Alaska's Quintillion expects a "prolonged" outage of its service to North Slope and northwest Alaskan communities due to a fiber cut under the Beaufort Sea, according to President Mac McHale. McHale said that the company became aware of the outage Saturday and that winter conditions, including sea ice and darkness, "have made it impossible to pinpoint an exact location of the cut and the extent of the cable damage." He added, "Unfortunately, the outage will be prolonged, and sea ice will prevent a repair crew and vessel from entering the area and completing a subsea repair until late summer." McHale said Quintillion "is aggressively exploring options" for a short-term fix, such as a terrestrial route. "The good news is that Quintillion had previously invested millions of dollars to acquire the cable needed for such a route and has this hardware on hand in Fairbanks," he said. That option, though, "will require significant assistance from the federal government." He said the company has been working with the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope on obtaining a FEMA resilient infrastructure grant, with a joint application being filed with FEMA in March. Quintillion will continue pressing for FEMA support and pursuing the Bureau of Land Management permits needed to build this terrestrial route. "To expedite a repair, we will need the full force and support of the incoming Trump Administration, including cutting federal government red tape and eliminating bureaucratic obstacles that will stand between Quintillion and system restoration," McHale said. "The time for federal agencies to act is now.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is leaving a number of key officials in place, at least for now, while changing others as he takes over the agency. He unveiled selections for leaders of bureaus and offices in a Wednesday release. For example, Carr named FCC veteran Jacob Lewis as acting general counsel, replacing Michelle Ellison. Carr was general counsel before being confirmed as a member of the FCC. Erin Boone, just tapped as a Carr aide (see 2501210022), will also serve as acting chief of the Media Bureau, replacing Holly Saurer, who recently left the post (see 2501130071). Patrick Webre, a deputy chief of the Enforcement Bureau, is now acting chief, replacing Peter Hyun, who had also been serving in an acting capacity. Carr named Eduard Bartholme acting chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, replacing Alejandro Roark. Joel Taubenblatt will continue leading the Wireless Bureau, Trent Harkrader the Wireline Bureau and Debra Jordan the Public Safety Bureau, though all three are currently in an acting capacity. Mark Stephens remains in place as managing director. Carr plans a second release on appointments, the notice said.
The FCC Media Bureau and Enforcement Bureau have set aside decisions made last week under the previous FCC chair to dismiss complaints against stations owned by ABC, CBS and NBC, according to orders filed in docket 25-11 Wednesday.
New FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to keep Greg Watson as his chief of staff; he names Scott Delacourt, ex-Wiley, chief of staff of the commission; Adam Chan, ex-Boyden Gray, national security senior counsel; Anthony Patrone, ex-NTIA, legal adviser; Matt Mittelstaedt, ex-office of then-Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, director-office of legislative affairs; Arpan Sura, former senior counsel-Wireless Bureau, senior counsel-spectrum and technology; Danielle Thumann, Carr's legal adviser, becomes senior counsel-wireline, public safety and consumer protection; Erin Boone, former chief of staff and wireless adviser to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, becomes Carr's senior counsel-media and enforcement; Wireline Bureau's Callie Coker, moves to legal adviser-chairman's office; Drema Johnson continues as Carr's confidential assistant; Stephanie Chambless, ex-House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, named special counsel-Office of the General Counsel ... GeoLinks names David Gray, ex-Splice, channel sales leader … Broadband telecommunications services company Boston Omaha adds David Graff, ex-Hudl, to board.
U.S. Supreme Court justices peppered both sides with questions on Tuesday as the court heard McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, a Telephone Consumer Protection Act case with broad implications for the FCC and other agencies. Lawyers representing TCPA defendants fear that a decision overruling the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could mean any district court might decide whether a regulatory action is valid, leading to a bonanza for TCPA plaintiffs, who could seek alternative interpretations in different courts (see 2410170015).
Subsurface imagery startup Lunasonde plans to launch its San Xavier non-geostationary orbit cube satellite in July, it said in an FCC Space Bureau application posted Friday. The satellite will be used to demonstrate satellite functionality and image the Earth's subsurface and ionosphere, it said. San Xavier will operate in frequencies allocated for Earth exploration-satellite service and space operation service, it said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Friday denied requests for review by Dish Wireless, AT&T and Excess Telecom concerning Universal Service Administrative Co. decisions seeking to recover funds disbursed under the emergency broadband benefit program. On April 3, 2023, USAC sent letters to AT&T, Dish and Excess “notifying them of non-compliance with the EBB Program rules” and alleging that they failed to "ensure certain households were eligible for the Emergency Broadband Benefit pursuant to claimed enrollment at” a community eligibility provision school, the bureau said. “With respect to AT&T and DISH, we find that USAC properly determined that the Petitioners failed to demonstrate the households’ eligibility for the EBB Program,” the bureau said: “We find that Excess has failed to show that good cause exists to waive the deadline to submit an appeal to USAC, and therefore deny their request as well.”
FCC commissioners unanimously adopted an NPRM seeking comment on rules designed to provide more spectrum for uncrewed aircraft systems. Commissioner Anna Gomez recused herself from voting on the 450 MHz portion of the notice. The NPRM proposes changes in service rules for 650 kHz in the 450 MHz band. “In their current form, these site-based rules confine air-ground communications in the band to voice communications with aircraft traveling at high altitudes,” the NPRM said: “We propose to replace the current rigid framework with rules that embrace more flexible use of the band while minimizing the possibility for harmful interference by creating a single nationwide license.”
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau on Friday sought comment on the application of Solen Ventures and NexTalk for conditional certification as providers of IP-captioned telephone service (IP CTS). Solen acquired majority ownership and control of NexTalk in December, the bureau noted. The companies recently asked the FCC to grant conditional certification, allowing NexTalk to remain eligible for compensation from the interstate telecommunications relay service fund (see 2412310047). Comments are due Feb. 7, replies Feb. 18, in docket 03-123.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo names to Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee: Reza Arefi, Apple; Andy Bater, American Farm Bureau Federation’s National Technology Committee; Donna Bethea-Murphy, Inmarsat; Mary Brown, Salt Point Strategies; Hilary Cain, Alliance for Automotive Innovation; Michael Calabrese, New American Foundation’s Wireless Future Project; Stephen Devine, APCO International; Thomas Dombrowsky, T-Mobile; Michele Farquhar, Hogan Lovells; Mark Gibson, CommScope; Kalpak Gude, Amazon; Tim Harrington, Ultra-Wideband Alliance; Carolyn Kahn, Mitre; Colleen King, Charter; Jennifer McCarthy, consultant; Amit Mukhopadhyay, Nokia Bell Labs; Karl Nebbia, Huntington Ingalls; Aspasia Paroutsas, Qualcomm; Louis Peraertz, Wireless Internet Service Providers Association; Brian Regan, Quadra Partners; Dennis Roberson, Illinois Institute of Technology; Andrew Roy, Aviation Spectrum Resources; Jesse Russell, incNetworks; Sanyogita Shamsunder, NextNav; Jeff Stewart, AT&T; Christopher Szymanski, Broadcom; Rikin Thakker, NCTA; Bryan Tramont, Wilkinson Barker Knauer; Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin; and Robert Weller, NAB.