The Taxpayers Protection Alliance asked the FCC to act quickly on rules that could speed up the transition of carriers away from legacy copper networks (see 2507240048). Providers “are now required to replace outdated technologies, such as copper lines, with more copper lines in the case of a natural disaster,” said a filing Friday in docket 25-208. This mandate is “ostensibly” to quickly reconnect customers, the alliance said. “If the FCC removes regulatory red tape, providers can speedily reconnect customers by replacing old technology with new, more efficient technology.”
Somos filed a petition Friday urging the FCC to make major changes to how phone numbers are assigned, moving the agency away from its legacy systems to an IP world. The petition comes as the FCC shutters the North American Numbering Council (see 2506240074). This transition “is essential as spammers and cyber criminals supercharge their scams with AI to exploit the US telecommunications systems,” Somos CEO Gina Perini said in an email.
SpaceX and EchoStar filed documents at the FCC on Friday about their proposed $17 billion deal, announced earlier this month (see 2509080052). SpaceX will buy AWS-4 and H-block spectrum from EchoStar, while EchoStar's Boost Mobile subscribers will gain access to Starlink’s direct-to-cell (D2C) service. After the announcement, the FCC dropped two investigations of EchoStar for potentially violating FCC rules (see 2509090036).
Broadcasters, MVPD groups and public safety entities largely agree that the FCC's plans to revamp emergency alerting are a good thing, but they differ on the direction they want those plans to take, according to comments filed in docket 25-224 by Thursday’s deadline.
Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast planned to cease preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! and air the show on their ABC affiliates Friday night, said news releases Friday afternoon. A source familiar with the situation told us that Disney made no editorial or content concessions prior to the announcements.
FCC items reversing its off-premises hot spot and school bus Wi-Fi programs, which were approved during the Biden administration, are expected to be approved 2-1 Tuesday, with a dissent from Commissioner Anna Gomez, agency and industry officials told us. Officials active in the proceeding warned that for the school bus program in particular, it’s unclear what will happen to projects already funded under the E-rate program.
Communications companies, local governments, utilities and other respondents to communication outages should prioritize protecting cable and fiber lines, publicize individual action plans and provide mutual aid to one another, the FCC Public Safety Bureau said Thursday in a public notice on cross-sector cooperation for hurricane season. The notice was based on findings gathered during the agency’s hurricane season resiliency roundtable July 7. “Protecting cable and fiber lines is critical to disaster recovery," it said. “Damage to these networks can cripple communications, delays emergency response, disrupts rescue operations, and cuts off essential services like healthcare, transportation, and banking -- severing lifelines for affected communities.” The notice also recommended that stakeholders establish relationships across industries before disasters happen, prepare centralized response plans and lines of communication, and learn the infrastructure and lexicons of other sectors. “Establishing relationships between stakeholders is crucial to effectively preparing for and responding to disasters.”
The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered F&F Realty Partners on Thursday to explain within 10 days the alleged interference of Telematrix cordless phones used in a hotel that it owns in Rosemont, Illinois, with T-Mobile’s network. Nextel West, a subsidiary of T-Mobile, complained that the phones were “generating spurious emissions” in the 1883-1893 MHz band, interfering with the network's use of the 1885-1890 MHz band.
The FCC is getting comments from consumers who don’t want the agency to speed up the retirement of copper networks, arguing that wireless connections aren’t a suitable alternative. Comments were posted Thursday in docket 25-208. In July, commissioners approved an NPRM on ways to accelerate copper retirements (see 2507240048).
The FCC Wireline Bureau said in a notice Thursday that interconnected VoIP numbering authorization applications filed by three providers lacked some of the information required under the commission’s rules. The three providers are Porting.com, CallTower and ConnectTo Communications. The bureau reached out to request the information, and “to date, the applicants have not complied with the requests. As a result, the Commission has not released public notices accepting the applications for filing.” Meanwhile, the bureau approved an application by E. Ritter Communications under its streamlined approval process.