The Maine Connectivity Authority extended the deadline for subgrant applications for its BEAD program until March 7 at 5 p.m. ET, the agency announced in an email Friday. It said it pushed back the original Feb. 28 deadline after receiving "feedback from current applicants." The agency also noted that applicants are requesting BEAD funding to serve about 26,000 locations and 3,000 community anchor institutions across the state.
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar (R) is urging Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to “eliminate” the $42.5 billion, NTIA-administered BEAD program’s requirement that recipients offer a low-cost broadband service option, among other rules, as part of a broader revamp. Cruz said in November that the 119th Congress would review the program and requirements that have drawn GOP ire (see 2411220035). Hegar said in a letter to Cruz last week that his recommendations would collectively help the Texas Broadband Development Office better roll out its $3.3 billion BEAD allocation after an “unnecessarily protracted” NTIA approval process. Hegar believes “certain ‘nonessential’ requirements exceed the program's original intent and unnecessarily complicate its implementation.” The low-cost option “requirement is viewed as running counter to [the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s] legislative mandate against rate regulation,” Hegar told Cruz. “Removing this requirement may increase overall provider participation and support efficient deployment of funds.” It “would also reduce the administrative burden placed on [state broadband offices] to identify ‘eligible households’ and monitor subgrantee’s compliance with the requirement.” He also proposed that the federal government jettison other NTIA rules that congressional Republicans have criticized, including ordering that grantees adhere to prevailing wage requirements and “unnecessary” cybersecurity and workforce regulations. Hegar urged lawmakers “loosen or eliminate” requirements that BEAD projects go through National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act reviews. He also said Congress should “relax or eliminate guidelines regarding deployment of alternative technology in additional hard-to-reach areas.”
FCC claims that Telnyx didn't do enough to stop apparent scam calls made using its voice service platform are factually wrong, the company said Wednesday. Telnyx said it "has done everything and more than the FCC has required for Know-Your-Customer and customer due diligence procedures." FCC commissioners this week approved a proposed $4.5 million fine against the company; it was the first commission-level action under Chairman Brendan Carr (see 2502040065). In a statement, Telnyx said the FCC traditionally has expected providers to take reasonable steps to detect and block illegal traffic, and now the agency wants to impose fines "for limited unlawful calling activity that Telnyx not only did not originate but swiftly blocked within a matter of hours." It said the agency is trying to introduce "an unprecedented zero-tolerance requirement on providers through enforcement action, in the absence of any defined rules informing providers what is expected of them."
The FCC’s draft notice of inquiry on opening the upper C band for commercial use acknowledges numerous incumbents using the spectrum and seeks “detailed and evidence-based comments” from all affected parties. Also on Thursday, the FCC released a draft NPRM on rules for the AWS-3 auction and other items, teeing them up for the FCC’s Feb. 27 open meeting, including new rules for wireless emergency alerts (see 2502050057).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
New FCC Chairman Brendan Carr laid out an aggressive agenda for his first meeting as chair, with two items on future spectrum auctions, including a look at the upper C band. The FCC will also tackle wireless emergency alerts and robocalls and ways of strengthening the call-blocking capabilities of carriers. In addition, commissioners will consider an NPRM on the volume of broadcast commercials.
Any NPRM that looks at new power limits on non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites should consider how the space industry and the assumptions underlying the original NGSO/geostationary orbit spectrum-sharing framework have changed, Amazon's Kuiper said. In a filing posted Monday, Kuiper recapped a meeting with FCC Space Bureau staffers where it presented four pages of suggested questions and topics for such an NPRM. It said the commission should ask about the level of protection GSO systems reasonably require and if the current equivalent power flux density (EPFD) limits are the right ones for that level of protection. The FCC also should ask if the current EPFD limits overly restrict NGSO operations, Kuiper said. It should seek input on a new NGSO/GSO spectrum-sharing framework and on the best methodology for protecting GSO operations that use adaptive coding and modulation. SpaceX has petitioned for higher EPFD limits (see 2408120018).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Sinclair expects that local media segment revenue will be “down modestly” from its original projection of $936 million to $945 million, it said in a release Monday, preliminarily disclosing its Q4 earnings a month ahead of its Feb. 26 earnings call. The company said it now expects local media segment revenues to fall between $931 million and $933 million.” The decreased projected revenue will cross multiple categories, including political advertising and core advertising, the release said.
The Puerto Rico Telephone Co. (PRTC) updated the FCC on its work restoring copper networks following Hurricanes Irma and Maria. “Fixed telecommunications services in the areas served in network node 95000IP06 have been restored,” bringing nodes restored to 1,201, said a filing this week in docket 18-240. That includes 590 network nodes restored through deployment of fiber-to-the-home to replace copper loops, “which is more than four times the number of network nodes that PRTC originally had planned for restoration through FTTH.” PRTC noted that part of its restoration plan is to replace legacy connections with fixed broadband voice over LTE. “As PRTC has informed the Commission, the deployment of this fixed VoLTE-based solution was delayed significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent supply chain disruptions that affected the telecommunications industry.”