The FCC activated the disaster information reporting system and mandatory disaster response initiative for Hurricane Milton, which is expected to strike Florida's west coast Wednesday. “In preparation for this latest storm, we continue to coordinate with industry and government partners at all levels to prevent as many communications networks from going offline as possible,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a Tuesday release. “We've deployed FCC staff to conduct pre-landfall baseline surveys and provide on-the-ground support in targeted areas to assess the post-landfall impact to critical communications services and infrastructure.” Rosenworcel also urged communities in the path of the storm to opt in to wireless emergency alerts and said the agency is also keeping staff on the ground in North Carolina to continue assisting recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene. Tuesday's DIRS update for Hurricane Helene showed 12.5% of cellsites down in the affected area, which now covers 21 counties in North Carolina and 7 in Tennessee. There are 84,085 cable and wireline subscribers without service, and two TV stations and one FM station are reported down. The FCC activated DIRS and MDRI for 52 counties in Florida for Milton, said a public notice Monday. Reports are due from communication providers starting Thursday. The FCC also issued public notices on priority communications services, FCC availability and emergency communication procedures for licensees that need special temporary authority. The Public Safety Bureau also issued a reminder for entities clearing debris and repairing utilities to avoid damaging communications infrastructure.
CTIA President Meredith Baker warned Tuesday that the U.S. will fall behind other countries unless Congress restores FCC auction authority, in remarks to the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas. Baker quoted Paul Milgram, the economist whose work led to the first spectrum auction. The loss of auction authority is “nuts,” she said. The agency’s auction authority lapsed in March 2023 (see 2303100084).
The boom in programming from diverse sources available on numerous outlets underscores that most-favored nation (MFN) and alternative distribution method (ADM) clauses haven't blocked the growth of multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) alternatives, according to cable interests. In a meeting with FCC Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer (docket 24-115), cablers defended ADMs and MFNs and said the agency shouldn't imbalance programmer/MVPD negotiations by stopping MVPDs from seeking the same pricing and terms programmers offer to others. Meeting with the Media Bureau were representatives of NCTA, Charter, Comcast and Cox Communications.
The Cybersecurity Coalition urged the FCC to include stand-alone domain name system (DNS) and dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) services on the list of eligible services for E-rate funding recipients, per an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 13-184. The coalition asked Wireline Bureau staff to place the services under category 1 and category 2. DNS and DHCP are "foundational to function connectivity and resilience for schools and libraries," the group said (see 2409110053).
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel visited Asheville, North Carolina, on Friday and met communications providers and emergency response officials in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Relief efforts at the FCC and communications companies continue, even as Florida is preparing for a second storm. “I saw firsthand how the public sector and private sector are working together to help with recovery,” said Rosenworcel in a news release Monday. “We must use [Hurricane Helene] to understand ways we can make this infrastructure more resilient and more accessible in the future.”
The FCC Space Bureau has approved Sidus Space's plans for deploying and operating its non-geostationary orbit earth exploration satellite service satellites LizzieSat-2 through -5, it said in a notice last week. Pointing to a set of SpaceX-requested license conditions, the bureau said it was adopting an on-orbit failure reporting requirement but declining other conditions. SpaceX has frequently sought similar conditions on pending satellite applications (see 2301180049).
The FCC Space Bureau gave the green light to the rest of Tomorrow Companies' planned 18-satellite non-geostationary orbit constellation intended to provide near real-time weather monitoring and forecasting (see 2406200007), according to a bureau grant last week. The approval was for 14 satellites; four were approved previously.
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Friday granted five licenses in the 900 MHz broadband segment to PDV Spectrum. All the licenses are in Texas. The FCC approved an order in 2020 reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband, while maintaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).
UScellular CEO Laurent Therivel met with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and agency staff to make the case for T-Mobile’s proposed buy of “substantially all” of his company’s wireless operations, including some spectrum (see 2405280047), a deal announced in May. Therivel and others company officials also met with Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, aides to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and top officials in the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics, said a filing posted Friday in docket 24-286. By total handset connections nationwide, UScellular is “the seventh-largest wireless provider and accounts for approximately one percent of connections,” the filing said. Competitive pressures are ramping up in its markets, and it’s losing subscribers “despite deploying a variety of strategies to attempt to arrest that decline,” the carrier said: “Subscriber losses accelerated in 2022, a year that UScellular invested heavily on promotions. UScellular anticipates that it will continue to lose subscribers going forward.” It assumed “significant debt to purchase the mid-band spectrum needed to compete in 5G,” it said. “While UScellular has been pulling back on its network investments, its competitors have been spending more to expand their networks and enhance their network quality and customer experience in UScellular’s footprint.”
During a meeting with FCC Wireline Bureau staff (see 2409230038), Verizon disputed Wide Voice's claim that it discontinued time division multiplexed (TDM) service without complying with certain regulations. The carrier, in an ex parte filing Friday in docket 01-92, said it "followed the appropriate process to notify its wholesale customers of its planned discontinuance and to obtain FCC authority to discontinue its services to retail customers." Verizon detailed its discontinuance process, saying it filed an application with the commission and notified carrier customers in 2021. "Wide Voice's contrary assertions ignore Verizon's public filings and statements demonstrating that it followed the commission's discontinuance and notice processes," it said. It's "Wide Voice’s apparent insistence on receiving local traffic at its switch in this manner – and not anything that Verizon did or is doing – that is preventing local calls from ILEC customers from reaching Wide Voice."