Senate confirmation of Democratic FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks and Commissioner Brendan Carr for a full five-year term ending in 2023 under unanimous consent will be difficult before the November election, lawmakers and industry officials told us. The FCC would in that scenario remain a 3-1 Republican majority until Congress’ lame duck session at the earliest, with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel the lone Democrat. It’s unlikely Starks as a successor to former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn would substantially affect upcoming proceedings, but the absence of a second FCC Democrat means the loss of an additional opposition voice, industry officials said.
From mandatory reporting of a satellite failure to revising the FCC's satellite licensing regime, satellite interests and others brought an array of must-dos in docket 18-251 comments due Friday regarding the satellite communications industry (see 1808170024). There were calls for protecting incumbent users of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band.
An incentive auction likely isn't appropriate for the 2.5 GHz band and county-based licensing makes more sense, T-Mobile replied on an NPRM looking at the future of the educational broadband service band (see 1809070048). Merger partner Sprint argued against changes to how the band is treated. Replies were due last week in FCC docket 18-120. Numerous comments posted Monday.
The Information Technology Industry Council, like CTA, questions whether President Donald Trump's "action" proposing a third tranche of 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports "is legal" under the 1974 Trade Act, emailed spokesman Jose Castaneda Monday. ITI has made no “final decision” whether to pursue “litigation” against the administration to block the tariffs from taking effect, he said.
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly urged the Rural Utilities Service to target $600 million in congressional appropriations for boosting broadband on "areas most in need of support" that are "truly unserved." O'Rielly and Microsoft urged a "technology-neutral" approach, and the American Cable Association said RUS must "prevent overbuilding of existing broadband providers and coordinate with broadband support programs of other federal agencies." There were 130 comments posted by Monday in RUS-18-TELECOM-0004 of regulations.gov in response to a notice of inquiry on how to structure an e-Connectivity pilot program.
In a key next step for the shared 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, the FCC Monday got proposals for initial commercial deployment (ICDs) by conditionally approved spectrum access system (SAS) administrators. By early evening, proposals were starting to trickle in, with the first two filed by Ruckus Networks Finland’s Fairspectrum in docket 15-319. Other filings were expected, including by some of the main companies that have made clear they plan to serve as SASs, including Amdocs, CommScope, Federated Wireless, Google and Sony.
Phase 1 of the incentive auction TV band repacking is widely expected to proceed smoothly after it kicks off Friday. Broadcasters, equipment manufacturers and tower workers are seeing signs future stages may be bumpier. “We are hearing from Phase 1 stations that they are on target,” said FCC Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo in an interview.
All U.S. spectrum policies haven’t been success stories and that’s the way things should work, NTIA Administrator David Redl said at a Silicon Flatirons conference Thursday evening (see 1809060049) titled: “Spectrum Hall of Shame: The Worst (and Best) Radio Policy Decisions.” Others said flexible licenses have been a hallmark of U.S. success.
Sonic Telecom customers are concerned about a USTelecom petition that seeks sweeping FCC regulatory relief for its large incumbent telco members. They fear their rates will rise and their service will be harmed if the FCC grants the forbearance petition to free the ILECs from wholesale duties to lease out their networks as discounted unbundled network elements. Local competitors such as Sonic, a northern California broadband and voice provider, can use UNEs to reach customers where their fiber-based offerings aren't available.
Congress should take DOJ’s advice on alleged anticompetitive behavior from big tech before heavily regulating the industry, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told us Thursday. Justice said Wednesday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions will meet with state attorneys general this month to explore the issue (see 1809050057), days after President Donald Trump warned Google and Silicon Valley about violating antitrust law. “I’d rather get [DOJ] advice before Congress decides to declare [industry] a regulated utility, which I think would be a disaster,” Cornyn said.