The American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research supported FCC proposals to speed up copper retirements and otherwise speed the move of carriers off legacy networks in comments posted Wednesday in docket 25-208. “Outdated requirements … have come at a steep cost for consumers as they delay buildout of better technology, keep consumers vulnerable to copper theft and 911 outages, and keep consumers paying high prices for poor performance,” the center said. Carriers also report that maintaining legacy systems requires spending “that could otherwise be put towards faster deployment of better technology.”
EchoStar faces litigation from two tower companies over lease agreements from the now-ended nationwide wireless network buildout by its Dish Wireless subsidiary, but few if any other tower company suits are likely, said Ken Schmidt, president of Steel in the Air cell tower lease consultancy. American Tower and Crown Castle represented the vast bulk of Dish's wireless network deployment, and have substantially more to lose than other tower companies, Schmidt added.
The outlook for the citizens broadband radio service band appears uncertain, with some wireless carriers looking at the spectrum for full-powered licensed use and CBRS advocates defending it as an important band for sharing and unlicensed use. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has had little to say about CBRS since he took over the helm at the commission.
Astroscale is seeking FCC approval to launch and operate its Life Extension In-Orbit Prime (LEXI-P) vehicle, according to an application posted Tuesday. The company said LEXI-P would be the first service in Astroscale's life extension in-orbit program, providing life extension, maneuvering or fleet management services for satellites in or around geostationary orbit. A LEXI-P is under construction for an anticipated March 2027 launch to provide services to multiple client vehicles over an anticipated 15-year life, it added.
A recent social media post from President Donald Trump condemning proposals to lift the national TV ownership cap doesn’t definitively spell disaster for broadcasters, said New Street analyst Blair Levin in a note to subscribers Tuesday. Trump’s post was focused on preventing ABC and NBC from growing (see 2511240055), but that isn’t a likely consequence of lifting the cap, Levin wrote. “One should not assume that the President understands what he is talking about when it comes to this post, or that it is a deeply held point of view, as it relates to law and process.”
Connoisseur Media asked the FCC this week to issue a declaratory ruling allowing a subsidiary to be up to 100% foreign-owned to allow investments from Cayman Island-based investment funds and to allow a U.K. citizen -- Connoisseur CFO Oliver Price -- to hold a noncontrolling interest in the company. Approval of the petition will provide Connoisseur “with greater access to capital, thereby enabling it to better compete in the media marketplace,” the filing said.
The FCC’s news distortion rule “has become a loaded gun that allows the FCC to ‘regulate by raised eyebrow,’” wrote former FCC Chairman Mark Fowler in a letter published Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal. He pointed out that a number of Republicans who served at the FCC joined with Democrats, including former Chairman Tom Wheeler, in a recent petition (see 2511130052) calling on the agency to revoke the policy. “Two-thirds of the signatories are red-blooded Republicans who have always believed the government has no business policing the media for bias or balance,” wrote Fowler, who chaired the commission under former President Ronald Reagan. He said Carr has “brandished” the news distortion policy “to stifle content he deems unfair” to President Donald Trump. “The press that uses air and electrons must be as free of Washington censors as the press that uses paper and ink.”
Congress should create a new USF-funded broadband affordability benefit program that includes data, voice and text services, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance wrote Monday. Citing comments that it submitted in September to the USF bicameral working group, NDIA said it shouldn't be a direct replication of the affordable connectivity program or Lifeline but instead should incorporate facets of both. The program should apply to mobile and/or home broadband and to all plans that ISPs offer, providing at least $40 a month minimum for non-tribal households and $110 a month for tribal households, the alliance said. The design of such a program should be specifically about affordability, "ensuring households whose primary barrier to broadband adoption is affordability can get and stay online."
The FCC on Tuesday reminded recipients of money through the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program that their quarterly updates are due to the commission Dec. 29. The status updates keep the Wireline Bureau apprised of recipients’ progress "toward meeting their obligations under the Rip-and-Replace Program.”
Brownsville, Texas, is seeking a waiver from the FCC to operate a city network that uses the citizens broadband radio service band at +60 dBm effective isotropic radiated power, which is higher than the +47 dBm allowed by agency rules. In a filing posted Monday, the city emphasized that it’s located on the Mexican border and uses the network for border security. The higher power levels would mean the city needs about a third as many nodes to operate the network, it said. “The City’s planned outdoor applications -- spanning public safety, border security, and critical infrastructure operations -- require broader signal reach and fewer network nodes than the existing limits allow.”