The Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to throw out an appeal of last year’s FCC order giving the FirstNet Authority, and indirectly AT&T, control of the 4.9 GHz band through a nationwide license (see 2410220027). The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI), which leads the appeal, fired back, saying a challenge by PSSA also should be tossed.
NTCA, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and other commenters told the FCC last week that they dislike a proposal to deregulate telephone access charges more now than they did five years ago, when the agency last sought comment (see 2008050030).
Countries around the world are approaching the move to 6G from different perspectives and often with differing focuses, said a recently posted report by the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council. The TAC approved the 6G report and two others from its working groups earlier this month but didn’t make them available at the time (see 2508050062).
An April 28 power outage in Portugal and Spain led to a widespread internet disruption in parts of Morocco, showing the interconnectedness of modern networks, Ookla industry analyst Luke Kehoe said during the company's webinar Wednesday. Morocco saw no similar power outage, but its fixed and mobile networks went down nonetheless, Kehoe noted.
Too many areas in the middle of the U.S. lack the critical infrastructure they need, such as designated interexchange points (IXPs), said Tonya Witherspoon, a consultant who led digital transformation initiatives at Wichita State University (WSU). During a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday, she said most of the nation’s IXPs are on the East and West Coasts or in more populous states like Texas. Policymakers so far have paid too little attention to the dearth of U.S. IXPs, other speakers agreed.
The Consumer Technology Association and other groups are urging the FCC not to approve rules that could overcomplicate the approval of wireless devices by test facilities. The FCC is considering new rules for telecommunications certification bodies (TCBs) in response to a May Further NPRM that was part of the agency’s focus on “bad labs” (see 2505220056). Commenters warn that overly prescriptive rules could harm U.S. competitiveness.
Industry groups pressed the FCC to avoid imposing new rules designed to close a “gap” in the commission’s Stir/Shaken authentication rules, making it harder for scammers to hide their identities. Some said the wrong rules could slow the IP transition. Commissioners in April approved an NPRM (see 2504280038) addressing the issue. Reply comments were due Friday in docket 17-97.
The FCC NPRM looking at potential changes to the commission’s enforcement of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) has numerous changes between it and the draft Chairman Brendan Carr circulated. Industry officials expect the FCC to move quickly since NEPA reform has been a top focus of the Donald Trump administration, they said Friday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the FCC’s $80 million data breach forfeiture in a unanimous opinion handed down Friday (see 2508150014). T-Mobile was also fined $12.2 million for violations by Sprint, which it later acquired. Judges appeared skeptical of T-Mobile's arguments when the case was heard in March (see 2503240048). T-Mobile is reviewing the decision, a spokesperson said Friday.
Industry will likely turn to the FCC to address a 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court decision on Wednesday upholding the agency’s 2024 data breach notification rules (see 2508130068). When the rules were approved, now Chairman Brendan Carr and former Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington dissented (see 2312220054).