The California Public Utilities Commission should proceed with its proposal to lift its carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations, carriers said in reply comments posted this week in docket R.24-06-012 (see 2410020037). Several commenters backed AT&T's proposal for identifying areas throughout the state where lifting the commission's COLR rules is justified. For example, COLR obligations aren't necessary in competitive markets, said Frontier. The carrier urged the commission to prioritize COLR relief in urban and suburban areas to "avoid ongoing competitive disparities" between incumbent local exchange carriers (ILEC) and rivals. Frontier was among the commenters that backed AT&T's proposal. Consolidated Communications agreed, adding the PUC should reject calls to expand the proceeding and examine the merits of the COLR rules. A coalition of TDS carriers also backed AT&T's proposal. The first phase of the proceeding should consider areas that are well-served before addressing "not yet well-served" areas in the second phase, they said. Should the commission include broadband within the scope of its rulemaking, the carriers will seek a separate, third phase. The commission should request additional comments on issues that "have not been adequately addressed yet are critical to understand in order to revise and update the COLR rules," said The Utility Reform Network, Communications Workers of America and the Center for Accessible Technology in joint comments. The groups urged the PUC to clarify that rules updates don't allow the withdrawal of a COLR solely based on a community's U.S. Census Bureau designation as an urban area. "The mere fact that a community is designated as an 'urban area' within the Census Bureau data should not justify the diminution or elimination of a COLR obligation," they said.
Jessica Campbell, FCC's deputy division chief-Wireline Bureau’s Telecommunications Access Policy Division, announces she's leaving Friday to join DOJ's National Security Division, working in the Foreign Investment Review Section ... Browser security company Conceal appoints Eric Cornelius, ex-Ghost Security, as CEO ... McAfee appoints Joe Manna, ex-Experian, as chief product and engineering officer ... Telecom and technology services provider Fortress Solutions promotes Dan Lakey to chief revenue officer ... Valens Semiconductor appoints Gili Friedman, ex-Sony, as senior vice president-head-cross industry business, effective Feb. 16.
The FCC Wireless Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology on Monday posted procedures that spectrum access system operators in the citizens broadband radio service band must follow to renew their initial five-year certifications for full commercial deployment. The FCC noted it has approved seven SAS providers, six of which remain active. CommScope withdrew last year (see 2303130034). The five-year terms for the initial SAS administrators -- Federated, Google and Sony -- expire Jan. 27. SAS administrators seeking renewal must certify their compliance with FCC requirements “no fewer than 14 days before the expiration of their existing certification,” the notice said. The FCC said it will review each renewal application in coordination with DOD and NTIA. If an administrator fails to submit a timely renewal filing, the Wireless Bureau and OET “may direct the SAS administrator to cease operations immediately.”
The FCC Public Safety Bureau told 4.9 GHz licensees they have until June 9 to file granular licensing data. The filing window opened Monday, following OMB approval of the data collection (see 2412060011). “Incumbent licensees must review operations under their active licenses (radio service code PA)” and use the universal licensing system “to create new licenses (with granular data) in newly-created radio service codes PB (public safety licensees performing base/mobile, mobile-only or temporary fixed operations) and PF (public safety licensees operating fixed links),” said the notice posted Monday in docket 07-100. Licensees “will also cancel their now duplicative and obsolete PA license” as part of the process, the bureau said.
CEO April Feng and others from Ameelio spoke with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on the nonprofit’s incarcerated persons communications services offering. Ameelio previously met with Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff (see 2412060048). “In addition to providing secure software, Ameelio often provides end-user devices, such as corrections-grade tablets, to institutions that do not already have devices,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-62: “If necessary, facilities purchase devices from Ameelio rather than pay leasing fees for proprietary devices from Ameelio’s competitors.”
The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), which has complained to the FCC about SpaceX's alleged conduct in the Russia-Ukraine War, is now raising concerns about the company's environmental impact and CEO Elon Musk's role in President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration. In a petition to deny last week filed with the FCC Space Bureau, UCCA said the agency has a legal responsibility to consider whether there needs to be an environmental assessment or impact statement done for large constellations as part of its review of proposed launches of Starlink satellites from SpaceX's Texas launch site. "More satellites and launches lead to more polluting, soot, gases and metals in the Earth’s atmosphere," it said. UCCA urged the agency to refrain from any further authorizations to Starlink for satellites, frequencies or capacity absent an environmental assessment/ impact statement and before SpaceX shows that further launches of its rockets won't cause environmental harm around the launch site. In a separate motion for stay, UCCA said Musk's role as co-head of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, while also running SpaceX, violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act by creating a conflict of interest or the appearance of one. It called on the agency to stop processing all SpaceX applications and requests until any conflicts of interest are addressed. Given Musk's companies' dealings with the federal government -- both as regulatees and as suppliers -- having him in charge of DOGE "is equivalent to allowing a fox to guard the henhouse," the group said. SpaceX didn't comment Friday. The Ukrainian-American organizations' umbrella group petitioned the FCC in April seeking an investigation of whether SpaceX should lose its licenses because it allegedly disabled the Ukrainian military's use of Starlink while allowing its use by Russia (see 2404240019). Space regulatory experts don't expect the agency to start requiring environmental reviews of satellite systems anytime soon (see 2409200008).
Sierra Nevada is eyeing a June launch for its proposed constellation of three non-geostationary orbit RF-sensing earth exploration satellite system satellites, it said in an FCC Space Bureau application posted Friday. The three are intended to detect and geolocate signals in the VHF, UHF, global navigation satellite system, X-, S-, L- and Ku/Ka-bands, it said.
Hamilton Relay told the FCC in a required annual report that it remains in compliance with FCC rules. Earlier this year, the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau extended until Dec. 31 Hamilton Relay's conditional certification to provide fully automatic IP-captioned telephone service pending further review (see 2404120035). Posted Friday in docket 10-51, the report noted the company is still waiting for an FCC decision. Some data in the report was redacted.
CEO April Feng and others from Ameelio spoke with FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff about the nonprofit’s incarcerated persons communications services offering. Ameelio “provides video and voice IPCS at no charge to incarcerated persons or their families, but rather charges a subscription fee to prisons, jails, and other facilities to provide the services in those institutions,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-62. Ameelio discussed "its successes in Iowa’s Department of Corrections and various prison, jail, and juvenile facilities across the country.” An Iowa study found “a substantial decrease in prison misconduct overall, and more significant decrease in violent prison misconduct as a result of the introduction of Ameelio’s services, which allow incarcerated people to contact their family and loved ones more frequently than [through] a pay-per-minute provider,” the filing said.
Spire Global is aiming for a constellation of as many as 175 non-geostationary orbit satellites, including its legacy Lemur-2 class satellites and its Lemur-4 class satellites, it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application posted Thursday. It said that while it has a patchwork of authorizations -- such as for its previously authorized Lemur-2s -- it was seeking through the application to create a "new, more efficient, unified authorization for its next decade and beyond." Spire said it intends to replace any old Lemur-2s with other Lemur-2s or Lemur-4 satellites.