Utilities Technology Council President Rusty Williams met with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington to discuss cybersecurity and spectrum issues, said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-239. UTC and Simington “discussed ways that the cyber trust mark could promote the security of industrial control systems, and how utilities need access to unauctioned inventory spectrum on a licensed basis.”
Both sides agreed to a briefing schedule in a case challenging the FCC’s order to give use of the 4.9 GHz band to the FirstNet Authority and, indirectly, AT&T (see 2410220027). The schedule was submitted last week to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which will hear the case (24-1363).
The U.S. government urged the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals not to look to the 5th Circuit decision overturning an AT&T data fine when it hears arguments Tuesday concerning a $46.9 million penalty the FCC levied against Verizon. The carrier hopes the 2nd Circuit will follow the 5th’s direction (see 2504180021). “The FCC forfeiture order AT&T challenged, which involved AT&T’s location-based-service program, is nearly identical to the order Verizon challenges here,” the carrier told the court. The government responded Friday in docket 24-1733.
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Friday delayed the Aug. 20 deadline for larger carriers to meet the Safe Connections Act's requirements. The act's goal is to help domestic violence survivors gain access to safe and affordable communications services. The FCC approved an order implementing the act in November 2023 (see 2311150042).
Several changes are likely to be included in the 37 GHz order and Further NPRM set for a commission vote Monday, industry and FCC officials said. Limited changes are possible to the proposed robocall NPRM, which seeks to close a gap in the commission’s Stir/Shaken authentication rules. Both items are expected to be approved by a unanimous vote.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the FCC it hopes the agency is aggressive in cutting regulations, starting with broadband labels, in reply comments Friday in the “Delete, Delete, Delete” docket (25-133). In initial comments, “the Chamber offered forty-two areas of regulatory reforms that broadly would modernize media and video regulations, ensure fairness and due process in enforcement, connect all Americans, rein in abuse of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, reform the equipment authorization process, and unleash the space economy,” the filing said (see 2504150016). The record shows “significant support for these areas of reform.”
Public interest groups defended the FCC’s July order implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022 (see 2501280053) in briefs filed last week at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The order reduces call rates for people in prisons while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039). Parts of the order were challenged by Securus and Pay Tel, which provide incarcerated people’s communication services (IPCS), as well as by state and law enforcement interests led by the National Sheriffs’ Association (see 2502140049). Briefs were posted last week in 24-8028.
An FCC draft NPRM on a host of minor updates to the agency’s foreign-ownership rules for broadcasters and common carriers is expected to enjoy unanimous approval during the agency's open meeting Monday, FCC and industry officials told us.
While Amazon's Kuiper satellite constellation is the subject of reports that it's facing significant delays, precedent suggests those hurdles are normal and should get resolved as momentum builds, Quilty Space analyst Caleb Henry wrote Wednesday. In their first year, SpaceX's Starlink and Eutelsat's OneWeb fell short of the number of batch launches they had targeted, he said. Given how much Amazon has put into Kuiper -- an estimated $16.5 billion-$20 billion -- the FCC is likely to extend Kuiper's license, he added. The inaugural commercial launch of Kuiper satellites is slated for Monday (see 2504220002).
NAB wants the FCC to overhaul its website, stop tying rules to specific databases and do away with local public notice rules for stations, the trade group said in comments filed Wednesday in docket 24-626. The filing was a response to a December NPRM that sought comments on cleaning up outdated references and processes in broadcast regulations (see 2412100057).