrow and concerns business unlikely to come before the full FCC. But in no way does it open the door to every other industry seeking a recusal for every position I and Public Knowledge have ever advocated.” That sort of “result would be perverse, and probably would prohibit anyone -- not just public interest advocates and academics -- who has taken any public position on telecommunications and media policy from serving on the FCC,” Sohn said.

"I realize that this isn’t all about me," Sohn said. "It’s about some wanting to stop the FCC from doing its important work ensuring that everyone in America has robust broadband regardless of who they are, what their income is or where they live." It’s also "about stopping the work Congress" has "charged this important agency with doing," she said. "A deadlocked agency helps almost nobody, save for a few huge corporations. But most importantly, it hurts the American people who need the FCC to make hard decisions."

The Senate Commerce Committee plans to hold a second hearing with Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn Feb. 9, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., confirmed to us Wednesday. The hearing will focus on “whatever questions people have” about the nominee, including her commitment to temporarily recuse herself from some FCC proceedings involving retransmission consent and broadcast copyright matters, Cantwell said. The panel delayed a planned Wednesday vote on Sohn and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya after news circulated that Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., was recovering from a stroke and wouldn’t be available to give the nominees unified Democratic support.

Cantwell told us she was already contemplating the hearing before news of Lujan’s stroke broke because Senate Commerce Republicans were “talking about not showing up at all,” which would have denied the panel a quorum to proceed on any of the nominees up for votes. “We had to figure out some way to get people comfortable with the information” about Sohn’s recusals and her role as a board member for Locast operator Sports Fans Coalition, Cantwell said: “It’s all about getting people to show up and vote,” especially given the committee has to rely on some bipartisan support for nominees while Lujan is out.

The Senate Commerce Committee will “probably” postpone planned Wednesday votes on Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya amid expectations that Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., would be unable to appear at the meeting after having a stroke, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters Tuesday afternoon. Lujan’s expected vote in favor of Sohn would be crucial to ensure Sohn receives the 14 Democratic votes needed to reach a Senate Commerce tie given expectations that no Republicans will back her, lobbyists said.

Lujan, 49, is “expected to make a full recovery” after having a stroke Thursday, Chief of Staff Carlos Sanchez said in a statement Tuesday. “Lujan “began experiencing dizziness and fatigue” early Thursday morning and “was found to have suffered a stroke in the cerebellum, affecting his balance. He subsequently underwent decompressive surgery” at University of New Mexico Hospital in Santa Fe “to ease swelling.”

“We’re definitely having to pare down” the Wednesday meeting agenda because of Lujan’s hospitalization, so both Sohn and Bedoya will likely not get votes, Cantwell said. “I don’t know what” will still be on the agenda “because it’ll have to be about what we can get” bipartisan support to advance. It’s a shock “for a young man” like Lujan to have a stroke and “we just wish him the best” and are encouraged he will make a full recovery, Cantwell said.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel changed the leadership of several FCC bureaus Monday. She had until Monday retained numerous department heads from the administration of previous FCC Chair Ajit Pai.

Holly Saurer, a longtime Media Bureau staffer who had been serving as Rosenworcel’s acting media adviser, will become MB chief, replacing Michelle Carey. Former Public Safety Bureau Deputy Chief Debra Jordan will replace Lisa Fowlkes in that bureau’s top spot. Alejandro Roark, former executive director for Latino civil rights group HTTP, is the new chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, replacing Patrick Webre. Loyaan Egal, former deputy chief in DOJ's National Security Division Foreign Investment Review Section, will become Enforcement Bureau acting chief, replacing Chief Rosemary Harold.

Michelle Ellison, who has served as general counsel in an acting capacity under Rosenworcel, will take the job on a permanent basis. “I’d also like to thank Michelle Carey, Lisa Fowlkes, Rosemary Harold, and Patrick Webre, for their public service as they transition to new roles across the agency,” Rosenworcel said Monday.

California’s net neutrality law survived an appeal by ISP associations at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 9th Circuit panel agreed with the U.S. District Court in Sacramento, which last February denied a preliminary injunction against California’s 2018 law. ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom last March appealed in case 21-15430.

“Only the invocation of federal regulatory authority can preempt state regulatory authority,” Judge Mary Schroeder wrote in a Friday opinion. “As the D.C. Circuit held in Mozilla, by classifying broadband internet services as information services, the FCC no longer has the authority to regulate in the same manner that it had when these services were classified as telecommunications services.” Judge Danielle Forrest joined the opinion and Judge Clifford Wallace concurred.

Also, the California law doesn’t conflict with the Communications Act, which only limits FCC regulatory authority, and ISPs’ field preemption argument is foreclosed by case law and the Act, the court said.

