Groups representing prisoners and their families told us they’re examining their options after what they saw as a surprising decision by the FCC Wireline Bureau to delay some incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) deadlines until April 1, 2027 (see 2506300068). Just last month, the government defended the order before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering the challenges of IPCS providers Securus and Pay Tel, as well as other groups (see 2504250030).
The FCC on Thursday released draft items scheduled for votes at its July 24 open meeting, the second with a Republican majority in this Trump administration. Chairman Brendan Carr sketched out details of the meeting in a wide-ranging speech Wednesday (see 2507020036). The main focus will be cutting regulations and streamlining copper retirements and the pole attachment process. Among other items, the FCC would decline to adopt a tribal priority window prior to the AWS-3 reauction. Another draft order requires text providers to support a text-to-988 georouting requirement.
Momentus is hoping for a February launch of its Vigoride-7 in-space transportation craft. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Tuesday, the company said the vehicle -- which would spend 1.5 years in low earth orbit, deploying customers' payloads -- would operate in the S and X bands and host a customer payload operating in the 2.4 GHz band. It said future Vigoride iterations would also perform on-orbit services such as rendezvous, proximity operations and debris removal.
The 2 GHz and 1.6/2.4 GHz mobile satellite service (MSS) bands are prime for sharing with new entrant satellite systems, SpaceX told FCC Space Bureau staff, including Chief Jay Schwarz. In a docket 25-173 filing posted Wednesday recapping the meeting, SpaceX said the agency should make clear that EchoStar's market access in the 2 GHz band has expired and that the band is open for competitive entry. Granting Globalstar's application for 1.6/2.4 GHz access for its French-licensed C-3 system without processing other pending applications "would effectively cede control" of harmonized midband MSS frequencies to a foreign administration, it said. SpaceX also discussed satellite-related proposals in the FCC's "Delete" proceeding, including the addition of categories of satellite modifications that don't require prior approval. In a docket 25-133 filing, SpaceX said it also proposed adopting "self-coordinated 'light licensing'” instead of site-by-site earth station licensing in millimeter-wave bands and presuming that granting a satellite or earth station application would serve the public interest as long as it operates within existing rules.
Incompas and some of its members met with FCC Wireline Bureau staff on infrastructure issues, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-84. Among the companies represented were Crown Castle, C-Spire, Arcadian Infracom, PBI Fiber and Zayo. Incompas members “discussed the substantial investments in infrastructure and technologies they have made to deliver competitive communications services to customers in urban, suburban, and rural communities across the country,” the filing said. “Members also described current state and local permitting and franchising requirements, including the timelines and costs impacting broadband deployment. We also provided examples of variances in these requirements between jurisdictions.”
Paramount Global has agreed to a settlement in President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS over its editing of a 60 Minutes interview last October with former Vice President Kamala Harris during the election, the company said.
The Media Bureau has approved Sinclair’s sale of five stations to Rincon Broadcasting and waived a limit on common ownership of top-four stations in the same market, said an order Tuesday. The bureau also rejected a petition to deny the deal from recently formed public interest group Frequency Forward (see 2504150056). The group’s “allegations concerning Sinclair’s character qualifications have repeatedly been considered and rejected,” the order said.
The FCC signed off Tuesday on T-Mobile and SpaceX's requested waiver of agency equipment authorization rules related to handsets receiving supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service (see 2504090038). In the order (docket 23-65), the Office of Engineering and Technology and Space Bureau said applying the rules would stymie T-Mobile subscribers and first responders from accessing SCS "through no fault of their own, because the holders of equipment authorizations for certain devices have failed to submit requests for waivers to allow those devices to access SCS."
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Tuesday accepted for filing CenturyLink's proposal to discontinue its Engage Business VoIP service covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Objections are due July 16 in docket 25-206. Absent further action, a CenturyLink request to discontinue the service will be “deemed granted” Aug. 1, the bureau said.
In an order that it ties to the agency's “Delete” proceeding, the FCC Wireline Bureau on Tuesday extended for a year a waiver pausing the phase-out of Lifeline support for voice-only services and the increase in the Lifeline minimum service standard for mobile broadband data capacity (see 2307210068). Without the extension, support for services meeting only the voice minimum service standard, which currently stands at $5.25 per month, would be eliminated for most areas on Dec. 1, the bureau said. Without a pause, the minimum service standard for mobile broadband data capacity would rise from 4.5 GB per month to 29 GB, also starting Dec. 1.