Representatives of WTA, Lict and Totah Communications met with Wireline Bureau staff on the enhanced-alternative connect America cost model, seeking an update. The representatives “raised concerns about some ambiguities in how this adjustment process would be applied, and the potential for significant adverse consequences,” said a filing last week in docket 10-90. Bureau staff “indicated that they are on track to complete the adjustment determinations by the end of the year, and that they intended to issue a preliminary data set of the changed locations and support adjustments for the rural broadband providers to review (and seek to correct) before the process is finalized.”
NCTA representatives downplayed USTelecom's objections to new rules on pole attachments in a meeting with FCC Wireline Bureau staff (see 2504220015). USTelecom's claims are “either factually inaccurate and/or incorrect,” cablers said. Representatives of NCTA, Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Enterprises attended the meeting.
The FCC circulated an item on its FY 2025 regulatory fees to 10th floor offices last week, according to the agency's circulation webpage. Regulatory fees are typically due in September. In February, the FCC released a Further NPRM on the process of determining space regulatory fees, and Chairman Brendan Carr has said he wants changes made to the agency's regulatory fee assessment process. In 2024, broadcasters and satellite operators were vocal about hikes in regulatory fees connected with the creation of the Space Bureau (see 2407160049). Also last week, Commissioner Nathan Simington proposed shifting some Media Bureau staff to the Space Bureau, which could affect the regulatory fees paid by the companies those bureaus oversee (see 2505090068).
The actions of independent regulatory commissions, including the FCC, are now being reviewed by the White House via OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and its procedures. Former OIRA leaders and other observers said in interviews that the new procedures may not result in substantial revisions of rulemakings by agencies answering directly to President Donald Trump, but they could slow adoption and implementation. In February, Trump ordered the commissions to submit proposed regulatory actions to OIRA before they appear in the Federal Register (see 2502180069). That took effect April 21, according to interim OMB guidance last month.
Citing lasting effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, Theia is requesting more time to meet the deadlines for its non-geostationary orbit earth observation constellation launch and operation. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Friday, Theia said the pandemic -- which struck soon after the agency authorized the company's 112-satellite constellation in May 2019 (see 1905090031) -- resulted in supply chain and financial market shocks that had "a devastating effect" on its ability to build and deploy the constellation. Theia asked to extend the milestone deadline to have 50% of its constellation launched and operational, which was Friday, and its final milestone deadline of May 9, 2028, by which time the rest is to be in orbit, to Dec. 31, 2026, and Dec. 31, 2028, respectively.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington wants to reassign staff at the Media Bureau, “slash” the USF and streamline FCC licensing, he said in a column in The Daily Caller Friday, co-authored with new Chief of Staff Gavin Wax. The FCC “is a prime candidate for [Department of Government Efficiency]-style reform,” they said in the column.
SpaceX provided false equivalencies about EchoStar's challenge to the out-of-band emissions limit waiver granted to SpaceX, EchoStar said Thursday (docket 23-135). EchoStar said the FCC Space Bureau failed in the waiver to determine that waiving the aggregate out-of-band power limit for supplemental coverage from space service was unlikely to cause harmful interference. It added that the waivers that were granted to EchoStar and SpaceX cites in its application for review (see 2504230021) included a bureau finding that harmful interference was unlikely. EchoStar said SpaceX's citations help prove EchoStar's point.
The New York office of the FCC Enforcement Bureau sent a warning to North Shore Financial in Tarrytown about pirate radio broadcasts emanating from its property in Springfield Gardens, said an agency notice issued Thursday. EB agents found unauthorized radio broadcasts coming from the property in January, the notice said. Unlike in recent similar notices, the precise address of the property was redacted. The FCC didn’t provide a reason for the redaction, but a footnote in the notice said the information is “confidential.” The notice warned that the landowners could face up to a $2.4 million penalty for hosting unauthorized broadcasts, but the FCC’s authority to issue monetary forfeitures is currently under legal challenge (see 2504180021).
The 50 MHz guard band between 28.35 and 28.4 GHz to protect upper microwave flexible use service (UMFUS) receivers from non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) earth stations in motion (ESIM) interference is wasteful and unnecessary, satellite interests said. In a docket 17-95 posting Thursday, the Satellite Industry Association recapped a meeting with FCC staff at which it and satellite company representatives argued that the 28 GHz UMFUS band is underused. SIA said the potential interference from NGSO ESIMs is no different from the potential interference from NGSO fixed terminals or from geostationary orbit fixed terminals or ESIMs, which can operate in the 28.35-28.4 GHz band. Satellite operators have demonstrated the interference risk is minuscule, the group said. A nationwide guard band to safeguard localized, limited UMFUS deployments that are already protected unduly limits NGSO ESIM services. Meeting with the FCC Space and Wireline Bureau staffers were representatives of Amazon, SES and Telesat.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau agreed to give UL Solutions the extra time it asked for to complete its initial work as lead administrator in the agency’s voluntary cyber trust mark program, extending the deadline 41 days to June 13 (see 2505050040). “We find an additional extension of time to be reasonable given the highly technical and complex issues being considered, the significant industry coordination involved, and the public interest benefits of ensuring the Commission receives complete and thorough recommendations,” the bureau said in an order Tuesday (docket 23-239).