Like staff at nearly every agency in Washington, FCC employees seem nervously waiting for the next moves of the Donald Trump administration and Elon Musk, even as they hunker down and continue doing their jobs, industry sources tell us. The FCC also appears to have taken further steps to comply with the White House’s executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts after an initial wave of announcements immediately after Chairman Brendan Carr took office.
Lawyers who made the recent arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson agreed that the case will likely turn on the views of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Morrison Foerster’s Joseph Palmore, who represented McKesson, and Gupta Wessler’s Matthew Wessler, representing McLaughlin, spoke during an FCBA continuing legal education event Wednesday.
The FCC’s draft notice of inquiry on opening the upper C band for commercial use acknowledges numerous incumbents using the spectrum and seeks “detailed and evidence-based comments” from all affected parties. Also on Thursday, the FCC released a draft NPRM on rules for the AWS-3 auction and other items, teeing them up for the FCC’s Feb. 27 open meeting, including new rules for wireless emergency alerts (see 2502050057).
The National Sheriffs’ Association and ViaPath, a provider of incarcerated people’s communications services (IPCS), separately filed in support of challenges to the FCC’s July order implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022 (see 2501280053) in briefs filed this week at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The order reduces call rates for people in prisons while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039).
CTIA hopes the Donald Trump administration will continue the spectrum studies launched under the national spectrum strategy, though potentially with tweaks to account for earlier studies, said Doug Brake, CTIA assistant vice president-policy communications, during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday.
Legal experts expect President Donald Trump will use the Congressional Review Act process to reject regulations approved under President Joe Biden. The legal experts spoke Wednesday during an FCBA continuing legal education event.
New FCC Chairman Brendan Carr laid out an aggressive agenda for his first meeting as chair, with two items on future spectrum auctions, including a look at the upper C band. The FCC will also tackle wireless emergency alerts and robocalls and ways of strengthening the call-blocking capabilities of carriers. In addition, commissioners will consider an NPRM on the volume of broadcast commercials.
The Alaska Telecom Association urged the FCC to move with care as it considers how to implement parts of the Alaska Connect Fund (ACF), approved by FCC commissioners in November (see 2411050002). Comments were due Monday on a Further NPRM on mobile and fixed wireless under the fund in docket 23-238.
Avoid reading too much into the merger policies of the new Donald Trump administration based on the rejection last week of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed $14 billion buy of Juniper Networks, industry experts said. DOJ sued to block the transaction, citing the competitive effects on the wireless local area network (LAN) industry (see 2501300063).
Lawyers for the government and AT&T faced questions from a panel of judges on the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as the bench heard arguments concerning the FCC’s $57 million fine against the carrier for inadequately protecting customers’ location data. T-Mobile has also challenged more than $92 million in fines in the D.C. Circuit, and Verizon disputed a $46.9 million penalty in the 2nd Circuit, but the 5th Circuit case was the first where a panel of judges heard oral argument.