Senate Communications Subcommittee members alternated Tuesday between debating the FCC’s rollback last month of its January response to the Salt Typhoon cyberattacks and making bipartisan calls to renew the 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr led the push for the agency to reverse January's declaratory ruling from the closing days of former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s administration, which said the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act Section 105 requires telecom carriers to secure their networks against cyberattacks (see 2501160041). The FCC in November also withdrew an NPRM on cybersecurity requirements that the commission issued along with the declaratory ruling (see 2511200047).
The FCC's proposal to license submarine line terminal equipment (SLTE) owners and operators is facing strong opposition from the industry, according to comments posted Friday in docket 24-523. The commission in August adopted a submarine cable licensing further NPRM that proposed SLTE blanket licensing (see 2508070037).
In what is seen as the final word, the ITU announced Monday that the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) and Radiocommunication Assembly will take place in Shanghai from Oct. 11 to Nov. 12, 2027. U.S. interests had tried to reverse that decision (see 2507010062). More than 4,000 delegates are expected to attend the meetings, ITU said.
U.S. Supreme Court justices in oral argument Monday repeatedly challenged and tested Cox Communications' claim that it bears no liability for online piracy by its broadband subscribers. Cox is challenging a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld a lower court's contributory copyright infringement finding against the ISP (see 2408160034). The docket is 24-171.
The FCC should take action against statewide exclusivity contracts between MVPDs, state athletic associations and networks that prevent local broadcasters from airing high school sports championships, said Mid-State Multimedia President Robert Meisse in a filing in docket 25-322 Tuesday.
Industry groups are concerned about FCC proposals to relax restrictions on sharing disaster reporting information with public safety authorities and the public but are broadly supportive of agency plans to streamline the disaster information reporting system (DIRS), according to comments filed in docket 21-346. Public disclosure of outage reporting data “could compromise public safety and network security, particularly at a time when vandalism of communications network infrastructure is on the rise,” said ACA Connects. The FCC should focus on more education and engagement with state public safety officials, “not a lowering of standards for protecting sensitive information from public disclosure.” But Public Knowledge said wider dissemination of outage data could improve public safety and enhance competition by giving the public another category in which to compare providers.
The FCC seems likely to move toward looser spectrum-sharing rules between non-geostationary and geostationary orbit satellites, allowing for NGSOs to operate at higher equivalent power flux density (EPFD) levels, satellite and spectrum experts tell us. That could mean big momentum for NGSO efforts to get similar changes made at the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference, we're told. The FCC chairman's office didn't comment.
House leaders intend to hold a floor vote on the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-979) in early December, lead sponsor Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., and National Religious Broadcasters CEO Troy Miller separately confirmed to us. HR-979 and Senate companion S-315 would require the Department of Transportation to mandate that future automobiles include AM radio technology, mostly affecting electric vehicles. Supporters are optimistic that House passage of HR-979 could increase momentum for the measure, as that would represent the first time the lower chamber has cleared the legislation. The House Commerce Committee advanced HR-979 in September (see 2509170068), while the Senate Commerce Committee advanced the slightly different S-315 in February.
EchoStar faces litigation from two tower companies over lease agreements from the now-ended nationwide wireless network buildout by its Dish Wireless subsidiary, but few if any other tower company suits are likely, said Ken Schmidt, president of Steel in the Air cell tower lease consultancy. American Tower and Crown Castle represented the vast bulk of Dish's wireless network deployment, and have substantially more to lose than other tower companies, Schmidt added.
The outlook for the citizens broadband radio service band appears uncertain, with some wireless carriers looking at the spectrum for full-powered licensed use and CBRS advocates defending it as an important band for sharing and unlicensed use. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has had little to say about CBRS since he took over the helm at the commission.