The Utilities Technology Council and several of its member companies met with FCC Wireless Bureau staff to express support for a proposed rulemaking to authorize 5/5 MHz broadband deployments in the 900 MHz band (see 2505190025) and to discuss other spectrum issues. “Utilities need access to licensed spectrum to ensure mission critical communications reliability using frequency bands that provide favorable propagation for wide area coverage without line of sight issues,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 24-99.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R) added his voice Friday to calls for the FCC to approve an NPRM aimed at allowing corrections officials to jam cellphone signals (see 2509240028). Commissioners vote Tuesday. “We have heard from law enforcement across the state that this is one of the biggest challenges they face each day, and jamming the signal of these contraband cell phones is the most effective solution,” Carr said.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology has sent letters denying applications for recognition from four labs “controlled by the government of China,” the agency said in a news release Friday. Earlier this month, OET started proceedings to withdraw recognition from seven test labs with China ties. The commission “has now begun proceedings to withdraw recognition or denied applications from 15 China-controlled ‘bad labs,’” the release said. “Foreign adversary governments should not own and control the labs that test the devices the FCC certifies as safe for the U.S. market,” said Chairman Brendan Carr.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a False Claims Act (FCA) case brought by lawyers Mark O’Connor and Sara Leibman, who allege that UScellular fraudulently obtained nearly $113 million in bidding credits in an FCC auction by participating through a “shell company,” Advantage Spectrum. The D.C. Circuit didn’t rule on the merits and said the case could continue.
The Taxpayers Protection Alliance asked the FCC to act quickly on rules that could speed up the transition of carriers away from legacy copper networks (see 2507240048). Providers “are now required to replace outdated technologies, such as copper lines, with more copper lines in the case of a natural disaster,” said a filing Friday in docket 25-208. This mandate is “ostensibly” to quickly reconnect customers, the alliance said. “If the FCC removes regulatory red tape, providers can speedily reconnect customers by replacing old technology with new, more efficient technology.”
Somos filed a petition Friday urging the FCC to make major changes to how phone numbers are assigned, moving the agency away from its legacy systems to an IP world. The petition comes as the FCC shutters the North American Numbering Council (see 2506240074). This transition “is essential as spammers and cyber criminals supercharge their scams with AI to exploit the US telecommunications systems,” Somos CEO Gina Perini said in an email.
SpaceX and EchoStar filed documents at the FCC on Friday about their proposed $17 billion deal, announced earlier this month (see 2509080052). SpaceX will buy AWS-4 and H-block spectrum from EchoStar, while EchoStar's Boost Mobile subscribers will gain access to Starlink’s direct-to-cell (D2C) service. After the announcement, the FCC dropped two investigations of EchoStar for potentially violating FCC rules (see 2509090036).
Broadcasters, MVPD groups and public safety entities largely agree that the FCC's plans to revamp emergency alerting are a good thing, but they differ on the direction they want those plans to take, according to comments filed in docket 25-224 by Thursday’s deadline.
Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast planned to cease preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! and air the show on their ABC affiliates Friday night, said news releases Friday afternoon. A source familiar with the situation told us that Disney made no editorial or content concessions prior to the announcements.
FCC items reversing its off-premises hot spot and school bus Wi-Fi programs, which were approved during the Biden administration, are expected to be approved 2-1 Tuesday, with a dissent from Commissioner Anna Gomez, agency and industry officials told us. Officials active in the proceeding warned that for the school bus program in particular, it’s unclear what will happen to projects already funded under the E-rate program.