The FCC’s motion to dismiss the Feb. 14 petition for review of Essential Network Technologies and MetComm.net for lack of jurisdiction (see 2403140002) is based on the “faulty premise” that this case doesn’t seek review of an FCC order, said the petitioners’ opposition Friday (docket 24-1027) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The petition for review challenges the authority of the FCC and the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) to stop processing the reimbursement of discounts for IT and broadband services that MetComm and Essential provided to schools under Section 254 of the Communications Act (see 2402200044). The petition “requests judicial review of the regulations and the final orders of the FCC promulgating those rules,” which purport to authorize the USAC “to stop statutorily mandated reimbursement of discounts provided to elementary and secondary schools,” said the opposition. USAC’s conformity to those FCC rules “is causing irreparable injury to schools, students, and petitioners cognizable by a court of equity,” it said. The FCC “incorrectly suggests” this case is an appeal of USAC’s investigations, “where an FCC order concluding those investigations has been unreasonably delayed for years,” contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act, said the opposition. “This is not an appeal seeking review of the merits, if any, of USAC’s investigations,” it said. Rather the petition for review in this case asks the D.C. Circuit “to determine the legality of the FCC’s regulations promulgated by FCC orders purporting to authorize USAC to stop for years, if not indefinitely, the discount reimbursement” mandated by Section 254, said the opposition. The FCC's position in its motion to dismiss “has no reasonable basis in the law,” it said. The D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court have determined that the D.C. Circuit “has jurisdiction under the Hobbs Act to review the application of FCC rules promulgated by final FCC orders exercising the FCC's rulemaking power,” it said.
FCC commissioners appeared to make limited changes to the supplemental coverage from space (SCS) framework, approved 5-0 Thursday (see 2403140050). Officials said there were “changes to the margins” but no major revisions. The FCC posted the final order and Further NPRM Friday. The order addresses concerns raised in recent ex parte filings. For example, an added paragraph dismisses concerns of T-Mobile and SpaceX that an aggregate out-of-band power flux density limit of -120 dBW/m²/MHz is too strict (see 2403060055). The companies asked the FCC to instead take additional comment. The proposed limit “strikes the appropriate balance and will provide clarity for stakeholders interested in enabling SCS while protecting adjacent terrestrial operations,” the order says. AT&T suggests that “[r]ather than drawing a bright line at this stage, the Commission should not prohibit SCS service from satisfying wireless buildout requirements, so long as the Commission evaluates SCS service performance on a case-by-case basis,” the order says, addressing another recent filing: “We reiterate that we do not believe that it is appropriate to allow a terrestrial licensee to rely on SCS provided by its satellite operator partners/lessees to satisfy the terrestrial licensee’s buildout or performance requirements at this time.” Among other tweaks, the final order says the FCC declines to add the 1.4 GHz band to the SCS bands “at this time,” leaving open the possibility for change. The further notice was largely the same as that proposed by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. She and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez attached written statements.
The FCC’s Communications Equity and Diversity Council will maintain the same leadership under its new charter as it had under the previous version, said a public notice Friday announcing the group’s March 27 meeting (see 2403080058). Heather Gate, Connected Nation vice president-digital inclusion, will continue as chair. Gate succeeded now-FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez in 2021. Also continuing in former roles as vice chairs are Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Nicol Turner Lee and Susan Au Allen, U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation CEO, the PN said.
The Media Alliance and Great Public Schools Now nonprofits, which filed a petition for review challenging portions of the FCC’s Nov. 20 digital discrimination order under the Administrative Procedure Act, seek to intervene on the FCC’s behalf against the 20 industry petitioners who want to set the entire order aside (see 2403140042), said their motion Friday (docket 24-1315) in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If the industry petitioners are successful in having the FCC’s digital discrimination rules vacated, communities that nonprofits advocate for -- including disproportionately low-income communities and communities of color -- “will be left with inferior options with limited speeds and increasing prices,” said their motion. This would harm their interests “in advancing equitable broadband access for their members and constituents, who, because of their race, ethnicity, color, income level, religion, or national origin, lack access to quality, affordable broadband,” it said.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez received a waiver of her White House ethics pledge that will allow her to vote on agency enforcement items involving clients at her former employer, prominent telecom law firm Wiley.
Carriers need more spectrum and the 24 GHz band is important to deploying 5G, CTIA said in reply comments on a December NPRM examining changes to the rules. CTIA and other wireless industry commenters said the FCC should harmonize rules with decisions made during the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2019 but go no further.
Advocates of additional federal funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program were closely monitoring congressional negotiations Friday in hopes appropriators would reach a deal addressing both priorities as part of a second tranche of FY 2024 spending bills lawmakers want approved before midnight March 22. Rip-and-replace supporters voiced strong optimism that the next “minibus” package would include $3.08 billion to fully fund that program. ACP backers were, at least privately, growing less hopeful of a deal including their priority.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announces additions to the Bureau of Media Relations: Raven Hill, from the Maryland Department of Education, as co-deputy director; Becky Lockhart, from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau; Laura Nichols, ex-Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, as digital director; and Jason Schiavoni, ex-Smithsonian Institution, as website/digital experience director; and the retirements of David Wright from the Public Safety Bureau; Wayne Liang, from the Enforcement Bureau; Vanessa Lamb from the Office of Managing Director; and Hillary Burchuk from the Office of Inspector General.
The FCC approved an NPRM seeking comment on regulatory fees changes for space and earth stations due to the agency reorganization that replaced the International Bureau with the Space Bureau and the Office of International Affairs. The FCC “anticipated that the changes in the industry that resulted in the creation of the Space Bureau would likely also result in changes in the relative FTE [full-time equivalents] burdens between and among space and earth station fee payors,” the NPRM said. The item, released Wednesday, seeks comment on proposed changes to the allocation of fee burdens between geostationary orbit and non-geostationary orbit space stations, the creation of additional fee categories within the NGSO category, and on keeping the fee for small satellites at the same level as FY2023 going forward, with annual adjustments to reflect the percentage change in appropriation from the previous year. It also seeks comment on proposals assessing fees on all authorized space stations rather than just operational ones, increases to the fee for earth stations, and on an alternate method for assessing space regulatory fees. The alternative methodology “is a more comprehensive departure from the way that space station regulatory fees have been assessed since 1994” and would eliminate separate categories of regulatory fees for GSO and NGSO space stations, the NPRM said. Comments on the NPRM are due April 12, replies April 29.
A May 13 effectiveness date for the January FCC order requiring that carriers implement location-based routing for calls and real-time texts to 911 (see 2403130028) means the implementation deadline for nationwide carriers is Nov. 13, the Public Safety Bureau clarified Thursday. The deadline for non-nationwide carriers is May 13, 2026. By that second date, all providers must deploy a technology that supports location-based routing for real-time text to 911 originating on their IP-based networks, the bureau said.