The citizens broadband radio service band appears to be off to a strong start, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said during a ConnectX webinar Tuesday. O’Rielly expects July 23’s priority access license auction to take place as planned, though he said that’s a decision to be made by Chairman Ajit Pai. Other speakers said CBRS will get wide use.
Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del., told us he doesn’t see an easy path forward for drafting text for updating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by December (see 2006090063). Chairman Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told us he’s hoping to get the tech industry to the negotiating table, after the Internet Association said it doesn’t want the DMCA amended.
Rollout of a nationwide three-digit suicide prevention hotline will be given two years, not 18 months, under a draft order to be on the FCC's July 16agenda, it said Tuesday. The longer timeframe is getting acceptance from the mental health community. Some telecom interests argued the 18-month implementation in the NPRM was too short a time frame (see 2002180021) and see two years as still problematic.
President Donald Trump appears slightly likelier to choose Brendan Carr over GOP Commissioner Mike O’Rielly as FCC chairman if he wins re-election and current commission head Ajit Pai steps aside, communications sector officials and lobbyists said in interviews. Carr’s edge is narrow enough that few people we spoke with discounted the prospect of O’Rielly prevailing or the possibility Trump could choose a non-FCC Republican.
As broadband bills advance in states responding to the coronavirus, former acting and possibly next FCC Chair Mignon Clyburn said states will be at the “epicenter” of recovery work. Monday at the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utilities virtual conference, the Democrat sought an “uplifting and all-inclusive recovery” that would include a long-awaited USF contribution revamp and increasing Lifeline’s $9.25 monthly government-funded discount.
The House Armed Services Committee is eyeing potential legislative language to insert into the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to intervene against the FCC’s approval of Ligado’s L-band plan during a coming full committee markup after deciding against pursuing related amendments at the subcommittee level, committee aides told reporters. The Senate Armed Services Committee advanced its NDAA version earlier this month with language to bar DOD from using its funding to comply with the FCC’s Ligado order without further review by the secretary of defense and the National Academies of Science and Engineering (see 2006110026).
The International Bureau dismissed an application on Chinese language programming broadcast from a Mexican station because it didn’t include a company the FCC said Monday is a key participant in the enterprise and also tied to the Chinese government. “The broadcast programming subject to this application is supplied, created, and produced in a studio used, owned, and maintained by Phoenix Radio,” said a release. It alleged the Chinese government partially controls Phoenix Radio.
Clearing the 3.7-4 GHz band of incumbent satellite services for terrestrial use of the spectrum will cost about $3.53 billion, under estimates from satellite providers that were due Friday. The FCC C-band clearing order in February cited estimates of $2.8 billion-$6.1 billion. The agency didn't comment Monday.
The FCC is expected to consider vertical location accuracy for wireless calls to 911, and something on the digital opportunity data collection at the July 16 commissioners’ meeting, agency and industry officials said. Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to release a blog post on the meeting Wednesday, with drafts the following day.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and top lawmakers weighed in Thursday and Friday with additional broadband legislative proposals aimed at tying into COVID-19 aid legislation and broader infrastructure measures. House Democratic leaders announced plans Thursday to merge existing proposals into a $1.5 trillion Moving Forward Act infrastructure measure that would include $100 billion for broadband (see 2006180062). President Donald Trump’s administration is believed to be preparing a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal that will have funding for 5G infrastructure and rural broadband deployments (see 2006160049).