Meta's Edge Cable Holdings hopes to start commercial operation of its planned Orca subsea cable system linking Taiwan and California in Q1 2027, it told the FCC in an application posted Thursday. It said the fiber-optic submarine cable network would connect Toucheng, Taiwan, and Hermosa Beach and Manchester, California. Edge said it would use Orca capacity for Meta affiliates' services or to provide bulk capacity to wholesale and enterprise customers. Edge said Orca will provide facilities-based competition with the existing Faster, New Cross-Pacific, Pacific Light Cable and Trans-Pacific Express systems and the planned Taiwan-Philippines-U.S. cable system under construction. Edge said it hoped for an FCC cable landing license by the end of 2025, which would allow construction activities to keep on schedule.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel will hear oral argument Feb. 11 in Indian Peak Properties' challenge of an FCC order about over-the-air reception devices rule, said an order in court docket 24-1108. Indian Peak is appealing an FCC order denying its petitions for declaratory ruling seeking a federal preemption under the OTARDs rule of a Rancho Palos Verdes, California, decision to revoke, under local ordinances, the company’s conditional use permit for the deployment of rooftop antennas on a local property (see 2405060035).
The U.S. government, in an amicus brief filed Monday, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject arguments that a lower court can parse an FCC decision in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act case and isn’t barred from doing so under the Hobbs Act. SCOTUS will hear McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson Jan. 21, a case from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The California Public Utilities Commission last week approved $225 million in its 10th round of grants, totaling more than $1 billion, for last-mile broadband infrastructure projects. The last-mile federal funding account grant program expands broadband to underserved and unserved communities throughout the state. "These grants fund projects that vary from fiber to wireless network infrastructure," said CPUC Commissioner Darcie Houck: "In order to maximize our investments we have to use all the innovative technologies at our disposal." The latest round of funding will serve 163,000 residents across 14 counties.
The California Public Utilities Commission should "take official notice" of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' opinion in the ISP coalition's challenge of New York's Affordable Broadband Act, California's Public Advocates Office said in a motion filed Friday in docket R2406012. The U.S. Supreme Court last week denied the ISPs' petition to review the appellate court ruling in favor of the law (see 2412160039). The office said the opinion is "directly relevant" to the CPUC's proceeding on its carrier of last resort rules, which the PUC is considering lifting (see 2412100065).
The Government Wireless Technology & Communications Association (GWTCA) and state groups asked the FCC to delay a requirement that current 4.9 GHz licensees provide it with granular licensing data not later than June 9, or face cancellation of their licenses. Proponents of the delay were optimistic on Monday that the FCC would approve the stay.
Comments are due Jan. 3, replies Jan. 10 on the proposed sale by California-based Varcomm Holdings of Halsey, Oregon, local exchange carrier Roome Telecommunications to Oregon’s Alyrica Networks, said a public notice Friday. Alyrica serves 10,541 residential and business subscribers in the Philomath, Oregon, area. After the transfer, Roome would continue to exist under the same name and provide rural LEC service in the same area, the PN said. The proposed deal will be “seamless and virtually transparent to consumers of Roome” and won’t involve changes to the rates, terms and conditions of Roome’s services, Alyrica told the bureau.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday denied to review a petition from telecom groups challenging a New York law requiring that ISPs offer a certain plan for eligible low-income households (see 2404260051). The Affordable Broadband Act requires $15 monthly plans providing 25/3 Mbps speeds. Some saw the decision to uphold the 2nd Circuit's ruling in favor of the law as unsurprising given the legal battle over the FCC's reclassification of broadband as a Title II telecom service (see 2410010024).