Howard Buskirk

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."

FCC commissioners appear likely to approve, with few changes, a draft order that would expand parts of the 6 GHz band where new very-low-power (VLP) devices are permitted to operate without coordination. One wrinkle, industry officials said, is that Commissioner Nathan Simington appears sympathetic to concerns NAB raised earlier. Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the order at their open meeting Wednesday.

Insurance Marketing Coalition Limited v. FCC, which the 11th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court will hear Dec. 18 (see 2312130019), may prove significant, TroutmanAmin’s John Henson blogged Friday. “Part of the decision making will be how much deference does the FCC get in its rulemaking authority,” Henson said, noting the case (24-10277) examines agency authority under the Hobbs Act. “The Hobbs Act is having a moment and especially in the Eleventh Circuit,” he said. Approved 3-1 a year ago, the order adopted a one-to-one robotext consent policy (see 2312130019). Commissioner Nathan Simington dissented, citing the FCC's “factually thin record.” Henson noted the three judges hearing the case were appointed by President-elect Donald Trump during his first term -- Elizabeth Branch, Britt Grant and Robert Luck. They seem aligned with 11th Circuit precedent on limiting the reach of regulatory agencies, Henson said. “It would not stretch the limits of reason to think that the FCC’s 1:1 consent order was not properly enacted,” he said: “If that’s the case, then the Eleventh Circuit, might once again have an opportunity to strike a blow against Hobbs deference.” This term the U.S. Supreme Court will hear McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, a Telephone Consumer Protection Act case from the 9th Circuit, examining the extent to which lower courts must defer to FCC decisions, which also has Hobbs Act implications (see 2410170015). The Hobbs Act gives the appeals courts exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend or determine the validity of some agency orders, including most FCC orders.

AT&T and CTIA urged that the FCC rethink citizens broadband radio service rules and questioned the band's success, filing reply comments to an August NPRM (see 2411070032). But most commenters said the FCC should only tweak the band. CBRS advocates largely defended the model as a sharing success story. Interest in the proceeding was strong, with more than two dozen reply comments posted as of Friday.

The FCC’s Precision Ag Connectivity Task Force held its final meeting Thursday, approving the group's comprehensive final report. Summarizing the task force's working groups' findings, the report wasn’t released Thursday. Task force Chair Michael Adelaine said during a virtual meeting that the work must continue even as the group’s charter expires.

ISPs are hopeful that the new Trump administration will focus on streamlining federal permitting once President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, experts said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar.

Two groups are challenging the FCC’s October order giving the FirstNet Authority, and indirectly AT&T, use of the 4.9 GHz band (see 2410220027). The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) is challenging the order, while the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) is protesting aspects of it. Both recently filed petitions for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.