The FCC deactivated the disaster information reporting system and mandatory disaster response initiative for Hurricane Milton on Monday, said a public notice Monday. The agency is still taking outage reports on nine counties in North Carolina and seven counties in Tennessee. Tuesday’s update showed 10.6% of cellsites in the affected area without service, and 40,963 cable and wireline subscribers without service.

The Biden administration is moving forward on the national spectrum strategy, in some cases more quickly than is widely recognized, Shiva Goel, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, told the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas last week. Goel’s comments build on the remarks of NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson at MWC (see 2410090045). “We're hard at work already on lower 3 and 7 and 8 [GHz],” Goel said. “We're bringing lower 37 [GHz] to a close” and “18 GHz is in full swing already, and then there's everything else.” Goel said DOD, which is working with NTIA on the lower 3 GHz study, hasn’t been “secretive” about its “preference for a … solution” based on dynamic spectrum sharing. “We're supporting” DOD “in building a demo of that capability,” but “that doesn't mean we can't also collaborate on other options for the band.” The strategy’s research and development plan is in its final stages, he said. On staffing, “we're getting the agencies together to spot gaps and ways to fill them to make sure we have people in government able to do this work far into the future.” Goel continued: “Our spectrum problems aren't getting any easier.” The relationship between NTIA and the FCC “is as good as I've ever seen it,” said Ira Keltz, the commission’s new acting chief engineer. The No. 1 priority is the proposed spectrum pipeline and the FCC’s Spectrum Steering Team, which he co-chairs, is hard at work, Keltz said. “We've got plenty of staff at the commission completely engaged in all the activities that are going on.” The top priorities are the lower 3 and 7.8 GHz studies, but the FCC is also focused on 37 GHz, he said. “There's still a ways to go” on the strategy, said Will Johnson, Verizon senior vice president-federal regulatory and legal affairs, “but there [are] also things to celebrate.” The wireless industry knows it will need about 1,500 MHz of mid-band spectrum over the next 10 years, and the pipeline “still remains fairly uncertain,” Johnson said: “We know some bands that are being studied. … But in terms of knowing which bands are actually going to make their way all the way through to commercial use, to auction, we're pretty far from having that kind of clarity at this point.” Luciana Camargos, GSMA head of spectrum, called for more leadership from the U.S. During the World Radiocommunication Conference last year, the U.S. message was that it didn’t want international mobile telecommunications in the 6 GHz band, but it failed to offer alternatives, Camargos said. The U.S. “didn't even support the new agenda item” looking at 4, 7 and 15 GHz, she said: “To me, that's very relevant. … If you don't support looking forward, how can you lead on this?” Keltz said the FCC understands wireless industry concerns about a spectrum pipeline. "We need high-powered dedicated spectrum," he said: "I think we need a little of everything. ... We need to make sure that our unlicensed industry has spectrum they can use." CTIA and GSMA co-sponsor MWC.

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has created a channel for people in crisis to get "potentially unwanted" responses "such as non-consensual emergency interventions, police involvement, forced hospitalization [and] privacy violations" that can cause harm or discourage them from reaching out for help, according to Trans Lifeline. In a report Thursday, the transgender community hotline operator said 988's report that fewer than 2% of calls to the Lifeline result in emergency interventions appears to be "a significant underestimation." It said help-seekers can have significantly different experiences depending on which Lifeline crisis center they reach because of the "disjointed police landscape of crisis hotlines in the United States." It criticized the Lifeline for lack of transparency concerning how many calls result in emergency interventions or what factors prompt emergency intervention. "Though emergency interventions are not the outcome of all hotline calls, the frequency of the practice, the lack of transparency surrounding it, and the harms reported by people and communities who have experienced non-consensual interventions demand greater attention," Trans Lifeline said. Vibrant Emotional Health, the 988 Lifeline administrator, didn't comment.

