Oppositions are due Aug. 27, replies Sept. 6, at the FCC on a petition for reconsideration of last month’s 3-2 order allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services (see 2407180024), said a notice in Monday’s Federal Register. The petitioners were Maurine and Matthew Molak, who previously sued the FCC over its decision authorizing funding of Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2406260006). Filings are due in docket 21–31.
The FCC should establish "clear timelines" for large pole orders as part of its final order streamlining the pole attachment process, the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition told the Wireline Bureau in a meeting (see 2403140068). The group said in an ex parte filing Monday in docket 17-84 that there should be "clearly defined and equitable standards for pole replacement costs." SHLB also sought clarification on costs associated with pole replacements, suggesting that pole owners be responsible for "at least 50 percent of the cost of pole replacements, given that they will own and benefit financially from the new pole." The group also opposed Edison Electric Institute's petition concerning the definition of a "grandfathered" pole (see 2402260073).
The FCC deactivated its disaster information reporting system (DIRS) and mandatory disaster response initiative for Tropical Storm Debby in Virginia and the Carolinas, the agency announced Friday and Saturday, respectively. Communications providers there no longer have to report on their cellular networks in DIRS. The FCC said it will continue monitoring their status.
Amateur radio operators are already making their opposition known to a proposal from NextNav that the FCC reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band “to enable a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services (see 2404160043). Comments are due Sept. 5, replies Sept. 20, on a public notice from the FCC, but amateurs have begun filing comments (docket 24-240), posting nearly 60 just in the past few days.
An FCC notice of inquiry on whether to require cable, phone and broadband providers to offer simple cancellation and access to live representatives is getting applause from consumer advocacy groups. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office on Monday circulated the draft customer service NOI. The White House said the NOI was part of a broader "time is money" initiative aimed at consumer woes. In addition, the effort will investigate whether health insurers make it difficult for customers to submit claims online.
The FCC Media Bureau granted Microsoft’s request to withdraw its petition of reconsideration against FCC rules easing the creation of broadcaster-distributed transmission systems, according to a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. Microsoft dropped the petition in a filing posted Tuesday (see 2408060043). The DTS order was intended to aid the ATSC 3.0 transition. Microsoft had raised concerns that the order would lead to broadcasters interfering with devices using the TV white spaces.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $14,000 penalty for Audacy over allegations that it violated the agency’s contest rules by not selecting and notifying winners of a radio contest according to the contest’s stated terms, a notice of apparent liability in Friday’s Daily Digest said. The NAL is a response to a complaint about a 2021 “National Cash Contest” Audacy conducted for 21 days on 194 stations. Under the contest’s terms, 11 times daily listeners could listen for a keyword and win $1,000 by submitting that keyword to the station within the hour it was announced. “One national winner was to be selected randomly from each hour’s eligible entries from all participating stations, for a total of 297 (27x11) opportunities to win,” the NAL said. The contest terms said winners would be notified within 72 hours of selection and get their prize within eight to 12 weeks. After receiving a letter of inquiry (LOI) from the EB, Audacy admitted it “did not act timely in selecting and/or notifying 50 winners out of the 297 time slots, which is 16.8% of the potential winners.” Audacy said part-time employees' performance caused the mishap and that it sent out the remaining contest winnings after receiving the LOI. The NAL said that wasn’t sufficient. “We hold that the Licensee’s conduct constitutes an apparent willful violation of the requirement of section 73.1216 of the Commission’s rules to conduct the Contest ‘substantially as announced or advertised,’” the NAL said.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling against the FCC's Universal Service Fund contribution mechanism "should spur reform in Congress," Free State Foundation Director-Policy Studies Seth Cooper blogged Friday (see 2407300053). Congress "should act promptly to make the USF program fiscally sustainable and constitutionally sound" through direct appropriations, Cooper wrote, adding that broadband should be "intelligibly" defined as a service eligible for support. Cooper suggested requiring that "major online companies" contribute "under principles that limit subsidy amounts." There's "widespread agreement that universal service should support broadband access," Cooper said: "Congress should replace the amorphous definition of universal service as an evolving level of services that are consistent with the public interest." Should direct appropriations not be feasible, Cooper suggested amending Communications Act Section 254 to include Big Tech companies that "benefit immensely" from universal service.
Representatives of EchoStar, Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute at New America asked the FCC to move forward on handset unlocking rules, approve the use of the lower 12 GHz band for fixed wireless and address a revised spectrum screen. The representatives met with aides to Commissioners Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks, said a filing posted Friday in 24-186 and other dockets. “Consumer advocates have long argued that mobile phones should come unlocked by default, allowing users to more easily make choices about the device and service they purchase, as they can for most products,” the filing said: “While the practice of locking users into contracts by handset locking remains common in the U.S., countries including Canada and the United Kingdom have banned the practice entirely.” Most spectrum “is controlled by three nationwide incumbents, leaving new competitors and regional carriers constrained in their ability to provide wireless services,” the groups said of a proposed revised screen. The level of concentration “hampers innovation, raises prices, raises costs for non-incumbent competitors, and harms consumers.”
The FCC sought comment Friday on the future of the 37 GHz band, as expected (see 2407240039). Comments are due Sept. 9 in docket 24-243, per a public notice by the Wireless Bureau. The band is one of five teed up for further investigation in the administration’s national spectrum strategy, though unlike the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands, carriers are not targeting it for licensed, exclusive use. The strategy identifies 37 GHz “as a band for further study ‘to implement a co-equal, shared-use framework allowing federal and non-federal users to deploy operations in the band,’” the public notice says. “We find that additional information on potential uses of the Lower 37 GHz band would be helpful in the preparation of the Lower 37 GHz Report,” it adds, noting that the current record is limited. While commenters predicted uses including fixed wireless, point-to-point links, IoT networks, device-to-device operations, augmented reality, smart cities, smart grids and private networks, “they have not provided much detail about implementation of these services in the band,” the FCC says. The notice requests “specific and updated information on the contemplated uses of the band, to include interdependencies of pairing spectrum bands with the Lower 37 GHz band.” The PN also asks about the “feasibility” of aeronautical mobile service operations in the band. “We anticipate that operations offered in the band initially will be point-to-point and point-to-multipoint operations, although other types of operations -- including mobile operations -- may develop later.” The PN asks about the design of a coordination mechanism. It notes that discussions among the FCC, NTIA and DOD are aimed at a two-step mechanism. “In the first phase, an interference contour would be drawn around each existing and potential site based on its technical parameters, including transmitter details such as location (latitude and longitude), equivalent isotropic radiated power, antenna height, and antenna azimuth angle,” the notice says: If the site’s contour doesn’t overlap with any existing registration, “coordination is successful, and registration of the new site may proceed. If there is overlap, there would be a second phase.”