A legal challenge to the FCC's over-the-air reception devices (OTARD) rules might face procedural problems, a federal judge said Tuesday. But the three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit also seemed skeptical during oral argument (docket 24-1108) of the commission's creating a "human presence" requirement in its OTARD rules for Indian Peak Properties. The company is appealing an FCC order that denied its petitions for declaratory ruling. Indian Peak was seeking a federal preemption under the OTARD rule of a Rancho Palos Verdes, California, decision to revoke its local permit for the deployment of rooftop antennas on a property (see 2405060035).
Expect big changes to BEAD, with the Donald Trump administration and congressional Republicans rewriting the rules and putting more emphasis on efficient use of funding, tech policy experts said Tuesday at the annual State of the Net conference. Consultant Mike O'Rielly, a former FCC commissioner, said NTIA isn't likely to process any state's final proposals in the near term as it awaits where the administration and Congress take BEAD. States must be flexible and ready to pivot once that new direction becomes clear, he added.
SpaceX's temporary loss of a $100 million contract with Ontario over a U.S./Canada tariff fight could be a harbinger of satellite communications services increasingly enmeshed in U.S. trade disputes. Some see non-U.S. satellite operators potentially benefiting from the Starlink contract episode.
AST SpaceMobile's L-band spectrum access agreement with Ligado comes as the booming interest in direct-to-device service is running into limited spectrum availability, spectrum consultants and analysts tell us. Some see a similar deal with a satellite operator getting access to EchoStar's 2 GHz band spectrum for D2D as possible. The federal bankruptcy court overseeing Ligado's Chapter 11 plan signed off last week on the financial breakup terms of the Ligado/AST deal (see 2501270026). Ligado has said the AST deal is key to it emerging from bankruptcy (see 2501060026).
Law professor Adam Candeub, who was an attorney in the FCC's Media and Common Carrier bureaus as well as acting NTIA head, is returning to the commission as general counsel. Candeub brings with him strong criticisms of Big Tech. In response to a post on X about Candeub not being the GC that Big Tech executives would have preferred, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr replied that the agency "will work to dismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights to everyday Americans." He added: "I look forward to Adam Candeub serving as the FCC's General Counsel. He is going to do great things!"
Charter Communications sees broadband subscriber competition from fixed wireless access (FWA) having peaked and predicts that fiber overbuilding will slow down. In a call with analysts Friday as Charter reported its Q4 2024 results, CEO Chris Winfrey said the broadband environment is "still competitive in terms of fiber and cellphone internet overlap." But, he said, "we better be better this year than we were ... last year" -- especially with the loss of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) no longer dragging down results, as it did in the second half of 2024. Charter executives used the term "cellphone internet" five times in Friday's call.
Comcast "will lean into wireless more than ever,” President Mike Cavanagh said in a call with analysts as the company announced Q4 results Thursday, which included worse-than-expected broadband subscriber losses. In December, Comcast predicted losses just north of 100,000 during the quarter (see 2412090029); they came in at 139,000. “Competitive conditions remain intense, dynamic and varied across our footprint and customer segments, and we see no signs of this changing in the near term," Cavanagh said. Comcast closed at $33.25, down $4.11, Charter at $336.62, down $22.71, with the latter to announce Q4 results Friday.
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) isn't likely to make much headway with the 119th Congress absent a major revamp, tech policy panelists said Wednesday at a Congressional Internet Caucus event, which also featured some panelists disagreeing on the FCC's role in cybersecurity enforcement.
If the U.S. Supreme Court uses the FCC USF case as a route for establishing a judicial test about the nondelegation of power, that test should consider the nature of the power being delegated, legal academics say. A Federalist Society panel discussion about the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 9-7 en banc decision invalidating part of the USF program and subsequent SCOTUS appeal (see 2411220050) saw speakers discussing how courts have looked at Congress' delegation of its powers to other branches or agencies and the high court's available options.
The FCC received feedback from space and wireless interests in docket 24-687 on selection of a space launch frequency coordinator (SLFC) for the agency's space launch service, and in docket 13-115 regarding licensing and frequency coordination procedures and data requirements. Comments were due Wednesday in both. The space launch spectrum allocation order adopted in 2023 (see 2309210055) requires that launch operators seeking to use the 2025–2110 MHz or 2200–2290 MHz band complete a frequency coordination process with a third-party coordinator.