Comments are due Oct. 6, replies Oct. 20, on the business data services NPRM that FCC commissioners approved 3-0 last month (see 2508110054), said a Wireline Bureau notice Friday in dockets 21-17 and 17-144.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau has given ClearCaptions the go-ahead to forgo the volume-control reset requirement for wireline phones. People with hearing loss won't have to turn the volume back up on ClearCaptions phones covered by the waiver before using them again, said the order (docket 18-307).
FCC regulatory fees are due Sept. 25, but the Commission Registration System is already open to receive them, said a public notice Friday. “While FY 2025 regulatory fees will not become effective until the Order is published in the Federal Register, regulatees, at their own discretion, may submit payments at any time before the FY 2025 regulatory fees due date.”
AT&T will be able to deploy the 3.45 GHz spectrum that it plans to buy from EchoStar almost immediately after regulators clear the purchase, said Jenifer Robertson, AT&T's general manager of mass markets, at a Citi financial conference Thursday. AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches said at a Bank of America conference that the company was immediately interested in the spectrum when it became clear that EchoStar might sell some of its large portfolio.
Verizon, Frontier and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) reached a settlement that they said protects workers and customers as Verizon seeks approval to acquire Frontier in a $20 billion all-cash deal. They asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to adopt the agreement in a joint motion posted Thursday (docket A-24-10-006).
The FCC will take up proposed rules at its Sept. 30 meeting that would lift federal rules prohibiting correctional officials from jamming signals from contraband cellphones, Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday. Carr announced during a press conference streamed from Arkansas that commissioners would be asked to vote on an NPRM. He said he hopes new rules will be in place next year or “as early as possible.”
The FCC has been asking broadcasters about ATSC 3.0’s use of digital rights management (DRM) encryption and concerns that it could squeeze out some device manufacturers, said officials from ATSC 3.0 consortium Pearl TV and 3.0 device maker Tolka in an interview.
AST SpaceMobile has received the go-ahead to put more satellites in orbit but not to begin offering supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service with them. In an order dated Aug. 29 and posted Wednesday, the FCC Space Bureau said it was allowing AST to launch an additional 20 satellites and to perform telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) operations with them once they're in orbit. The bureau deferred consideration on the other 223 satellites AST has requested while it continues to review the company's request to provide SCS service. The FCC previously authorized the launch of five satellites and TT&C operations with them 13 months ago (see 2408050026). The latest order said that while commenters have claimed there already has been harmful interference from AST's already-operational satellites, the bureau hasn't received any complaints of that.
The Harris County (Texas) Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management urged the FCC to encourage carriers to make more use of satellite connections in wireless emergency alerts. With “vast swaths” of the U.S. “either sparsely inhabited or completely uninhabited, the Commission should seek to encourage telecommunications providers to leverage different technologies, such as satellite, to augment terrestrial communications systems and extend the reach of WEA,” said a filing Thursday in docket 25-224.
Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., slammed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s proposal to overturn the rule allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate funds to loan Wi-Fi hot spots to students and educators. Benton Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman criticized both that proposal and one to stop funding Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2509030064).