In light of the streamlined earth station licensing requirements that the FCC adopted in August (see 2508070037), its Space Bureau gave guidance Monday on adding a point of communication for an earth station license. In a public notice in docket 22-411, the bureau explained how licensees should identify that they're filing to add a point of communication, how pending applications can use the new procedures, and the form of content of the notices to add a point of communication.
Spectrum and tech public policy groups are pressing the FCC to adopt new power limits on low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. In a letter Monday to Chairman Brendan Carr (docket 25-157), groups including Chamber of Progress, Digital First Project and the Computer & Communications Industry Association said new power limits would boost satellite capacity, lower prices for consumers and increase satellite competition. Current ITU rules are "outdated" and "badly lagging the pace of American innovation." In April, the FCC adopted an NPRM on spectrum sharing between LEOs and non-geostationary orbit satellites (see 2504280038).
Venturi Astrolab hopes to launch its lunar rover as soon as early December for a technology demonstration mission on the moon's surface. In an application filed Friday with the FCC Space Bureau, Astrolab said the mission carrying the rover is expected to launch between Dec. 4 and March 4. The rover will attach to an Astrobotic Technology lander as part of a NASA-funded mission, it said. The company will use the S and X bands for communications and a local 2.4 GHz support link for communications with the lander, it added.
The FCC should take a comprehensive look at the broadband market in its Telecom Act Section 706 reports to Congress, the National League of Cities said Tuesday. Reply comments on an August notice of inquiry are due Tuesday in docket 25-223. The league comments echo many others already filed in the initial round (see 2509090010).
The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe slammed the FCC’s approach to seeking tribal input on how the agency enforces National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act rules, according to a letter posted Monday in docket 25-217. Comments in the proceeding, due last week, showed tribes and states leading the opposition to proposals included in an August NPRM (see 2509190053), part of a broader Trump administration move to limit enforcement of environmental laws.
T-Mobile asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Monday to rehear en banc the August decision by a three-judge panel upholding the FCC’s data fines against it and Sprint, which it subsequently purchased (see 2508150044). The 2nd Circuit recently upheld a similar fine against Verizon, while the 5th Circuit rejected one against AT&T (see 2509100056).
Cloud communications company Bandwidth opposed AT&T’s petition at the FCC to stop accepting applications for special access DS3 services wherever they’re still offered to new customers throughout the company’s 21-state legacy wireline footprint (see 2508180039). Bandwidth said that if the service ends, there’s “no reasonable substitute available” for time-division multiplexing, particularly for 911 call centers. Comments on the application were due Friday, and Bandwidth was the only company to file.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday stayed the reinstatement of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter on a 6-3 vote and scheduled the case for December argument (see 2509160057). Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield warned that changes in the BEAD program could mean that many of the group’s members will sit it out though a good number are well positioned to participate. Departing next year after 25 years at NTCA's helm (see 2509170060), Bloomfield spoke with former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly during a Free State Foundation webcast. “This is a tougher business than people think it is,” she said.
The FCC, which previously shot down SpaceX's plans to operate in the 2 GHz band, will likely think differently now, satellite spectrum experts said. The company applied Friday to launch and operate as many as 15,000 satellites to provide direct-to-device (D2D) service globally. The constellation would use spectrum that SpaceX is buying from EchoStar, including the 2 GHz band.