Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases are marked with an *.
California's top assemblymember on communications is concerned about the state's process for distributing broadband cash and what President-elect Donald Trump might do to its $1.86 billion federal BEAD allocation. In an exclusive Communications Daily Q&A ahead of Monday's opening of the new legislative session, Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee Chair Tasha Boerner (D) said she expects she will resurrect her proposal that creates a single state broadband office. And the committee will try again on a digital discrimination bill that failed to pass in the last session. Our conversation below with Boerner was lightly edited for length and clarity.
The FCC released this week its biannual Communications Marketplace Report, which commissioners approved 3-2 with Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissenting. Carr, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, objected, as he has in the past, to the focus on market segments rather than on the converged market (see 2101040051).
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling overturning the FCC’s latest net neutrality order Thursday was based on the court’s reading of the Communications Act and failed to dive into major questions items, as laid out in recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions (see 2409030030). It also means the next FCC, under President-elect Donald Trump, likely won’t spend its early days on a reversal of the order, which was approved 3-2 in April (see 2404250004).
The FCC released on Tuesday an order reallocating the 2360-2395 MHz band on a secondary basis for space launch operations (see 2412190044). Commissioners approved the order 5-0 Dec. 23, ahead of the Dec. 25 statutory deadline set in the Launch Communications Act, which was enacted in September (see 2409270060). The order also incorporates the band into the FCC’s Part 26 space launch regulatory framework, which includes space launch licensing and frequency coordination rules. “To protect critical federal and non-federal flight testing operations,” the FCC also incorporates into the Part 26 rules “certain technical rules” from the agency’s Part 87 rules covering aviation industry communications. “Throughout this proceeding, the Commission has recognized that reliable spectrum access for space launch operations, which includes transportation of cargo and people into space, orbital launches to place satellites into space, and suborbital launches, is crucial to ensuring that the United States remains a global leader in space and innovation,” the order said: “Today, by implementing the recent Congressional directive, we take further steps to ensure that commercial space launch companies have reliable access to the necessary radio spectrum to communicate with their launch and reentry vehicles.” The 2360-2395 MHz band comes atop the 2025-2110 and 2200-2290 MHz allocations for space launch activities commissioners approved in the fall (see 2309210055).
The FCC Office of International Affairs in a public notice Monday released circuit capacity data for U.S.-international submarine cables as of Dec. 31, 2023. The data includes capacity information from submarine cable landing licensees and common carriers that owned or leased capacity on a cable in the covered period.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau imposed a $20,000 fine against Root Automation and 4Fast.net for allegedly not filing FCC Form 477 20 times and filing it late once. The FCC uses the form to collect data on broadband deployment and local telephone competition. In response to a 2021 notice of apparent liability, the company “expressed its disagreement ‘with the legal synopsis of why the 477 process exists,’” the bureau said: “The Company asserts that it ‘is not able to submit any FCC 477 information at this point’ because it ‘is unable to satisfactorily trust that the FCC is acting legally.’” The bureau rejected these arguments, noting it “has long recognized that violations of the FCC Form 477 filing requirements are significant because it is a critical fact-gathering instrument that informs the Commission’s efforts to advance broadband availability,” said the order in Tuesday’s Daily Digest.
The Public Safety Spectrum Alliance opposed a motion for partial stay, asking that the FCC delay a requirement that current 4.9 GHz licensees provide it with granular licensing data not later than June 9. The Government Wireless Technology & Communications Association and state groups filed that motion last week (see 2412230048). PSSA, which supports giving the FirstNet Authority effective control of the band, said supporters of a stay haven't met FCC requirements. “Movants have made no serious attempt to demonstrate that irreparable harm will result if the Commission does not grant their requested relief,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 07-100. “Incumbent licensees must review operations under their active licenses (radio service code PA)” and use the universal licensing system “to create new licenses (with granular data) in newly-created radio service codes PB (public safety licensees performing base/mobile, mobile-only or temporary fixed operations) and PF (public safety licensees operating fixed links),” the FCC Public Safety Bureau has instructed licensees (see 2412090070). “The Movants have not demonstrated, and cannot demonstrate, that irreparable harm will result from cancellation of the PA licenses,” the PSSA said: “Transitioning from PA licenses to PB/PF licenses merely allows the Commission to collect more granular data about these existing, frozen operations -- it does not have any material impact on the rights of licensees beyond what prior 4.9 GHz-related orders have already effectuated.”
Solen Ventures and IP-captioned telephone service (IP CTS) provider NexTalk want the FCC to grant conditional certification, allowing NexTalk to remain eligible for compensation from the interstate telecommunications relay service fund (TRS) fund following Solen's purchase of the company, said an application posted Tuesday in docket 03-123. That deal closed Dec. 13. Under acquisition terms, NexTalk will be dissolved and a new entity, NexTalk Software, will control its assets. The conditional certification would allow NexTalk Software “to remain eligible to receive compensation from the TRS Fund for providing its IP CTS under new ownership for an additional two years” while the FCC assesses its eligibility for full certification. FCC rules don’t allow certifications to provide internet-based TRS to be transferred to entities that don’t already hold it, and require such certifications as a condition for payment from the TRS fund. “Despite having received conditional authority in January 2024, NexTalk has yet to actually seek TRS funding, and will not do so unless and until the Commission approves this conditional application,” the filing said. “There have been no changes in NexTalk’s operations and the ways in which it will comply with TRS obligations. The only change is the new ownership and name change.”
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel this week listed making communications “more just for more people in more places,” protecting consumers and “leaning into the future” as among her core values during her FCC career. In a post summarizing her 2024 accomplishments, she also mentioned “making communications available to all” and “putting national security and public safety front and center” as guiding principles. “I believe these are the things we need to do to build a digital future that works for everyone,” she wrote. “I am gratified to see that the FCC has made real progress to advance these principles during 2024, defining my time at the agency.” In the post, Rosenworcel laid out all the actions the agency has taken, from the affordable connectivity program, to creating a Missing and Endangered Persons event code, to responding to the Salt Typhoon cyberattack (see 2412300039). Salt Typhoon “has resulted in unprecedented coordination between the FCC and our national security counterparts across government,” she said. During her tenure, the FCC “engaged with over 540 representatives and stakeholders across 78 countries to share FCC best practices, strengthen relationships, and advocate our positions on topics ranging from robocalls to spectrum management and satellite licensing to media and broadcast issues,” Rosenworcel said. “Everything I have mentioned in this note was made possible by working together with my colleagues at the agency and, of course, the remarkable public servants at the FCC, who have a deep and dynamic understanding of communications technology.” She added, “I am grateful for their efforts and proud of what we accomplished together to build a digital future that works for everyone.”