Howard Buskirk

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel appears intent on closing several outstanding wireless issues in her final weeks at the helm, but industry experts said it appears unlikely she will tackle controversial items or launch anything. That approach differs from the way former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai conducted business at the end of the first Donald Trump presidency.

CTIA announced Thursday that President-CEO Meredith Baker will step down next year, with the expiration of her contract. Former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a partner at private-equity firm Searchlight Capital, is among the early rumored candidates to succeed her. Speculation has also surrounded Brad Gillen, a CTIA executive vice president who joined the group 10 years ago and also worked for Baker when she was an FCC commissioner. Pai declined comment Thursday.

Judges appeared to differ Thursday as the 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court heard an ISP petition to overturn the FCC’s controversial data breach notification rules, which commissioners approved 3-2 a year ago (see 2312220054). Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissented (see 2312130019). In 2017, a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval rescinded similar regulations that were part of the commission's 2016 ISP privacy order (see 2312200001).

FCC commissioners unanimously approved an order Wednesday amending the commission's letter of credit (LOC) rules for providers receiving high-cost USF support, moving away from reliance on the Weiss rating system. The order affects participants in the Connect America Fund Phase II and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund programs and those receiving support for Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. The order saw tweaks at the request of Commissioner Anna Gomez, officials said.

FCC commissioners, as expected, approved unanimously (see 2412090047) an order that expands the parts of the 6 GHz band where new very-low-power (VLP) devices are permitted to operate without coordination. In addition, commissioners Wednesday approved 5-0 an NPRM proposing updates for broadcast radio and TV rules. The open meeting was the penultimate with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel at the helm.

The Communications Workers of America was among the commenters urging the FCC to take a hard look at Verizon’s proposed buy of Frontier, a $20 billion all-cash deal announced in September (see 2409050010). More than half that figure will pay off Frontier’s debt. The transaction would affect wireline communications “for tens of millions of voice and broadband customers in states served by Frontier and Verizon,” CWA said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 24-445. The union said Verizon’s goal of upgrading and expanding Frontier’s fiber network is encouraging. But the companies “provide no specific details on their turnaround plans for Frontier, such as the amount of funds Verizon intends to allocate for additional fiber upgrades, the geographic areas that will benefit from such funds, specifics on how Verizon plans to maintain and improve quality of service for customers that will not get fiber upgrades, whether Verizon wants to continue Frontier’s excessive use of low-wage and inadequately trained contractors for construction projects, and whether this acquisition could result in reduced capital investments by Verizon in its current footprint,” CWA said. The Coalition for IP Network Transition said the FCC should approve the deal only on the condition that the two companies phase out their legacy time division multiplex and feature group D (FGD) networks and agree to “interconnect with all other carriers” on an IP basis. The two companies have been silent on that issue, the coalition said. “The Applicants plan to bring only some of their customers a 21st Century IP-based network, while leaving other carriers with out-of-date TDM and FDG technology and facilities, and excessive access charge bills,” the coalition argued: “That, by any fair definition, does not serve the public interest.” Intrado Life & Safety urged attention to public safety issues. Since providers like Verizon and Frontier refuse to interconnect their wireline traffic to the next-generation 911 network in session initiated protocol “and insist on TDM interconnection at their service edge, the 911 network is captive to TDM with no viable alternatives for the next three to five years,” Intrado said. “Because Verizon and Frontier are two of the main contributors to the current 911 TDM dilemma, the Transaction will accelerate and deepen the ongoing harm and threat to public safety and 911 reliability during the transition to NG911.” Intrado called on the agency to “examine the potential public safety impacts of the Transaction and consider appropriate conditions regarding 911 TDM circuit availability and pricing to mitigate such impacts.”

The Rural Wireless Association, EchoStar and Communications Workers of America filed FCC petitions asking that the agency reject T-Mobile’s proposed acquisition of "substantially all” of UScellular’s wireless operations, including some spectrum (see 2405280047). Public interest and consumer groups also opposed approval. The deal is relatively small as telecom mergers go -- valued at about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt -- but has ignited substantial opposition. UScellular is the nation’s fifth-largest wireless carrier.

