Holly Saurer has left her post as chief of the FCC Media Bureau, an agency spokesperson confirmed Monday. However, Saurer remains at the FCC in a different role, the spokesperson said, without identifying it. A Monday order to pay or show cause aimed at Cobra Broadcasting over failure to pay delinquent regulatory fees was signed by Rosemary Harold, with the title “Acting Chief, Media Bureau.” Harold, who served as Enforcement Bureau chief under former Chairman Ajit Pai, is listed on the FCC’s website as a deputy chief of the Media Bureau. A longtime Media Bureau staffer under numerous FCC chairs, Saurer was chief since January 2022. She also spent time as media adviser to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
Several groups on Friday filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court for a rehearing of its December order denying a writ of certiorari regarding the FCC's classification of broadband. ACA Connects, USTelecom, CTIA, the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association, and the New York State Telecom Association cited the 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court's narrow decision overturning the FCC's order (see 2501020047). That decision "establishes the [2nd] Circuit’s decision as a conflicting outlier," they said.
Boomerang Wireless asked the FCC to overrule a Universal Service Administrative Co. decision that it violated the Lifeline program’s supposed one-benefit-per-household rule by enrolling too many applicants at a single address. The FCC’s Lifeline rules “do not set household limits at an address so long as the prescribed process of obtaining a signed Independent Economic Household (IEH) worksheet is followed,” Boomerang said in a filing posted Monday in docket 11-42. USAC “appears to have created and applied a limit on the number of eligible Lifeline households that may reside at a particular address,” the company said. But the commission “has never set a cap on the number of Lifeline households that may reside at a particular address and even specifically rejected a one benefit per address rule in the 2012 Lifeline Reform Order.”
Progeny asked the FCC for a waiver of the buildout requirements for parts of its 900 MHz multilateration location and monitoring service licenses (M-LMS). Parent NextNav proposed a reconfiguration of the 902-928 MHz band in April (see 2404160043). The extension request covers 36 “mostly rural and generally least-populated” markets, said Progeny's filing Friday in docket 12-202. It sought an extension of deadlines until April 3, 2028, or 18 months after resolution of the NextNav petition for rulemaking to use the spectrum for an alternative to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing services.
The Online Lenders Alliance (OLA) filed a petition for rulemaking at the FCC seeking changes to the agency’s 2023 order on unwanted robotexts (see 2312130019). The FCC’s one-to-one robotext consent policy, the petition's focus, is also the target of a challenge before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral argument in December (see 2412180008). Lead generation “is a long-established marketing and advertising method that has become increasingly vital in the age of internet commerce,” OLA said in a petition posted Monday in docket 21-402. “This significant curtailing of the consumer’s right to consent will result in fewer consumer choices, greater exposure to cybercrime, a disproportionate advantage for companies with greater marketing spend to control how consumers can locate resources online, decreased competition among market participants, and increased prices of products and services for consumers.”
The Rural Wireless Association sought reconsideration of the FCC’s August order launching a 5G Fund. Commissioner Brendan Carr, on tap to be FCC chair starting next week, dissented on the order, raising BEAD concerns (see 2408290041). In a filing posted Monday in docket 20-32, RWA agreed with Carr that the FCC should wait for decisions on where BEAD money will be spent before moving forward on a 5G Fund auction. In addition, RWA questioned the fund’s reliance on the broadband data collection’s mobile challenge process for assessing funding needs. “As RWA and others have previously pointed out, the process is ineffective, particularly in rural areas, due to the limitations of crowd-sourced data and data compatibility issues in submitting bulk mobile challenges, and the Commission has failed to adequately address these concerns.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau sought comment on an application by the companies for Citizens Telephone Co-op to acquire rural digital opportunity fund support and related buildout and service obligations at locations in Floyd County, Virginia, from Cox Virginia Telcom. Comments are due Jan. 24, replies Jan. 31, is docket 24-587, said a notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. The companies “contend that the proposed transaction will enable Cox Virginia and its affiliates to devote more attention to other census blocks/locations in each state in which Cox Virginia and its affiliates are RDOF support recipients,” the bureau said.
Joe Kane, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation broadband and spectrum policy director, urged Congress Monday to “create a more targeted and durable” version of the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program “by aligning funding priorities with the remaining causes of the digital divide." Kane added: "By prioritizing affordability rather than deployment, the new program can connect low-income households without new federal spending.” He suggested Congress should revise ACP rules to provide its previous $30 monthly broadband subsidy but restrict it to “households at or below 135 percent of the federal poverty level or in their first three months of unemployment insurance.” Now-Vice President-elect JD Vance and Senate Communications Subcommittee then-Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., in May proposed the same change to ACP eligibility as part of an unsuccessful bid to give the program $6 billion in stopgap funding via an FCC reauthorization package (see 2405080047). There “is good reason to think” ACP’s eligibility criteria, including allowing a household to qualify if its combined income were up to 200% of the federal poverty line, “were overinclusive,” Kane said. He discounted proposals restricting ACP funding to first-time broadband subscribers, saying objections “on these grounds make the category mistake of conflating affordability with choices made under a budget constraint.”
Economic Policy Innovation Center CEO Paul Winfree urged President-elect Donald Trump to nominate Senate Commerce Committee GOP Telecom Policy Director Arielle Roth to the FCC seat Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will vacate Jan. 20. Roth “would be phenomenal” as an FCC commissioner, Winfree said on X Friday night. The office of Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Trump’s pick to become chairman, said last week he doesn’t oppose Trump naming Roth, although lobbyists cited his earlier misgivings about her (see 2501100043). Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is championing a Roth nomination behind the scenes (see 2412110046).
The FCC and National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) have signed a memorandum of understanding creating “a formal partnership dedicated to supporting survivors of domestic violence,” said an agency news release Monday. “This partnership will focus on creating resources and training materials to ensure that survivors are aware of their rights and can access the support they need,” it said. “By working together to provide resources, training, and outreach, we can empower survivors to access the essential communication tools they need to rebuild their lives,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in the release. Under the MOU, the FCC and the NDVH will collaborate on guides to help domestic violence survivors use the agency’s line separation rules and emergency communications support services. The FCC “will educate The Hotline’s staff on relevant rules and services,” and the NDVH “will train FCC contact center personnel on trauma-informed approaches to supporting survivors,” the release said. “By combining their expertise, the FCC and The Hotline aim to empower survivors and promote their safety and well-being through access to essential communication services and support.”