The FCC is required by legal precedent to provide notice of redefined terms in regulations, even if that new definition is only in the preamble of the final rule, said NAB in a supplemental filing Wednesday in its case challenging the FCC’s foreign-sponsored content ID rules in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. During oral argument Monday, D.C. Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas questioned whether the FCC’s broadening of the definition of a “lease” of TV station airtime in the rule's preamble was bound by notice-and-comment requirements (see 2504070019). NAB’s challenge to the order is in part based on arguments that the FCC didn’t sufficiently provide notice of plans to widen the definition to include political issue ads and public service announcements. Even if the court deemed the preamble definition of "lease" exempt from notice and comment, it would still be subject to legal challenges because it's “final agency action representing the consummation of agency decision-making and [has] pragmatic legal consequences for licensees,” NAB said.
SpaceX and T-Mobile said Wednesday that the FCC requiring devices compatible with the companies' supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service to be certified under its Part 25 satellite communications rules -- when they're already certified under the agency's terrestrial wireless rules -- is "overly prescriptive." In a docket 23-65 request, they asked the commission to waive rules so consumers can use devices approved as of June 29, 2024, for service under the agency's Parts 22, 24 and 27 rules, without a need for Part 25 certification. They said that under current FCC rules, consumers can't use SCS service unless the maker of their equipment modifies the device's authorization. SpaceX and T-Mobile said making SCS service providers like them block service on a device-by-device basis could create consumer confusion. The June 2024 date relates to when a streamlined certification authorization period for manufacturers went into effect; that ends this June, they said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument Wednesday on the National Treasury Employees Union’s pursuit of an emergency stay of President Donald Trump's executive order slashing staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The challenge is one of several that NTEU, which represents FCC employees, has against recent efforts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Trump administration (see 2503310047).
A bipartisan group of 51 attorneys general warned nine carriers Wednesday that they were responsible for transmitting high-volume robocall campaigns. All Access Telecom, Lingo, NGL Communications, Range, RSCom, Telcast Network, Voxox, Commio and Global Net Holdings received letters from the multistate anti-robocall litigation task force warning them of legal action if they fail to stop transmitting the unlawful call traffic. The letters also said the task force shared its findings with the FCC Enforcement Bureau. The robocalls included government and financial impostors, credit card interest rate reductions, Medicare scams, political impersonations, cable discount scams and utility disconnect scams.
The Z-Wave Alliance slammed a recent NextNav engineering study that found no interference concerns with the company’s proposal for the FCC to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band “to enable a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing services (see 2503030023). The NextNav proposal is one part of a GPS notice of inquiry approved last month by the FCC (see 2503270042).
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned the FCC that changing wireless emergency alert (WEA) rules to reduce alert fatigue and opt-outs won’t be easy given the nature of WEAs. “The problem is that there is no way to suppress WEA attention getting signals (audible or vibration cadence) when the WEA recipient was already presented with attention getting signals in the original alert or a previous alert update,” the NWA said this week in docket 15-91. “This is a problem for the NWS and will be exacerbated as alert originator capabilities advance.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau said Wednesday that going forward it won’t announce additional licenses in the 900 MHz broadband segment when they're approved. Instead, the grants will be announced in the bureau’s weekly status public notice. The FCC approved an order five years ago reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband while maintaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).
Lumen's Global Crossing subsidiary plans to end voice service in California, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Texas by Sept. 16, it told the FCC on Wednesday. It said its voice services operate "on aging, legacy network equipment, the majority of which is no longer supported by underlying vendors," so repairs and replacements have "become challenging, if not impossible." The company needs to decommission the network to head off an irreparable failure later, it said. The nondominant carrier said affected customers have already been notified and thus have time to arrange substitute services from other providers.
In a 2-1 decision Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside a Maryland district judge’s injunction that had ordered various agencies to reinstate probationary federal employees fired by the Trump administration. The FCC wasn’t one of the agencies, but the action affects DOD and Department of Commerce employees.
The White House executive order requiring agencies to review and cancel contracts with and security clearances held by Jenner & Block is within the executive branch’s authority and intended to protect national security and taxpayer dollars, said a DOJ filing Tuesday. Jenner & Block frequently practices before the FCC. The order “directs agencies to do what they should already be doing, declines to contract with entities who act inconsistently with valid social policies regarding discrimination, and calls for the lawful examination of security clearances and government access,” it said. Jenner & Block’s request for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the order should be dismissed, DOJ said, since the government “has every right to use its procurement power” to discourage “discriminatory practices” such as diversity initiatives. Jenner & Block’s objections to provisions of the order directing agencies to issue guidance limiting the firm’s lawyers’ access to federal buildings and agency staff are premature, DOJ said. Since no such guidance has yet been issued, “this Court should reject them as unripe without even reaching the merits.” Jenner & Block “can only guess the degree to which agency heads will limit government access.”