Impulse Space hopes it can launch its non-geostationary orbit Impulse-2 orbital transfer vehicle as soon as October, it said in an FCC Space Bureau application posted Thursday. It's seeking approval to operate Impulse-2 as a host of experimental payloads and to demonstrate on-orbit maneuvering capabilities. Impulse said Impulse-2 would be "a steppingstone toward creating an orbit transfer vehicle that will ... be capable of rendezvousing and lowering the orbit of or de-orbiting harmful orbital debris."
The FCC approved Thursday waiver requests from 11 additional parties seeking permission to launch early deployments of cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology in the 5.895-5.925 GHz band. The FCC has yet to finalize rules for C-V2X in the band -- an item pending since November 2020, when the commission approved an order opening 45 MHz of the band for Wi-Fi, while allocating 30 MHz C-V2X technology (see 2011180043).
Congressional Republicans have remained relatively quiet about the FCC’s draft net neutrality order since Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel released it earlier this month (see 2404030043) but are likely to become more active in opposition when the commission adopts it as expected next week, lawmakers and observers said in interviews. Congressional Democrats have been comparatively active since the draft’s release, including sending Rosenworcel suggestions aimed at preventing loopholes that ISPs could use to circumvent regulation. Congressional Democrats highlighted that divergence in style Thursday by bringing Rosenworcel to Capitol Hill for a news conference that amounted to a preemptive victory lap ahead of the FCC’s April 25 vote on the order.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau sent a cease-and-desist letter to DigitalIPvoice Wednesday ordering the company to "stop serving as a gateway provider" for an apparently illegal robocall campaign regarding student loan debt. The bureau also notified U.S.-based voice service providers in a public notice that they may block traffic from DigitalIPvoice if the company fails to comply.
Broadband officials and experts Wednesday called for continued pressure to replenish the FCC's affordable connectivity program (see 2404100075). Some panelists during Next Century Cities' bipartisan tech policy conference also urged community leaders to engage with their state broadband offices as NTIA approves states' plans for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program.
Comments are due May 16, replies June 17, regarding issues related to geotargeted content origination on FM booster stations, the FCC Media Bureau said Tuesday in docket 20-401. The commissioners unanimously approved a geotargeted radio content order earlier this month (see 2404020078 and the accompanying Further NPRM asks questions regarding a number of processing, licensing and service items.
The Alaska Remote Carrier Coalition (ARCC) offered its perspective to the FCC Wireless Bureau on performance testing for the mobility portion of the Alaska Connect Fund required under FCC rules. ARCC said the filing follows up on a meeting with bureau staff March 14 (see 2403180022). “As the Bureau is aware, the extensive geography and rugged terrain served by ARCC wireless members, including both off-the-road network areas as well as many areas with environmentally sensitive tundra, require creativity and flexibility on the part of the testing carrier,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-208. “This challenge is complicated by areas with inaccessible federal land holdings that still must be tested under the Commission’s protocols.” ARCC noted that drive testing by Copper Valley under the plan’s rules cost the carrier more than $100,000.
Advocacy groups urged the FCC to take several steps to revise incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS). The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, Worth Rises, the National Consumer Law Center, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Amalgamated Policy Research, Public Knowledge and the Wright Petitioners told Wireline Bureau and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff that a model carrier approach would best fulfill the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act's requirement to use "industry-wide average costs" to calculate new rates. The model carrier approach "is in the public interest" and "avoids subsidizing inefficient carriers and unnecessary costs," the groups said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-62. The coalition asked the commission to preempt site commissions and allow states to cap intrastate IPCS rates lower than the FCC's rates. The groups also sought a 30-day transition period for providers to implement the new rates.
The Open Technology Institute at New America urged the FCC to approve a rule change allowing fixed wireless use of the lower 12 GHz band, but with conditions. In a meeting with Wireless Bureau staff, OTI urged a tribal set aside. “The license rights to all or at least a substantial portion of the 500 megahertz on Tribal lands should be made freely available for broadband deployment at the request of Tribal authorities,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 20-443. The group also said unused spectrum in the band “should be authorized for opportunistic access on a non-interfering basis for fixed wireless services.”
Incompas pushed back on CTIA's claims regarding some FCC-proposed rules for call labeling and blocking in a meeting with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff (see 2404080034). The group noted that the "lack of transparency into the call labeling and presentation practices that carriers and their analytics providers deploy is an increasing problem." FCC oversight of call labeling and blocking is necessary to ensure that "pay-to-play" business models "do not stymie nondiscriminatory, competitively neutral standardized solutions," Incompas said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 17-59. "Without greater accountability and transparency, competitive providers, their customers and end-users will be significantly disadvantaged," the group warned, asking the FCC to also "standardize the inclusion of rich call data."