Internet connections, even if they’re slow, are critical to agriculture, said Joy Sterling, CEO of California’s Iron Horse Vineyards, during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday. Other speakers called on the FCC to continue the work of its Precision Ag Connectivity Task Force following its final meeting last year (see 2412050050). Sterling served on the task force.
Generative AI will see rapid growth in the U.S., including by telecom carriers, said Nelson Englert-Yang, industry analyst on strategic technologies at ABI Research. But many providers and other companies remain confused about how they will use AI, other experts said Tuesday during an RCR Wireless webinar.
The FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” docket is active, with 159 filings as of late Tuesday. While big industry players haven't yet weighed in, comments so far represent a hodgepodge, mostly from individuals discussing pet projects. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr launched docket 25-133 last month (see 2503120055) as part of the agency’s commitment “to ending all of the rules and regulations that are no longer necessary.”
The FCC posted Monday draft items for the commission’s April 28 open meeting (see 2504040070), including rules for the lower 37 GHz band that would require nonfederal users to obtain a nationwide nonexclusive license before registering sites in the band. The decades-old geostationary orbit (GSO)/non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) spectrum-sharing regime in the 10.7-12.7, 17.3-18.6 and 19.7-20.2 GHz bands is “the single most constraining regulatory requirement on NGSO satellite systems currently deploying at breakneck speed,” the FCC said in a notice proposing to revisit those sharing rules.
FCC commissioners will consider a long-anticipated order on sharing in the 37 GHz band at their meeting April 28, Chairman Brendan Carr announced Friday. In addition, the commission will vote on satellite spectrum sharing and an item designed to crack down further on robocalls. Foreign ownership rules round out the agenda.
NextNav envisions itself providing backup to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) as part of a “system of systems” that includes space- and terrestrial-based solutions, said Renee Gregory, its vice president-regulatory affairs, during an FCBA webinar Wednesday (see 2504020062).
Telecom industry associations have had little to say on the record so far on the tariffs President Donald Trump unveiled Wednesday. A baseline tariff rate of 10% on all imports takes effect Saturday, while China and EU countries that manufacture products used in the telecom sector face higher reciprocal tariffs starting next week.
The departure of Elon Musk as a top adviser to the Donald Trump Administration could have significant implications for telecom policy, depending on when he leaves and how that changes his relationship with Trump, experts said. Among Musk’s companies is SpaceX, parent of Starlink, which stands to benefit from pending changes to the BEAD program (see 2503170045). Musk called reports of his imminent departure "fake news."
The FCC must follow the same designated entity (DE) rules in the reauction of AWS-3 as it followed in the original 2014 auction, Dish Network parent EchoStar told the agency in comments this week on an auction procedures NPRM (see 2504010055). EchoStar hinted at a legal challenge if the FCC changes the rules. Two Dish-controlled DEs, Northstar and SNR, defaulted on winning bids in the auction, and EchoStar and the DEs “reasonably could be subject to a deficiency payment” if the auction underperforms, said a filing Tuesday in docket 25-70.
Lawyers for the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society said Wednesday that groups defending the USF had a good day last week, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in the Consumers' Research case (see 2503260061). They spoke during a SHLB webinar.