Verizon joins wireless industry voices urging the FCC not to allow expanded uplinks in the 2110-2120 MHz band for space launch operations. That swath was critical to 4G deployment and "will continue to support the deployment of next-generation wireless technologies for years to come," Verizon said Friday in docket 13-115. In addition, CTIA and AT&T have raised red flags about expanded space operations in the 2110-2120 MHz portion of the AWS-1 band (see 2404020028). More users in the AWS-1 band "would add significant complexity and uncertainty to the interference environment," Verizon said. It said if the FCC allows expanded access for space launches, it should be restricted to the NASA Deep Space Network research facility in California -- the sole venue where wireless licensees of the band have been subject to interference up to now.
Most ex parte meetings on the net neutrality order have focused on Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and her fellow Democrats Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez, with about twice as many meetings as with the Republicans, based on our count. Industry officials said that’s not surprising, saying Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington certainly will dissent and have little leverage to seek changes. Commissioners vote Thursday.
Industry and consumer groups have lobbied the FCC in recent days on whether to maintain its proposed language regarding forbearance of Universal Service Fund (USF) contributions for broadband internet access service (BIAS) in its draft order restoring net neutrality rules, according to an analysis of recent ex parte filings in docket 23-320. The FCC in its draft order to be considered Thursday during the commissioners' open meeting tentatively decided to grant ISPs forbearance from Communications Act Section 254(d) requirements, which govern USF contributions (see 2404050068).
Impulse Space hopes it can launch its non-geostationary orbit Impulse-2 orbital transfer vehicle as soon as October, it said in an FCC Space Bureau application posted Thursday. It's seeking approval to operate Impulse-2 as a host of experimental payloads and to demonstrate on-orbit maneuvering capabilities. Impulse said Impulse-2 would be "a steppingstone toward creating an orbit transfer vehicle that will ... be capable of rendezvousing and lowering the orbit of or de-orbiting harmful orbital debris."
The FCC's "all-in" pricing disclosure requirement for cable and direct broadcast satellite operators will be effective Friday, according to a notice for that day's Federal Register. The commission voted 3-2 on party lines at its March meeting to mandate "all-in" pricing for bills and promotional materials (see 2403140050).
The wireless industry has enthusiastically worked with the FCC and others on all stages of 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline implementation, and anticipates continuing to coordinate with stakeholders regarding georouting of 988 calls, CTIA representatives said. In meetings with aides to the five commissioners, recapped Thursday in docket 18-336, CTIA said along with coordination, it wants to ensure "flexibility and sufficient implementation time for the diverse range of wireless providers."
Representatives of the Wireless ISP Association said they spoke with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr on concerns the group is raising on the draft net neutrality order (see 2404160068) set for a vote next week. WISPA is asking the commission to seek additional comment before imposing net neutrality rules on broadband providers with fewer than 250,000 subscribers. The FCC should use a Further NPRM “to fully explore the issues related to whether the Commission should permanently exempt … providers with 250,000 or fewer subscribers from the rules proposed in the draft item,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 23-320.
Barbara van Schewick, director of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, spoke with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to expand on concerns she raised last week on draft net neutrality order’s approach to 5G network slicing (see 2404120045). “The draft order turns the brightline no-throttling rule into a new, vague case-by-case standard,” said her filing posted Thursday in docket 23-320. “This opens the door to ISPs’ creating fast lanes for select apps or kinds of apps, as long as the application provider does not charge for it,” van Schewick said. “There is no way to predict which kinds of fast lanes the FCC might ultimately find to violate the no-throttling rule.”
The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) told the FCC in a filing it lacks legal authority to award control of the 4.9 GHz band to the FirstNet Authority (FNA). New Street’s Blair Levin highlighted the filing Wednesday in a note to investors. “The Commission lacks statutory authority under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 to award the FNA a license beyond the 700 MHz band addressed by that Act, and no other statute authorizes such a transfer,” CERCI said in a filing in docket 07-100: “Even if the FCC were authorized to make this grant, the FNA is not statutorily authorized to receive it” and “attempting to undertake this grant based on existing statutory authorities would, in any case, violate the major questions doctrine and raise nondelegation issues.” If lawyers at the FCC “agree with the argument, it moots the policy arguments about the relative benefits of national versus local control of spectrum and prevents the reallocation of the 50 megahertz of 4.9GHz spectrum licenses at issue,” which would be a “win” for Verizon and T-Mobile, Levin said. The arguments “are designed to have appeal to both Democrats and Republicans, who, in particular, are more sympathetic to arguments based on the major questions doctrine and the nondelegation doctrine,” he said. CERCI was formed last year by some public safety groups, the Edison Electric Institute, T-Mobile, UScellular, Verizon and the Competitive Carriers Association (see 2311160052). AT&T declined comment Thursday.
A coalition of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction winners asked the FCC to waive its letter of credit (LOC) rules for RDOF, meeting separately with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez (see 2311140077). The group proposed limiting LOCs to one year of support similar to NTIA's waiver for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program. "Maintaining the LOC while having to absorb the huge construction cost increases that RDOF winners are encountering exacerbates the significant financial burden RDOF Winners are already facing," the coalition said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-126.