Regulators worldwide are still struggling with how they should treat rich communication services (RCS), speakers said Tuesday during a Mobile World Live webinar. RCS is an advanced communications protocol standard for instant messaging, primarily used on mobile phones and promoted by GSMA as a replacement for SMS and MMS messaging.
Most comments appeared to support proposals in a January NPRM on a voluntary, negotiation-based process to transition 10 MHz in the 900 MHz band to broadband. But some commenters continued to raise concerns about the interference risk for the current band incumbent (see 2505190025). Reply comments were due this week in docket 24-99. In 2020, the FCC approved use of 3/3 MHz channels in the band for broadband while retaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).
Public interest groups defended most parts of the FCC’s July order implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022 (see 2501280053) in a brief filed Monday at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (24-8028). Incarcerated people’s communications services (IPCS) providers and the National Sheriffs’ Association argued to the court why the order should be overturned. Last week, the government also defended the order (see 2506120078).
The Trump Organization announced Monday that later this year, it will launch Trump Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator, and a gold-colored smartphone, which it said will eventually be made in the U.S. The launch would create ethics concerns regardless, but even more so given the Trump administration's pressure for the FCC to answer directly to the White House, public interest groups said.
The focus of the third stage of NTIA’s Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund is to demonstrate the “real world capabilities” of open radio access networks and get more small players involved, Amanda Toman, director of the fund, said Friday. Toman spoke during a Network Media Group webcast. Applications were due in April on a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), under which NTIA will award as much as $450 million.
If Congress authorizes the full-power licensed use of the upper C-band, an FCC auction appears unlikely before 2026 at the earliest, industry experts told us. The conventional wisdom is that it takes about a year between the initial preparation stages and an auction. But FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has promised to move quickly on spectrum and had put a notice of inquiry on the agenda for his first meeting as chairman, they also said (see 2502050057).
The FCC and DOJ on Thursday asked the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reject challenges to the FCC’s July order implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022, which reduces call rates for people in prisons while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039). The government said the order addresses the monopoly power of incarcerated persons communications services (IPCS) providers to set calling rates.
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) approved two final reports Thursday, including one on threats that AI poses to networks. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told CSRIC members that AI has become a top focus for the agency, as it has for the rest of the Trump administration. The second report examines “Connecting Stalled 911 Calls Through Alternative Network Options.”
Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan said he remains worried about what the U.S. Supreme Court will decide on the USF's constitutionality, though he also expressed optimism that the program will survive the Consumers' Research challenge (see 2504140039). Donovan spoke during a Free State Foundation webcast this week, hosted by former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly.
Public Knowledge and the Electronic Privacy Information Center urged the FCC to take privacy into consideration as the agency looks at wireless location accuracy for 911 calls (see 2506090022). Comments were posted this week in docket 07-114. “The Commission has presented acceptable proposals to make [enhanced 911] better, but has failed to properly consider in its proposals the importance of consumer privacy,” the groups said. Before adopting new E911 rules, the FCC should “seek further comment on how to protect subscriber information, including Customer Proprietary Network Information, as demands for sensitive location data increase.”