Letting ISPs retire copper lines and move to next-generation technologies is critical to broadband deployment, industry experts said during a USTelecom forum Thursday. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has said repeatedly that the agency wants to make it easier for ISPs to modernize their networks (see 2504030011). Other executives warned that uncertainty in the BEAD program could be slowing broadband deployment.
A White House executive order that says agencies can dispense with notice-and-comment requirements when repealing some rules is unlikely to have an immediate impact on the FCC because Chairman Brendan Carr has at his disposal many traditional ways of deleting rules, academics, industry lobbyists and attorneys said in interviews. Along with the order on notice and comment, the White House also released an order requiring agencies to scuttle “anti-competitive” regulations and another repealing showerhead measures that could affect how agencies justify decisions.
A broadcaster accused by the FCC Enforcement Bureau of engaging in a 2010 sham transfer of stations to his niece was assisting her with the day-to-day operations of the stations after the sale in accordance with FCC rules, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-267 from broadcast station owner Antonio Cesar Guel (see 2502250064). “It was quite natural, and completely expected, that [Guel’s niece, Jennifer Juarez] often, and repeatedly, would rely upon Mr. Guel’s past experience in conjunction with the operation of the Stations,” the one filing said. That “does not equate” to impermissible control. In questioning witnesses in the case, the EB repeatedly confused being in charge of day-to-day operations, such as engineering matters, and being in charge of all operations, said Guel’s filing. All the testimony cited by the EB as proof that Guel remained in charge of the stations actually shows only that he was in charge of day-to-day operations -- “an involvement which specifically is permitted under FCC policies and which is not a matter under scrutiny in this proceeding,” the filing said.
The FCC is required by legal precedent to provide notice of redefined terms in regulations, even if that new definition is only in the preamble of the final rule, said NAB in a supplemental filing Wednesday in its case challenging the FCC’s foreign-sponsored content ID rules in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. During oral argument Monday, D.C. Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas questioned whether the FCC’s broadening of the definition of a “lease” of TV station airtime in the rule's preamble was bound by notice-and-comment requirements (see 2504070019). NAB’s challenge to the order is in part based on arguments that the FCC didn’t sufficiently provide notice of plans to widen the definition to include political issue ads and public service announcements. Even if the court deemed the preamble definition of "lease" exempt from notice and comment, it would still be subject to legal challenges because it's “final agency action representing the consummation of agency decision-making and [has] pragmatic legal consequences for licensees,” NAB said.
SpaceX and T-Mobile said Wednesday that the FCC requiring devices compatible with the companies' supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service to be certified under its Part 25 satellite communications rules -- when they're already certified under the agency's terrestrial wireless rules -- is "overly prescriptive." In a docket 23-65 request, they asked the commission to waive rules so consumers can use devices approved as of June 29, 2024, for service under the agency's Parts 22, 24 and 27 rules, without a need for Part 25 certification. They said that under current FCC rules, consumers can't use SCS service unless the maker of their equipment modifies the device's authorization. SpaceX and T-Mobile said making SCS service providers like them block service on a device-by-device basis could create consumer confusion. The June 2024 date relates to when a streamlined certification authorization period for manufacturers went into effect; that ends this June, they said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument Wednesday on the National Treasury Employees Union’s pursuit of an emergency stay of President Donald Trump's executive order slashing staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The challenge is one of several that NTEU, which represents FCC employees, has against recent efforts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Trump administration (see 2503310047).
A bipartisan group of 51 attorneys general warned nine carriers Wednesday that they were responsible for transmitting high-volume robocall campaigns. All Access Telecom, Lingo, NGL Communications, Range, RSCom, Telcast Network, Voxox, Commio and Global Net Holdings received letters from the multistate anti-robocall litigation task force warning them of legal action if they fail to stop transmitting the unlawful call traffic. The letters also said the task force shared its findings with the FCC Enforcement Bureau. The robocalls included government and financial impostors, credit card interest rate reductions, Medicare scams, political impersonations, cable discount scams and utility disconnect scams.
The Z-Wave Alliance slammed a recent NextNav engineering study that found no interference concerns with the company’s proposal for the FCC to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band “to enable a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing services (see 2503030023). The NextNav proposal is one part of a GPS notice of inquiry approved last month by the FCC (see 2503270042).
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned the FCC that changing wireless emergency alert (WEA) rules to reduce alert fatigue and opt-outs won’t be easy given the nature of WEAs. “The problem is that there is no way to suppress WEA attention getting signals (audible or vibration cadence) when the WEA recipient was already presented with attention getting signals in the original alert or a previous alert update,” the NWA said this week in docket 15-91. “This is a problem for the NWS and will be exacerbated as alert originator capabilities advance.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau said Wednesday that going forward it won’t announce additional licenses in the 900 MHz broadband segment when they're approved. Instead, the grants will be announced in the bureau’s weekly status public notice. The FCC approved an order five years ago reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband while maintaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).