The Office of International Affairs intends to terminate the international Section 214 authorization of First Technology Development because it changed its contact information and dissolved its enterprise without informing the FCC or DOJ, according to a notice of intent in Friday’s Daily Digest. The company could face enforcement action, the notice said. First Technology’s letter of agreement required it to establish points of contact for the DOJ and FCC and inform them of changes to that contact info, said the notice. However, the company hasn’t responded to multiple contact attempts from the FCC and DOJ going back to 2021, including efforts by phone, email and certified mail, the notice said. Letters and emails were returned as undeliverable, the notice said. “In light of First Technology’s failure to respond to the DOJ’s and FCC’s communications, it appears that First Technology has discontinued service without providing prior notification as required by the Commission’s rules,” the notice said. The notice gives First Technology 30 days to respond.
Consumers’ Research and other conservative interests are once again asking the FCC to zero out the USF contribution factor, this time for Q3 2025. The group filed the day after the FCC Office of Managing Director proposed a contribution factor of 36% for Q3 (see 2506110058). The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule in coming days on an appeal of a 5th Circuit en banc decision last summer, which found that the USF contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax.” Justices heard oral argument in that case in March (see 2503260061).
Liberty Latin America (LLA) will pay a $24,000 fine for violating the 25% cap on foreign ownership of holders of common carrier radio station licenses, the FCC Enforcement Bureau said Friday. Bermuda-based LLA provides broadband, video, mobile and telephony services in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and across the Caribbean and Latin America. The bureau said it discovered a discrepancy between the amount of foreign ownership the FCC approved for LLA and the actual ownership interest of LLA subsidiary LiLAC Ventures.
The FCC won't accept any International Communications Filing System filings between Wednesday and June 23 as part of the transition to a new, cloud-based ICFS, the FCC Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs said in Friday's Daily Digest. They said the new ICFS would be available starting at 3 p.m. June 24, and all applications and other filings are to be submitted to it. The offices said existing filings in the current ICFS will be migrated over for the full launch to occur July 2, with the current system retired and unavailable as of 5 p.m. June 18. They said during the soft launch, some existing filings may not immediately appear in the new ICFS.
Ligado and Viasat's Inmarsat have struck a deal that ends Inmarsat's objections to Ligado's plan to get out of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Inmarsat had fought Ligado's plan to lease its L-band spectrum to AST SpaceMobile (see 2504280047). AST, meanwhile, has asked the FCC to commence commercial supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service.
What the apparent collapse of a previously tight relationship between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump means for Musk's SpaceX is uncertain, space industry and FCC watchers told us. Some believe SpaceX will face a chillier reception from regulatory agencies, including for FCC proceedings that SpaceX is intensely interested in, such as the agency's probes into EchoStar's use of the 2 GHz band and its terrestrial 5G network buildout (see 2505130003). Others don't see the feud meaning much. The FCC and FAA -- which regulates SpaceX's launch operations -- didn't comment.
If Congress authorizes the full-power licensed use of the upper C-band, an FCC auction appears unlikely before 2026 at the earliest, industry experts told us. The conventional wisdom is that it takes about a year between the initial preparation stages and an auction. But FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has promised to move quickly on spectrum and had put a notice of inquiry on the agenda for his first meeting as chairman, they also said (see 2502050057).
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Monday night she will vote against Republican FCC nominee Olivia Trusty’s confirmation on the floor, potentially presaging broader Democratic opposition ahead of likely floor votes this week to advance her confirmation. Cantwell’s new opposition to Trusty is notable, as she was one of six Senate Commerce Democrats who voted to advance the nominee out of committee in late April.
Lawmakers and lobbyists told us they expect the Senate will hold confirmation votes on Republican FCC nominee Olivia Trusty as soon as this week, after Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., filed cloture on her Thursday night (see 2506120097). Thune previously indicated he was likely to move up Trusty in confirmation priority after Republican FCC commissioner Nathan Simington abruptly departed the commission earlier this month (see 2506040073). Simington’s exit and the simultaneous departure of Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks left the commission in a 1-1 tie and lacking a quorum.
NW Spectrum asked the FCC to delete an exception in its Part 27 rules allowing the use of higher power levels in the 2.5 GHz band. “The Exception is no longer needed to incent deployment and competition in the 2.5 GHz band, and it is being abused by T-Mobile to the detriment of smaller wireless competitors in the 2.5 GHz band that are not working with T-Mobile,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 25-133.