Communications providers are taking steps to prepare for Hurricane Milton while recovery from Hurricane Helene continues. SpaceX and T-Mobile have accelerated the rollout of Starlink direct-to-device connectivity for hurricane-affected areas, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote Wednesday on X. SpaceX posted that it and T-Mobile have activated SpaceX's D2D satellites to provide emergency alerts for phones in hurricane-affected areas. The D2D activation comes atop more than 10,000 Starlink kits delivered in response to Hurricane Helene, it said. SpaceX has enabled SMS testing for people on T-Mobile phones in hurricane-affected areas, it said. In addition, it said users "may have to manually retry text messages if they don't go through at first, as this is being delivered on a best-effort basis." T-Mobile said it had activated its emergency operations and preparedness plan in anticipation of Milton. That work, it said, includes emergency response teams preparing portable generators and network equipment to provide support. Its emergency response teams also are working with federal and state public safety agencies and Florida's State Emergency Operations Center to identify early prioritization needs following the storm. The carrier also said it has temporarily closed stores and other operations in Milton's path. Verizon said it was staging its mobile network solutions fleet, including portable generators and satellite assets, as part of prep for Milton. It said it had readied network engineers and crisis response team members to deploy to the region and begin restoration work as soon as it is safe. Multiple wireless carriers said they were temporarily waiving some charges and fees for hurricane-impacted areas. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement's communications strike team is ready to support local law enforcement agencies in ensuring 911, internet and radio communications work after Milton, according to the governor's office. Wednesday's disaster information reporting system update showed 11% of cellsites down in the North Carolina and Tennessee counties affected by Hurricane Helene, an improvement over the 12.5% reported down Tuesday. Wednesday's report listed 68,602 cable and wireline subscribers without service in the affected counties, compared with 84,085 Tuesday. The report also listed two TV stations out of service, both in North Carolina. DIRS reports for Hurricane Milton are due to the FCC starting Thursday morning.

The FCC activated the disaster information reporting system and mandatory disaster response initiative for Hurricane Milton, which is expected to strike Florida's west coast Wednesday. “In preparation for this latest storm, we continue to coordinate with industry and government partners at all levels to prevent as many communications networks from going offline as possible,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a Tuesday release. “We've deployed FCC staff to conduct pre-landfall baseline surveys and provide on-the-ground support in targeted areas to assess the post-landfall impact to critical communications services and infrastructure.” Rosenworcel also urged communities in the path of the storm to opt in to wireless emergency alerts and said the agency is also keeping staff on the ground in North Carolina to continue assisting recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene. Tuesday's DIRS update for Hurricane Helene showed 12.5% of cellsites down in the affected area, which now covers 21 counties in North Carolina and 7 in Tennessee. There are 84,085 cable and wireline subscribers without service, and two TV stations and one FM station are reported down. The FCC activated DIRS and MDRI for 52 counties in Florida for Milton, said a public notice Monday. Reports are due from communication providers starting Thursday. The FCC also issued public notices on priority communications services, FCC availability and emergency communication procedures for licensees that need special temporary authority. The Public Safety Bureau also issued a reminder for entities clearing debris and repairing utilities to avoid damaging communications infrastructure.

