Representatives of Public Knowledge and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance met with aides to three of the FCC commissioners on the importance of making low-cost broadband available for those who can’t afford current offerings. They discussed with aides to Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez support for a “reformed” USF “that creates a pathway to support a permanent broadband subsidy that mirrors the incredibly successful Affordable Connectivity Program.” They also discussed “affordability and reliability challenges in remote communities that depend on satellite broadband,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 10-90. Affordability remains an issue even as new satellite and fixed wireless options “put competitive, downward pressure on pricing,” the filing said.
The Fiber Broadband Association on Wednesday released an “Introduction to Passive Optical Network Splitter Architectures,” which was developed by the FBA Technology Committee. “The purpose of the guide is to demystify the terminology, configurations, and best practices associated with PON splitter deployment,” the group said. The report “explores how splitter architecture choices impact fiber counts, splicing, and customer connections while setting the stage for a more detailed follow-up analysis of centralized versus distributed splitting architectures.”
Conexon Connect said it was incorrect when it told the FCC that it had met its three-year 40% rural development opportunity fund (RDOF) buildout milestone in Kentucky. In a docket 19-126 filing posted Tuesday, Conexon said it based its claim (see 2501160056) on the best data available at the time. Further analysis determined that the number of locations it serves in Kentucky is "slightly below" the required 40% milestone. But the company "still intends to fully satisfy its RDOF obligations in each of the ten states in which it receives RDOF support."
NextNav filed at the FCC a new engineering report on interference issues raised by the company’s proposal that the FCC reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band “to enable a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing services (see 2404160043). “NextNav undertook this analysis in response to claims in the record that allowing 5G deployment in the 902-928 MHz band could cause unacceptable levels of interference to unlicensed Part 15 devices,” said the report, filed last week in docket 24-240.
Rules for protecting GPS from mobile satellite service (MSS) operations in the L band work and don’t need to be revisited, according to satellite and direct-to-device (D2D) interests. But the GPS world is alarmed about the proliferation of D2D hardware in the band and what that could mean for adjacent-band GPS operations, according to comments posted Friday on Regulations.gov as NTIA solicited input on potential interference to the GPS L1 signal from L-band operations at 1610-1660.5 MHz (see 2412260003).
Securus and Pay Tel accused the FCC of acting outside the bounds of what was allowed under the Martha Wright-Reed (MWR) Act of 2022 in its July order reducing call rates for people in prisons while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039). The two providers of incarcerated people’s communication services (IPCS) filed preliminary briefs Thursday, as did state and law enforcement challengers and groups representing prisoners and their families. The case is before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, though various parties are still asking that it be moved to the 5th Circuit (see 2501280053).
While the White House increasingly wields tariffs as an economic policy tool, parts of the tech, media and telecom universe see a growing risk of getting enmeshed in trade fights. Some communications technology could be particularly exposed, Telecommunications Industry Association Director-Global Policy Patrick Lozada told us. Broadcasters, meanwhile, are bracing for tariffs that could potentially result in lower advertising spends. SpaceX's temporary loss of a $100 million contract over a U.S./Canada tariff fight also could point to satellite communications getting caught in the thicket of U.S. trade disputes (see 2502060004).
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's criticism of how the 5G Fund was structured under former Chairwoman Rosenworcel is “legitimate,” New Street’s Blair Levin said in an email (see 2502100056). “Congress asked Rosenworcel to lay out an analysis of the future of USF post-BEAD in order to have the data Congress and the public would need to evaluate what needs to be done now and what should await the implementation of BEAD,” Levin said. “Rosenworcel's efforts did not accomplish that (or anything else) which is unfortunate.” While some parts of the fund could be done now, “others, no doubt, would benefit from knowing how the states' plans affect future deployment efforts,” he said.
Streaming services are expected to ramp up their spending on content by 6% in 2025, to $95 billion, surpassing commercial broadcasters and becoming the largest funder of content worldwide, Ampere Analysis wrote Tuesday. It said ad-supported and subscription-based services are expected to account for 39% of content spending worldwide this year. U.S. commercial broadcasters are cutting spending in the face of advertising revenue challenges from linear viewing declines, it said, adding that outside the U.S., commercial broadcasters have been more resilient and are expected to maintain their content investment in 2025.
T-Mobile highlighted risks to its business from wireless competition and cyberattacks in a report filed Friday at the SEC. The wireless industry “is highly competitive,” it noted. “As the industry reaches saturation, competition in all market segments, including prepaid, postpaid, enterprise and government customers will likely further intensify, putting pressure on pricing and/or margins for us and all our competitors.” T-Mobile also described the growing cyberattack threat. “Cyberattacks against companies like ours are increasing in frequency and scope of potential harm over time, and the methods used to gain unauthorized access constantly evolve, making it increasingly difficult to anticipate, prevent, and detect incidents successfully in every instance.” In some cases, “bad actors exploit bugs, errors, misconfigurations or other vulnerabilities in our Systems to obtain Confidential Information.” They also “obtain unauthorized access to Confidential Information by exploiting insider access or utilizing log in credentials taken from our customers, employees, or third-party providers through credential harvesting, social engineering or other means.” T-Mobile released annual and Q4 results last week (see 2501290058).