Federal policymakers must help spur rural connectivity to support precision agriculture and ensure food security, John Deere Director-Advanced Technology, Intelligent Solutions Group Daniel Leibfried told a virtual meeting of the FCC precision agriculture task force Wednesday. Leibfried, who chairs the task force's connectivity demand working group, said if it were profitable to deliver connectivity to rural agricultural lands, ISPs would have done so.
Speakers offered a very different view of the citizens broadband radio service during a Connected Real Estate virtual conference Wednesday. With the CBRS auction to start Thursday (see 2007200049), there was both optimism and continuing skepticism (see 2007210052) about how much interest the band will get.
State eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designation is useful to the FCC, though it might be time to update that and other USF rules from the 1996 Telecom Act, said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel at NARUC’s virtual summer meeting. Later Wednesday, the state regulator association's board unanimously adopted a telecom resolution opposing Capitol Hill efforts to scrap the ETC requirement (see 2007200054). Preserving the ETC designation is a top issue for state regulators, said NARUC President Brandon Presley in a Tuesday interview. He pledged to move “swiftly” on the association’s social justice pledge.
A Thursday Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing on the FCC and NTIA roles in spectrum policymaking is likely to at least partially focus on the dispute between the two agencies over Ligado’s L-band plan, lawmakers and officials said in interviews. The hearing is also likely to be a venue for lawmakers to address other related policy matters, including FCC disputes with other federal agencies on the 24 GHz auction and other frequencies, and bids to allocate proceeds from the coming auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band, lobbyists said. The panel begins at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell (see 2007160054).
NATOA and other state and local government groups said localities need more support from the FCC in addressing residents' RF concerns, in replies to a December NPRM (see 1912040036). CTIA noted wireless devices are safe for all consumers based on FCC rules. CTA said regulators should use a flexible approach and address wireless power transfer (WPT) as it considers new RF rules. Replies are posted through Tuesday in docket 19-226.
Amazon began additional checks for certifying Alexa’s voice-control capabilities, or skills, a spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. In a presentation before the FTC that day, Clemson University Graduate Research Assistant Christin Wilson described Alexa’s certification process as “improper and disorganized." The agency held PrivacyCon, a conference with researchers meant to help identify consumer risks and better target enforcement efforts, Consumer Protection Bureau Director Andrew Smith said.
Private LTE and the citizens broadband radio service won’t be a major factor for in-building connectivity for years to come, speakers warned during the third installment Tuesday of Connect (X), the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s virtual trade show. The FCC is to start an auction Thursday of priority access licenses (see 2007200049).
The Supreme Court doesn’t need to intervene in FCC ownership rules because the ongoing 2018 quadrennial review is a mechanism for updating them, wrote respondents Tuesday to the agency’s attempted appeal of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ Prometheus IV (see 2005260052). “The sky will not fall if this Court allows the Commission to do its job without weighing in,” said respondents including Prometheus Radio Project, Free Press, Common Cause and the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America. By “looking in the rearview mirror,” further judicial review “might only make matters worse,” the filing said.
COVID-19 amplified the need to address broadband gaps, said members of NARUC’s broadband task force in interviews Tuesday. Cable, wireline and wireless networks are holding up to the surge in traffic during the pandemic, but industry agrees with policymakers on the heightened need to expand access, NCTA, CTIA and USTelecom panelists told state regulators' virtual summer meeting.
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly would "give due consideration to a stay” of the order approving Ligado’s L-band plan “if such an item is circulated by” Chairman Ajit Pai, he told Senate Commerce Committee members in response to follow-up questions from his recent reconfirmation hearing. O’Rielly defended the FCC’s approval of the Ligado plan during that hearing (see 2006160062). The committee posted O’Rielly’s responses Monday. Senate Commerce votes Wednesday whether to advance O’Rielly’s renomination to a term ending in 2024. The meeting begins at 9:45 a.m. in G50 Dirksen.