The FCC’s proposals to update the foreign-sponsored content rules (see 2301250067) exceed the agency’s authority, said representatives of NAB, Fox, NBCU, Gray Television and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council this week in meetings with aides to Commissioners Nathan Simington and Brendan Carr, according to an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 20-299. Requiring broadcasters to obtain certifications from programming lessees is a burden on broadcasters and will clutter the FCC’s online public inspection files with useless documents, the broadcasters said. “We cannot conceive of a single public benefit from littering stations’ online public files with thousands of certifications stating that innumerable local entities -- churches, family-owned businesses, and high school football programs -- are not agents of Russia or China,” the broadcasters said. If the FCC goes forward with the proposals, it should clarify the rule doesn’t apply to ads for commercial products and services, and limit the public file requirement to instances where a lessee is a foreign governmental entity, the broadcasters said. The agency should also exclude religious and local programming from the rules, they said.
Exports to China
The Chips and Science Act offers $39 billion to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry, but many applicants could come away empty-handed, said Michael Schmidt, director of the Commerce Department’s CHIPS Program Office, at an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation conference Wednesday.
Wireless industry commenters disagreed in docket 16-185 Monday on which of three views presented by the FCC’s World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee Agenda Item 10, on spectrum for international mobile telecommunications (IMT) best reflects what the U.S. should advocate at the upcoming WRC. Carriers support a broad look. Several satellite operators also expressed concerns about considering portions of 7-15 GHz for IMT use. Among satellite operators, there was a lack of consensus about supporting a proposed future agenda item to review existing Ku- and Ka-band equivalent power flux density (EPFD) limits.
The White House National Security Council led a 6G summit Friday at the National Science Foundation’s Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters aimed at ensuring the U.S. leads the coming wireless technology’s standards research development and deployment. Officials in part cited a need to prevent China from gaining a foothold on the emerging technology like it has on 5G. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel pushed during the summit for restoring the FCC’s spectrum auction authority as one means of cementing the U.S.' 6G role.
CTIA, NTCA and eight other groups urged the leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services and Commerce committees Thursday “to restore FCC auction authority to safeguard our national security and promote our economic security with clear planning for future commercial spectrum opportunities.” The FCC’s mandate expired in March amid a Senate impasse on two competing bills to extend the remit that turned on related negotiations on a larger spectrum legislative package that Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., feared would result in a deal that would repurpose parts of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for commercial use before DOD finishes a study of its systems on the frequency (see 2303090074). FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other commissioners similarly encouraged Congress Wednesday to bring back the commission’s mandate (see 2304190069). “Congress has acted decisively to promote our national security and unlock domestic innovation with the CHIPS Act and similar efforts to promote U.S. and trusted allies in the wireless equipment market,” the groups said in a letter to Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I.; House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala.; and the panels’ ranking members. “A similar bipartisan effort is needed now to address spectrum policy, because we are at risk that key 5G innovations will be pushed overseas, particularly to China, if we do not recommit to a spectrum policy that ensures that both government and commercial interests have sufficient access to key spectrum bands.” China “is poised to have over 400 percent more 5G spectrum than the United States available for commercial use by 2027, and is working now to drive other nations to make available the same bands that are already available in China,” the groups said: Reauthorization will “safeguard our national security and promote our economic security with clear planning for future commercial spectrum opportunities.”
Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., criticized the FCC Tuesday for not issuing T-Mobile licenses it bought in the 2022 2.5 GHz sale once the commission’s spectrum auction authority lapsed in March (see 2303220077). The FCC is effectively “a bottleneck” to U.S. work to continue to make spectrum available for wireless efforts,” which has become a national security issue due to competition with China to lead on 5G, Cline said during a House Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee hearing on the Commerce Department’s FY 2024 budget request. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo sidestepped the issue, saying she wasn’t “going to speak to what the FCC is doing or not doing.” It’s “very important to have spectrum available to advance innovation” and NTIA is working “hand in glove” with DOD “to make sure” it “has what it needs to advance its” priorities, she said. The FCC’s mandate expired in a Senate impasse on two competing bills to extend the remit that turned on related negotiations on a larger spectrum legislative package that Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., feared would result in a deal to repurpose parts of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for commercial use before DOD finishes a study of its systems on the frequency (see 2303090074). “National defense also depends on America out-innovating our competitors and we need spectrum in order to move forward” on important commercial priorities, Raimondo said. The FCC didn't immediately comment.
As NTIA tries to craft a national spectrum strategy, advocates are far apart on whether exclusive licenses for spectrum or reuse and sharing should be the primary focus, per comments submitted this week (docket 2023-0003). It continued to get pushes for repurposing bands including 3.1-3.45 GHz (see 2304170009).
In its hunt for spectrum available for more-intensive use, NTIA was urged to look at the 12 GHz and upper 12 GHz bands, in comments submitted Monday responding to its request for comments on creating a national spectrum strategy (see 2303150066). CTIA said U.S. efforts to lead the world in 5G are threatened by the lack of a spectrum pipeline and the expiration of the FCC's spectrum auction authority.
Early comments on a November Further NPRM asking about further steps clamping down on gear from Chinese companies (see 2211230065) is raising some concerns, based on the first comments posted Friday in docket 21-232. NTCA said it supports enhancing U.S. cybersecurity but “the Commission must ensure any equipment certifications fall within the appropriate Commission authority, are narrowly tailored to prevent harm that would result from adding further delays to equipment availability and are not applied retroactively.” Providers, including NTCA members, “typically have no role in the equipment design, manufacturing, or assembly processes, and thus must rely entirely upon information from manufacturers and vendors identifying the equipment components.” IPVM, a security industry research group, reminded the FCC the landscape is complicated. ADI, America’s largest security distributor, recently “placed a considerable order” with China’s Hikvision “which we estimate is valued in the low-tens of millions of dollars” and at least 100,000 more Hikvision devices “are now headed for shelves at ADI stores across America,” IPVM said. The group cited a similar deal involving Dahua-made Lorex cameras: “If the FCC plans to proceed with revoking existing authorizations, we advise that it do so expeditiously. The cost and complexity of such action -- both to the FCC and Americans generally -- only increases over time as droves of devices are continually imported into and installed in the US.”
Tech companies need to build mobile devices that allow police “lawful access by design” and strike a better balance in the end-to-end encryption debate, FBI Science & Technology Branch Section Chief Katie Noyes said Thursday. The longstanding debate is over law enforcement’s desire to create backdoors into encrypted devices (see 2004060064). Companies should be thinking about statutes that allow lawful access during the design phase, not when products have already been deployed, she said during a Center for Data Innovation livestream.