The FCC is expected to act on the wireless infrastructure ruling teed up for a commissioner vote Tuesday. That's despite concerns from local and state governments and calls from Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks to consider delay. It's unclear how the two Democrats will vote, though both are expected to raise concerns at the meeting. Officials expect some tweaks based on ex parte filings by opponents and proponents of the item, but broader eighth-floor discussions are just getting started.
The move to open-radio access networks in wireless is a natural evolution, follows trends in other industries and could help the U.S. make networks more secure, speakers said during a Hudson Institute webinar Tuesday. The FCC postponed a March 26 summit on 5G-focused O-RAN technology because of coronavirus concerns (see 2003120071) and hasn’t set a new date, a spokesperson confirmed now. In February, Attorney General William Barr said the O-RAN is “just pie in the sky” and a “completely untested” approach that would “take many years to get off the ground.”
Cities struggling with COVID-19 asked the FCC Tuesday to delay a planned June 9 FCC vote on CTIA and Wireless Infrastructure Association proposals for wireless infrastructure clarity until they have more time to respond. A few local governments filed in support of the rules (see 2005290052). House Commerce Committee Democrats and Republicans delivered diverging opinions about FCC plans to consider the declaratory ruling next week.
Having approved Ligado license modifications, the FCC is expected to consider the 1675-1680 MHz band, on which the agency took comment last year. NOAA is preparing a report on potential effect on federal users of sharing the band, but it’s unclear whether it will be made public, industry officials said in interviews. Ligado asked for the NPRM and could combine it with its other spectrum, for 40 MHz for 5G.
Ligado’s path forward could be difficult even after the FCC approved an order granting its longstanding request for license modifications (see 2004200039), industry officials said in interviews last week. In conversations with investors, Ligado focuses on a deal with Verizon to pair its L-band spectrum with C-band spectrum from the upcoming FCC auction rather than relying on the industrial IoT (IIoT), industry officials said. Ligado critics said any terrestrial use of the band would be a concern. Also Friday, the company said NTIA concern about FCC OK is groundless (see 2005290057).
APCO petitioned for reconsideration Thursday of the FCC's 6 GHz order (see 2004230059), as expected (see 2005270044). The agency “failed its purpose of promoting public safety,” APCO said: “Interference to public safety communications is certain to arise from the approach to expanding unlicensed use of the band. Other than acknowledging that incumbent use includes public safety communications, the Order ignores public safety’s reliance on the 6 GHz band and fails to consider that interference will result in irreparable harm.” APCO asked to revise rules to require automated frequency control for all shared use, indoors and outdoors and “evaluate the impacts to public safety in the cost/benefit analysis.” The group asked for stay until the recon petition is addressed. “Public safety agencies extensively use the 6 GHz band for mission critical systems,” blogged Director-Government Relations Jeff Cohen.
Petitions for reconsideration, and possibly a legal appeal, are expected to the FCC’s 6 GHz order. APCO appears the most likely to file a recon petition and maybe take the agency to court, industry officials said. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said during a Lincoln webinar he expects some to challenge.
Commissioner Mike O’Rielly isn’t hopeful the FCC will provide much additional clarity soon on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, he said Tuesday during a Federalist Society teleconference on the aftermath of Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants. The case was argued before the Supreme Court this month, with justices indicating they're unlikely to overturn the entire robocalling law (see 2005060051). O’Rielly and then-Commissioner Ajit Pai criticized a 2015 declaratory ruling on how the law should be interpreted (see 1506180046). Now-Chairman Pai “has done yeoman work to try to get at the illegal robocall issue,” O’Rielly said in response to our question. But O’Rielly isn’t “optimistic near term that we’re going to get any resolution.” FCC staff works hard, but COVID-19 makes some work more difficult, he said. What qualifies as an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) under the TCPA is “already a mess,” he said: “That’s something that’s been our fault for lack of clarity. It’s an overreach from past commissions.” He has "been very protective of good robocalls because there’s so many that benefit society,” O’Rielly said. People want robocalls from their pharmacy saying a prescription is ready or from a school telling them to pick up their kids, he said. Numerous petitions before the FCC deal “with good robocalls” and need to be addressed, he said. The FCC has “spent too much time going after legitimate calls” and not enough on illegal calls, he said: “Just recently, we’ve done a better job of fixing that direction.” If the FCC isn’t going to act on the larger “big ticket” TCPA questions, it needs to at least address the petitions, he said. “The list keeps growing” and “the majority by far” are by companies that want to make robocalls that will benefit the public, he said. O’Rielly said the FCC should act on a petition by the American Bankers Association and other financial groups seeking clarity that banks, credit unions and customer-facing financial service providers can use ATDS, prerecorded messages and artificial voice for calls involving COVID-19 without violating the TCPA (see 2005220035). O’Rielly said he hasn’t received a single complaint from a March ruling allowing public health authorities to make COVID-related calls (see 2003200074). O’Rielly said he listened to the oral argument in the Supreme Court case, which was streamed. Only part of the TCPA is likely in play, he noted: a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that declared a 2015 government debt collection exemption unconstitutional and severed the provision from the remainder of the TCPA.
Communications law firms remain busy two months-plus into the COVID-19 pandemic. Transactional work slowed, but the FCC has stayed busy. With states starting to reopen, lawyers said in interviews this month they expect a normally busy summer. Some expect an inevitable slowdown after the November election, especially if there's a change in leadership in Washington.
With the FCC auction of priority access licenses (PAL) to start in July, and companies using the general authorized access (GAA) tier, speakers on a FierceWireless webinar Thursday saw growing interest in the citizens broadband radio service band. Speakers from three of the five FCC-authorized spectrum access system (SAS) administrators, CommScope, Federated Wireless and Google, said they are demonstrating CBRS will live up to the hype.