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.
Rural and high-cost areas throughout Alaska remain "some of the hardest and most costly to serve in the country," the FCC acknowledged in a Monday order establishing the Alaska Connect Fund (ACF), complementing the 2016 Alaska Plan (see 2410150048). The order will take effect 30 days after Federal Register publication. Also adopted on Monday was a Further NPRM seeking comment on implementation of the fund.
The group behind recent FCC complaints against CBS and ABC over their news coverage filed an equal time complaint against NBC and its station WNBC New York Monday over Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ weekend appearance on Saturday Night Live (see 2411040057). The complaint from the Center for American Rights echoes points first raised by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and calls for “a substantial fine” against NBC. “Broadcasters cannot abuse their licenses by airing what amounts to a free commercial promoting one candidate the weekend before the presidential election,” said CAR President Daniel Suhr in a news release. FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington backed the complaint Monday, saying “I urge Commission leadership to take these credible allegations seriously,” but multiple broadcast attorneys told us NBC appears to have satisfied the FCC’s rules.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit pressed LTD Broadband Tuesday on its challenge of the FCC's denial of its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application (see 2405090056). Judges during oral argument questioned LTD and the FCC on the standard of review applied to the ISP compared with other RDOF applicants, as well as the potential impact on rural broadband access in the areas where LTD won bids.
NextNav countered a recent International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) study on the interference risk of the company’s proposal to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band “to enable a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services (see 2404160043). IBTTA’s assertion “that the 5G base stations NextNav’s proposal contemplates will operate at more than 600 times the power level of current operations is accurate only if one disregards the limits of base station equipment, commercial incentives, and urban power limits, and then assumes operations at the extreme outer limits of the Commission’s rules for rural areas,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 24-240. “While NextNav requested a three-watt power limit for user equipment, the vast majority of devices, including all devices that can operate inside vehicles, will have 200-milliwatt maximum conducted output power with even lower [equivalent isotropic radiated power] due to negative antenna gain,” NextNav said. The IBTTA study was filed last month at the FCC by a coalition led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Competitive Carriers Association raised concerns about a Georgia Institute of Technology third-party mobile speed test app in the FCC’s broadband data collection mobile challenge process. The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force and Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment on the app in September and replies were due Friday (see 2409170010). “CCA is concerned that allowing additional speed test apps alone will not solve the underlying issues that are undermining a vigorous and user-friendly challenge process as called for in the Broadband DATA Act and that are plaguing the Commission’s mobile availability maps,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 24-2. “The Commission must address these issues before it can expect CellWatch, the FCC Mobile Speed Test app, or future third-party apps to meaningfully contribute to the mobile challenge process,” CCA said.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau reminded amateur radio service and personal radio services licensees on Monday that the commission prohibits using radios to commit or facilitate crimes. “The Bureau recognizes that these services can be used for a wide range of permitted and socially beneficial purposes, including emergency communications and speech that is protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” the notice said. However, those using radio services for criminal purposes "may be subject to severe penalties, including significant fines, seizure of the offending equipment, and, in some cases, criminal prosecution."
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials warned that dispatchable location of wireless calls to 911 may not happen. APCO representatives met with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The promise of dispatchable location has substantially faded since it was heralded by the industry and identified as the gold standard for public safety” in an FCC order “nearly 10 years ago,” said a filing last week in docket 07-114. “While wireless carriers may be delivering dispatchable locations for a small number of wireless 9-1-1 calls, the methods being used and whether/how any testing has been conducted are unknown,” APCO said. There is also “a lack of uniformity among the reports produced by the carriers, which makes it difficult to compare and evaluate their efforts.”
The American Consumer Institute (ACI) questioned whether the FCC has legal authority to impose handset unlocking rules on carriers, as proposed in an NPRM that commissioners approved 5-0 in July (see 2407180037). “The FCC relies on dubious legal authority to justify unsupported economic assertions, which threaten to undermine the pro-competitive consumer benefits the Commission seeks to achieve,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 24-186. “Instead of empirically validating its claims with a cost-benefit analysis about pro-competitive market conditions from the rule, it simply asserts its conclusions as fact and then works backward from preordained outcomes to justify its decision,” ACI said.
Industry groups repeated in reply comments their earlier arguments that addressing tribal issues shouldn’t slow the awarding of funds through the $9 billion 5G Fund that FCC commissioners approved in August (see 2410180036). Replies were posted on Monday in docket 20-32. Commissioner Brendan Carr dissented on the 5G Fund item, which included a Further NPRM on tribal issues (see 2408290022). Tribes and their associations have stressed the importance of collaboration with tribal governments (see 2410170045). The record shows “that any 5G Fund Tribal consent requirements need to account for the time and uncertainties involved in obtaining Tribal consent,” CTIA said. The commission “should also consider whether Tribal entities’ consent may be presumed after a certain period of good-faith efforts by the 5G Fund applicant,” the group said: “In no event, … should a winning bidder be placed in default or otherwise subject to penalties if the winning bidder demonstrates good-faith efforts to obtain consent in accordance with the rules.” The Rural Wireless Association said the rules should mirror the tribal land bidding credit framework used in other FCC programs. “Obtaining Tribal consent during the long-form application process can be unduly burdensome,” RWA said: “It is also unnecessary for the Tribal consent to be obtained prior to the filing of the long-form application as such consent can still be obtained and provided to the FCC before funding is received."