The FCC opted for relaxed interference protection criteria for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite service (FSS) systems approved in different processing rounds despite opposition from some satellite operators. Approved Nov. 5, the order was released Friday, 10 days later. Its 5-0 approval was expected (see 2410040025). The 3% average throughput degradation long-term interference protection criteria was supported by multiple satellite operators, including SpaceX, but faced objections from OneWeb. The agency said it disagreed with OneWeb's contention that a 3% threshold would disincentivize coordination among satellite operators. Noting a lack of consensus among commenters about the appropriate short-term protection criterion, the FCC said SpaceX's proposal for a 0.4% absolute increase in unavailability metric more closely aligns with agency goals of regulatory certainty plus good opportunities for later-round entrants and competition than rival proposals did. The FCC declined to insert limits on aggregate interference in an NGSO FSS system. It said there was no demonstrated need for such limits, with 2029 the earliest when any second processing round system would be required to deploy its full constellation. The agency also rejected OneWeb's reconsideration petition on the sunset provision in the FCC's 2023 NGSO satellite spectrum sharing order (see 2307210037). It said for OneWeb and other first processing round systems, the 2030 sunset date -- 10 years after the first grant in second processing round in 2020 -- "relieves them of the uncertainty of near-term, equal sharing with new entrants intended by the sunset period."
AST SpaceMobile's first tranche of commercial BlueBird satellites is "now ready to become operational" and FCC approval of commercial direct-to-device service is "imminent," CEO Abel Avellan said in a call with analysts Thursday evening. That tranche of five BlueBirds launched in September (see 2409120004) will provide "close to 100%" nationwide coverage in the U.S., he added. AST has agreements with SpaceX and Blue Origin for the launch of 60 next-generation BlueBird satellites in 2025 and 2026 to bring service to other key markets. Chief Strategy Officer Scott Wisniewski said that once AST has 45 to 60 BlueBirds in orbit, it could offer cellular broadband coverage to the top wireless markets and have network capacity for "hundreds of millions of potential subscribers."
Changes to applications concerning the $8 billion Paramount Global/Skydance Media deal constitute major amendments that warrant a further pleading cycle, the FCC Media Bureau said Friday in docket 24-275. Revised petitions to deny are due Dec. 16, with revised oppositions to petitions due Jan. 2 and revised replies Jan. 13. The bureau said changes to the applications indicate Skydance CEO David Ellison would hold voting control over the corporate entities that ultimately would run the combined companies. The initial pleading cycle saw arguments from labor unions for labor-related conditions on any license transfer approvals (see 2410080033).
As part of Australian telecommunications company Vocus Group's purchase of Australian telecom TPG Telecom's submarine cable business, the two are seeking FCC approval for control of the submarine cable landing license they jointly hold for the PPC-1 submarine cable system. In an application posted Friday, the two said they hope to close on the deal in Q3 2025. PPC-1 started service in 2009 and connects Sydney, Australia, and Piti, Guam.
The Trump administration will focus on First Amendment rights, and its agenda could include a review of the tech industry’s role in weakening those rights, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote in letters to Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft last week. Carr requested information that could “inform the FCC’s work to promote free speech and a diversity of viewpoints.” He noted the FCC’s role in administering the Communications Act, which includes the tech industry’s liability shield, Section 230. The statute grants tech companies benefits when it operates in “good faith,” said Carr. He’s seeking information about the industry’s relationship with NewsGuard, a tool that ranks news and information on social media sites. Carr requested the companies identify their ad and marketing partners. The companies didn’t comment Friday.
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Friday approved a waiver of quarterly tower inspection rules for Cooperative Energy (CE) after the co-op system installed self-diagnostic technology. “Our action today should encourage other tower owners to invest in state-of-the-art technologies so that they, too, will become capable of continuous monitoring of both their lighting systems and control devices,” the order said. The bureau noted that CE serves 11 co-ops in Mississippi and has 85 towers subject to inspection requirements. CE uses the FCC-approved Vanguard Monitoring System and its network operations centers to receive alarms from that system, the bureau said.
NTIA told the FCC that utilization of the citizens broadband radio service band is up sharply and the three-tier shared band has been a success. “With CBRS, the Commission established a ground-breaking spectrum-sharing paradigm that has enabled commercial access to mid-band spectrum and has evolved to demonstrate the success of a collaborative partnership among stakeholders in the public and private sectors,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 17-258. CBRS deployments increased 270,621 from April 1, 2021, to July 1 this year, the filing said. Rural CBRS devices (CBSDs) “more than doubled, with an increase of 166,650 (160.6%)" and "67.5% of all CBSDs were in rural census blocks,” NTIA said. It found that 82.7% of all U.S. counties used at least one CBRS channel and 41% used all 15 as of July 1.
Tech companies' recent filing (see 2411070023) countering a broadcaster study on interference to electronic news-gathering (ENG) operations from very-low-power (VLP) devices in parts of the 6 GHz band doesn’t oppose an ENG “safe harbor,” NAB noted in a filing at the FCC. Broadcasters have asked that the agency “temporarily reserve a small fraction of the 6 GHz band -- the 55 MHz band at the top of the U-NII-8 sub-band … as a ‘safety valve’ in the event of interference,” said a filing Thursday in docket 18-295. “The claim that the ‘vast majority of VLP devices will not operate in locations where they could cause harmful interference’ is specious,” NAB added: “The whole point of the VLP service is that the devices can be used anywhere and need not be under the control of an access point.”
The FCC Wireless and Public Safety bureaus on Friday updated the 4.9 GHz band licensing freeze, consistent with an order commissioners approved last month (see 2410220027). The changes take effect immediately, the bureaus said. They added to the list of affected applications “applications filed by incumbent 4.9 GHz licensees to modify existing licenses in the 4.9 GHz band, whether for permanent fixed sites or geographic areas” and “applications filed by incumbent 4.9 GHz licensees for new permanent fixed site operations located within their licensed service areas.” A critic of the order noted last week that the FCC expanded the freeze in a way that was likely not well understood by public safety agencies when it was handed down (see 2411130027). The bureaus said the FCC would continue accepting some applications, including to renew existing licenses without modification or seeking to modify existing licenses by deleting frequencies or fixed sites.
As its cable landing license application is processed, Trans Americas Fiber (TAF) in the meantime is asking the FCC for special temporary authority to build and test portions of the TAM-1 submarine cable system in U.S. territory. In an application posted Friday, TAF said that without such authority, "connectivity on the TAM-1 system would likely be delayed at significant cost" to it. The 7,010-kilometer TAM-1 would connect Florida, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Panama.