SpaceX and Japanese telecom operator KDDI expect to launch supplemental coverage from space commercial service in Japan by year's end, representatives of the companies told FCC Space Bureau staffers, according to a docket 23-135 filing posted Tuesday. They said the necessary regulatory arrangements for offering the service are being finalized with Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. As such, they urged the FCC to authorize commercial SCS service in the U.S.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency hasn’t detected “national-level,” foreign interference campaigns targeting the presidential election, a senior CISA official told reporters Tuesday.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit pressed LTD Broadband Tuesday on its challenge of the FCC's denial of its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application (see 2405090056). Judges during oral argument questioned LTD and the FCC on the standard of review applied to the ISP compared with other RDOF applicants, as well as the potential impact on rural broadband access in the areas where LTD won bids.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau reminded amateur radio service and personal radio services licensees on Monday that the commission prohibits using radios to commit or facilitate crimes. “The Bureau recognizes that these services can be used for a wide range of permitted and socially beneficial purposes, including emergency communications and speech that is protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” the notice said. However, those using radio services for criminal purposes "may be subject to severe penalties, including significant fines, seizure of the offending equipment, and, in some cases, criminal prosecution."
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and two other panel Republicans are claiming that the Commerce Department’s Project Local Estimates of Internet Adoption is “manipulating census data to suppress the number of American households connected to high-speed internet via wireless and satellite technologies,” an omission that appears “politically motivated to disenfranchise alternative satellite broadband providers.” The Project LEIA website “claims its estimates offer reliable data on internet adoption for all U.S. counties,” but “it fails to mention the exclusion of millions of American households who rely on wireless and satellite technologies for internet access,” Cruz and the other GOP senators said in a Thursday letter to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson and Census Bureau Director Robert Santos. Cruz and the other senators, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, said the Project LEIA omissions are aimed at hurting SpaceX’s Starlink. They compare the act to an earlier FCC decision to bar Starlink from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program (see 2312140048) to punish CEO Elon Musk. “This omission results in systemic undercounting and data bias. When the data are wrong, policy outcomes will inevitably suffer.” It “underscores the current administration’s prioritization of politics over sound policy -- an approach that has sabotaged” the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program “and perpetuates misinformation about broadband in America,” the senators said in the letter, released Friday. They want Davidson and Santos to respond by Nov. 14. NTIA has “received the letter and will respond through the proper channels," a spokesperson emailed. The Census Bureau didn’t comment.
GPS spoofing and jamming, already at record levels, will only get worse, experts said Monday at a Hudson Institute event in Washington. Numerous available routes could ameliorate the problem, but there has been a lack of political and policy will, speakers said. FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington called for the agency to use its statutory authority to tackle spoofing and jamming.
Vermont National Telephone (VTel) Wireless' reconsideration petition concerning the FCC Wireless Bureau extending EchoStar's 5G network buildout deadlines (see 2410230004) never mentions commitments that come with those new deadlines, EchoStar said in an opposition posted Friday (docket 22-212). It added the extension is fully within bureau precedent of giving licensees additional time so they can "complete the arduous process of building wireless networks." In addition, EchoStar said, the bureau's order comports with the FCC's objective of promoting a fourth national wireless provider. No one else has opposed the new deadlines, and VTel's "meritless" petition seems likely to have sprung from its unrelated litigation against EchoStar that alleges fraud against Dish Network in the FCC's 2015 AWS-3 auction.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau held a meeting of government communications officials from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. Thursday to discuss communications security threats, an FCC news release said Friday. “The threats facing the communications sector are bountiful and know no territorial boundaries, therefore it is imperative that we work with our closest allies to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect our respective citizens and critical infrastructure,” said EB Chief Loyaan Egal in the release. The officials discussed “emerging security and enforcement trends in the communications sector related to national security, data protection, cybersecurity, and transnational fraud, as well as a greater shared commitment to cooperation and collaboration.” Officials from New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau, the U.K. Office of Communications and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada attended the event, the release said.
California startup Logos Space Services is seeking FCC Space Bureau OK for a planned 3,960-satellite constellation aimed at providing connectivity to enterprise customers and in-space data relay among other satellite constellations. In an application posted Thursday, it said the non-geostationary orbit Logos Network would operate in the Ka, Q/V and E bands at altitudes between 860 and 925 km. The company said it plans a phased rollout, with the first phase of 1,092 satellites letting it commence service and then Logos increasing capacity and throughput as it continues deployment.
The FCC's argument that financier BIU's litigation is a fight between the company and satellite firm Spectrum Five to be dealt with in a state court (see 2410100007) doesn't fly, BIU said. In a docket 24-1189 petitioner's reply brief Wednesday, BIU said no state court can vacate the FCC Enforcement Bureau's dismissal of BIU's Spectrum Five petition and provide the relief BIU is seeking before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. BIU said cases the FCC cited about the agency abstaining from considering issues of contract law in favor of state court adjudication sprung from situations that could be addressed with a state court judgment for money or where there still could be meaningful relief at the FCC after state court resolution. BIU is appealing the FCC's dismissal of a petition seeking reinstatement of the Spectrum Five complaint alleging that Intelsat is interfering with Spectrum Five's spectrum license (see 2404110053).