FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz spoke Monday at the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, two days after the FCC chairman’s office denied official travel requests from Commissioners Anna Gomez and Nathan Simington for the NAB Show in Las Vegas (see 2504040059). “Spoke at #40thSpaceSymposium about how the FCC’s Space Bureau has a bias for innovation under Chairman Brendan Carr and was happy explaining how the FCC will be reviewing outdated technical satellite rules so rural Americans can get great broadband,” Schwarz said in a LinkedIn post Tuesday. The FCC didn't respond to a request for comment on Schwarz's travel arrangements. Simington and Gomez also didn’t comment.
A broadcaster accused by the FCC Enforcement Bureau of engaging in a 2010 sham transfer of stations to his niece was assisting her with the day-to-day operations of the stations after the sale in accordance with FCC rules, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-267 from broadcast station owner Antonio Cesar Guel (see 2502250064). “It was quite natural, and completely expected, that [Guel’s niece, Jennifer Juarez] often, and repeatedly, would rely upon Mr. Guel’s past experience in conjunction with the operation of the Stations,” the one filing said. That “does not equate” to impermissible control. In questioning witnesses in the case, the EB repeatedly confused being in charge of day-to-day operations, such as engineering matters, and being in charge of all operations, said Guel’s filing. All the testimony cited by the EB as proof that Guel remained in charge of the stations actually shows only that he was in charge of day-to-day operations -- “an involvement which specifically is permitted under FCC policies and which is not a matter under scrutiny in this proceeding,” the filing said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument Wednesday on the National Treasury Employees Union’s pursuit of an emergency stay of President Donald Trump's executive order slashing staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The challenge is one of several that NTEU, which represents FCC employees, has against recent efforts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Trump administration (see 2503310047).
A bipartisan group of 51 attorneys general warned nine carriers Wednesday that they were responsible for transmitting high-volume robocall campaigns. All Access Telecom, Lingo, NGL Communications, Range, RSCom, Telcast Network, Voxox, Commio and Global Net Holdings received letters from the multistate anti-robocall litigation task force warning them of legal action if they fail to stop transmitting the unlawful call traffic. The letters also said the task force shared its findings with the FCC Enforcement Bureau. The robocalls included government and financial impostors, credit card interest rate reductions, Medicare scams, political impersonations, cable discount scams and utility disconnect scams.
The FCC Wireless Bureau said Wednesday that going forward it won’t announce additional licenses in the 900 MHz broadband segment when they're approved. Instead, the grants will be announced in the bureau’s weekly status public notice. The FCC approved an order five years ago reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband while maintaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).
The FCC Space Bureau has created a docket, 25-157, on modernization of spectrum sharing for satellite broadband, it said in a public notice in Tuesday's Daily Digest.
Astrobotic is looking at a Dec. 4, 2025-March 4, 2026, window for launching its Griffin Mission 1 to the south polar region of the moon, it said in an FCC Space Bureau application posted Tuesday. It said GM-1 would deliver NASA and commercial payloads for a lunar surface mission. The total mission would be at most 28 days, including five days on the lunar surface. GM-1 would be decommissioned on the moon's surface and not return, Astrobotic said. The spacecraft would operate in the X band and use the S band for short-range communications between the lander and the rover on the lunar surface, it said.
The FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” docket is active, with 159 filings as of late Tuesday. While big industry players haven't yet weighed in, comments so far represent a hodgepodge, mostly from individuals discussing pet projects. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr launched docket 25-133 last month (see 2503120055) as part of the agency’s commitment “to ending all of the rules and regulations that are no longer necessary.”
Impulse Space is aiming to launch the Impulse-3 orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) later this year, it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application posted Monday. It said Impulse-3 -- its third OTV mission -- will deploy up to four third-party satellites and host six non-deployable payloads. The mission is also intended to demonstrate on-orbit maneuvering capabilities. Impulse-3 will operate in the S and X bands, the company added.
Saying Amazon gave no advance word of its plans to launch its first batch of Kuiper satellites Wednesday (see 2504020044), EchoStar's Hughes is asking for more time to submit the technical demonstration that the FCC requires, showing how Hughes will protect those non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites from interference from its Jupiter 3 satellite. In an FCC Space Bureau waiver request posted Monday, Hughes asked for 40 additional days. Hughes said a condition of Jupiter 3's license is that 60 days before the initial scheduled launch of a new U.S. NGSO fixed satellite service system, Hughes either has to complete coordination with that NGSO operator or submit the technical demonstration. Hughes and Amazon are in coordination discussions, the filing said, but the additional time will let Hughes either complete that coordination or file its technical demonstration.