FCC commissioners released an order Thursday approving initial rules allowing drone use of the 5030-5091 MHz band (see 2303100028). Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated the order in April for a commissioner vote (see 2404080065). The order permits operators of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) to obtain direct frequency assignments in a portion of the band for non-networked operations. The band is one of five targeted for further study in the national spectrum strategy (see 2403120056). The rules “rely on dynamic frequency management systems to manage and coordinate access to the spectrum and enable its safe and efficient use,” an FCC news release said: These systems “provide requesting operators with temporary frequency assignments to support UAS control link communications with a level of reliability suitable for operations in controlled airspace and other safety-critical circumstances.” Currently, operators “largely rely on unlicensed airwaves to communicate with and control” drones, Rosenworcel said in statement. “But the use of unlicensed spectrum leaves these aircraft more vulnerable to interference that could disrupt operations,” she said: The order, for the first time, allows UAS operators “to access dedicated spectrum for control operations in circumstances where safety is essential.” The FCC’s job isn’t finished, said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “We still need to address a number of remaining issues, including spectrum for networked UAS operations in the 5030-5091 MHz band to fully realize the promise and public interest benefits of UAS,” he said. The order was approved 5-0. None of the other commissioners released statements. “A revolution in aviation” is starting “and sufficient spectrum availability for UAS will be crucial to unleashing the vast transformational power of Advanced Air Mobility,” emailed AURA Network Systems CEO Bill Tolpegin. “Equally critical is that the spectrum used to support uncrewed flights is not only licensed and fully dedicated for aviation but also managed to guarantee coverage along flight routes.”
The proposed factor for the North American Numbering Plan Administration Fund size for FY25 will be $8.64 million with a contribution factor of 0.0000896, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Wednesday in docket 92-237 (see 2308100068). The proposed decrease in the contribution factor is due to the "higher surplus carried over from the prior year," the bureau said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted Alaska's Lower Yukon School District's request that broadband services "to and within on-campus teacher housing owned by the school district is eligible for E-rate funding." In a declaratory ruling Thursday in docket 02-6, the bureau said the district "serves a unique population of students who reside in 10 remote, impoverished villages in a part of rural Alaska with an extremely harsh climate." It determined that the district-owned on-campus housing provided for Lower Yukon teachers "is a non-instructional facility in which the use of broadband service meets the definition of an educational purpose, and thus such service is eligible for category one and category two E-Rate support." In addition, it noted the ruling is limited to the Lower Yukon school district. The on-campus teacher housing is necessary for the district's "unique student population" because Lower Yukon’s "severe weather conditions and remote geography prevents students from having their educational needs met during the unusually frequent on-campus school closures."
Comments are due Sept. 30, replies Oct. 15 on the transfer of Intelsat's FCC licenses and authorizations to SES, said a public notice Thursday in docket 24-267. Responses to replies are due Oct. 25, the FCC Space Bureau, Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology notice said. The license transfers are part of SES' proposed $3.1 billion purchase of Intelsat (see 2405310004).
Congress appears unlikely to renew FCC auction authority this year, which makes prompt FCC action on approving fixed wireless use of the lower 12 GHz band even more important, former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in a new blog post. O'Rielly called inaction on FCC auction authority “especially vexing" given the importance of spectrum to U.S. competitiveness and enabling new technologies. “Having served as an FCC Commissioner, I understand the agency’s limited options to make more spectrum available absent Congressional action on auction authority,” O’Rielly said: “Despite this challenge, there is a prime opportunity before the Commission in the pending lower 12 GHz proceeding that would enable more efficient use of spectrum even while Congress works to restore auction authority.” The FCC “should not wait to act on … and should move to adopt final rules to authorize the use of high-power two-way, fixed wireless service in the band.” The 12 GHz for 5G Coalition continues pressing for FCC action on the band (see 2407030061).
The Oklahoma Fire Chiefs Association supported a proposal to give the FirstNet Authority and AT&T effective control of the 4.9 GHz band, in a filing this week in FCC docket 07-100. “This will prevent an unwieldly patchwork of deployments across the nation and create the economies of scale necessary to speed deployment by maintaining a consistent set of build out regulations and creating the necessary incentives for the proliferation of new equipment and technologies,” the Oklahoma chiefs said. The Illinois Sheriffs' Association and the Detroit Public Safety Foundation opposed FirstNet control of the band. “The local nature of the 4.9 GHz band is crucial for future preparedness and providing network resiliency to first responders,” the Illinois group said. The proposal remains hotly contested (see 2408230021).
The FCC’s cyber trust mark program should remain focused on cybersecurity, based on NISTIR 8425, the National Institute for Standards and Technology’s IoT core baseline, CTA representatives said during a meeting with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff. “Ensure confidential treatment of both Cybersecurity Label Administrator and manufacturer applications,” a filing posted Thursday in docket 23-239 said. The program should also be “backed by a broad consumer education campaign that is led by the U.S. government,” CTA said.
Telecom and broadband regulatory lawyer Kristopher Twomey was suspended from practicing in the District of Columbia for two years, the D.C. Court of Appeals ordered Thursday. Accepting the recommendation of its Board of Professional Responsibility, the court said Twomey gave two clients false assurances about the status of their eligible telecommunication carrier applications. In addition, Twomey, the board said, created a false docket number for a California application so he could cover up that he had not filed it in a timely manner. That caused another lawyer working on the application to repeat a false statement to the FCC, it said. The board said Twomey also told a client to repeat false claims to the FCC that the Tennessee authority had declined jurisdiction by returning an application. In fact, Twomey never filed it, according to the board. Twomey, the board noted, should have kept his clients better informed about significant deadlines that might not be met. It said he received an interim suspension on July 17. Deciding were Judges Corinne Beckwith, Roy McLeese and Vanessa Ruiz. Twomey -- seemingly the sole practitioner of his California firm, with no other lawyers listed on its website -- didn't comment.
FCC Technological Advisory Council member Dale Hatfield raised concerns Thursday about whether the U.S. is on track to deliver reliable 5G networks within a timeframe and at a cost that reflects “the urgency and criticality” the situation. “Put another way,” he asked, what’s the “economic impact” of creating networks that are available 99.999% of the time? Hatfield said he took a deep dive into peer-reviewed and other “trusted literature” seeking answers, but came away empty-handed.
The FCC’s order on broadcasters' collection of workforce diversity data exceeds the agency’s authority, violates the First and Fifth Amendments, and runs afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling ending judicial deference to regulatory agencies, said a brief from the National Religious Broadcasters, the American Family Association and the Texas Association of Broadcasters. The groups filed the brief Wednesday in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The order’s requirement that broadcasters make their workforce diversity data available online is intended “to pressure broadcasters to engage in race- or sex-based hiring practices,” it said, concluding that the order “is fatally flawed in multiple respects and should be vacated.” The FCC didn’t comment.