Consumer, financial and other groups largely supported a draft FCC order on robotexts and robocalls that was pulled from a vote at the September FCC open meeting (see 2409240068). They reported on a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The Organizations joined together for this meeting because they are united in their commitment to combating criminals who attempt to defraud consumers by impersonating legitimate businesses through illegally spoofed calls and text messages,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-59. Among the groups at the meeting were the National Consumer Law Center, the American Bankers Association, America’s Credit Unions, ACA International, the Bank Policy Institute, the Mortgage Bankers Association and Edison Electric Institute. Bank impersonation texts were the most common form of text scam reported to the FTC in 2022, they noted. A community bank located in the Midwest with less than $500 million in assets was a target of a mass texting campaign two weeks ago, the filing said. “A criminal sent a fake fraud alert to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the bank’s customers,” the groups said: “If the customer replied to the fraud alert, the criminal called the customer, displaying the bank’s phone number on the customer’s Caller ID (i.e., an illegally spoofed call) and claiming to be from the bank. The criminal then used social engineering (i.e., publicly available information about the customer) to persuade the customer to reveal their banking log-in credentials.” The bank fielded approximately 600 calls from customers and others targeted by the scam.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr “has gone full-on Fox News fire-breather in a despicable-if-calculated attempt to get a promotion,” wrote Free Press co-CEO Craig Aaron in an op-ed for nonprofit news outlet Common Dreams Thursday. Carr’s “actions and associations should disqualify him from ever serving as FCC chairman, no matter who the president is in 2025,” Aaron added. Carr is widely seen as the likely chair if Republicans win the White House in the election. Carr’s office didn't respond to a request for comment. In the column, Aaron says Carr’s authorship of a chapter in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 book "Mandate for Leadership" is unethical. He notes Carr is the only in-office federal official to do so. By working with Project 2025, Carr has associated himself with “an array of anti-abortion zealots, anti-vaxxers, Big Liars, book banners, climate deniers, conspiracy theorists, immigrant bashers and other assorted haters,” Aaron said. The Heritage Foundation didn’t comment. The post also describes Carr as “fawning over” Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump and “buttering up” Space X CEO Elon Musk. Carr is “too busy licking Musk’s cybertruck shoes to worry about his hypocrisy,” Aaron wrote. The column, Digital First Project Executive Director Nathan Leamer said, is “par for the course with that organization," which "routinely pushes myths and hyperbole to their far left activist audience.” Leamer, like Carr, served as an aide to former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Aaron’s post has the “same energy” as a 2021 Free Press petition submitted to the FCC (see 2109150060) that included comments about shooting Republicans, Leamer said. “Carr’s record," Aaron wrote, "is beginning to get some attention from members of Congress — but more need to speak out about his dalliances with the far right and his trouble telling the truth.”

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Thursday appointed Ira Keltz acting chief engineer, leading the Office of Engineering and Technology. Keltz, an electrical engineer, replaces Ron Repasi, who left the agency last month (see 2409160032). Deputy chief of OET, Keltz has worked on spectrum policy issues at the agency for 30 years, the FCC said. Repasi replaced longtime OET Chief Julius Knapp, initially in an acting capacity, in late 2019.

The FCC's reclassification of broadband as a Title II telecom service under the Communications Act is a "straightforward" violation of the major-questions doctrine, ISPs told the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a reply brief filed Wednesday (docket 24-7000). USTelecom, NCTA, CTIA, ACA Connects, the Wireless ISP Association, and several state telecom groups argued the provision of internet access has "always been the core driver of the information-service classification and that function remains unchanged today" (see 2409120032). The FCC "offers little more than its say-so to support its contrary view," the coalition said, adding that its "forced forbearance and strained reclassification of mobile broadband" underscores "how poorly broadband fits into the Title II scheme." The groups argued that the FCC "lacks any good explanation from departing from its prior view" that the costs of reclassification outweigh any benefits and hasn't addressed the major questions doctrine's "obvious political salience." Congress didn't clearly authorize the FCC to classify broadband as a telecom service, the groups noted, adding it should remain a Title I information service because it includes domain name systems and caching, which are "integral information-processing components." The coalition also argued the FCC lacked statutory authority to classify mobile broadband as a commercial mobile service under Title II because it's not part of the public switched network, or the ten-digit telephone network, which is "distinct" from the public internet.

Cellular service in the areas affected by Hurricane Helene improved Wednesday, according to the FCC’s most recent Disaster Information Reporting service update. It showed 11.3% of the cell sites in all the affected counties down, an improvement from the 21.7% reported out of service in Tuesday’s update. The most affected state in the DIRS coverage area is North Carolina, with 38.3% of cell sites without service in its affected counties. There are 654,220 cable and wireline subscribers without service, as compared to 750,761 in the previous update. The DIRS update shows 6 TV stations out of service and 38 radio stations down across the affected areas. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will visit Asheville and Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday "to gain a firsthand account of communications recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene," said a release Thursday. Rosenworcel is scheduled to meet with FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau staff deployed to North Carolina, visit a federal assistance center and an emergency operations center, and go to a local library that serves as a community Wi-Fi hub, the release said.