The White House announced its renomination of Republican FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly Wednesday, setting the stage for a Senate confirmation vote either in the lame-duck session or, more likely, next year, lobbyists told us. But if it’s pushed to next year, O'Rielly would require another White House renomination, a Senate Republican staffer cautioned, urging speedy action this year. The Senate won’t return until after the November elections.
The FCC approved two NPRMs Tuesday designed to move the agency several steps closer to a TV incentive auction, still expected to take place next year. The first NPRM seeks comment on how Wi-Fi and other unlicensed transmissions will be able to use the TV spectrum post-auction. A second seeks comment on wireless mics that use the 600 MHz band. The FCC approved both on 5-0 votes.
The FCC approved two NPRMs Tuesday designed to move the agency several steps closer to a TV incentive auction, still expected to take place next year. The first NPRM seeks comment on how Wi-Fi and other unlicensed transmissions will be able to use the TV spectrum post-auction. A second seeks comment on wireless mics that use the 600 MHz band. The FCC approved both on 5-0 votes.
The FCC approved two rulemakings Tuesday designed to move the agency several steps closer to a TV incentive auction, still expected to take place next year. The first seeks comment on how Wi-Fi and other unlicensed transmissions will be able to use the TV spectrum post-auction. A second seeks comment on wireless mics that use the 600 MHz band. The FCC approved both on 5-0 votes.
A third FCC commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, backs issuing the Further NPRM on inmate calling services being circulated by Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (CD Sept 26 p10), a Rosenworcel aide told us Friday. “Commissioner Rosenworcel supports asking more questions to continue the goal of reforming inmate calling services and doing so without further delay,” emailed Valery Galasso, special advisor to Rosenworcel. Though three members would constitute a majority of the commission, it was not immediately clear when the item would be formally approved. The FNPRM prepares for taking “the next critical step toward reducing the high price paid by inmates and their families to communicate,” said Wheeler and Clyburn in a statement (http://fcc.us/1BgnReG) Thursday. The commission’s 2013 order (CD Aug 12/13 p3), which included interim price caps on interstate inmate calls, reduced those rates by as much as nearly 40 percent, the statement said, but “many families of inmates still face exorbitant rates for in-state calls, not to mention punitive and irrational fees -- all of which make the simple act of staying in touch unaffordable.” The proposed FNPRM would make permanent the interim caps, create permanent caps on intrastate calls, bar the commissions ICS providers pay to correctional facilities, and cap ancillary charges placed on top of the rates (CD Sept 25 p1). The proposed FNPRM “proposes a simple, market-based solution to address all these problems. It proposes rules that will ensure that ALL Americans -- including inmates and their families -- have access to phone service at rates that are just, reasonable and fair,” said Clyburn and Wheeler. The 2013 order was approved on a partisan vote, and some elements were stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (CD Jan14 p3). A spokesman for Commissioner Ajit Pai, who dissented to the 2013 order, said in an email to us, “we hope that the agency will reach a bipartisan consensus that heeds the limits of the law.” Arent Fox’s Stephanie Joyce, representing Securus, said the ICS provider would file comments if the FNPRM is issued. The circulation of the item was praised by Clarissa Ramon, Public Knowledge government affairs and outreach associate (http://bit.ly/1qChuw3): “The families of prisoners deserve relief from high fees and phone costs that result from the commission system in many states. We believe this is a step in the right direction for families of incarcerated individuals.”
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the FCC will take up orders at its Oct. 17 meeting on speeding deployment of distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells, an order on avoiding interservice interference, and a public notice that would suspend low-power TV construction permit deadlines in the auction. The agency also will launch a rulemaking on LPTV issues related to the incentive auction and a notice of inquiry looking at new spectrum frontiers -- the use of spectrum above 24 GHz, the subject of a speech Monday by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (CD Sept 23 p4). The LPTV and auction items had been expected (CD Sept 9 p4).
Calls by education and library groups, and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a speech Wednesday, to increase E-rate funding are running into opposition from telcos, in comments filed in the E-rate modernization Further NPRM. The Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance and USTelecom said they worry expanding E-rate could cut into other USF programs like the Connect America Fund.
Calls by education and library groups, and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a speech Wednesday, to increase E-rate funding are running into opposition from telcos, in comments filed in the E-rate modernization Further NPRM. The Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance and USTelecom said they worry expanding E-rate could cut into other USF programs like the Connect America Fund.
The FCC approved a waiver of its former defaulter rule, which requires bidders to make larger upfront payments for licenses if they ever defaulted on a license or were delinquent on a debt owed to a federal agency (CD June 3 p1). The order largely tracks rules proposed by the Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA and NTCA in a recent filing (http://bit.ly/1v3cHMo), FCC officials said Friday.
Cox is expanding its Connect2Compete offering through 2016, and investing $15 million in the program that helps bring broadband to low-income families, it said. C2C offers discounted high-speed Internet service to low-income families with children who qualify for the National School Lunch program, it said. C2C, which launched last year, began as a partnership with Cox, FCC, NCTA and others in the cable industry, Cox CEO Patrick Esser said Tuesday at the National Press Club. The program can help close the “homework gap,” said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Getting homework done at home takes connecting at home, she said. C2C is important and Cox is “making a big difference in the 18 states where they provide broadband service,” she said. Seven out of 10 teachers assign homework that requires some form of Internet access, she said. FCC and industry must close the gap and “make sure that no child in the 21st century is left off line,” she said. With Connect2Compete, many more students can do their homework, and the service “can mean that their families, too, can participate more fully in a digital world and in modern civic and commercial life,” she said. Rosenworcel also highlighted the FCC’s effort to upgrade the E-rate program and action to begin an initiative to make Wi-Fi more widely available in schools and libraries. Cox and its partners have the power and responsibility “to empower learning beyond the walls of the school,” said Esser. Cox also has a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of America, he said: Cox has invested in and built “more than 70 Cox technology centers in clubhouses throughout the country.” The program needs more partners to help step up its offering, said Zach Leverenz, EveryoneOn CEO. He urged other companies to “get behind Cox” and push forward toward an “opportunity-to-access provided for every single student.” Connect2Compete is the flagship program at EveryoneOn for K-12 students, Cox said in a news release.