BEAD-related construction in Louisiana, Delaware and Nevada should start as soon as Q2, according to state officials, some BEAD subgrantee award winners and BEAD experts. The three states last week received NTIA approval of their final proposals, the first to do so. Unclear is whether other states will get started this year due to questions surrounding the change in administration possibly causing delays, we're told.
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
The demand for broadband infrastructure deployment job applicants and the supply of people trained in those fiber installation and construction fields are misaligned to a concerning degree, industry and educational experts warn. Some fear that companies will post many job openings at once, as BEAD money starts flowing to subgrantees, Lindsey Ekstrand, Youngstown (Ohio) State University director-workforce education programs, said. "No one is going to be ready for that," she warned during a Wireless Infrastructure Association event Thursday.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's final monthly meeting was largely a victory lap for the outgoing leader, with commission officials offering more than two hours of testimony Wednesday detailing accomplishments during her tenure. Also, Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized what she called an "apparent campaign to bring broadcasters and content platforms to heel" -- a seeming jab at Commissioner Brendan Carr's commitment to battle a "censorship cartel" (see 2411180059, 2412160052 and 2411080046).
Supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service is in dire need of additional spectrum, AT&T Assistant Vice President-Public Policy Navid Motamed said Monday during an FCBA CLE. Regulatory and company speakers also noted that SCS issues of cross-border interference and coordination need to be settled. While some nations are crafting SCS rules frameworks, others are in a wait-and-see stance.
The FCC's proposed requirement that covered text providers support the georouting of text messages made to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to the appropriate local crisis center is receiving opposition. In docket 18-336 replies posted Friday, some communications industry interests and allies challenged the FCC's proposed implementation time frame and urged the agency to hold off for now on georouting requirements. Mental health interests didn't file reply comments but have urged the agency to act (see 2408080061). The 988 call georouting order approved unanimously at the FCC's October meeting included an NPRM about text georouting (see 2410170026).
Despite paying Inmarsat more than $1.7 billion under the terms of an L-band coordination agreement, Inmarsat never resolved terminal interference issues that impeded Ligado's use of the band, Ligado said in a lawsuit alleging breach of contract and fraudulent inducement. Ligado filed the lawsuit under seal last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware in conjunction with its Chapter 11 filing with the court (see 2501060026).
A federal appellate court panel on Friday seemed largely satisfied with FCC assertions that financier BIU will have an opportunity to bring its fraud-related claims before the agency if and when it gets a state court decision in its favor. A three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel heard oral argument Friday in BIU's challenge of the FCC allowing satellite operator Spectrum Five (S5) to withdraw a complaint against Inmarsat (see 2406100038) (docket 24-1189). BIU has a financial stake in S5.
Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) axing their planned Venu sports streaming joint venture is unsurprising, industry watchers said. The programmers announced Venu's demise early Friday (see 2501100002).
At the SEC's insistence, tech media and telecom (TMT) companies are increasingly warning investors and the public about cyberattack risks, as well as steps they're taking when incidents are discovered. The SEC began requiring that companies report on cybersecurity practices and incidents in 2023. And TMT companies’ cybersecurity disclosures in their 2024 10-K annual reports varied widely in depth and detail: TDS' totaled a little more than 300 words; Lumen's was more than 1,400.
Ligado will partner with AST SpaceMobile on direct-to-device (D2D) service, with AST compensating Ligado for access to Ligado spectrum. The arrangement comes as part of a Ligado restructuring of its debt announced Monday, a day after Ligado filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.