The FCC Office of Managing Director announced Thursday a proposed Q2 USF contribution factor of 36.6%, as calculated by the Universal Service Administrative Co. That’s up from 36.3% the previous quarter and the highest quarterly contribution factor in the program's history. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear FCC v. Consumers’ Research March 26, a case about the contribution factor's legality.
Amazon expects to slightly decrease the number of satellites in its planned V- and Ku-band Kuiper satellite network. In an FCC Satellite Bureau application posted Wednesday, it said its plans now call for 38 fewer satellites in the three systems that will make up the V- and Ku-band Kuiper network. The company also said it wants to add the 17.3-17.8 GHz frequencies to the bands the Kuiper network will use and to expand the use of certain Ka- and V-band frequencies to other parts of the systems. Amazon said its first-generation V- and Ku-band Kuipers would number 3,232, instead of 3,236, its second-gen Kuiper system would number 3,212 instead of 3,236, and its polar orbit Kuipers would number 1,292 instead of 1,302.
The Media Bureau on Tuesday granted a waiver of the top four prohibition to allow Gray Media to buy Fox affiliate KXLT-TV Rochester, Minnesota, even though it already owns NBC affiliate KTTC-TV Rochester in the same market, said a letter from Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman. While FCC rules have allowed for top four waivers on a case-by-case basis for several years, they have rarely been granted. “Today’s action represents the first FCC approval of a new combination of two full-power, top-four ranked, same-market television stations in over five years,” said Gray in a news release. “Importantly, the FCC’s Media Bureau’s grant and written decision come just two months after the parties applied for approval of the transaction, which appears to represent the shortest processing time for a duopoly waiver in Commission history.” Gray’s proposed purchase of a top four combo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, sat stalled at the FCC for 11 months before being abruptly granted in 2019, shortly after the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the agency’s 2014 quadrennial review order (see 1909250064).
FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz is promising modernization of the bureau's licensing, as well as making spectrum available for more intensive space uses. Speaking Wednesday at Satellite 2025, Schwarz said he sees space policy through the lens of economic growth, and the bureau's "main job ... is to facilitate and accelerate all the investments in your industry." Slow processing of applications and overly burdensome rules "are creating unnecessary regulatory drag." Schwarz -- who noted that he lives on a farm in the Washington region served by satellite-delivered broadband -- said regulatory drag can compound over time, resulting in significant effects on the economy and the types of services the space industry offers.
The Donald Trump administration’s attack on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs is misguided and won’t be sustained long term, consultant Deborah Lathen said Wednesday at a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Other speakers said it could take years to convince people about the importance of broadband in areas that are just being connected while confusion reigns on the future of the BEAD program.
Basalt Technologies wants FCC Space Bureau approval to test a three-cubesat constellation operated by AI. In an application posted Tuesday to launch and operate its Spirit-EEL system, San Francisco-based Basalt said a huge challenge for modern satellite fleets is the provision of "continuous, high-precision management without labor-intensive staffing." It said it would use AI systems to manage and control the earth imaging satellites in orbit "with minimal human intervention" as it tests the algorithms.
USTelecom representatives discussed pole attachment concerns in a series of meetings at the FCC with Wireline Bureau staff and aides to Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Anna Gomez. “USTelecom emphasized that its membership is comprised of both pole owners and attachers that are seeking to deploy high-speed broadband as quickly as possible and that we support Commission efforts to speed such deployments, including those funded through BEAD and other government programs,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-84. “As USTelecom has explained, however, departing from the negotiated timelines required under the Commission’s current rules and adopting one-size-fits-all make-ready timelines for large make-ready orders will not speed deployment or further the Commission’s goals.”
Accessing investor-owned utility poles in a timely and cost-effective way continues to be a big challenge, ACA Connects and four of its members told FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's office and the Wireline Bureau. In a docket 17-84 filing Tuesday, Shentel said it has open pole permit applications that are 400-plus days old, and the cable ISP hasn't been able to get preapproved utility contractors to perform electrical construction make-ready due to lack of investor-owned utility support. Shentel urged a streamlined process for facilities-based providers doing self-help engineering and electrical construction make-ready. Breezeline raised concerns about non-uniform utility procedures and different states' attachment rules, while Mediacom said it has focused on underground construction for government-funded projects to avoid the pole attachment process. Also accompanying ACA was Armstrong.
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Monday reminded Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program recipients that their next updates to the commission are due April 3. The last quarterly reports were due Jan. 3. “The status updates keep the Bureau apprised of recipients’ progress toward meeting their obligations under the Reimbursement Program,” the notice said.
Representatives from Bandwidth met with FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Trent Harkrader and others from the bureau on interconnection problems that the company is experiencing. The cloud communications company “provided marketplace perspectives about how [public switched telephone network] interconnection is breaking in various ways as ILECs [incumbent local exchange carriers] and others are decommissioning facilities or pricing services to make them prohibitive for remaining customers to sustain,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-479. “Bandwidth explained that it would prefer to interconnect via IP, but there is no regulatory framework for such interconnection at this time.” The company said its efforts to move time-division multiplexing (TDM) to its commercial IP interconnection agreements “have so far been rebuffed and ILECs have not made IP interconnection available to Bandwidth for the exchange of voice calls with the ILECs’ customers who remain on TDM services or delivery of calls to a selective router.”