Proposed revisions to Section 214 international authorization rules seem likely to result in increased scrutiny of foreign ownership by Team Telecom, said Jonathan Gafni, a foreign investment lawyer at Linklaters, during a Wednesday American Bar Association event. Team Telecom refers to the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector. “We expect to see more Team Telecom reviews,” Gafni said. The FCC proposed the changes in an NPRM last year (see 2304200039) that was met with industry concern (see 2310030070). While the "threshold of foreign ownership for carrier licensees and a couple of other types of licensees has traditionally been 25%," the FCC is "considering lowering that threshold to be more in line with" Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. "thresholds for looking at foreign investors," he said. "But another thing is that the FCC has actually asked that parties give a one-time disclosure of all their foreign ownership -- that carrier licensees provide a one-time disclosure -- because they hadn't looked at them for years. And so they have no idea how somebody who received a license 10 years ago may or may not have foreign ownership today, and whether that should be a concern.” Gavni expects "to see more Team Telecom reviews as these disclosures" are filed with the FCC, he said. In cases where the foreign ownership exceeds the new threshold, the agency could then make "referrals to the Team Telecom agencies for these national security and law enforcement reviews,” he said.
LTD Broadband asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the FCC’s rejection of its long-form application for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support, as expected (see 2311160039). LTD challenged the FCC’s Dec. 4 order denying LTD’s application for review of the Wireline Bureau’s decision to reject the company’s application. “LTD asks that the Court hold the Order unlawful and set it aside,” said the company’s petition, which was posted by the court Wednesday. The FCC didn't immediately comment.
The telecom industry pushed back on a Vermont state bill that could shake up state USF contribution and telecom taxation. At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing streamed Wednesday, a wireless industry lobbyist said a proposed shift to connections-based USF contribution mechanism unfairly shifted costs to wireless customers. A New England Connectivity and Telecommunications Association (NECTA) lobbyist, representing the region’s cable industry, condemned a possible $15 annual tax on each pole attachment owned by private communications providers. Community media representatives supported the proposed tax for supporting public, educational and governmental (PEG) channels.
Satellite operators continue having diverse views on using shot clocks to hasten earth station and satellite application reviews, according to docket 22-411 reply comments this week. In September, commissioners on a 4-0 vote adopted a Further NPRM on streamlining satellite and earth station applications (see 2309210055). There was a lack of consensus about shot clocks in initial comments last month (see 2401090051).
The FCC seeks the dismissal of the petition for review of Maurine and Matthew Molak to vacate the FCC’s Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing funding for Wi-Fi service and equipment on school buses under the commission’s E-rate program (see 2312200040), according to the commission’s motion Tuesday (docket 23-60641) at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Industry and state broadband officials encouraged engagement with local stakeholders and providers as states prepare to implement their plans for NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program (see 2402060081). NTIA is "looking at 2024 as the year of execution" for the BEAD program, said acting Deputy Administrator Sarah Morris during a USTelecom webinar Wednesday.
An ESPN/Warner Bros. Discovery/Fox partnership creating a sports streaming platform is a further nail in the coffin of the traditional video programming bundle, video industry experts say. GlobalData analyst Tammy Parker said Tuesday it is "a blockbuster deal that will further decimate the traditional US pay-TV sector."
The approach to spectrum allocation on the Hill and in industry is maturing, which may explain in part the problems Congress is having as it considers renewing the FCC’s auction authority, experts said during a Technology Policy Institute webinar Wednesday. That authority largely lapsed in March (see 2312200061),
Allowing the affordable connectivity program to lapse would have “significant downstream effect” on the economy, said FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez during a Q&A at ITI’s Intersect event Wednesday.
PlanetiQ hopes to launch GNOMES-5 by June, it said in an FCC Space Bureau application Monday seeking authorization to launch and operate the non-geostationary orbit satellite. The company said the S- and X-band GNOMES-5 is part of a larger plan for a constellation for weather forecasting, with its GNOMES-4 satellite currently orbiting and generating data.