The decision drew applause from Public Knowledge and the Benton Institute. California and the ISP groups didn’t comment right away.

Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn told the agency Thursday she will, if confirmed, recuse herself during the first three years of her term “from any proceeding before the Commission where retransmission consent or television broadcast copyright is a material issue.” Sohn’s pledge appears to be the result of negotiations with Senate Commerce Committee leaders aimed at securing support from all 14 Democrats ahead of a planned Feb. 2 panel vote to advance her nomination to the full chamber, lobbyists told us. Some panel Republicans had been pressing for concessions from Sohn over ethics concerns about her role as a board member for Locast operator Sports Fans Coalition.

“While I am not required by my” Oct. 26 ethics agreement “to recuse myself from that docket or from any other matter where retransmission consent or television broadcast copyright is a material issue in the Commission’s disposition of a proceeding, to avoid any appearance of impropriety and in interest of ensuring that the public has full confidence that policymakers will make decisions free of bias, I voluntarily agree” to the temporary recusal on retrans and broadcast copyright matters, Sohn wrote acting FCC General Counsel Michele Ellison.

Sohn also pledged to recuse herself for the first four years of her term from participating in docket 10-71, citing her role as Public Knowledge head in 2010 when that group and 13 others petitioned the FCC in the docket to change how it handles retranS disputes. Sohn cautioned that her recusals don’t extend to not participating in the Telecom Act Section 202 rulemaking “or any other proceeding involving the Commission’s media ownership rules or any assignment or transfer of control of broadcast, cable, and satellite companies.”

Sohn had no comment Thursday. Senate Commerce didn't immediately comment.

FCC commissioners voted out two wireless items scheduled for Thursday, before the meeting. The more controversial of the two, on notification requirements for white spaces devices, provoked a fight between NAB and Microsoft. Microsoft asked the FCC to scale back the notification requirements for white spaces devices in the draft. The company urged the FCC to “maintain its existing requirement that narrowband fixed WSDs be required to check the white space database once a day to ensure capturing wireless microphone reservations rather than the proposed 24 times a day.” NAB, long concerned about interference in the white spaces, asked the FCC to stick with the draft proposal. Commissioners added a short NPRM to the item, which explores Microsoft’s request, FCC officials said Wednesday. Commissioners also OK’d a draft NPRM seeking comment on whether to adopt four new or updated standards for equipment authorization and the certification of the telecommunication certification bodies that review new RF devices.

AT&T, Dish Network and T-Mobile were the three biggest bidders in the 3.45 GHz auction, the FCC announced Friday. AT&T bid $9.1 billion; Weminuche, a Dish entity, $7.3 billion; and T-Mobile $2.9 billion. Columbia Capital’s Three Forty-Five Spectrum bid $1.4 billion and UScellular $579.6 million. Verizon didn’t bid.

“Thirteen of the twenty-three companies with winning bids in Auction 110 qualified as small businesses or as entities serving rural communities,” the FCC said: “In addition, compared to the prior 5G auction, this auction saw a substantial increase in the number of winning bidders per market: over one-third of the top 100 markets have at least four winning bidders, compared with 10% of the top 100 markets" in the C-band auction.

The Senate confirmed Alan Davidson Tuesday as NTIA administrator on a bipartisan 60-31 vote, as expected. The chamber voted 64-30 Monday to invoke cloture on Davidson, clearing away for his Tuesday confirmation.

NTIA didn't comment. Davidson didn't immediately comment. He will be the agency's first permanent head in more than two years. Previous administrator David Redl abruptly resigned in May 2019 amid an extended period of interagency spectrum policy infighting.

The Senate voted 64-30 Monday night to invoke cloture on NTIA administrator nominee Alan Davidson, as expected. The cloture motion sets up a likely Tuesday final confirmation vote for Davidson, Senate aides told us.

If confirmed, Davidson would be NTIA’s first permanent administrator in more than two years. David Redl, the agency’s last permanent head, abruptly resigned in May 2019.

President Joe Biden renominated Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn and FTC pick Alvaro Bedoya Tuesday, as expected. Senate leaders agreed to carry over Alan Davidson's nomination for NTIA administrator from last year, aides confirmed.

Bedoya and Sohn faced strong GOP opposition in 2021, while pushback on Davidson was less vehement. Some Senate Commerce Committee Democrats also voiced misgivings about Sohn, causing the panel to postpone a vote on the nominee. The holdover will allow Senate leaders to more swiftly advance Davidson, albeit likely on a floor vote rather than via unanimous consent, lobbyists said.