FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks plans resigning this spring ... President Donald Trump appoints Adam Cassady, formerly chief of staff to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, as acting assistant secretary of commerce-communications and information and acting NTIA administrator; once an assistant secretary is sworn in, Cassady becomes NTIA principal deputy assistant secretary and deputy administrator ... Broadcasters Foundation of America elects to board: Kristin Cantrell, Seven Mountains Media and CapCity Communications; Kate Riley, America’s Public Television Stations; and Peter Smyth, formerly Greater Media … Synthetic aperture radar firm Synspective names Kumar Navulur, formerly GeoCognition, CEO and president, Synspective USA … Crest Hill Advisors taps Victoria Flood, ex-Mehlman Consulting, as partner.
Looming Chinese competition in the global maritime distress and safety service (GMDSS) equipment universe is making the need to allow use of such equipment other than Inmarsat's more urgent, according to Iridium. In a filing Tuesday recapping a meeting with FCC Wireline Bureau staff, Iridium said the agency's Part 80 rules, governing maritime radio use, should be amended so they apply to all recognized GMDSS providers, including itself. With China's BeiDou satellite radio navigation system recognized by the International Maritime Organization as a GMDSS provider, U.S. GMDSS leadership is in jeopardy, Iridium said. In addition, other GMDSS providers will enter. Iridium said its provision of GMDSS today under a Part 80 waiver "puts [it] on a weaker footing" for international coordination. The Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services petitioned in 2016 for a Part 80 rules update.
Globalstar is urging FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz to approve its proposed C-3 constellation (see 2502280001). In a filing Tuesday recapping a meeting with Schwarz, Globalstar said SpaceX -- which has argued there first should be a rulemaking proceeding regarding the big low earth orbit band (see 2410020029) -- has never offered technical explanations of how it could operate on a co-frequency basis in the 1.6/2.4 GHz bands without interfering with Globalstar's mobile satellite service (MSS) offerings. Globalstar said the big LEO MSS licensing status quo "has been an extraordinary success, based on the regulatory and investment certainty ... and there is no justification for modifying this framework."
Consumers would pay more under an ATSC 3.0 tuner mandate, the Consumer Technology Association told an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Media Bureau staff in an ex parte meeting last week, according to a filing posted Tuesday. NAB has called for a tuner requirement in its recent ATSC 3.0 petition (see 2502260051). A search of TVs sold by a nationwide retailer showed that the average price of those with 3.0 tuners was $80 higher than 1.0 models, CTA said. “Given this sample, in addition to other known factors, such as patent licensing costs, it is reasonable to conclude that consumers would pay more if all televisions were mandated to include an ATSC 3.0 tuner,” the filing said. CTA “strongly believes the transition to ATSC 3.0 must remain voluntary and market-based, not guided by government mandates, and has consistently advocated this position in the record.”
Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia are joining a push urging the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hold an en banc rehearing regarding the court's decision on a 2023 FCC robocall and robotext order (see 2501240068). "The FCC’s one-to-one consent rule at issue in this appeal is a critical nationwide enforcement tool" against illegal robocalls, the states said in an amicus brief Monday (docket 24-10277), backing the National Consumer Law Center's proposed petition for rehearing en banc. The 11th Circuit panel’s decision "invalidating this commonsense rule threatens Amici States’ interest in protecting consumers, families, and businesses from the deluge of invasive robocalls," they said. The one-to-one consent rule "provides a critical federal complement to state-level efforts to combat robocalls by creating a nationwide limitation on certain harvesting of consumer contact information." The states signing the amicus brief were: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
EchoStar's deployed 5G sites are updated to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 17 standard, as it committed to as part of its 2024 construction milestone request, the company told the FCC Tuesday (docket 22-212). It said it had to meet the 3GPP upgrade commitment by June 14.
T-Mobile provided additional answers to the FCC in response to questions posed in December about the carrier's buy of wireless assets from UScellular (see 2412270031). The companies announced in May an agreement where T-Mobile would purchase “substantially all” of the smaller carrier’s wireless operations, including some of its spectrum, in a deal valued at about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt (see 2405280047).
Geoffrey Starks became an FCC Commissioner in 2019 (see 2503180009).
The departure of Commissioner Geoffrey Starks from the FCC (see 2503180067) probably won’t have a major effect on companies that the FCC regulates, New Street’s Blair Levin said in a research note Tuesday. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr doesn’t “need a majority to do what he wants to do,” Levin said. “Partly this is due to defining the job differently than past chairs, emphasizing the power of the bully pulpit to cause Congress and others to act more than relying on formal FCC decisions,” he said: “Given his agenda, the bureaus can, under his direction, do many of the things he wants without a full Commission vote.”
Experts warned Tuesday against a move to hold the next World Radiocommunication Conference in China. During a Technology Policy Institute spectrum webinar, they said holding the 2027 conference there could effectively limit U.S. participation as the world discusses the harmonization of 6G and satellite spectrum.