The FCC should examine the validity of Ligado's claim that it has satisfied a requirement in the agency's 2020 Ligado order for availability of compliant mobile satellite service/ancillary terrestrial component (MSS/ATC) devices, aviation, satellite communications and weather information, users say. In a docket 11-109 filing posted Monday, they say they can't find certified dual-mode equipment for purchase or lease in the FCC's equipment authorizations or via internet searches. Parties signing the filing include the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, American Meteorological Society, Boat Owners Association of the United States, General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Iridium, Lockheed Martin and National Weather Association. Ligado told the FCC in October that a dual-mode MSS/ATC-capable L-band router that supports satellite and terrestrial connectivity, using Ligado’s MSS/ATC L-band spectrum, was commercially available.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s Nov. 13 letters to tech companies (see 2411150032) about their relationship with news website rating service NewsGuard are inaccurate and repeat false information, NewsGuard co-CEOs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz said in a letter Friday to Carr, the agency's incoming chair. “We wish you had reached out to us before sending your letter because it relies on false reporting about us,” the co-CEOs wrote. Carr also relied on reporting from Newsmax, which has “misled” the commissioner in order to undermine the service’s credibility because it rates Newsmax poorly, NewsGuard's letter said. “An analogy would be a maker of unsafe cars objecting to its rating by Consumer Reports by making false claims about the magazine’s testing process,” NewsGuard said.
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday denied to review a petition from telecom groups challenging a New York law requiring that ISPs offer a certain plan for eligible low-income households (see 2404260051). The Affordable Broadband Act requires $15 monthly plans providing 25/3 Mbps speeds. Some saw the decision to uphold the 2nd Circuit's ruling in favor of the law as unsurprising given the legal battle over the FCC's reclassification of broadband as a Title II telecom service (see 2410010024).
Gogo Business Aviation asked the FCC to extend to July 21 its deadline for meeting requirements of the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Under the program, which Congress hasn't fully funded, providers must remove, replace and dispose of Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks. Gogo has already received one extension, through Jan. 21 (see 2403290040). Its replacement process is “predicated on a multi-year timeline due to the unique nature of its aviation operations, the need for custom radio equipment rather than off-the-shelf solutions for both its ground infrastructure and airborne components, Gogo’s limited spectrum holdings, and the operational challenges in removing and replacing equipment on thousands of aircraft nationwide,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-89. Gogo uses equipment from Chinese supplier ZTE.
Air Voice Wireless asked the FCC to designate it an eligible telecommunications carrier to provide Lifeline service in Connecticut, Delaware, North Carolina and the District of Columbia. The carrier is an MVNO that uses AT&T’s network. “AIRVOICE has already demonstrated its ability to provide Lifeline services as it has grown to serve over 800,000 households, while maintaining strong processes to protect against waste, fraud, and abuse,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 09-197. The carrier notes it provides Lifeline service in 39 states and Puerto Rico. “AIRVOICE has historically reached and enrolled customers in suburban, exurban, and rural areas outside of high-density urban areas” and some 200,000 of its Lifeline customers are "first-time Lifeline enrollees,” the company said.
The FCC’s remaining extensions on the implementation of call authentication standards “remain necessary to avoid undue hardship for the limited number of providers that require them,” the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice announcing its annual evaluation of extensions. The extensions of Stir/Shaken standards apply to small voice service providers originating calls via satellite using North American Numbering Plan (NANP) numbers and providers that cannot obtain a service provider code token. Retaining the extensions “does not present a significant barrier to the Commission’s goal of full participation in STIR/SHAKEN,” the PN said. The Wireline Bureau’s annual evaluation of the extensions is required by the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act, the PN said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics Friday announced the 2025 reasonable comparability benchmarks for fixed voice service for eligible telecommunications carriers. The numbers are based on the FCC’s most recent urban rate survey. The 2025 urban average monthly rate for voice is $30.67, the notice said. “The reasonable comparability benchmark for voice services, two standard deviations above the urban average, is $55.55.” That’s up from $55.13 for 2024 (see 2312260049). ETCs “must certify … no later than July 1, 2025, that the pricing of its basic residential voice services is no more than $55.55,” the notice said. The FCC also released the benchmark table for broadband. It runs from a U.S. monthly low of $89.51, $147.65 in Alaska, for 4 Mbps service, to a high of $145.80, $209.03 in Alaska, for 2 Gbps service. “Recipients of high-cost and/or Connect America Fund support that are subject to broadband performance obligations are required to offer broadband service at rates that are at or below the relevant reasonable comparability benchmark.”
Consumers’ Research and other conservative interests last week urged the FCC to zero out the USF contribution factor. Next year, the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear a case that Consumers’ Research brought in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2412100060), which found in a 9-7 en banc decision that the contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax.” Posted Friday in docket 96-45, the filing arrived the day after the FCC Office of Managing Director proposed a contribution factor of 36.3% for Q1 2025 (see 2412120061). The contribution factor “is an unconstitutional tax raised and spent by an unaccountable federal agency -- which in turn has delegated almost all authority over this revenue-raising scheme to a private company registered in Delaware,” the Universal Service Administrative Co. The cost “is ultimately borne by consumers via a separate line item on nearly every phone bill in the country,” the filing said. In its decision, the 5th Circuit found the USAC “sets the USF Tax -- subject only to FCC’s rubber stamp” and the agency lacks "a documented process for checking USAC’s work,” the filing said. Among those endorsing the pleading was Edward Blum, president of Students for Fair Admissions, which last year won a SCOTUS case that effectively ended race-based affirmative action policies in American college admissions, and other respondents listed on Consumers’ Research’s initial SCOTUS brief.
The FCC’s final order on letter of credit (LOC) rules for providers receiving high-cost USF support saw one major change from the draft version. Commissioners approved the order 5-0, with language added at the request of Commissioner Anna Gomez (see 2412110050), addressing tribal issues. The final version notes that “making wholesale changes to our rules in the middle of an ongoing program would be unnecessary and could create confusion for support recipients,” the same as the draft. But the final version added a sentence: “Given the difficulties some Tribal carriers have collateralizing assets to support a LOC, however, we will consider waiving the relevant LOC requirements on an individual basis consistent with the Commission’s waiver standard, and we do not foreclose examining in future support programs whether Tribal carriers should be permitted to rely on alternatives to LOCs.” The FCC on Friday posted the final version of the LOC changes. It includes a statement by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The agency also posted the final version of an order that expands the parts of the 6 GHz band where new very-low-power (VLP) devices are permitted to operate without coordination. That order was also approved 5-0 with no changes of note (see 2412110040). Only Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks issued written statements. That order was also posted on Friday.
President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration will likely change BEAD rules, making the program more open to satellite and unlicensed fixed wireless access, connectivity policy experts tell us. A variety of policy statements from Republicans, including Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) (see 2411040030), suggest a forthcoming policy change, said Chris Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) director-community broadband networks.