A federal appellate court's rejection of a $57 million FCC fine -- calling it unconstitutional -- could force the agency to revisit and overhaul its enforcement processes. The agency clearly has authority to enforce laws requiring telecommunications companies to protect sensitive customer data, but the FCC "must do so consistent with our Constitution’s guarantees of an Article III decisionmaker and a jury trial," a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week as it vacated the fine against AT&T that stemmed from handling of customer data. T-Mobile and Verizon are challenging similar fines levied in the same April 2024 enforcement action. In siding with AT&T, the court said it was guided by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 Jarkesy decision regarding whether federal regulatory agencies can bring in-house proceedings to enforce civil penalties.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project’s approval of non-terrestrial network (NTN) technology as part of 5G is key to broader adoption of direct-to-device (D2D) service by top wireless carriers, said Tim Hatt, GSMA's head-research and consulting, during a Mobile World Live webinar Thursday. 3GPP standards will lead to economy of scale for the device ecosystem and a larger market, he said.
The Trump administration’s growing list of executive orders targeting law firms may have only limited implications for the FCC, industry lawyers told us. Nonetheless, observers said they see the growing list of targeted firms as an unprecedented assault aimed at chilling opposition to the administration.
Communications Daily is tracking the below lawsuits involving appeals of FCC actions.
Carriers may expect too much in terms of the potential financial benefits of open application programmable interfaces (APIs), said Grant Lenahan, principal analyst at Appledore Research. Open APIs are a growing focus of providers (see 2404160065) and of the GSMA (see 2402260054). Lenahan spoke Wednesday during TelecomTV's Telco at a Platform Summit.
The U.S. trade war and resulting geopolitical tensions are a short-term not a long-term worry, a trio of satellite executives said Wednesday during a panel discussion. They were also bullish about their prospects in the face of competition from SpaceX and, soon, Amazon's Kuiper.
The Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) supported proposals in a January FCC NPRM providing spectrum for drones and the advanced air mobility (AAM) industries (see 2501170023). Electric utilities and other commenters supported AUVSI's position. The FCC proposed flexible use of the 450 MHz band for drones and permitting radiolocation operations in the 24.45–24.65 GHz band. The FCC also sought comment on “modernizing” rules governing commercial aviation air-ground systems. Comments were due this week in docket 24-629.
The FCC’s pressure campaign against corporate diversity initiatives lacks a clear basis in the rules and isn’t likely to fare well if it is tested in the courts, said panelists during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday.
Better submarine cable network security starts with walling off untrusted vendors and adversary nations, trade groups and national security interests told the FCC in docket 24-523 this week. Many criticized the NPRM -- which proposes rules changes aimed at addressing national security and law enforcement threats to cables -- as creating more complexity and burdensome regulations and flying in the face of the FCC's "Delete, Delete, Delete" deregulatory agenda. Commissioners adopted the subsea cable NPRM unanimously in November (see 2411210006). The subsea cable industry has said it hoped the Trump administration would alleviate the particularly onerous regulatory burdens it faces (see 2502260042).
Approved by Congress last year (see 2412180027), the Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovation Act makes clear that the FCC must auction all AWS-3 licenses remaining in its inventory, CTIA said in reply comments about an auction procedures NPRM. Whether the FCC should create a tribal licensing window (TLW), which could allow tribes to obtain spectrum for some of the least-connected communities in the U.S., remains a contentious issue (see 2504010055). Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 25-70.