To avoid possible overbuilding, NTIA should require states to have an expedited process to verify that eligible locations aren’t served before making final awards in the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. NRECA CEO Jim Matheson sent a letter Thursday to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. The association’s proposed true-up process would “allow existing ISPs to conclusively demonstrate that they provide adequate service at locations that otherwise could be awarded funding,” Matheson said. “To counter any gamesmanship in this process,” NTIA should allow this only for fiber deployments. “In the time since eligible locations were determined and the state map challenge processes occurred, many rural ISPs have continued to construct fiber broadband networks and connect new customers,” said Matheson: Those ISPs include NRECA members. “There are significant discrepancies between the FCC’s December 2023 map data, subsequent state challenges and rural networks either built since then or currently under construction,” he said. “As a result, BEAD funding could be awarded to overbuild locations where reliable internet service has since been, or soon will be, deployed.”
Since the FCC sits on reconsideration petitions as it tries insulating itself from judicial review, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shouldn't wait for "the futile exhaustion of arguments," said petitioners Maurine and Matthew Molak. In a letter to the 5th Circuit, the Molaks -- who unsuccessfully challenged the FCC's August E-rate hot spots order (see 2409260046) and are challenging the agency's 2023 declaratory ruling authorizing E-rate funding for Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2312200040) -- said they have filed a reconsideration petition on the hotspots order. Three months later, the FCC has not acted on that petition, the Molaks said. Given that the hot spots litigation was dismissed in part because the FCC hasn't acted on the recon petition, the 5th Circuit shouldn't dismiss the bus litigation on the basis that no recon petition has been filed, they said Thursday in the letter in docket 23-60641. The FCC didn't comment Thursday.
Starfish Infrastructure is seeking FCC approval for a private, non-common carrier submarine cable connecting the U.S. to French Polynesia, New Zealand and Australia. The Honomoana cable system -- named for the Polynesian words for "link" -- hono -- and "ocean" -- moana -- would land in San Diego County, it said in an application posted Thursday. The new direct connection between Australia and the continental U.S. would come as capacity demand on that route is growing substantially year over year. Starfish said it hopes to install and test the Honomoana system in U.S. waters in Q1 2026 and start commercial operation of the U.S. landing point by 2026's end.
Missing in many spectrum policy discussions during events and conferences is a unified "spectrum voice for enterprise," technology analyst and founder of the U.K.’s Disruptive Analysis Dean Bubley wrote on LinkedIn. There should be an alliance of companies "like Boeing, John Deere, Walmart, Tesco, Marriott, Coca Cola, Shell and Johnson & Johnson that takes a collective stance on licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum," he noted in a post this week. Such companies "are at the forefront" of wireless connectivity, communications and sensing through use of public 4G and 5G networks, private 4G and 5G and wireless in their facilities, and specialized wireless applications such as microwave links and industrial mesh, he wrote. "They collectively see the need for, and relative benefits of, different spectrum regimes, and complex landscapes of service providers and vendors." Yet they are represented only indirectly. "There is no coordinated 'Enterprise Spectrum Advocacy' group, either to give the collective voice of business users at conferences, or to respond to initiatives such as FCC, NTIA, Ofcom or EU consultations and national spectrum strategies." Technology-specific industry associations often avoid discussing multi-technology systems, he added.
The FCC's proposed rewrite of its submarine cable rules could put a variety of cybersecurity requirements on operators and bar them from using equipment or services on the agency's Covered List. The NPRM on the agency's Nov. 14 open meeting agenda also proposes significantly shortening cable landing licenses, from 25 years to three. Also on the agenda is a codification of many temporary provisions for authorization of geotargeted radio using program-originating FM boosters and a draft order on the caller ID authentication process aimed at further tackling unlawfully spoofed robocalls. The agenda items (see 2410300033) were made public Thursday.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said during a Thursday Punchbowl News event he would prefer the chamber pursue a middle-ground between the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) and 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act (S-3909) as a legislative package for renewing the FCC’s lapsed airwaves auction authority. He also voiced concerns about the Biden administration’s implementation of $65 billion in broadband money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, echoing criticisms congressional Republicans raised about how long it has taken for funded projects to come online.
A three-judge appeals court panel hearing a challenge (docket 24-7000) of the FCC's Title II reclassification of broadband questioned industry groups and the agency Thursday about the major questions doctrine (see 2409030030). Oral argument was held at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where judges also questioned the relationship between the doctrine and Chevron deference, as well as the statutory interpretation of the Communications Act and the FCC's changing positions over time.
The FCC's argument that financier BIU's litigation is a fight between the company and satellite firm Spectrum Five to be dealt with in a state court (see 2410100007) doesn't fly, BIU said. In a docket 24-1189 petitioner's reply brief Wednesday, BIU said no state court can vacate the FCC Enforcement Bureau's dismissal of BIU's Spectrum Five petition and provide the relief BIU is seeking before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. BIU said cases the FCC cited about the agency abstaining from considering issues of contract law in favor of state court adjudication sprung from situations that could be addressed with a state court judgment for money or where there still could be meaningful relief at the FCC after state court resolution. BIU is appealing the FCC's dismissal of a petition seeking reinstatement of the Spectrum Five complaint alleging that Intelsat is interfering with Spectrum Five's spectrum license (see 2404110053).
An FCC proposal that would require MVPDs to report retransmission consent blackouts should apply only to blackouts of primary streams on full-power stations and low-power TV or multicast streams that carry a network feed, NCTA argued during an Oct. 25 meeting with an aide to Commissioner Anna Gomez, according to an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-472. Though the FCC has proposed requiring such reports after a blackout lasts more than 24 hours, NCTA said the period should be longer and that MVPDs should have two business days to file. “Retransmission consent negotiations are complex and often involve numerous stations,” NCTA said. “Collecting and filing the information will be a time-consuming process that could distract from efforts to resolve the blackout.” The FCC shouldn’t require MVPDs to disclose the number of subscribers a blackout affects, NCTA added. “Such data is commercially sensitive information, and the burden of compiling it for disclosure would outweigh any benefit that its submission would achieve.”
Audacy filed a petition for a declaratory ruling asking that the FCC permit foreign ownership of up to 49.99% of the company’s equity and voting interests and specifically approve an investor group of non-U.S. entities that would own more than 5% of the broadcaster. The Sept. 30 FCC order, (see 2409300046) granting Audacy permission to complete its bankruptcy restructuring before going through the agency’s foreign-ownership process, required that Audacy file its foreign-ownership petition within 30 days. A petition for reconsideration of that order was filed Tuesday (see 2410290054). The American company, Laurel Tree Opportunities, would remain Audacy’s single majority shareholder, according to Audacy’s petition. Funds associated with George Soros own Laurel Tree, which drew attention to Audacy’s initial foreign-ownership filing. “For avoidance of doubt, the group of non-U.S. equity holders for which specific approval is sought is entirely unrelated to Laurel Tree; Laurel Tree does not have any foreign ownership,” the petition said. After FCC approval of the foreign-ownership request, “foreign individuals and entities are expected to hold in the aggregate approximately 27.2 percent of the equity and approximately 31.4 percent of the voting interests in Audacy,” the petition said. “Reducing barriers to further investment in Audacy, including by allowing the company to pursue additional capital from non-U.S. investors, will enable it to allocate additional resources to programming and other initiatives.” The foreign ownership of Audacy “is held by several unrelated investors” who won’t have an attributable interest in Audacy and “as such would not be in a position to influence the company’s programming, access personal data, or play an active role in any of its station or related operations.”