FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who led U.S. preparation for last year’s World Radiocommunication Conference before she was confirmed to the FCC (see 2309120074), warned that the U.S. must prepare now for WRC-27. “Overall, we did very well, but it’s complicated,” Gomez said of WRC-23. “We succeeded in maintaining the 6 GHz band as the home for unlicensed innovation,” though other countries “also claimed victory because they received designations that allow them [to] use parts of the band” for international mobile telecommunications, she said. Gomez spoke Tuesday at the Americas Spectrum Management Conference. The U.S. also won on new allocations for satellite use of the 17 GHz band, she said. “Some countries were seeking to place new restrictions on the ability of countries to authorize satellite systems to provide commercial services in frequencies that have not been allocated internationally for satellite use,” she said: “That did not happen and that is a big win for the U.S. and innovation.” She also discussed the importance of the sharing model offered by the citizens broadband radio service band, developed through “intentional collaboration” between the FCC, the NTIA and DOD. “CBRS has demonstrated that shared spectrum schemes are not only possible but successful and can scale up to incorporate developments, protect incumbents, create more access and encourage new market entrants.” Gomez also stressed the importance of Congress restoring FCC auction authority. Currently, “our agency cannot begin the lengthy preparatory work to hold an auction” and “we are even limited in how we can use staff time for auction planning.” Gomez warned of a talent drain at the commission. “Bright, talented attorneys, economists, engineers and staff that have built years of expertise in spectrum auctions are having to pivot to other work,” she said. “The robust, expert team that we developed and grew in preparation for more auctions is slimming down.”
Tribal-area wireless provider Smith Bagley told the FCC the Navajo Nation this week adopted a legislative resolution supporting the carrier’s April request for a waiver of Lifeline rules. The provider asked the FCC to temporarily provide expanded monthly tribal Lifeline benefits of $25 to $65.75 to make up for the loss of funding following the expiration of the affordable connectivity program (see 2404080030). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith Bagley “added 100 Gigabytes of data each month for Tribal ACP customers to use while their Tribal lands were closed down and they were forced to stay home,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 11-42. Now that ACP has lapsed, Smith Bagley “can no longer provide the additional 100 Gigabytes of data to Tribal homes,” the filing said: “With minor adjustments, it has returned to its pre-COVID rate plans, which means that high data use customers must purchase additional bundles of data when needed.”
A coalition of 14 states asked the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate an FCC order establishing per-minute rate caps for intrastate audio and video communications services for incarcerated people in a petition filed Monday (see 2409190061). Indiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia filed the joint petition (docket 24-2983). A brief from the states is due Nov. 25.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel considers fixed wireless access important to competition and 6G helping the wireless industry cope with growing data demands, she said in a recent interview with the San Francisco Examiner. “We’re going to see more activities in the [IoT], more monitoring of industrial equipment, opportunities for smarter cities and smarter services,” Rosenworcel said, adding that the business models are developing. 6G will help “when we get to a point where we’re capacity-constrained on 5G and need to start thinking about what new technologies can assist us with the new loads.” Fixed wireless “is providing some real competitive pressure on a lot of incumbent broadband providers today.” Asked if FWA is a “true alternative” to wired broadband, Rosenworcel said, “the numbers suggest it is” and “a lot of households are signing up.” She touched on some of her top priorities, including the importance of Congress renewing FCC auction authority. The FCC is trying to develop “a legal and social norm” for when AI is used in communications, she said: “You should expect to be told.” On the use of AI in political campaigns, she acknowledged that “there’s a whole world online that’s outside of our purview.” But “waiting for a law that’s perfect, that captures every platform and venue, is waiting too long,” she said. “When I look at the Communications Act, I see principles of competition, universal access, public safety and consumer protection,” Rosenworcel said: “Those values have stood the test of time. So how do we take this law and make sure it meets this moment?” Rosenworcel declined comment when asked whether she would stick around if Kamala Harris is elected president. “Let’s see how the election goes,” she said.