Many questions remain about how the U.S. Supreme Court will decide FCC v. Consumers’ Research, lawyers involved in the case said Tuesday during an FCBA webinar. The USF case is expected to be heard in the spring. SCOTUS decided last month to hear a challenge to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' 9-7 en banc decision, which found the USF contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax.” Consumers' Research challenged the contribution factor in the 5th Circuit and other courts.

Tech companies filing reply comments at the FCC about an August NPRM on the citizens broadband radio service band highlighted a variety of concerns. Comments were posted last week in docket 17-258. Nokia urged adapting rules that could provide spectrum for drone control and data links, as an alternative to Wi-Fi. The “unpredictable performance of Wi-Fi has prompted the search for better connectivity options such as 4G or 5G cellular connections that offer a controlled interference environment and better latency and throughput,” Nokia said: “Given that the CBRS has been envisioned to be an ‘innovation band’ that can support novel use cases, interest in using the band for drone connectivity is very high.” Ericsson urged relaxing the rules' out-of-band emissions limits, encouraging deployment. The “restrictive and unnecessary OOBE limit at the upper band edge is constricting use of the band and dampening innovation,” Ericsson said. The company noted that fixed satellite service operators have “generally vacated the 3.7-4.0 GHz band,” making the limits no longer necessary. Ericsson said CBRS won’t address the growing need for spectrum to meet growing data demand: “Where the rest of the world uses the 3.5 GHz band for full-power 5G deployments, the 150-MHz-wide CBRS band in the U.S. is limited to small cell deployments with medium power, which is not able to economically support broad deployments that are needed for nationwide coverage.” Qualcomm stressed the importance of allowing higher power levels than are permitted under the current rules. The CBRS band has not “achieved the same level of deployments that C-band operations have reached in a much shorter time,” Qualcomm said. While cable operators have championed the CBRS framework, “they have not followed through with significant deployments” with two of the largest cable providers launching CBRS networks “in just two cities,” the company said. Samsung Electronics America called on the commission to act “now” on its longstanding request for a waiver on a 5G base station radio that works across CBRS and C-band spectrum (see 2309130041). “There is no reason to deny Americans the immediate benefits created by grant of the waiver even as [the FCC] works through other improvements to the CBRS framework,” Samsung said. Among other comments, the Competitive Carriers Association joined the chorus opposing AT&T’s calls for reconfiguring the broader 3 GHz band (see 2412060042). “The NPRM did not make any proposals or seek comment on any questions related to rebanding, relocating CBRS incumbents, or reassignments of the 3.5 GHz band to non-CBRS use,” CCA said. “Any Commission action to advance AT&T’s proposal in this docket, therefore, would be contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act and its related jurisprudence.”

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned Saturday that “rhetoric” on China is no substitute for the hard work of making the U.S. a stronger competitor in areas like semiconductor chips, which are critical to the U.S. wireless and other industries. “Today, more than ever, national security requires technological security, requires the United States to lead … all of our competitors in technology, particularly in AI and semiconductors, and requires secure supply chains,” she told the Reagan Defense Forum in California. Raimondo was asked about President-elect Donald Trump's comments, made during the campaign, that he opposes subsidies in the Chips and Science Act of 2022 and that the act was a bad deal for the U.S. , Responding to calls for overturning the act, Raimondo said, “It’s a horrific idea. It’s a reckless idea": “Sometimes you say things on the stump, and I can only hope that was something to be said on the stump and won’t be acted out.” In November, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., noted interest in having the House repeal the Chips Act but reversed course following a bipartisan outcry (see 2411040062). Raimondo noted that 100% “of leading-edge chips used in fighter jets, AI technology, nuclear simulation, drones” are made in China and Taiwan. By the end of the year, the department expects to complete $35 billion of the $39 billion allocated in awards to 26 companies to build plants in the U.S. In addition, it expects it will award nearly all $11 billion targeted for research funding. “We’re getting the job done,” she said. "It has been brutally difficult.” Taiwan’s TSMC makes 100% of the world’s most sophisticated chips and people said the company would never expand in the U.S., Raimondo said: “Wrong -- they’re doing it” and TSMC is building three facilities in Arizona. “It’s an incredible thing, and you’re all safer because of it.” Raimondo said ultimately the U.S. will need to invest more to compete with China. She noted that China is now building 21 semiconductor factories. Permitting reforms are critical, she noted. “It can’t take two years to go through permitting in order to build a factory -- that is not competitive."