Florida counties are working together to ensure 911 calls are answered from places hit hard by Hurricane Michael, county emergency management officials told us Friday. The hurricane left some Virginia 911 call centers running on generators, state officials there said. The FCC Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) communications status report Friday included nine Georgia counties added Thursday at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s request, bringing the total number of counties covered to 110.
Though C-band the number of earth stations being registered with the FCC is accelerating as the window heads toward Wednesday closure, consensus among experts we talked to is that results won't dissuade the agency from freeing up some of the band for terrestrial wireless service. The FCC is starting to see that the 3.7-4.2 GHz band is more populated than the agency might have thought but now it will have a good cross-section to ensure there's needed engineering for terrestrial and satellite users "so they can play in the same sandbox," said Society of Broadcast Engineers President Jim Leifer.
NextRadio’s lack of a “data attribution” component and the radio industry’s inability or unwillingness to help pay to build one was the biggest factor that doomed the smartphone FM-listening app, said Jeff Smulyan, CEO of NextRadio developer Emmis Communications, on an earnings call Thursday. Smulyan said Emmis no longer is willing or able to shoulder the costs of running the NextRadio business, which Chief Financial Officer Ryan Hornaday said incurred a $7 million operating loss in the 12 months ended Aug. 31.
The thrust of a forthcoming privacy bill from Sen. Ron Wyden will be a “different brand” of tech sector transparency with “consequences” for transgressing companies, the Oregon Democrat told us. Also Thursday, Senate Commerce Committee leadership hammered Google for not disclosing sooner its recent Google+ vulnerability (see 1810100066), given the company’s chief privacy officer testified months after the issue reportedly was discovered (see 1809260050).
Dish Network filed applications to bid in both upcoming high-band auctions. Comcast and Charter Communications didn’t file at all, nor did any major tech players, based on a further review of applications. Cox did file. The FCC released its list of companies that filed short-form applications for both auctions Wednesday, including those accepted and those requiring changes (see 1810100073). The four major national wireless carriers filed, as did U.S. Cellular. There was a smattering of requests by smaller carriers, plus by telcos Frontier and Windstream.
A blue wave election could carry down ballot to state utility commission elections, while expected Democratic gains in gubernatorial elections affect other states that appoint commissioners, election analysts said. A Democratic surge might be tempered by commission elections happening mostly in strongly red states with many incumbents running, said David Beaudoin, Ballotpedia project lead-marquee team. Government transparency is an election issue in nearly half of the 10 states electing utility commissioners in November, and Democratic candidates in three states' races supported net neutrality, found our survey of commissioners’ campaign websites.
An FCC business data service deregulatory draft isn't looking very contentious as commissioners head toward a planned vote at their Oct. 23 meeting. Stakeholders aren't expecting major changes to the order and two Further NPRMs, though tweaks are possible. Rural telco representatives are largely supportive and no opposition has surfaced so far in the draft's docket.
No one should feel entitled to citizens broadband radio service licenses, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told a Schools, Health & Libraries Association conference Thursday. O’Rielly told us he sees little room for additional compromise on the order headed into the Oct. 23 commissioners' meeting, though he is open to new ideas. “I’ve been working on this for a year, I’ve talked to all the parties multiple, multiple times,” O’Rielly said in an interview: “We’ve found" a place "I’m very comfortable with.” If anyone has new ideas, O’Rielly said, he will take a look.
The potential of thousands of non-geostationary orbit satellites going up in coming years is outpacing U.S. space policy and law, especially when it comes to space situational awareness, said experts at a Center for Strategic & International Studies panel Wednesday. A major SSA challenge is the way proposed NGSO mega constellations are shifting the space domain from being government-dominated to being led by commercial actors, said Victoria Samson, Secure World Foundation Washington office director. Another is figuring out data sharing and transparency issues, and while DOD wants to be more transparent with its SSA data relied on globally, it "has some work to do" on better coordinating with the space community, she said.
AT&T and cable providers raised doubts about Oregon Public Utility Commission authority to make interconnected VoIP providers pay into the state USF. The PUC at a teleconferenced workshop Wednesday took feedback on a preliminary proposal in docket AR-615 to require VoIP contribution. The agency is exploring the idea despite a recent 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling -- contested by states -- that VoIP is an information service (see 1809280057). A few other states are also weighing changes.