Space Reforms, ATSC 3.0 Transition Top FCC's October Agenda

The FCC said the space-related items on October's agenda include proposed reforms to its earth station siting rules, with goals of more intensive use of the upper microwave flexible use service (UMFUS) bands and streamlined earth station licensing. Another agenda item addresses proposed reform of space licensing, with expedited licensing for requests presumed to be in the public interest, simplified applications and clear timelines.

The agency will also take up an order that prohibits FCC authorization of devices containing component parts that are on its “covered list” of unsecure companies and bans the “import or sale of previously-authorized Covered List equipment in appropriate cases.” The item will also tee up further questions "about how to further improve the process and keep bad gear out of our networks,” Carr said.

Another notice examines “longstanding interconnection obligations that have flowed” from Section 251 of the Communications Act, which covers interconnection, and it explores whether “there are ways for the Commission to expedite the successful transition to all-IP interconnection for voice services while considering public safety and consumer protection,” Carr said.

Two consumer protection items made the agenda as well. One item will “reexamine broadband nutrition labels so that we can separate the wheat from the chaff,” Carr said. “We want consumers to get quick and easy access to the information they want and need to compare broadband plans … without imposing unnecessary burdens.” A separate notice addresses robocalls and “seeks to empower consumers to make more informed choices and give them better tools (including call branding information) for deciding which calls to pick up.”

In addition, the FCC plans to look at deleting additional regulations. “We’re going Bureau by Bureau and eliminating deadwood,” Carr said. “On the chopping block this month are market aggregation limits that sunset more than 20 years ago, rules for obsolete ‘radioprinter operations’ in maritime systems, and requirements for licenses that the FCC hasn’t issued in more than a decade.”

In his speech Monday at California satellite manufacturer Apex, Carr warned about China's dominance in space. The Chinese government "using its space capabilities to control the access that billions of people across the globe have to data and information would be a less prosperous and more dangerous world," he said, according to prepared remarks. The FCC "must change" its space regulatory framework and avoid what he called Europe's "cautionary tale" of heavy-handed regulation stifling innovation.

Carr said the earth station streamlining adopted in August (see 2508070037) should eliminate roughly half of earth station modification applications. Efforts such as a 30-day shot clock for earth station renewal applications "will hopefully make life a lot easier" for companies seeking to offer ground stations as a service.

However, the inability of the agency's space licensing databases to support applications at scale, its "overly conservative" rules about coexistence and its "outdated economic assumptions ... throttle the space economy," Carr said.

This month's proposal for space licensing reforms would mean "replacing our bespoke licensing processes with a 'licensing assembly line,'" where the default is approval, he said. Current UMFUS earth station siting restrictions "are artificial and were plucked out of thin air during a bygone era." The proposed changes "will help earth stations and put 5G spectrum to more intensive use while living side-by-side in harmony."

Beyond the October agenda items, the agency is looking at making more spectrum available for novel space activities, Carr added.