Republican FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissented on an NPRM that seeks to align rules for the 24 GHz band with decisions made at the World Radiocommunication Conference four years ago. Carr accused the Biden administration of retreating rather than moving forward on spectrum.
Republican lawmakers are eyeing further action in opposition to FCC data breach notification rules (see 2312130019), but what form this will take is unclear, Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists told us. GOP leaders say the rules sidestep a 2017 Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval that rescinded similar regulations as part of the commission's 2016 ISP privacy order (see 1704030054). Republican FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington raised the CRA in their dissents as the commission approved the rules last week 3-2.
The National Tribal Telecommunications Association (NTTA) raised concerns about tribal broadband issues in separate meetings with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington. The group also met with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff. NTTA emphasized the need for "additional steps to address the tribal digital divide" and "sustainability funding" to ensure services remain available once they are built, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. The group also urged the FCC to ensure providers obtain "affirmative tribal consent from the tribal government" if they want to deploy networks on tribal lands.
Industry groups continued to disagree on whether the FCC should include an assessment of broadband speed benchmarks and higher speed goals in its annual report to Congress about the state of broadband deployment and competition. At issue is Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's proposal in the agency's notice of inquiry to increase the definition of broadband to 100/20 Mbps with a long-term goal of reaching 1 GB/500 Mbps. Reply comments were posted Tuesday in docket 22-270 (see 2312040024).
Twenty-seven Senate and House Democrats in a letter Friday urged the FCC to reinstate the collection of broadcaster equal employment opportunity data, seconding a Dec. 11 call for urgent action from Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y. (see 2312110067). Although broadcasters were anticipating an EEO item since a 2021 Further NPRM (see 2306020056) and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said one was in the works during the 2022 NAB Show (see 2204250067), it hasn’t materialized. “In 2021, after nearly 20 years, the FCC took the important step of soliciting comment on how to recommence this important data collection using Form 395-B,” said the lawmakers' letter. “It is now time for the Commission to follow through.”
The 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference “has been a clear success for U.S. interests," U.S. delegation head Steve Lang, State Department deputy assistant secretary-international information and communications policy, told reporters Friday, minutes after the four-week U.N. event concluded. He said the U.S. delegation "achieved many important objectives," including further harmonization of 5G spectrum across the Americas with an international mobile telecommunications (IMT) identification in the 3.3-3.4 and 3.6-3.8 GHz bands in Region 2. That creates 500 MHz of contiguous spectrum in the 3 GHz band for 5G, Lang said.
Citing the need to speed up resolution of pole attachment disputes, FCC commissioners during their open meeting Wednesday unanimously adopted an order, declaratory ruling and Further NPRM revising rules to make for faster and cheaper broadband deployment. The item builds on a 2022 proceeding seeking comment on the commission's cost allocation principles (see 2203160031).
After a span of frequent unanimity among the FCC commissioners, this week brought a spate of dissents from GOP commissioners, with no votes at Wednesday's open meeting coming after dissents the previous day on an order upholding a Wireless Bureau decision excluding SpaceX from participating in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program (see 2312130004). At the December meeting, Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington raised the specter of the federal government increasing rate regulation in dissents against the MVPD early termination fees (ETF) NPRM. They complained that the data breach notification rules were an attempt to sidestep the Congressional Review Act.
President Joe Biden is expected to sign the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (S-2787), communications policy lobbyists told us. As expected, the House approved the bill by voice vote Monday night (see 2312110062). The measure, which the Senate passed in September, and its House Commerce Committee-cleared companion HR-5677 (see 2312050076) would give the FCC authority for 90 days to issue T-Mobile and other winning bidders the licenses they bought in the 2.5 GHz band auction last year. S-2787’s passage drew praise from some lawmakers and communications sector stakeholders, but they made clear it’s a stopgap measure, required after months of stalled Capitol Hill talks on a broader legislative package that would renew the FCC’s lapsed general auction authority. The White House didn't comment.
Broadcasters' diversity hiring practices drew polar opposite reactions on the two sides of the Capitol Monday, with senior House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., joining FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks in pressing the FCC to revive its collection of equal employment opportunity workforce diversity data using Form 395-B. On the Senate side, Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is objecting to CPB rules for member stations’ diverse workforce policies.