AstroForge has become the first company to receive an FCC spectrum license for a commercial mission into deep space, it posted Monday on X. "We're excited to lead the charge in deep space exploration," the space mining company said. "With the FCC’s authorization, we are now full steam ahead," the company said. The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology experimental license was granted Oct. 18. AstroForge said its Odin craft will go on a two-year mission to conduct a fly-by of target asteroids and take high-resolution images to analyze the surface for docking sites in future missions. AstroForge craft will operate in the S band.
The FCC handled the review of Audacy's foreign-ownership request differently from other media rulemakings, said Commissioner Nathan Simington in an email responding to a recent letter to lawmakers from Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2410250034). The Audacy process “was a sharply accelerated bureau review culminating in an order with a paragraph or two about public interest, which stands in contrast to the seemingly interminable, opaque, and quixotic ‘public interest’ reasoning that has otherwise characterized Commission action on media M&A and rulemaking of late,” Simington said in the email. The Media Bureau has approved a number of similar foreign-ownership requests associated with bankruptcy restructurings in the current and previous administrations without drawing protests. In her letter, Rosenworcel said the FCC’s Republican commissioners delayed the order when they waited 40 days before voting and that their stance was motivated by the involvement of funds associated with George Soros in the Audacy transactions. In his email, Simington conceded the 40-day wait but faulted the FCC for taking 147 days after the Audacy petition was submitted before informing him that the item would be approved at the bureau level. Simington said he was informed that his “perspective on the transaction as a sitting Commissioner was unnecessary and unwelcome,” Simington said. "The Constitution protects the rights of every American to speak his or her mind, even those with whom FCC staff disagree or dislike." But it “does not guarantee anyone whomsoever the right to a peremptory grant of the transfer of hundreds of broadcast licenses on what amounts to zero public interest or foreign ownership review” without an FCC vote, he added. Rosenworcel told lawmakers that granting Audacy’s request doesn’t preempt foreign-ownership review but delays it until the company emerges from bankruptcy. In all previous grants of similar waivers, companies went through the foreign-ownership review process. The FCC has granted every broadcast foreign-ownership request to go before it since the rules were clarified in 2013, an agency spokesperson told us.
The Bulk Broadband Alliance last week urged the FCC to abandon a proposal regulating bulk broadband billing arrangements in multi-dwelling units (MDU). The group cited a July letter from the American Economic Liberties Project asking that the commission let residents opt out of bulk billing agreements between properties and ISPs (see 2408010064). However, the alliance said Friday in docket 17-142 that bulk billing brings "increased competition, reduced provider costs, and enhanced consumer bargaining power." Moreover, an opt-out requirement would bring higher prices because providers "would no longer submit the low bids they currently offer when competing for these contracts," the alliance said, adding that implementing the requirement would have "difficult administrative challenges." It also said the FCC lacked statutory authority to regulate bulk billing arrangements.
Public interest groups asked the FCC for an extension until Dec. 17 of the deadline for reply comments on its Further NPRM regarding incarcerated people's communications services (see 2409200019). The motion -- from the Wright Petitioners, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Pennsylvania Prison Society, United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, Public Knowledge and Stephen Raher -- cited "multiple overlapping comment periods and deadlines." Deadlines in such "close proximity involving these complicated issues will likely pose certain challenges to some commenters," said the motion posted Monday. They added that an extension will "allow interested parties to fully evaluate and respond to issues raised in the comments while also responding to the other issues at play in this docket."
Firefly Broadband asked the FCC to intervene in FiberLight's surrender of certain Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction bids (see 2410250006). The company said in a letter Monday in docket 10-126 that discussions for it to assume Firefly's 463 locations at issue have stalled. FiberLight "has recently been unresponsive and has shown no inclination to move forward" despite its own letter to the FCC, said Firefly. "If FiberLight is unwilling to assign its RDOF obligations," Firefly urged the FCC to "take note of this fact when it considers the appropriate forfeiture penalties to impose."
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, a member of his transition team and Elon Musk, X platform owner and SpaceX CEO, are repeating calls for broadcasters to lose their spectrum because their news broadcasts are too partisan.
Fixed satellite service earth station licensees qualified for protection from citizens broadband radio service have until Dec. 2 to renew their licenses so that their registration is valid in 2025, according to an FCC Wireless Bureau public notice Friday. Incomplete registrations as of Jan. 1 may be deactivated or deleted, and the earth station site won't merit protection by spectrum access system administrators, it said.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau extended until Nov. 15 the deadline for reply comments on an NPRM and notice of inquiry addressing abuse from AI-generated robocalls and robotexts in an order Thursday. A coalition of banking, telecom, and consumer groups petitioned the FCC for more time (see 2410210039). Replies are due in docket 23-362.
The FCC Wireline Bureau adopted the E-rate program's final eligible services list for FY 2025 in an order Friday in docket 13-184. The bureau revised its definition of "wireless" service under category one to include mobile service on school buses and Wi-Fi hotspots. The bureau also declined to include advanced or next generation firewall services as a category two service. The bureau rejected calls to also include domain name system and dynamic host configuration protocol services under either category (see 2410070046).
AT&T will pay a nearly $2.3 million fine under a settlement with the FCC for violations in the emergency broadband benefit program and affordable connectivity program. A Friday order said an Enforcement Bureau investigation found that AT&T sought and received funding for improperly enrolled non-subscriber benefit qualifying persons between "at least" May 2021 and December 2023. AT&T violated rules that require in-store sales personnel to obtain a representative accountability database identification number. The bureau also found that the ISP collected funds for subscribers who had not used their service for at least 45 days. Providers can receive reimbursement for "offering the ACP benefit when the subscriber has used the service at least once every 30 days or has cured their non-usage during a subsequent 15-day cure period."