The National Consumer Law Center and Public Justice made their case Monday with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an en banc hearing of the court’s decision on a 2023 FCC robocall and robotext order (see 2501240068). Intervenors sought permission to intervene when it became clear the U.S. government wouldn't defend the order (see 2502200004). A key issue before judges was the one-to-one robotext consent provisions in the 2023 order.
Nokia asked the FCC not to make public the information it provided as it starts commercial operations as a spectrum access system administrator for the citizens broadband radio service band. Nokia filed a notice at the commission last week that it had begun operations, but it stripped all data from the filing in docket 15-319. The FCC approved Nokia’s application last summer (see 2407180035).
The National Sheriffs' Association and the California State Sheriffs' Association made their case for staying parts of the FCC’s October order on the 4.9 GHz band. The groups supported arguments by the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (see 2503070024), which also sought a stay, and countered arguments by the FCC, the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) and Public Safety Broadband Technology Association (see 2503030053).
Representatives from Bandwidth met with FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Trent Harkrader and others from the bureau on interconnection problems that the company is experiencing. The cloud communications company “provided marketplace perspectives about how [public switched telephone network] interconnection is breaking in various ways as ILECs [incumbent local exchange carriers] and others are decommissioning facilities or pricing services to make them prohibitive for remaining customers to sustain,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-479. “Bandwidth explained that it would prefer to interconnect via IP, but there is no regulatory framework for such interconnection at this time.” The company said its efforts to move time-division multiplexing (TDM) to its commercial IP interconnection agreements “have so far been rebuffed and ILECs have not made IP interconnection available to Bandwidth for the exchange of voice calls with the ILECs’ customers who remain on TDM services or delivery of calls to a selective router.”
House Appropriations Committee Republicans bowed a continuing resolution (HR-1968) Saturday that would extend current federal funding levels for the FCC, NTIA and other agencies through Sept. 30, the end of FY 2025. The measure, if passed, would avert a government shutdown that would otherwise begin when an existing CR expires after midnight Friday. HR-1968 would also extend through Sept. 30 some temporary rules changes that give Medicare recipients eligibility for telehealth services. Lawmakers raised concerns last month that Congress’ failure to extend the temporary rules change via the current CR would mean Medicare eligibility for telehealth services would expire April 1 (see 2502200065). Congress enacted the expanded telehealth rules during the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2006170065).
Major trade groups are at odds with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) on whether the FCC should reconsider its January declaratory ruling in response to the Salt Typhoon cyberattacks. That ruling was opposed by now-Chairman Brendan Carr (see 2501160041). The FCC concluded then that Section 105 of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) “affirmatively requires telecommunications carriers to secure their networks from unlawful access or interception of communications.”
FCC leadership, including Chairman Brendan Carr, is already closely aligned with President Donald Trump's agenda, lessening the effect of the president's executive order about increasing White House control over independent agencies like the FCC, Davis Wright attorneys blogged Monday. Carr's FCC will likely follow Trump's agenda and priorities in practice, regardless of the theoretical independence of commissioners, Davis Wright said. But an issue could arise that sees Republican-appointed commissioners splitting with Trump on key issues, it said. In that case, the level of presidential control over the FCC's agenda and whether Trump can remove commissioners over policy disagreements "may have serious practical consequences."
Free speech and press groups joined with the unusual alliance of NAB, Public Knowledge, TechFreedom and Free Press in condemning the FCC’s news distortion complaint against CBS in comments filed by Friday’s deadline in docket 25-73.
As President Donald Trump's administration approaches the end of its second month, many questions remain about what it will do concerning the national spectrum strategy and the studies of the lower 3 and 7/8 GHz band started under former President Joe Biden. Most of the news out of NTIA so far has been about BEAD's future, with little on spectrum.
Globalstar's planned C-3 satellite system (see 2502280001) can't operate in the 1.6/2.4 GHz band, as the FCC has made clear it won't let new mobile satellite service systems there before updating the band's rules, SpaceX told the FCC Space Bureau last week. It said the agency had to dismiss Globalstar's "premature" application. SpaceX urged FCC action on its year-old petition to allow new entrants into the 1.6/2.4 GHz band (see 2402230027), saying that would be a good vehicle for updating the rules so Globalstar could then submit its C-3 application. SpaceX said Globalstar's proposed higher-power system in the band "would also fundamentally alter the spectrum environment [there] to the detriment of prospective competitors, such as SpaceX."