Former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai met with Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, according to a tweet from Pai Tuesday. “A great conversation about family, the honor of public service, and reforms that will help transform government for the benefit of all Virginians,” wrote Pai, now with investment firm Searchlight Capital Partners. In an email, Pai said the two talked about family, public service and “forward-thinking reforms,” and he was “just stopping by to say hello.” Youngkin’s office described the conversation as being about “broadband.”

Presentations to the FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council and those by the CEDC to the agency will be treated as exempt for ex parte purposes, said a public notice in docket 17-208 Tuesday. “We find that this modification of the ex parte rules is in the public interest because it will allow the CEDC to develop and shape its advice and recommendations to the Commission more efficiently and effectively,” the PN said. Though the committee may address issues relevant to ongoing FCC proceedings, the agency won’t use information submitted to or by the panel in considering those matters, the PN said.

Dish Network will offer “a real-world example” of the benefits of building an open radio access network as it rolls out 5G, the company said in a call with FCC staff. “Because DISH is building a greenfield network, we have the flexibility to choose the best technology to enter the market,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-63. “While legacy carriers built closed end-to-end networks, DISH chose O-RAN because, among other reasons, it offers lower capital and operating costs, and is more resilient, secure, and energy efficient,” the company said: “If more American carriers see the benefits of O-RAN and are able to adopt it as their networks evolve, the United States will be a stronger competitor in the global market. O-RAN is a game changer.”

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel joked about AT&T's sale of WarnerMedia and fellow commissioners, and briefly toured the agency's new headquarters during Monday's virtual FCBA Winter Celebration -- this year's iteration of the traditional Chairman's Dinner. The event was tied to Women's History Month, and had an array of female former commissioners in brief video addresses. There also was a montage of FCBA members holding up signs naming a woman who had been particularly inspirational to them, with answers ranging from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to elementary school teachers. It's no longer the Chairman's Dinner as "you can't serve dinner over Zoom," Rosenworcel said. "Ten is the new eight," Rosenworcel said as she showed the commissioners' office on the 10th floor of the L Street NE building. She quipped that the building is relatively lonely and staffers generally unpacked, but Commissioner Brendan Carr was seen moving furniture out of his office "after noticing some of it was made in China," and he had applied for "his own rip-and-replace grant." She joked that Comcast's David Cohen being named Canadian ambassador completed the player trade that brought Commissioner Nathan Simington. With AT&T now selling WarnerMedia, DOJ "should retroactively chalk this up as a win," she said. And she joked that some say SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer hung on too long before announcing his retirement, but "imagine if they knew about Dick Wiley," who co-founded Wiley in 1983.

The FCC rechartered its World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee and sought applications from “interested organizations, institutions, or other entities” that want to serve, in a Tuesday notice. The WAC is coordinating U.S. industry positions in preparation for the WRC meeting next year. To comply with Federal Advisory Committee Act rules, the FCC’s charter of each WAC runs two years and the current cycle expires March 30. The reconstituted WAC will run through the end of WRC, in late 2023. Applications are due March 31. The General Services Administration still must approve the new charter. WAC meetings preparing for the next conference started in August 2020.

Amazon emailed Alexa customers Friday notifying them they can make a donation to the American Red Cross to support Ukraine. When users say, “Alexa, make a donation to support Ukraine,” Alexa confirms the dollar amount. When we asked what our options were, Alexa went off track, saying she could help with morning activities, relaxation, education, entertainment, health and fitness and more, and asked which we wanted to explore. We tried again, confirmed the donation and were told the donation was sent via Amazon Pay.

A private daycare center will open in the FCC’s headquarters March 21, said the agency Thursday in a release. Called TeleTots, the center is jointly sponsored by the FCC and the General Services Administration and operated by child care company Reggio’s Treehouse, which operates similar facilities at Federal Aviation Administration offices, the release said. The center will be available for all federal employee families and the public, the release said. Matthew Berry, former chief of staff to former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, tweeted that the daycare facility’s name was determined through a staff contest before the agency’s relocation. The daycare center was an expected feature of the agency’s new HQ (see 2005010052). The agency is still on phase 2 of its re-entry plan, wherein limited numbers of employees are allowed to work from the building if they choose. FCC staff will be given 30 days' notice before the agency scales up back-to-work requirements (see 2203040052).

FirstNet described itself as a “resounding success, providing vital communications services to local, state, tribal, and federal public safety officials throughout the nation,” in a report to Congress released Wednesday. The report notes this is “a pivotal year” for the network's future. FirstNet faces a 15-year sunset provision under the law creating it, which “without Congressional action, would result in the termination of the FirstNet Authority in five years,” the report said. The network is used by 19,500 public safety agencies, across the U.S., with 3 million connections, and grew by 86% in fiscal year 2021, the authority said.

After a pro forma gain of about 4.86 million broadband subscribers on a COVID-19 “pandemic-related surge” in 2020, the top 96% of U.S. cable and wireline phone providers added 2.95 million net additional subscribers in 2021, reported Leichtman Research Group Monday. They added about 2.55 million in 2019. Of the total broadband providers at the end of 2021, cable had 75.7 million, led by Comcast’s 31.9 million, and wireline phone companies had 32.7 million, led by AT&T with 15.5 million. Charter added 1.2 million, ending the year with 30 million broadband subscribers; Cox added 150,000 for a total of 5.5 million. Verizon added about 236,000 subscribers for a total of 7.4 million. Altice, Century Link/Lumen, Frontier and Consolidated all shed broadband subscribers last year. Though the top broadband providers added “significantly fewer” subs last year vs. 2020, net adds in 2021 were higher than in each year from 2016-2019, Leichtman said.

The FCC updated its TV protection list for the T band to remove stations that no longer require protection from private land mobile radio. The TV stations removed cover nine major markets, said a Thursday notice by the Wireless and Public Safety bureaus. “Based on our review of the Commission’s records, since the TV protection list was originally published a number of TV stations included on the list have either changed channels or discontinued operation altogether,” the notice said: “It is important for the TV protection list to remain accurate so PLMR applicants seeking to license facilities in the T-Band know which TV stations they need to protect.” PLMR licenses in the band have an exclusive filing window until April 1, to modify their operations. The T band has long been shared with public safety and gets the most use in major cities, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Washington.