The FCC is inexplicably inconsistent about conditions it places on satellite constellations, SpaceX representatives told the offices of the five agency commissioners, said a filing Friday in docket 18-313. SpaceX said that while the agency has put 100 object-year caps -- that's the number of years each failed satellite remains in orbit, added up across all the satellites -- on some constellations, it has not done so with Amazon's proposed 3,232-satelite Kuiper constellation. Nor has it required that Kuiper report cumulative object-years any failures represent, though it has required such reporting of some other constellations, SpaceX said. "Now that a greater number of operators are beginning to deploy their systems in earnest, the Commission must ensure that the Bureau applies Commission-level precedent consistently and avoids providing special treatment," SpaceX said.
The FCC expanded the focus of its test lab security NPRM to ask additional questions about the supplier’s declaration of conformity (SDoC) process for obtaining equipment authorization. Commissioners approved the NPRM unanimously Thursday as officials discussed this change (see 2405230033). The NPRM was posted Friday. It proposes barring test labs from entities on the agency’s “covered list” of unsecure companies from participating in the equipment authorization process. In addition, it proposes taking other steps to bolster U.S. security. The final version adds a paragraph not included in the draft on SDoC issues that would potentially broaden the reach of revised rules. “Our current rules on authorization of equipment through the SDoC process do not require that any requisite testing of equipment be conducted by an accredited, FCC-recognized test lab,” the NPRM asserts: To “test labs in which entities identified on the Covered List have certain direct or indirect ownership interests or control do not participate in our equipment authorization program, we seek comment on whether the Commission also should require that all equipment authorized pursuant to the SDoC process be tested by accredited and FCC-recognized test labs.” The NPRM explains that the SDoC program is used for equipment that doesn’t have a radio transmitter but includes digital circuitry. It cites as examples computer peripherals, microwave ovens, industrial, scientific and medical equipment, power supply devices, LED light bulbs and TV interface devices. All the commissioners except Nathan Simington produced a written statement attached to the NPRM.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau asked for comment on the effects of the May 7-11 geomagnetic storm, which peaked on the 11th. Comments should be filed in docket 24-161 and are due June 24. Coronal mass ejections from the sun can distort the propagation of RF waves, the Friday notice said. On May 11, the FCC High Frequency (HF) Direction Finding Center “observed significant disturbance in the propagation of HF radio signals,” the bureau said. The bureau encouraged commenters “to provide any available evidence, particularly electromagnetic spectrum analyses, imagery, or chronological logs relating the storm’s impacts.” Comments should “include the description of the impacts; make and model of affected communications equipment, which could include transmitters, receivers, transceivers, switches, routers, amplifiers etc.; make, model, and type of affected antennae and their composition; frequencies affected; type and composition of cable adjoining communications equipment and the antennae, if applicable; duration of the impact; and any residual effects observed in the hours following restoration,” the notice said.
Despite expectations that the affordable connectivity program (ACP) will run dry in days, telecom companies continued arguing in comments last week that the California Public Utilities Commission should take its time forming its response. However, while larger ISPs slammed consumer advocates' proposal, small local exchange carriers said they would work with the advocates on a compromise that quickly expands California LifeLine support to broadband.
Advocates for survivors of domestic violence, CTIA and the automotive industry welcomed an FCC initiative assisting survivors in accessing safe and affordable connected car services (see 2404230021). CTIA supported the proposed rules and told the FCC that wireless providers are "working towards timely and successful implementation" of the Safe Connections Act. Filings were posted through Friday in docket 22-238.
National Cyber Director Harry Coker told the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee the Biden administration is focusing on cybersecurity in space and strengthening internet routing security. Meeting virtually late Thursday, NSTAC also received an update from cloud-service providers on a pending report about baseline security offerings that was initially expected to be finished this month (see 2312070053).
A proposed Missing and Endangered Persons (MEP) emergency alert system code was universally supported in comments from native groups, public safety officials, CTIA and NCTA. Comments were filed in docket 15-94 last week. Some entities differ on how a wireless emergency alert version should be implemented, and on whether an additional code is needed specifically for missing indigenous people. "There is little or no doubt that a dedicated alert code of this type will save lives and will therefore greatly exceed any nationwide implementation costs,” the National Tribal Telecommunications Association (NTTA) said of the MEP code.
FCC announcements: Sara Rahmjoo named policy adviser and confidential assistant to Commissioner Nathan Simington; Douglas Young from the Office of Engineering and Technology and Leo Cirbo from the Denver field office retiring … NJ PBS operator Public Media NJ adds to board Natalya Johnson, senior counsel at Johnson & Johnson, and Andy Tsao, Audible chief product and analytics officer.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr condemned a draft NPRM that requires disclosures for political ads containing AI-generated content (see 2405220061). The NPRM is an attempt to “tilt the playing field” against some forms of political speech just ahead of the 2024 election, he said. Carr tied the proposal to reports that Democratic campaigns aren’t using AI as much as Republicans. "This effort echoes a [Democratic National Committee]-backed initiative at the Federal Election Commission to impose new regulations on AI-generated political speech before voters hit the ballot boxes this fall,” Carr said in a statement Thursday. “The FCC’s attempt to fundamentally alter the rules of the road for political speech just a short time before a national election is as misguided as it is unlawful.” He acknowledged bipartisan concern about AI-generated political content but said the FCC’s proposal is outside its authority and that broadcast-only disclosure rules will drive such content online. “Applying new regulations on the broadcasters ... but not on their largely unregulated online competitors only exacerbates regulatory asymmetries,” he said. Carr also expressed concern that the NPRM is an effort to control speech. “Is the government really worried that voters will find these ads misleading in the absence of a regulator’s guiding hand?” Carr asked. “Or is the government worried that voters might find these ads effective?” The FCC and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s office didn’t comment.
Radio Communication Corp. “fundamentally misreads the statutory scheme” and is “simply mistaken” in its challenges to the FCC’s implementation of the 2023 Low Power Protection Act (LPPA) (see 2404230058), said the agency's respondent brief Wednesday (docket 24-1004) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. “It is well within Congress’s power to regulate local television broadcasting,” said the brief. RCC's arguments that the FCC’s rules governing which low-power TV stations can upgrade to Class A status violate the First Amendment or discourage cable carriage of LPTV stations are “entirely beside the point,” because RCC is located in too large a market and so “ineligible for Class A status under the plain text” of the LPPA, the FCC said. The agency “correctly interpreted the statutory requirement that an eligible station ‘operate in a Designated Market Area with not more than 95,000 television households’ to mean that an eligible station must be located within a Designated Market Area that has no more than 95,000 television households,” the filing said. RCC is in a DMA with more than 95,000 TV households, so “that conclusion resolves this case,” the FCC said. “RCC’s various policy objections, its strained reading of the Communications Act, and its tenuous constitutional theories cannot change its ineligibility.”