The FCC faces three petitions for review, all filed Friday, in separate circuits, challenging the lawfulness of the commission’s Dec. 26 quadrennial review order for allegedly violating Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act. Nexstar Media Group filed its petition (docket 24-60088) in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Beasley Media Group and Tri-State Communications filed their joint petition (docket 24-10535) in the 11th Circuit, and Zimmer Radio of Mid-Missouri filed its petition (docket 24-1380) in the 8th Circuit.

NARUC’s Telecom Committee approved a proposed resolution Monday aimed at forestalling U.S. phone number exhaustion. Also during state utility regulators’ meeting in Washington, telecom industry officials urged state commissioners to join them in calling on Congress to renew funding for the affordable connectivity program (ACP). Another panel flagged pole attachment issues remaining after a December FCC order (see 2312130044).

The Edison Electric Institute defended its petition for partial reconsideration of a December FCC order modifying pole attachment rules in reply comments posted Monday in docket 17-84 (see 2401290074). The group raised concerns about how the FCC treats grandfathered poles, whether a utility may impose standards exceeding the National Electric Safety Code (NESC), and when a pole owner must provide a copy of its easement to an attacher.

It’s possible social media platforms could be considered common carriers when delivering emails or direct messages, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative justices said Monday.

A top priority of GSMA this year is helping industry move to open networks and allowing application programmable interface (API) roaming, Mats Granryd, GSMA director general, said Monday at the start of the group’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. CEOs of major European providers, meanwhile, called for major changes in how they are regulated.

Congressional Republican leaders are determined to advance a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to undo the FCC’s digital discrimination order (H.J.Res. 107) despite widespread acknowledgment the measure faces long odds of making it through the majority-Democratic Senate and an all-but-certain veto from President Joe Biden. GOP leaders’ intent in pursuing H.J.Res. 107 appears to be to bolster legal challenges of the digital discrimination order, officials and lobbyists told us. House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia and more than 60 other Republicans filed the measure in late January (see 2401310003).

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Friday approved the applications of seven 6 GHz automated frequency coordination (AFC) providers to launch operations by standard-powered unlicensed devices, closing out a multi-year process. The development is one of the most significant for 6 GHz since the 2020 FCC order opening the spectrum for unlicensed use, industry officials said.

A Verizon settlement with California consumer advocates last week resolves just one part of a fight over the carrier’s difficulties migrating Tracfone customers still using non-Verizon networks in California, each of the parties said Friday. The Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) posted a settlement Thursday with Verizon’s Tracfone and The Utility Reform Network (TURN) in docket A.20-11-001 at the California Public Utilities Commission, as expected (see 2402160019).

SpaceX likely faces a tough challenge as it seeks easier access to the 2 GHz and 1.6/2.4 GHz spectrum bands, spectrum experts tell us. In a pair of FCC petitions last week, the company argued that in both cases the spectrum is underused and urged changes in the licensing and sharing frameworks to allow new entrants and coexistence.

The Texas Association of Business (TAB) petitioned the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court for review of the FCC’s updated data breach notification rules. The rules were adopted Dec. 13, released Dec. 21 and published in the Federal Register Feb. 12, said TAB's Thursday filing (docket 24-60085). They are effective March 13 (see 2402090035).