FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced Thursday he has named Enforcement Bureau Chief Technology Officer Andy Hendrickson as chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology. He replaces acting Chief Ira Keltz, who returns to deputy chief. Hendrickson joined the FCC last year after nearly a decade at Verizon, where he was most recently a senior director of the provider’s cloud platform. Historically, most chief engineers get the job after long service within OET. Keltz had been at the FCC for 30 years before he was tapped as acting chief last year, replacing Ron Repasi (see 2410030057).
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at Dish Network must end, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Thursday. Speaking with reporters at the agency's August meeting, Carr said he has "been very clear to regulated entities that they should be ending their own promotion of invidious forms of DEI discrimination." Advocacy group Consumers' Research has criticized Dish for alleged DEI policies (see 2507240042) and this week urged Carr and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate. Noting FCC investigations regarding DEI activity at Comcast and Verizon (see 2503280038), Carr said such engagement "has proven to be successful in making sure they're complying" with the agency's equal opportunity policies. "So whether it's Dish or anyone else, we would expect them to come to compliance with the FCC's approach." Dish parent EchoStar didn't comment.
The FCC on Thursday approved 3-0 an NPRM examining potential changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), which have been a focus of the Trump administration. Commissioner Anna Gomez said she was able to get a few changes in the NPRM, which led to her yes vote.
The FCC "will stay in touch" with the post-merger Paramount and track its compliance with conditions the agency placed on Skydance Media's acquisition of Paramount Global, Chairman Brendan Carr said Thursday. Skydance Media closed on Paramount Global on Thursday, as expected (see 2507280007).
The FCC hacked away at licensing requirements for satellite and earth stations and slashed an array of broadcast rules in its August meeting Thursday. Four of the five items -- orders on submarine cable licensing and satellite and earth station licensing and NPRMs on improving emergency alerts and reviewing the commission's National Environmental Protection Act rules (see 2508070052) -- were approved unanimously. Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez partially dissented on an order repealing 98 broadcast rules and requirements.
AST SpaceMobile still hasn't justified why it wants to use the 430-440 MHz band for commercial satellite telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) purposes, ARRL told the FCC Wednesday. AST's request "is completely outside the scope of domestic and international allocations for this spectrum" and should be denied, the group said (docket 25-201). Amateur radio interests globally have opposed AST's plans to use the swath of spectrum for TT&C (see 2507210031). ARRL noted that AST also hasn't analyzed the interference potential to amateur radio service, nor has it shown a shortage of spectrum allocated for TT&C.
The FCC’s "Build America Agenda," outlined by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr last month (see 2507020036), will mean faster broadband deployment, Commissioner Olivia Trusty said in a speech Wednesday in Mississippi. She spoke at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, noting that faster broadband is key to telehealth.
Foothills Connect, which notified the FCC early this year that it wouldn't meet its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund first interim buildout milestone in Kentucky (see 2501220004), told the agency this week that it's "making substantial progress" on closing the milestone gap. In docket 19-126 Tuesday, Foothills said it's still struggling with delays beyond its control in getting right-of-way approvals and obtaining easements. It also cited workforce issues related to hiring qualified construction contractors.
The National Agricultural Aviation Association is asking the FCC to designate an aviation radio frequency for agricultural operations, allowing air-to-air communications for situational awareness and safety. The FAA has told the group that 122.925 MHz would be “a suitable air-to-air frequency for this purpose,” but authorizing the channel requires FCC action, said a filing this week.
Representatives of the Wi-Fi Alliance met with FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty to support a proposal that the commission authorize very-low-power operations at higher-power spectral density levels in the 6 GHz band. The group also raised concerns about NextNav’s proposal to reallocate the 900 MHz band to support its 5G-based positioning, navigation and timing service, said a filing Tuesday in docket 18-295. The issues raised mirror those discussed in the alliance's meetings in June with aides to the other commissioners (see 2506300040).