Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Several industry groups continued calling on the FCC to permanently eliminate the requirement that a certified professional engineer (PE) verify and certify a company's broadband data before it's submitted through the broadband data collection (BDC). The groups made the remarks in comments posted through Wednesday in docket 19-195 (see 2408300036). Others raised concerns with a proposal for adopting additional reporting requirements for satellite and fixed wireless providers.
Proponents of uniform handset unlocking rules said Wednesday that momentum for approval should continue despite the upcoming change in leadership, following Tuesday's election. Experts spoke during a Broadband Breakfast webinar.
House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., urged FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and FTC Chair Lina Khan Wednesday to stand down from working on controversial matters during the transition from President Joe Biden to former President Donald Trump, who won a second term that morning (see 2411060042). Senate GOP leaders will likely send similar “pencils down” letters, lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and other GOP leaders are likely to have their positions against controversial FCC and FTC action strengthened given the party won control of the upper chamber Tuesday night, lobbyists said. Cruz appears on course to take the Senate Commerce gavel next year, having prevailed Tuesday as part of the Republicans' victory (see 2411060001).
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is in prime position to take over the commission’s chairmanship in January following former President Donald Trump’s election to a second term, giving him leeway to make potentially sweeping changes on a range of high-profile communications policy matters, lawyers and other observers said in interviews Wednesday. Carr’s agenda if he becomes chairman is likely to mirror elements of the FCC chapter he wrote for the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy agenda (see 2407050015), but he may need to delay non-bipartisan actions until the Senate can confirm a Republican nominee to fill current Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s seat if she resigns, as is tradition, observers told us.
SpaceX wants to add Swarm VHF-band mobile satellite service payloads onto its first-generation Starlink satellites. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Tuesday, SpaceX said the payloads would let Starlinks offer services that Swarm's authorization permits. SpaceX said the payloads also would let the company track and maintain contact with first-gen Starlinks during rare space weather events and orbit raising. SpaceX said it is operating similar payloads on its second-gen Starlinks as safety beacons for more than 18 months without interference complaints from commercial or federal users.
SpaceX and Japanese telecom operator KDDI expect to launch supplemental coverage from space commercial service in Japan by year's end, representatives of the companies told FCC Space Bureau staffers, according to a docket 23-135 filing posted Tuesday. They said the necessary regulatory arrangements for offering the service are being finalized with Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. As such, they urged the FCC to authorize commercial SCS service in the U.S.
Indian Peak Properties believes the FCC erred when it denied its petitions for declaratory ruling in an order on the agency’s over-the-air reception device (OTARD) rules, the company said in a brief this week filed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2405060035). The FCC told the court its rules require a regular human presence at an antenna's location, and the agency had plenty of evidence that Indian Peak failed to argue its antenna fell within the rule's scope (see 2410210001). In a reply brief, the company said, “This case could have turned out differently had the Commission given notice of its secret procedure and new ‘human presence’ standard.” The FCC claims it “reasonably dismissed Indian’s petitions without starting a proceeding,” Indian Peak said: “Even if the Commission’s actions were reasonable as claimed by the FCC Brief … the agency’s failure to give fair notice of its interpretation of the Rule prejudiced Indian and warrants reversal of the Order.” The D.C. Circuit has not scheduled oral argument in the case (docket 24-1108).
CTIA and other commenters urged the FCC to proceed slowly when finalizing rules for a program that would allow schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services. Reply comments were due Monday in docket 21-31 on a Further NPRM, which was approved as part of the hot spot item in July (see 2407180024). Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissented. “Wireless providers are significant contributors to the universal service fund, and CTIA strongly supports the efficient and effective use of all universal service support, including E-Rate funding,” CTIA said. “Stakeholders will be better able to comment on the controls in the program once they have gained experience with them” and “program requirements should not impose burdens that outweigh the program’s benefits, as that could deter participation,” the group said. The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition said the FCC shouldn’t set "overly burdensome administrative requirements or punitive solutions that diminish a school or library’s flexibility to structure its lending practices.” Don’t mandate defined hot spot lending periods, SHLB advised: “Schools and libraries should be able to style their lending practices to better meet users’ educational endeavors.” SHLB also opposed “a data use threshold higher than zero to consider a line ‘used.'” Such thresholds would introduce “assumptions about acceptable and unacceptable broadband use that ignore variables in connectivity needs,” the group said. The North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation and Mobile Beacon jointly called on the FCC to refrain from imposing new rules at this moment. “Adding burdensome new requirements, in the absence of any compelling need, will unnecessarily burden schools, libraries, and other program participants, and make it harder for students to connect,” they said: “The Commission should increase, not restrict, applicant flexibility.” The American Library Association earlier said final rules would be premature (see 2410040033).
NTIA officials met with staff from across the FCC to urge the agency to move forward on handset unlocking rules similar to those proposed in an NPRM commissioners approved 5-0 in July (see 2407180037). NTIA “supports reducing the burden on consumers by requiring automatic unlocking of devices whenever feasible,” said a filing posted this week in docket 24-186: “NTIA has been working to empower consumers and promote competition in this space for a long time, and we provided the Commission with some background on our experiences to date.” NTIA doesn’t oppose the 60-day waiting period proposed in the NPRM, “and we appreciate the anti-fraud goals that drive this proposal,” the filing said. “We also maintain that there should be no distinction in the rules between devices sold with prepaid and postpaid plans and are unconvinced by arguments that the prepaid subsidy model only works with locked devices.” NTIA noted that Verizon is required to unlock prepaid devices the same as postpaid devices, yet still offers “subsidized devices for use with prepaid services.” The rules should also cover tablets and other devices and not just handsets, NTIA said. Representatives of Public Knowledge, Consumer Reports and New America’s Open Technology Institute, meanwhile, said they spoke with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks about unlocking rules. “A policy of automatically unlocking of all phones, both pre- and post-paid, 60 days after purchase would promote … goals of promoting competition in the handset and wireless markets, while preserving the ability of carriers to detect and prevent fraud and to offer low-cost handsets,” the groups said.