A non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service spectrum sharing order put on circulation last week will disappoint some satellite operators, but should see 5-0 FCC commissioner approval, an FCC official told us Friday. The draft order, announced Friday, would clarify some details from the FCC's 2003 NGSO FSS sharing order, according to the commission. That 2003 order was adopted 4-0 (see 2304200039). The FCC said the draft order would address some specifics of the degraded throughput methodology that NGSO FSS licensees use in compatibility analyses when coordinating with satellite systems in other processing rounds absent a coordination agreement. The draft order also denies on the merits a OneWeb partial reconsideration petition on the 2023 order (see 2307210037), the FCC official said. The draft order, we're told, adopts the 3% average degraded throughput metric that operators backed, including SpaceX and Amazon's Kuiper. "There is widespread consensus that the Commission’s resolution of issues here is critical to promoting the growth of non-geostationary satellite orbit systems and the provision of services to the U.S. public," Eutelsat's OneWeb said Friday in docket 21-456. It urged rejection of the 3% metric.
The FCC narrowed the scope of outage reporting for Hurricane Helene Thursday, deactivating the Disaster Information Reporting System for Florida and Virginia, as well as 16 counties in Georgia and one in Tennessee. However, the system remains active for numerous counties in Georgia, Tennessee and both Carolinas. Thursday’s DIRS update showed 598,411 cable and wireline customers without service in the affected area, and 8.4% of cell sites down. Those numbers are improved from the previous day, when 11.3% of cell sites were down and 654,220 subscribers were reported as without service. The update showed 5 TV stations down, compared to 6 Wednesday, and 22 radio stations down, compared to 38. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr visited the North Carolina Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, to meet officials and telecom providers who are coordinating disaster response efforts, a release from Carr's office said Friday. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel also visited North Carolina Friday (see 2410030051). Carr discussed coordinating communications restoration efforts with representatives of federal, state and local government agencies during the visit, including FCC actions to promote roaming across networks, the release said. "Ensuring the quick restoration of communications services remains a top priority for government agencies," Carr said. "I am grateful for the work that these government officials and service providers alike are doing to help restore communications services in the wake of Hurricane Helene."
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral argument on an ISP challenge of the FCC’s updated data breach notification rule on Dec. 12, starting at 9 a.m., said a Friday order by the court (docket 24-7000). Argument will take place at the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse in Cincinnati. The court allocated 15 minutes for each side, the order said. Names of the judges hearing the case will be revealed two weeks prior to argument.
The FCC's national broadband maps "still do not possess the data level necessary to accurately guide where federal funds should be targeted," the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) told an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. NRECA suggested that the FCC amend its rules to "allow submission of individual speed tests by consumers" to challenge high-speed wireline broadband availability or "objective third party testing of technological capability," according to an ex parte filing Friday in docket 19-195. The group also urged that the commission adopt a 100/100 Mbps benchmark for broadband speeds and consider increasing the long-term benchmark to 1 Gbps symmetrical service.
The American Library Association said the FCC is probably premature in seeking comments in a Further NPRM on rules that would allow schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services. Comments on the FNPRM, which was approved 3-2 as part of the hot spot item in July (see 2407180024), were due Friday in docket 21-31. Replies are due Nov. 4. “We question whether releasing the Further Notice at the same time as the hotspot Order is premature,” ALA said. A better plan would “monitor the program in its first year to collect usage and cost data,” ALA said: “This information can then be used to better craft changes to the program in future years.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Friday granted five licenses in the 900 MHz broadband segment to PDV Spectrum. All the licenses are in Texas. The FCC approved an order in 2020 reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband, while maintaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).
SpaceX representatives met with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Anna Gomez as they made the rounds at the FCC about company concerns over interference from high-power terrestrial operations in the lower and upper 12 GHz band (see 2409260036). “SpaceX’s studies of interference in the upper and lower 12 GHz bands demonstrate that a high-power terrestrial service -- either mobile or fixed -- would devastate the next generation satellite service of Americans who rely on the 10.7-12.7 GHz band for high speed, low latency broadband connectivity,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 22-352. EchoStar disputes those arguments (see 2409050040).
UScellular CEO Laurent Therivel met with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and agency staff to make the case for T-Mobile’s proposed buy of “substantially all” of his company’s wireless operations, including some spectrum (see 2405280047), a deal announced in May. Therivel and others company officials also met with Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, aides to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and top officials in the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics, said a filing posted Friday in docket 24-286. By total handset connections nationwide, UScellular is “the seventh-largest wireless provider and accounts for approximately one percent of connections,” the filing said. Competitive pressures are ramping up in its markets, and it’s losing subscribers “despite deploying a variety of strategies to attempt to arrest that decline,” the carrier said: “Subscriber losses accelerated in 2022, a year that UScellular invested heavily on promotions. UScellular anticipates that it will continue to lose subscribers going forward.” It assumed “significant debt to purchase the mid-band spectrum needed to compete in 5G,” it said. “While UScellular has been pulling back on its network investments, its competitors have been spending more to expand their networks and enhance their network quality and customer experience in UScellular’s footprint.”
Gogo Business Aviation updated the FCC on its struggles meeting requirements of the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, in a heavily redacted filing. Under the program, providers must remove, replace and dispose of Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks. The company has already received one extension through Jan. 21 (see 2403290040). “Gogo’s use case is unique not only because it must replace its ground-based terrestrial [air-to-ground] network to remove the targeted ZTE equipment, but … must also replace the airborne equipment installed on customer aircraft that connects to the ground-based ATG network to provide inflight connectivity to passengers,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-89. Gogo said it faces “supply chain constraints and labor shortages” typical in the current aviation market.
During a meeting with FCC Wireline Bureau staff (see 2409230038), Verizon disputed Wide Voice's claim that it discontinued time division multiplexed (TDM) service without complying with certain regulations. The carrier, in an ex parte filing Friday in docket 01-92, said it "followed the appropriate process to notify its wholesale customers of its planned discontinuance and to obtain FCC authority to discontinue its services to retail customers." Verizon detailed its discontinuance process, saying it filed an application with the commission and notified carrier customers in 2021. "Wide Voice's contrary assertions ignore Verizon's public filings and statements demonstrating that it followed the commission's discontinuance and notice processes," it said. It's "Wide Voice’s apparent insistence on receiving local traffic at its switch in this manner – and not anything that Verizon did or is doing – that is preventing local calls from ILEC customers from reaching Wide Voice."