A U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel of judges is scheduled to hear oral argument Jan. 10 regarding BIU's appeal of the FCC's dismissal of the company's petition seeking reinstatement of Spectrum Five's complaint alleging that Intelsat is interfering with SF's spectrum license (see 2409100005). Oral argument in the docket 24-1189 case is scheduled for 9:30 a.m., according to an order last week.
NCTA's argument that the FCC needn't clarify its "all-in" video pricing order on franchise fees (see 2411190065) shows why clarification is necessary, local governments and allies said in a docket 23-203 filing posted Monday. The filers said that while NCTA recognizes what the law says about franchise fees, the FCC incorrectly said otherwise in a footnote in the all-in order. Signing the filing were the Texas Coalition of Cities for Utility Issues, Boston, Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission, Fairfax County, Virginia, and NATOA.
A lawyer for Apple, Broadcom and Meta Platforms spoke with Ira Keltz, acting chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, on tweaking a draft order that would allow the use of very-low-power (VLP) devices across the 6 GHz band. For example, the lawyer noted that the draft says a June report on interference risks assumed 2% of people were outdoors, but the report said 6%. Other suggested changes were mostly technical. “While some parties have asserted that mandatory firmware updates could have benefits, it is important to note that the Commission has never made this determination, and we agree with the Commission that the record does not support making that conclusion in this order,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. Commissioners will vote on the draft Dec. 11 (see 2411200050).
The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals tentatively scheduled for the week of Feb. 3 oral argument on AT&T’s challenge of a $57 million fine the FCC levied in April (see 2404290044) for allegedly not safeguarding data on customers' real-time locations. AT&T called the penalty arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act (see 2405130030). Verizon challenged the FCC’s fine against it in the 2nd Circuit (see [Ref:2411060008) and T-Mobile in the D.C. Circuit (see 2411260048). “If you have a serious, irresolvable conflict, contact us IMMEDIATELY via e-mail,” said a Monday notice from the 5th Circuit : “Do not ask to reschedule argument unless you can find no other solution.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, filed an amicus brief in support of T-Mobile in the D.C. Circuit. T-Mobile was fined $80 million for its violations, plus $12 million for Sprint's, which it subsequently acquired. The FCC “abused its investigative and enforcement authority to violate the companies’ Seventh Amendment right to a jury,” the Chamber said: “It announced and applied novel legal interpretations of the Communications Act to calculate and impose staggering forfeitures for activities that were not at the time of conduct a violation of any agency rule or law.” The brief said the FCC’s role in overseeing data privacy and security “is limited to specific regulatory activities directed by Congress, such as the regulation of ‘customer propriety network information’ -- statutorily defined term.”
Public Knowledge supported an AT&T request to discontinue, effective Sept. 15, residential local service in nine wire centers in Oklahoma “where there is virtually no demand for the service.” The FCC Wireline Bureau sought comment on the application, due Thursday in docket 24-220. PK was the first to file. The group’s “sole addendum is to request that AT&T make regular reports in this docket as to the progress of the transition,” said a filing Monday. “This will assist the Commission and the public to monitor the progress of the transition, and provide other incumbent local exchange carriers with a guide to conducting their own transitions.” AT&T said last month it grandfathered the service in 60 wire centers in 13 states, with FCC approval. The local service is “outdated and prohibitively expensive for AT&T to maintain,” AT&T said: Discontinuing it “will benefit the public and serve as an important step toward meeting both AT&T’s and the Commission’s goals of advancing the IP revolution.”
Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support recipients must notify the FCC Wireline Bureau if they can’t meet the program’s third-year service milestone, said a reminder public notice posted Monday. The milestone requires “building out to at least 40% of each support recipient’s RDOF locations,” the PN said. The bureau must be notified by the carrier’s third-year service milestone deadline, which is Jan. 15 for carriers authorized in 2021 and Jan. 15, 2026, for those authorized in 2022, the PN said. “An RDOF support recipient that does not meet its third-year service milestone shall be subject to quarterly reporting and have its support withheld if warranted in accordance with the Commission’s rules,” the PN said. The bureau announced a host of RDOF defaults last week (see 2411270049).
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last week again called for Congress to appropriate an additional $3.08 billion to fully fund the commission’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Lawmakers are eyeing a range of legislative vehicles for allocating the additional rip-and-replace money during Congress’ lame-duck session, but some leaders are skeptical a deal is possible (see 2411190064). Thirty program participants certified with the FCC by Nov. 20 “that the removal, replacement, and disposal work … has been completed,” but “many have additional invoices to submit should Congress appropriate additional funding,” Rosenworcel said in letters to the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees and Appropriations Financial Services subcommittees released Monday. The commission has been prorating payments to program participants absent additional appropriations (see 2305040085). As of Nov. 20, the FCC “granted 139 extensions” for participants to complete the rip-and-replace work beyond statutory deadlines, “including 118 based in whole or in part on the funding shortfall,” Rosenworcel told lawmakers. “Some participants … have informed the Commission that they fear that they may need to shut down portions of their networks and withdraw from this process without completing the removal of insecure equipment” if Congress doesn’t allocate the rest of the money. Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan, a vocal backer of the program, said in a statement the “lack of necessary funding, as detailed in [Rosenworcel’s] letter, is alarming and far-reaching.” Some participants “have already shut down portions of their networks” and the lack of full funding “poses grave risks to U.S. national security, as insecure foreign-made communications equipment remains operational.”
Congress should require that the likely next FCC chair, Commissioner Brendan Carr, “commit to protecting free speech and the public interest” because as a sitting commissioner he won't have a Senate confirmation process to lead the agency, and he's “a threat to free speech,” Free Press co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez wrote in an opinion column in The Hill Saturday. Gonzalez highlighted Carr’s public statements on using the FCC news distortion and equal opportunity rules against broadcasters and FCC regulation of social media platforms as evidence that he is a free speech threat. “Talk about Orwellian,” Carr responded in a post on X. “My decision to stand up for the free speech rights of everyday Americans and against the censorship cartel is not the threat, enforced silence is.”
The FCC unanimously approved an order aligning rules for the 24 GHz band with decisions made at the World Radiocommunication Conference held five years ago (WRC-19). Released Monday, the order aligns part 30 of the commission’s rules for mobile operations in the band with Resolution 750 limits adopted at WRC-19 to protect the passive 23.6-24 GHz band from unwanted emissions on time frames adopted at the conference.
Tapped to lead the FCC during the second Trump administration (see 2411170001), FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is expected to be as aggressive as possible on spectrum and wireless siting issues, industry experts said. During President-elect Donald Trump's first administration, then-Chairman Ajit Pai made Carr lead commissioner on wireless siting.