Cellular service in areas affected by Hurricane Helene worsened Tuesday, according to FCC outage reports, as communications companies and the FCC announced further relief efforts. Tuesday’s Disaster Information Reporting Service update showed 21.7% of cell sites down in the affected areas, an increase from the 9.1% reported Monday. Cable and wireline companies reported 796,999 subscribers without service, an improvement from the 886,139 Monday. The FCC voted Wednesday to temporarily waive some Lifeline program eligibility requirements to allow households receiving federal disaster assistance to also benefit from Lifeline assistance, said a release. "In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, our thoughts are with the communities that need to rebuild and the residents who have lost loved ones or are enduring the unbearable wait to hear from family members," said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in the release. The FCC Public Safety and Wireless Bureaus also announced Wednesday that regulatory filing deadline extensions would apply in the additional Hurricane areas, which include Tennessee, Virginia and parts of South Carolina. The extension -- which moves regulatory deadlines between Sept. 23 and Oct. 28 to Oct. 29 -- already applied to numerous counties in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The Wireline Bureau also partially waived telephone number aging rules to make it easier for customers affected by Helene to disconnect or restore their service. The waiver will allow service providers to temporarily disconnect the customers' telephone service to avoid billing issues and then reinstate the same numbers when service is reconnected, according to a public notice. SpaceX’s Starlink said on its website homepage Wednesday that it was making service free for the first month in areas affected by Helene. Spectrum said it committed $250,000 in cash contributions to hurricane relief efforts and opened nearly 90,000 out-of-home WiFi access points across affected states. The access points will be available to all users at no cost through Oct. 7, Spectrum said. The company is also offering $750,000 worth of public service announcements for free to charities assisting with hurricane relief. Sinclair Broadcast launched a fundraising partnership with the Salvation Army at sinclaircares.com and pledged to donate up to $50,000, Sinclair said.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. Lawsuits added since the last update are marked with an *.
U.S. ISPs face a bigger cybersecurity threat today because nations representing that threat work together like never before, Wilkinson Barker’s Clete Johnson said Wednesday. Other experts said cybersecurity plans are rightly a requirement of receiving funding under the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program.
California should shed carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations in many parts of the state, carriers that are subject to those regulations said in comments posted this week at the California Public Utilities Commission. Just don’t extend the rules to other kinds of companies, warned a cable broadband association, whose members are free from such regulations. However, consumer advocates said COLR obligations remain necessary and should be updated to include high-speed internet service, not just voice.
WTA announces Gerry Duffy, WTA’s current outside regulatory counsel, is retiring at year's end and serving as regulatory adviser; Stephen Goodman, ex-Butzel Long and ex-FCC, joins organization as regulatory counsel, effective Oct. 16 ... McDonald Hopkins elects attorneys to membership, including Sean Bowen and Meghan Collins, both on data privacy and cybersecurity team … Stratascale cybersecurity services company names Critical Start’s Jordan Mauriello as chief strategy officer and head, as head David Olzak departs company … Oxio telecom-as-a-service platform hires Angela Lim, ex-AT&T, as chief growth officer ... Advanced IT Concepts IT and cyber solutions provider announces Aaron Betz, ex-Empower AI, as chief growth officer.
Consideration of license transfers from Intelsat to SES as part of SES' planned $3.1 billion purchase of Intelsat (see 2405310004) is on hold pending a review by Team Telecom, the FCC Space Bureau said. The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecom Services Sector is Team Telecom's formal name. In docket 24-267 comments this week, cable and satellite interests raised the idea of conditions related to New SES' C-band assets on the requested license transfers. Cable operators and programmers distribute video programming using Intelsat’s and SES’s C-band downlinks, and the FCC should ensure that they continue providing the same quality of service in the C band, said NCTA. It said SES and Intelsat assertions that cable operators can use terrestrial fiber for distribution are "untrue." The FCC, NCTA added, shouldn't accept commitments about New SES' use of C-band licenses that would jeopardize video distribution in that spectrum. SES and Intelsat each control just shy of 50% of the video content distribution by satellite market in the U.S., said Eutelsat/OneWeb, and the FCC should consider whether conditions are needed on SES/Intelsat to address competitive impacts. Eutelsat/OneWeb didn't suggest possible conditions. The SES transaction would seem to help ensure Intelsat can continue following the core principles set out in its 2001 reorganization from an international organization to a private company, said the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, which owned and operated Intelsat pre-2001. ITSO said Intelsat in recent years hasn't provided sufficient funding to the organization, and a better funding approach needs to be established.