Representatives of the Association of American Railroads raised concerns about a proposed voluntary, negotiation-based process to transition 10 MHz in the 900 MHz band to broadband, with 5/5 MHz channels, in meetings with aides to Chairman Brendan Carr and Wireless Bureau staff. Questions about what the FCC will do with the band have impaired “planning and investment” in railroad communications, said a filing Friday in docket 24-99.
The FCC Wireless Bureau sent letters Friday to seven providers reminding them of their buildout obligations under the agency's 3.45 GHz rules. The letters went to Columbia Capital, Cherry Wireless, Whitewater Wireless, Grain Capital, N Squared Wireless, Skylake Wireless and Blue Ridge Wireless. Companies that don’t meet the 2026 requirements face “significant regulatory consequences,” the bureau said.
The Wireline Bureau granted a roughly one-month extension on comment dates for the FCC’s incarcerated people’s communications services order, said an order Friday. Comments are now due Feb. 3, replies March 5. Comments were previously due Jan. 5. The extension was requested by the National Sheriffs’ Association because of the holidays and to allow additional time to gather input from its member organizations.
The FCC is doing what it can to promote the move of providers to IP-based networks and off copper lines, Wireline Bureau Chief Joseph Calascione said in a blog post Friday. He compared legacy networks to old Christmas lights “that would go out if a single bulb in the string was dead.” User-friendly features including “robocall mitigation and Next-Gen 911 [get] passed along seamlessly from one provider to another” but are stopped as soon as they hit the “dead-bulb” of old copper lines.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announces retirements: the Media Bureau’s Brenda Lewis, Victoria McCauley and Deidra Whitehead; Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau’s Michelle Jones; Public Safety Bureau's Tammy Cooper; Wireline Bureau's Cheryl Callahan; Office of General Counsel’s David Senzel and Royce Sherlock … Alan Gould, formerly Loop Capital, joins Gray Media as vice president of investor relations, a new position … Emergency communications firm Secure Headset Group appoints Sam Romagnano, ex-Fontel, as director of channel partnerships … Beasley Media Group promotes John Coury to vice president of treasury and corporate controller … David London, ex-Coinbase, joins the Business Software Alliance as head of U.S. state government relations … Fiber Broadband Association reelects Ariane Schaffer, GFiber, as board chair, and Roger Timmerman, Utopia Fiber, as member; joining the board are Ashley Travers, KGPCo, and Brendan O’Boyle, PLP ... Nokia Chief Public Policy and Government Affairs Officer Brian Hendricks announces departure; future plans uncertain.
Representatives of radio altimeter manufacturers met this week with FCC staff to explain recurring concerns with the agency's proposals to auction the upper C band. Commissioners unanimously approved an NPRM in November that asks about issues, including protections for the flight safety devices (see 2511200046). The meeting included staff from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology, according to a filing posted Thursday in docket 25-59.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau on Thursday extended for six months, through June 18, the conditional certification of Global Caption and Nagish to serve as IP captioned telephone service providers supported by the telecommunications relay services fund. The companies were given two-year conditional certifications in 2024, which were set to expire in January (see 2401040069).
Bidding in the long-awaited reauction of AWS-3 spectrum will start June 2, the FCC Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireless Bureau announced Thursday. That means it would likely occur about a year ahead of the much bigger auction for the upper C band. The AWS-3 auction will be the FCC’s first for full-power licensed use since 2022. The first auction of AWS-3 spectrum was in 2014.
The FCC approved 3-0 Thursday, with few changes, an order and further NPRM on expanding the commission’s VoIP numbering authorization rules (see 2512170039). Also at the meeting, commissioners addressed low-power TV and translator stations in a second item approved unanimously and, for the sixth consecutive month, adopted a direct final rule (DFR) to expunge a set of what the agency said are obsolete and unnecessary rules.
The FCC should more closely scrutinize and apply tougher controls to current and future programs that reimburse telecom providers for the costs of equipment and services in schools and libraries, the agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) said Wednesday in a report on lessons learned from the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF). The FCC will take the report’s recommendations “under consideration” when it modifies its universal service programs or implements appropriated funding programs, said Managing Director Mark Stephens and Wireline Bureau Chief Joseph Calascione in a response letter included with the report.