NTIA may require states to conduct an additional round of subgrantee selections for the BEAD program, warned Christopher Mitchell, director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's community broadband networks initiative. In a blog Tuesday, Mitchell said NTIA added a "new step in the BEAD process to further reduce new investment in the areas that currently only have access from satellite providers."
Competitive Carriers Association membership is shrinking, but the remainder are hopeful about future spectrum auctions and policy calls that could mean the difference between life and death for many small players, CEO Tim Donovan said in an interview Thursday.
SpaceX’s $17 billion purchase of EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum rights is a disruptive hit to L- and S-band satellite operators and their direct-to-device (D2D) plans, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said Thursday at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce aerospace and space event in Washington. Also at the event, Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said overregulation is one of the chief issues facing the commercial space industry.
Ten Senate Republicans want to mitigate parts of the GOP’s compromise on a spectrum pipeline framework, adopted in July via the budget reconciliation package, amid an ongoing push to excise language in the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (S-2296) that would give the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman authority to veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45, 7 and 8 GHz bands (see 2509100064).
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the FCC will help the U.S. beat China in “Space Race 2.0” and praised SpaceX’s purchase of EchoStar’s AWS-4 spectrum in remarks Tuesday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Aerospace Summit. “That deal is a potential game changer for the American consumer -- it promises to light up new spectrum and bring new sources of competition to the wireless and connectivity market.” The U.S. needs to deploy more satellites than China because the latter suppresses information, Carr said. “A world where [China] is providing internet access and controlling the access of information to billions across the globe would be less prosperous and more dangerous.”
The FCC unanimously approved a $920,000 forfeiture and a $60,000 notice of apparent liability against pirate broadcasters, according to items in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The forfeiture order was against Masner Beauplan of Middetown, New York, for operating an unauthorized station called “Radio Leve Kanpe” in Irvington and Maplewood, New Jersey, from November 2023 until January 2024. The NAL targets Radio Energy Inc. and its owner Pelege Marcellin for operating unauthorized AM stations near Boston called Radio Energy Boston in 2024. The stations stopped operating after they were inspected by FCC field agents, the NAL said. While searching for information on Radio Energy Boston, field agents found a news article announcing Marcellin’s purchase and renovation of a broadcast studio to establish a local radio station. Marcellin has 30 days to reply to the NAL.
FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty said Wednesday that she's already talking with the wireless industry, federal agencies and other upper C-band incumbents on moves to auction that spectrum within two years, as required by the reconciliation act. Trusty spoke at NTIA’s spectrum policy symposium (see 2509100051). “I also think we can look at lessons learned from the previous C-band auction,” she said. “There’s going to be tremendous interest” in the band, she predicted. “The clock is ticking. Time is of the essence, and 2027 will be here before we know it.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau has ordered seven phone companies to repay a total of over $9 million to the USF after audits showed insufficient recordkeeping and noncompliance with accounting requirements related to the companies' efforts to fulfill their USF obligations, according to orders and a news release Wednesday. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in the release that the agency needs “to closely scrutinize USF support payments” to “ensure funding is used to efficiently connect rural households and businesses.”
The latest comments posted in docket 25-223 show disagreement on what changes the FCC should make to its approach to its Telecom Act Section 706 reports to Congress (see 2509090010). Among them, USTelecom and CTIA urged the commission to refocus the report to look just at deployment. Commissioners approved a notice of inquiry in August on the preparation of the reports, with an eye on more narrowly focusing them based on the statutory language (see 2508050056).
The FCC’s direct final rule process and planned deletion of rules could disproportionately affect rural Alaska, and the agency should consult with tribal nations on any deletions, the Knik Tribe said in comments posted Wednesday in docket 25-133.