FCC announcements: Wireless Bureau’s Jeffrey Tignor moves to Office of Communication and Business Opportunities as acting director and Commissioner Anna Gomez hires Cierra Nokes as executive assistant; also, Frederick Giroux, Enforcement Bureau; Thomas Horan, Media Bureau; Kathleen Campbell, Space Bureau; and Ron Repasi, Office of Engineering and Tech, are retiring … FCC announces winners of agency awards: Robert Pavlak and Kamran Etemad for Excellence in Engineering and Steven Kauffman, Jeffrey Ocker, Alexander Simmons and Paul LaFontaine for Excellence in Economic Analysis … Squirro SaaS platform for generative AI appoints Growth Analytics’ Gary Kearns as board chairman.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Thursday that his objection to granting broadcaster Audacy a temporary exception to the FCC’s foreign-ownership requirements in connection with a bankruptcy restructuring involving a George Soros-affiliated fund (see 2409250051) doesn’t conflict with denunciations he's made in the past against involving partisan politics in FCC decisions. “My position is straightforward in all of those cases, which is that we should apply the law in the books consistent with the First Amendment,” Carr told reporters following the commissioners' open meeting. The Media Bureau granted similar exceptions to Cumulus, iHeart, Alpha and other broadcasters under multiple administrations during Carr's tenure as a commissioner, though he did not raise objections. Carr said Thursday he was unaware of those grants at the time. “This is the first time that this issue has been raised to my attention,” he said, adding that bureau-level decisions aren’t precedent for the commission. “As a commissioner, for better or worse, there are a lot of things that the bureaus do that, as commissioner -- particularly a non-chair commissioner -- that you're not read in on.” Carr also defended his repeated statements that the Audacy matter is unprecedented, pointing out that this is the first time the full commission has voted on such a petition. Initially, the Audacy item was set as a bureau-level decision but was circulated to the full commission after pressure from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (see 2408150047). Carr said that he doesn’t object to Cruz forcing the matter before the full FCC and that the senator's action reflects lawmakers' concerns about big decisions getting made at the bureau level, such as the designation of the Standard General/Tegna deal for hearing. “I think what Senator Cruz was saying, [is that] this is the type of decision that the people that sit on this dais, who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate should make,” Carr said. Audacy and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s office didn’t comment on Carr’s remarks.
SpaceX representatives met with aides to FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr on concerns about interference from high-power terrestrial operations in the lower or upper 12 GHz band. “Although SpaceX had hoped to find a way to have its next generation broadband service coexist with such a high-power terrestrial service, its prior filings and its study demonstrate that it cannot,” Space X said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 22-352 on the Carr meeting. The company raised the same concerns with Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff (see 2409190022). EchoStar disputes those arguments (see 2409050040).
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the FCC Wireless Bureau on Thursday approved a waiver for Google of rules that require environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbents in Florida in the citizens broadband radio service band from harmful interference. The bureau on Wednesday approved a similar waiver for Federated Wireless (see 2409250048).
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 4-1 Thursday to approve the FCC’s December changes to pole attachment replacement rules, which clarified transparency requirements for pole owners and established an intra-agency “rapid broadband assessment team” to review pole attachment disputes and recommend solutions (see 2312130044). The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4-0 later in the day to approve state rules implementing volume 2 of its plan for rolling out the $1.86 billion allocation from NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program (see 2408260027).
The FCC's 988 wireless call georouting draft order on its Oct. 17 open meeting agenda (see 2409250041) opens the possibility of the agency also requiring georouting of text messages. The georouting draft order and the other October agenda item -- a draft order requiring that all wireless handsets be hearing-aid compatible -- were released Thursday. Also on the agenda is an unspecified restricted adjudicatory Media Bureau matter.
FCC commissioners on Thursday approved an order expanding the range of accessibility features that must be included in videoconferencing platforms (see 2409040053). In addition, multiple commissioners at the open meeting said allowing non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service downlinks in the 17.2-17.8 GHz bandwidth should be a sizable boon to U.S. competitiveness in commercial space.
GCI representatives reported on meetings with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and staff from the Wireless Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics about 5G in Alaska. The state's “telecommunications environment is incredibly diverse and expansive, and lacks fulsome fiber connectivity,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-328. “Neither the Alaska Plan nor the proposed Alaska Connect Fund provided support that would have been adequate to deliver, in the case of the Alaska Plan, 4G LTE statewide at 10/1 [Mbps] or even 5/1 Mbps, or in the case of the Alaska Connect Fund, 5G at 35/3 Mbps or even 7/1 Mbps,” GCI said.
The FCC approved a spectrum swap between T-Mobile and Horry Telephone Co-op (HTC), said an order by the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. T-Mobile and HTC agreed to exchange 20 MHz of HTC’s 600 MHz spectrum for up to 25 MHz of T-Mobile’s cellular spectrum in four counties in South Carolina. T-Mobile also acquired 10 MHz of HTC’s 600 MHz spectrum in two counties in North Carolina. Post-transaction, T-Mobile will hold 293-338 MHz, including 74 MHz of below-one-GHz spectrum, and HTC 92-137 MHZ, including 12-37 MHz below 1 GHz spectrum, in the South Carolina markets, the order said. T-Mobile would hold 390 MHz, including 76 MHz below 1 GHz, in the North Carolina counties. The FCC noted that only EchoStar objected, citing spectrum aggregation concerns. “Based on our review of the record and our market-by-market analysis, we find that the likelihood of competitive harm is low in the markets that are the subject of these transactions, despite T-Mobile’s increase in total spectrum holdings and low-band spectrum holdings,” the FCC said: “We disagree with EchoStar that the proposed assignments would disserve the public interest.”
The FCC will take on two consumer issues at the commissioners' Oct. 17 open meeting: the georouting of calls to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and rules requiring all wireless handsets to be hearing-aid compatible, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Wednesday. The meeting is the last before the Nov. 5 elections. Drafts will be posted on Thursday. A draft order would require all U.S. wireless carriers to implement georouting within 30 days of the effective date of the rule for nationwide providers and 24 months after the effective date for smaller ones, said a news release. Telecom trade groups have asserted carriers are voluntarily implementing 988 georouting and the agency doesn't need to mandate it (see 2407300050). The release refers to two carriers, which the FCC confirms are Verizon and T-Mobile. “Last week, our country’s largest wireless carriers began phasing out the old system of routing 988 calls, which was based on the area code and prefix of your phone number, regardless of your actual location,” Rosenworcel said: “They are replacing it with a system that uses so-called ‘georouting’ technology to make sure wireless 988 callers are connected with counselors in their local community.” Some 80% of calls to the 988 Lifeline "are done through wireless phones, and many people have phone numbers with different area codes from where they live, work or visit,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, T-Mobile president-technology. “Georouting ensures that those seeking help will reach the available crisis center nearest their location for support. It’s about making sure help is there when and where it’s needed most.” The FCC sought comment in a December NPRM (see 2312130019) on how to implement a 100% HAC standard. While the wireless industry largely supported recommendations in the NPRM, groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing urged tweaks (see 2402270066). “We’re making smartphones more accessible to consumers with hearing loss,” Rosenworcel said. “After a reasonable phase-in period, the 48 million Americans with hearing loss will be able to choose among that same mobile phone models that are available to all consumers,” she said. Commissioners will also consider an adjudicatory matter from the Media Bureau. Such items are released at the meeting after they are approved.