U.S. 911 call centers face a “very likely budget crisis” due to COVID-19 (see 2005120038), said Mark Reddish, APCO senior counsel, during a NG-911 Institute webinar Wednesday. Call centers remain mostly locked down four months after the pandemic hit, other officials said.
House Republicans are offering dueling amendments to that chamber’s FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395) that respectively try to advance and stop efforts to hinder Ligado’s L-band plan. HR-6395 and Senate NDAA version S-4049 have anti-Ligado language (see 2007010070). The three new amendments are among several proposals to tack on 5G security and other tech and telecom-related language to HR-6395 once it reaches the House floor next week. The House Rules Committee will consider proposed amendments Friday. The videoconference meeting begins at 11 a.m. EDT.
Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday the FCC will stick with Dec. 8 for starting the auction of C-band spectrum for 5G, circulating draft final auction procedures (see 2007150047). Commissioners approved the auction 3-2 in February, including a procedures NPRM (see 2002280044). The FCC will also consider inmate calling services rates and media modernization among other items at the Aug. 6 commissioners’ meeting.
Citing bigger risks of collisions in orbit and stymied use of the 12 GHz band for 5G services, satellite and wireless interests filed petitions Monday with the FCC International Bureau asking it to reject SpaceX plans to relocate 2,824 planned non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) broadband satellites to a lower orbit (see 2004200003). SpaceX didn't comment Tuesday.
The House Appropriations Committee voted 30-22 Tuesday to advance the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee's FY 2021 funding bill with report language encouraging NTIA to coordinate with the FCC and other agencies “to preserve spectrum access for scientific purposes as commercial use of radio spectrum increases.” The underlying measure allocates $45.5 million for NTIA, just under $3.7 billion for the Patent Office, $1.04 billion for the National Institute of Standards and Technology and almost $180.3 million for DOJ’s Antitrust Division.
The broadband mapping data collection order and Further NPRM proposed by Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to get some changes before a commissioner vote Thursday, FCC and industry officials told us. Foremost among them is a change to the maximum buffers for fiber deployments. Groups and companies told the FCC the 6,660-foot maximum buffer may not be appropriate for all technologies, especially in rural areas, and that for fiber deployments the distances are frequently much larger.
Seeing it could get a bigger incentive payment for C-band accelerated clearing than SES, Intelsat ditched its obligations as a C-Band Alliance member, leaving fellow CBAer SES with $1.8 billion in potential damages, SES said in a claim Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond. That's according to a summary of the document that wasn't public.
Frontier Communications’ reorganization is facing state scrutiny where the carrier sought speedy reviews. Some commissions seek more information in their proceedings and at U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Unions and consumers groups are prodding states to look closely. “States are collectively bringing forward the perspective of the average ratepayer,” which can get lost in bankruptcy court, said Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority Chair Marissa Gillett in an interview.
Multifactor authentication should be a default for companies accessing and transferring customer data, the FTC heard. The agency proposed process-based requirements in April to add to its safeguards rule, which governs how financial institutions keep customer information secure (see 2004200062). Monday’s workshop was meant to gather information for the proposed rulemaking.
The broadcast incentive auction and repacking are among the biggest challenges the FCC undertook, and could inspire “the next seemingly crazy idea for spectrum reallocation, scribbled on the proverbial cocktail napkin,” said Chairman Ajit Pai in remarks at an American Consumer Institute Center webinar on the repack’s official end Monday (see 2007100035). "We have accomplished our objective,” said Pai. “All of the valuable low-band airwaves sold in the ground-breaking broadcast incentive auction are now available for wireless broadband service.” He praised staff, carriers, tower crews and broadcasters for making the complicated process successful.