The National Emergency Number Association urged that the FCC require carriers to continue to support time-division multiplexing (TDM) as they move to IP-based services. NENA said the transition is “occurring unevenly.” NENA “wants to ensure that all calls to 9-1-1 are completed” and there is a “need to support TDM delivery of 9-1-1 traffic to selective routers for the immediately foreseeable future,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-17.
Telecommunications Industry Association representatives met with aides to all four FCC commissioners about the “bad labs” order and Further NPRM, set for a vote May 22 (see 2505010037). “TIA raised potential steps the Commission could take to ensure that trusted vendors and allied governments are aware of FCC actions regarding certification facilities that pose a national security threat to ensure a harmonized, global approach to ICT testing and certification,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 24-136.
Wi-Fi advocates urged the FCC to reject an NAB petition for reconsideration of an order expanding the parts of the 6 GHz band where new very-low-power devices are permitted to operate without coordination (see 2504070062). The FCC declined to set aside 55 MHz as a “safe haven” for electronic newsgathering operations, as NAB requested (see 2410290052). Commissioners approved the order 5-0 in December.
Verizon told the FCC it’s working with NATE, which represents infrastructure builders, on concerns the group has raised about pricing and other issues as the agency considers the carrier’s proposed $20 billion acquisition of Frontier (see 2409050010). “Verizon agrees to include line items in its pricing matrix that allow for site specific conditions to be added, including explanations as to what they represent,” said a filing Thursday in docket 24-445.
The Senate Commerce Committee said Wednesday night it plans a May 21 vote on the Network Equipment Transparency Act (S-503). The measure would direct the FCC to report every two years on the impact of gear availability on the deployment of broadband and other communications services as part of the commission’s assessment of the state of the communications marketplace. The panel will also consider advancing Commerce Department general counsel nominee Pierre Gentin, who faced heat from Democratic senators Tuesday over President Donald Trump’s move to block Digital Equity Act funding (see 2505090051). Senate Commerce’s meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.
ARRL, which represents amateur radio operators, opposed NextNav’s proposal to use lower 900 MHz spectrum for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) in reply comments on an FCC notice of inquiry (see 2505140017). Comments were posted this week in docket 25-110. “Many billions of unlicensed devices are in use to provide hundreds of applications and functionalities to the American public," and the numbers continue to grow, ARRL said: “These devices coexist with amateur radio operations in the 902-928 MHz band but they as well as amateur radio operations would be displaced if a 5G-like PNT service was authorized to use this spectrum.”
The White House’s pattern of removing dissenting officials from independent agencies is “vividly illustrative” of the administration’s fear and weakness, said FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez in a speech for The Media Institute Thursday. “Even when this administration holds so much power, it cannot tolerate disagreement or dissent,” Gomez said. “And if I’m removed from my seat on the commission, let it be said plainly: It wasn’t because I failed to do my job. It’s because I insisted on doing it." Congress has always intended for the FCC to be independent, she noted. During the creation of the FCC's predecessor Federal Radio Commission, Congress considered giving power over the airwaves to the commerce secretary, she said. That idea was struck down “specifically because Congress feared that a single individual, subject to political will, would possess too much control” over radio.
While the FCC saw lukewarm interest from terrestrial wireless players in greater access to the 42-42.5 GHz band (see 22308310053), the agency might find more enthusiasm from satellite interests, satellite spectrum experts tell us. The agency's May 22 meeting agenda will see it voting on a Further NPRM that proposes allowing more intensive satcom use of the 12.7 and 42 GHz bands, either as an alternative or complement to terrestrial wireless (see 2505010037). Some satellite operators are pushing the FCC to broaden the discussion to include the 51.4-52.4 GHz band.
Broadcasters are poised to execute a rush of mergers and acquisitions if the FCC relaxes ownership rules, but uncertainty about markets, the direction regulators may take and the future of broadcast networks could influence deal-making, broadcast brokers said in interviews this week. The agency's failure to relax ownership rules could spur a wave of bankruptcies, they said. “The industry is crying out for some relief, and it really deserves some relief, because we can't compete with the giant companies that we're forced to compete with now,” Media Services Group co-founder George Reed said. Tideline Partners Managing Partner Gregory Guy said “2025 is the most fundamentally important year for broadcasters in decades.”
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., doubled down Thursday on her opposition to the House Commerce Committee’s budget reconciliation package spectrum language (see 2505120058), saying it didn’t adequately protect DOD-controlled bands. House Commerce voted Wednesday to advance the measure, which would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction authority through FY 2034 and mandate the commission auction 600 MHz within six years (see 2505140062).