Any NPRM that looks at new power limits on non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites should consider how the space industry and the assumptions underlying the original NGSO/geostationary orbit spectrum-sharing framework have changed, Amazon's Kuiper said. In a filing posted Monday, Kuiper recapped a meeting with FCC Space Bureau staffers where it presented four pages of suggested questions and topics for such an NPRM. It said the commission should ask about the level of protection GSO systems reasonably require and if the current equivalent power flux density (EPFD) limits are the right ones for that level of protection. The FCC also should ask if the current EPFD limits overly restrict NGSO operations, Kuiper said. It should seek input on a new NGSO/GSO spectrum-sharing framework and on the best methodology for protecting GSO operations that use adaptive coding and modulation. SpaceX has petitioned for higher EPFD limits (see 2408120018).
UScellular representatives met with FCC staff to discuss the company’s response to a December data request from the Wireless Bureau (see 2412270031), said a filing posted Monday in docket 24-286. They discussed “acceptable formats for submission” of the data, UScellular said. The company also “asked clarifying questions concerning some of the data variables requested … and provided information to staff regarding the scope of data UScellular creates and maintains in the ordinary course of business,” the filing said. Representatives met staff from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics.
Logista asked the FCC to overrule a Wireline Bureau decision rejecting the company’s pursuit of a waiver on a deadline for filing a Form 499-A revision, as well as late filing fees, penalties and interest. The form reports actual revenue billed during the prior calendar year, in this case for interconnected VoIP service. Logista also asked that parts of its filing remain confidential. The company said it filed its Form 499-A for 2023 in March and then in June sought to file a revised form. “Logista respectfully submits that it is not in the public interest to require it to pay an assessment calculated on the basis of a clerical error,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 06-122. The clerical error placed "a revenue amount in the wrong column,” which “significantly overstated Logista’s assessable telecommunications revenue.”
Lawyers for the government and AT&T faced questions from a panel of judges on the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as the bench heard arguments concerning the FCC’s $57 million fine against the carrier for inadequately protecting customers’ location data. T-Mobile has also challenged more than $92 million in fines in the D.C. Circuit, and Verizon disputed a $46.9 million penalty in the 2nd Circuit, but the 5th Circuit case was the first where a panel of judges heard oral argument.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr expected CBS to give in to the agency’s request for an unedited transcript of a 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris by the end of day Monday, he said in a Monday morning Fox interview. “It's due today, and I expect CBS to provide it by the end of the day, to see what in fact was said as part of our own news distortion investigation,” Carr said.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington promotes Adam Cassady from legal adviser to chief of staff ... NARUC President Tricia Pridemore taps for board Katie Anderson, Arkansas Public Service Commission, succeeding Lillian Mateo-Santos, Puerto Rico Energy Bureau; for subcommittee-education and research, Erik Helland, Iowa Utilities Commission, and Doyle Webb, Arkansas PSC, replacing Pridemore and succeeding John Betkoski, Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority; for Gas-Electric Alignment for Reliability (GEAR) Task Force, Josh Byrnes, Iowa Utilities Commission.
UScellular, in a heavily redacted filing at the FCC, told the agency that negotiations with T-Mobile before last year’s purchase agreement took place over seven months. The companies announced in May an agreement under which T-Mobile will buy “substantially all” of the smaller carrier’s wireless operations, including some of its spectrum, in a deal valued at about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt (see 2405280047). On Oct. 4, 2023, Citigroup Global Markets, lead financial adviser on the sale, “started conversations with potential interested parties,” and UScellular’s parent, TDS, entered into a nondisclosure agreement with T-Mobile, said a filing posted Friday in docket 24-286. “Over the next several months, a competitive bidding process was held to solicit proposals from multiple parties, including T-Mobile,” it said. The talks resulted in an agreement reached May 24, UScellular said. The filing was a partial response to a December letter from the Wireless Bureau asking a battery of questions on the deal (see 2412270031).
In an FCC filing on its proposed buy of Frontier, Verizon committed to comply with all USF requirements and related rules if regulators approve the deal. Verizon agreed to buy Frontier in a $20 billion all-cash deal announced in September (see 2409050010). “Verizon will, consistent with the continuation of Authorized Parties’ USF-related obligations post-transaction, assume all risks and consequences of noncompliance with program requirements, regardless of whether such noncompliance pre-dates or post-dates the consummation of the transaction, including default recovery of support and potential forfeiture penalties, in all supported areas,” said the filing, posted Friday in docket 24-445. Verizon said it will comply "regardless of any preexisting or reasonably foreseeable conditions that could impact the relevant Authorized Parties’ ability to meet USF-related obligations, including technical, marketplace, and on-the-ground conditions." It filed the commitments at the request of FCC Wireline Bureau staff, Verizon added.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Monday night that President Donald Trump is nominating panel Republican Telecom Policy Director Arielle Roth as NTIA's leader, as expected. Lobbyists had previously also tipped Roth as a top contender for former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s seat but Trump nominated Senate Armed Services Committee Republican staffer Olivia Trusty for that role instead. Roth was previously a legislative aide to former Senate Commerce member Roy Blunt, R-Mo., O’Rielly’s wireline adviser and a Wireline Bureau legal adviser. She also had stints at the Hudson Institute and Federalist Society.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez staff changes: Hayley Steffen joins Office of International Affairs; Jessica Greffenius returns to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau; Jonathan Uriarte joins as strategic communications and policy adviser from former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s staff ... Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) appoints Brian Rybarik, ex-Microsoft, chair of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission for six-year term starting March 3; he replaces David Danner, retiring … Commercial Space Foundation names Alicia Brown, ex-NASA, executive director … Privacy professionals group IAPP elects to board through 2025: Oliver Draf, Volkswagen; Kristie Chon Flynn, Google; Lara Liss, GE HealthCare; Susan Hintze, Hintze Law and Hintze Data Advisors; elected to the executive committee are: Caroline Louveaux, Mastercard (chair); Barbara Cosgrove, Workday (vice chair); Christina Montgomery, IBM (treasurer), Travis LeBlanc, Cooley (secretary); and Faith Myers, McKesson (past chair).