Carr Proposes Packed Agenda for August Meeting, Including NEPA, Submarine Cable Revisions

Carr scheduled votes on eight items, which, he said, likely sets a record for August, usually a slower month for the commission. Other items address the FCC’s Section 706 reporting process, emergency alerts and deregulating business data services.

The FCC next meets in just a week. “No matter what the season, two packed open meetings over a two-week span is a lot,” Carr said in a blog post. “I’m grateful to all the FCC staff who have put in the work so that we can come out of the gates fast on our Build America Agenda.” Carr said the fall should be even busier, following the restoration of FCC auction authority and a congressional mandate to restore a spectrum pipeline in the recently enacted reconciliation package.

CTIA petitioned the FCC seeking changes to NEPA rules, which proved controversial with pushback mainly from states and tribal groups (see 2505010019). A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, requires judicial deference to agency environmental reviews of infrastructure projects, though the implications remain unclear (see 2506180059).

“All three branches of the government realize that the NEPA process is broken,” Carr wrote. “In 2023, Congress reformed NEPA to eliminate many unnecessary reviews and accelerate others,” he added. “Right after his inauguration in 2025, President Trump directed federal agencies to streamline their NEPA processes to unleash new builds. A few months later, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling to curb NEPA litigation abuse.” It's time “for the FCC to do its part.” The commission will “consider a proposal to revamp the FCC’s approach to NEPA and get America building again.”

Submarine Cables

Subsea cables are “the unsung hero of our modern communications networks,” carrying 99% of global internet traffic, Carr wrote. The commissioners unanimously adopted a subsea cable NPRM in November that focused on national security-related issues (see 2411210006).

The draft order will include measures to protect the cables from foreign threats but also will streamline the licensing process. The aim is to "give certainty to investors, and accelerate the timelines for building cables,” Carr said.

The FCC said the submarine cable draft order would adopt a presumption of denial of certain applicants controlled by foreign adversaries, as well as limit capacity leasing agreements to such entities. It also would prohibit the use of covered equipment. The agency said an accompanying Further NPRM would seek comment on other measures to protect submarine cable security against foreign adversaries and on a proposal exempting license applications that meet a particular security standard from review by the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector, also known as Team Telecom.

The FCC Space Bureau since the start of the year has shrunk its backlog by more than half, Carr said. The satellite and earth station licensing order is focused on the related issue of “too much unnecessary” paperwork required for a variety of space activities. The draft order would “delete FCC approval requirements for a range of activities that pose no risk to the public,” Carr said. Those steps “promise to boost an emerging business model” of ground stations as a service.

SpaceX Vice President of Satellite Policy David Goldman, in a speech in June, called on the FCC to make satellite systems' sharing of ground networks easier to enable gateway services (see 2506250034).

The space licensing order would create a process for ground station operators to receive a baseline license without first identifying a specific satellite point of communication, the commission said. It said each new point of communication would require only a notification, which would eliminate close to half of earth station modification applications. The FCC said the item would also expand the list of license modifications not needing prior authorization and adopt a 30-day shot clock for earth station renewal application processing.

Section 706 Reports

The FCC will also take up changes to how the agency prepares its Telecom Act Section 706 report to Congress. Last year, Carr and former Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington dissented on a report that concluded broadband isn't deployed in a "reasonable and timely fashion," with about 24 million Americans lacking access to speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps (see 2403140050).

Commissioners will vote on taking “a fresh approach to evaluating the deployment of advanced telecommunications,” Carr said. “The notice will reorient the questions posed to track more closely to the plain language of Section 706 of the Act.”

EAS

The FCC will also vote on reviewing its emergency alerting and reporting systems at the August meeting, Carr said, connecting the reviews to recent fatal flash flooding in Texas. One draft item concerns a “ground-up re-examination of the Emergency Alert System (EAS),” including Wireless Emergency Alerts, the release said. “With underlying frameworks that are 31 and 13 years old, respectively, we think it’s time to explore if structural changes to these systems are needed, with an eye towards making sure we are leveraging the latest technology to save lives.”

NAB and its broadcast members have lately been pushing the agency to allow stations to replace their physical EAS equipment with a virtual, software-based version (see 2507030042). That effort was in part prompted by EAS equipment maker Sage Alerting Systems announcing last year that it would no longer manufacture hardware required for the EAS systems in radio stations. Digital Alert Systems, another EAS equipment maker, has raised concerns about NAB’s proposal (see 2505230056).

Another August draft item concerns a review of the FCC’s systems “for collecting real-time data on network outages and restoration during and after major disasters,” the release said. The agency’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) reports “can be time-consuming to produce, drawing resources away from responding to an ongoing disaster,” Carr said in the release. “The Commission will vote on reforms to streamline DIRS to make sure that its benefits outweigh its burdens.”

In 2024, the previous administration made DIRS reports mandatory for cable, wireline, wireless and VoIP providers, and sought comment on extending the requirements to broadcasting, satellite providers and BIAS providers (see 2401250064). ATIS submitted a petition for reconsideration of that order in June 2024 (see 2406120043). In the release, Carr referenced a recent FCC roundtable on disaster communications, where he called for greater coordination between power companies and telecom carriers (see 2507070024).

The commissioners will also vote on a draft order that would do away with “98 obsolete broadcast rules and requirements,” the release said. Carr provided few specifics, but said they include “1970s-era regulations dictating the kind of testing equipment radio stations are required to purchase.” The release indicated the rule elimination is an outgrowth of the In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding. NAB submitted a 148-page comment in that proceeding detailing a host of rules broadcasters want the FCC to delete, including public file requirements, equal employment opportunity audits and children’s television rules.

Also on the agenda, the FCC will review a proposal from the first Trump administration to “further deregulate business data services currently subject to ex ante pricing regulation,” Carr said. “We will also commence the first comprehensive review of this market in six years with the goal of identifying additional areas for regulatory relief.”