The FCC Wireline Bureau waived until March 12, 2025, sua sponte, certain letter of credit rules for Connect America Fund II and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund recipients, according to an order Tuesday in docket 10-90. The bureau waived its requirement that a bank issuing a letter of credit to a support recipient maintain at least a B- Weiss bank safety rating (see 2311140077). "Recent submissions from banking institutions indicate that a majority of United States banks are no longer eligible to issue LOCs to auction recipients because they have a safety rating less than a B-," the order said, noting that more than 1,600 banks are no longer able to issue the LOCs since 2022. The waiver applies "only to auction support recipients that wish to retain, renew, or reestablish their LOCs with banks that previously had Weiss ratings at or above a B- but have since seen that rating fall below B-," the order said. It doesn't let support recipients obtain an LOC from a new bank that did not already provide one from a bank with a Weiss safety rating below a B-.
NTIA Tuesday released its implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy. Under the plan, studies for the 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands, top priorities of wireless carriers, will begin this month and be completed in October 2026 (see 2403120006). FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr criticized the plan, saying in “the best case” the lower 3 and 7/8 GHz bands won’t be available until 2028. Others had a more positive take.
The FCC Space Bureau granted non-geostationary orbit applications from Space X and Kuiper, with limitations, said a pair of orders in Monday’s Daily Digest. The SpaceX order authorizes the company to conduct communications in the E-band only with the 7,500 Gen 2 Starlink satellites that the FCC already authorized. “This Order does not authorize SpaceX to construct, deploy, or operate any additional satellites beyond those authorized to date.” The order defers consideration of SpaceX proposals on emergency beacons and use of additional satellites. Meanwhile, the Kuiper order grants the company’s request for modifying its NGSO license to use frequencies allocated to the fixed-satellite service (FSS) and mobile-satellite service (MSS) in the Ka-band. The license modification will reduce the number of satellites in its constellation from 3,236 to 3,232 and authorize radiofrequency communications for launch and early-orbit phase (LEOP) operations, payload testing, and deorbit operations. The Kuiper order also rejects a SpaceX petition to deny Kuiper’s application. Granting the applications will serve the public interest by improving broadband service, the orders said.
Incompas is urging the FCC to adopt its proposed changes to pole attachment rules (see 2402140048). Its members "continue to experience significant barriers when seeking to attach to utility poles," citing "unreasonable delays in the application and make-ready process" and "unsubstantiated and unreasonable fees for engineering and survey work," the group said in separate meetings with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Wireline Bureau staff. As such, Incompas is seeking "specific timeframes for make-ready for large pole orders" and backs NCTA's proposal requiring that pole owners notify a requesting attacher within 15 days after receiving their application if the owner can't conduct a survey within the required 45-day period, the group said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 17-84. The group also opposed the Edison Electric Institute and Coalition of Concerned Utilities' petitions about the commission's current rules (see 2402260073).
President Joe Biden is requesting increased funding in FY 2025 for the FCC, Patent Office and the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (see 2303130070). The FY25 requests are lower than FY24's for the FTC, NTIA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, DOJ’s Antitrust Division and some Agriculture Department broadband programs, though in some cases the Biden proposal exceeds ultimate Congressional allocations for FY24. Biden signed off Saturday on the Consolidated Appropriations Act FY24 appropriations minibus package (HR-4366), which included funding cuts for NTIA and other Commerce agencies but a slight increase for DOJ Antitrust (see 2403040083). The Senate voted 75-22 Friday night to approve the package.
Satellogic is eyeing an October launch for the first 16 satellites of a planned earth exploration service that will image the planet using multi-spectral and hyper-spectral optical sensors. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Friday, Satellogic asked for authorization to operate what ultimately would be a 120-satellite X-band constellation.
Both sides in a dispute involving alleged violations of good faith retransmission consent rules between Nexstar and Hawaiian Telecom want the full FCC to overturn aspects of a Media Bureau $720,000 notice of apparent liability issued against Nexstar last month. In the NAL, the bureau agreed with Hawaiian Telecom that Nexstar violated FCC rules by proposing renewal terms that would have barred HT from filing complaints with the FCC, but rejected as being outside the FCC’s authority HT’s initial claims that the broadcaster also violated the rules by refusing to extend an existing retrans agreement. The FCC can’t order a broadcaster to grant retransmission consent, the NAL said. “The Bureau’s decision incorrectly concludes that in the absence of authority to order a broadcaster to grant retransmission consent, the Commission cannot review bad faith conduct that results in a blackout,” HT said in its application for review Thursday. That decision “will serve as dangerous precedent” that “will likely lead to more frequent blackouts because the very existence of a blackout will exempt the broadcaster’s conduct from Commission scrutiny,” HT said. In its own application for review filed Friday, Nexstar argued the bureau shouldn’t have found any good faith violations and said the proposed $720,000 forfeiture is too high and should be canceled or reduced. The provisions against filing complaints with the FCC were part of Nexstar’s proposal to settle HT’s initial good faith dispute concerning Nexstar’s refusal to extend an existing retrans agreement, Nexstar said. That proposal was “eminently reasonable, and any such settlement would have been deficient without a prohibition on further litigation of the matter,” the broadcaster said. The proposed forfeiture “far exceeds the Bureau’s delegated authority” was arrived at in an “illogical way” by treating a contract proposal as a continuing violation from the date it was first proposed until the date the contract was executed, Nexstar said. Such a policy “perversely incents future parties to delay negotiations in the interest of elevating the potential liability to their counter-parties,” Nexstar said. The NAL also increased the forfeiture using “a draconian upward adjustment that is based on no apparent rationale other than that Nexstar is a large and successful broadcaster,” the filing said. “Even if the Bureau could justify a conclusion that a violation occurred,” the proposed forfeiture “far exceeds the gravity of the conduct, not to mention the Bureau’s delegated authority and notions of reasoned decisionmaking,” said Nexstar.
Representatives from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation asked the FCC to exclude motor vehicles from the definition of “IoT product” under the draft cyber mark order, set for a vote Thursday (see 2402220059). “While there is no existing cybersecurity labeling requirement for motor vehicles,” they are “subject to domain-specific cybersecurity guidance, standards, and international regulations,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-239. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “has the authority to promulgate motor vehicle safety regulations on cybersecurity, and has enforcement authority to secure recalls of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment with a safety-related defect, including one involving cybersecurity flaws,” the alliance said. The group met with the Public Safety Bureau and staff for Commissioners Anna Gomez, Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks.
CTIA supports a public notice by the FCC Wireless Bureau Thursday seeking comment on how to make unassigned licenses in the agency's inventory available for use absent general auction authority (see 2403070062). CTIA appreciates Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s “focus on spectrum auctions as an ‘indispensable’ tool for promoting economic growth and national security,” emailed Scott Bergmann, senior vice president-regulatory affairs. The notice “only underscores the importance of Congress moving rapidly to restore the FCC’s auction authority and create a pipeline of licensed spectrum to ensure our wireless leadership.”
The Affordable Broadband Campaign urged the FCC not to immediately grant broadband providers forbearance from Communications Act Section 254(d) requirements in its net neutrality proceeding. The group's chair, Vernonburg Group Chief Policy Officer Greg Guice, said granting forbearance of Section 254(d), which governs USF contributions, is "unnecessary and not supported by the record," per an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 23-320 (see 2310190020). The group urged the FCC to start a proceeding "focused on whether and how the contribution obligation would be undertaken." The group met with Wireline Bureau staff.