The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a notice of violation Thursday against Bestov Broadcasting for its station WIAC (AM) San Juan, Puerto Rico, for operating at reduced power and with an unauthorized setup. The station is authorized to operate with a directional antenna pattern using a two-tower array, but in June, EB field agents found the station operating with a single tower with a nondirectional pattern and reduced power. Bestov has 20 days to respond to the bureau, said the notice, which appeared in the Daily Digest.
The FCC Wireline Bureau released a notice Thursday reminding eligible telecommunications carriers of the requirements of the Communications Act. The public notice reiterates “the Lifeline compliance plan requirement for non-facilities-based providers that qualify for forbearance from the statutory requirement that they offer supported services using their own facilities, and actions the Bureau may take if a provider does not.”
The State Department will hold a public meeting May 14 to brief the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy’s International Information and Communications Policy division “stakeholders” on “past and upcoming international engagements.” Among the areas listed are engagements with the ITU. The briefing will start at 1 p.m. ET and take place on Webex, said a notice for Friday’s Federal Register.
The FCC on Thursday suspended the comment deadlines on a petition by Talton seeking a waiver of the commission’s rules capping the rates for audio and video for incarcerated people provided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We find good cause to suspend the deadlines to file comments and reply comments addressing Talton’s Petition pending Commission review of the merits of Talton’s request for confidential treatment,” the Wireline Bureau said (docket 23-62).
The FCC is granting some official travel requests, Commissioner Nathan Simington’s office told us Thursday. A pause on official travel led to Simington’s last-minute cancellation of plans to speak at the NAB Show 2025 in Las Vegas earlier this month. Commissioner Anna Gomez paid her own way to attend (see 2504080036). Simington is set to go to Boston to speak Saturday at the Harvard Business School Infrastructure Summit. His staff said the FCC chairman’s office approved the trip, and they were told FCC employees could now travel to events. Gomez’s office told us Thursday that it was unaware travel was again being approved and that she had also self-funded a visit to Philadelphia last week (see 2504160046). FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz traveled to Colorado Springs to speak at the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium the same day Gomez spoke at the NAB event, but it wasn’t clear if the FCC paid for his trip (see 2504100038). The agency didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The FCC on Wednesday suspended seven individuals convicted of E-rate fraud from participating in the program and started a proceeding to permanently bar them from the program. All pleaded guilty last year to defrauding the E-rate program in connection with funds provided to private religious schools in Rockland County, New York.
Starry executives spoke with staff from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology on the company’s support for a draft order on the 37 GHz band proposed for a vote at the April 28 FCC meeting (see 2504070054). Starry is making the rounds at the FCC and earlier spoke with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks (see 2504150044).
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved two applications to assign 600 MHz spectrum from Channel 51 to T-Mobile. The licenses cover the Chicago and New Orleans markets. “We find that the proposed license assignments have a low likelihood of competitive harm and would serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity,” said an order in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. EchoStar opposed the transfers, but repeated arguments “that we have addressed in prior orders consenting to multiple similar license assignment transactions,” the bureau said.
The FCC is making available an extra $3.08 billion for carriers to remove Chinese gear from their networks under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, a notice in Wednesday’s Daily Digest said. Congress approved the funding last year, to be paid for through the upcoming AWS-3 reauction. The Wireline Bureau notice said the Treasury Department transferred the money to the FCC to fully fund the rip-and-replace program.
The FCC Space Bureau should sign off on Globalstar's C-3 constellation petition without a new 1.6/2.4 GHz spectrum bands rulemaking, company representatives told bureau staff and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's office, said a filing Tuesday. Globalstar said the 1.6/2.4 GHz mobile satellite service licensing framework "has been an extraordinary success," adding that it "has made the most" of its small bit of spectrum and the framework isn't in need of modification. SpaceX has argued for a 1.6/2.4 GHz rulemaking before a C-3 approval (see 2410020029). Meeting with the bureau and Carr's office, Globalstar reiterated its argument about the lack of room for a new operator in the 1.6/2.4 GHz band (see 2503180022). It said SpaceX's mega-constellation or another new entrant "would inevitably cause extensive harmful interference to Globalstar’s licensed services," and initiating a rulemaking could discourage the planning and investment needed to develop C-3.