Wireless and satellite interests are reinforcing their arguments on whether a spectrum slice in the 28.35-28.6 GHz band needs to remain a guard band protecting upper microwave flexible-use service (UMFUS) networks from adjacent-band earth stations in motion (ESIM). Docket 17-95 comments last week saw those interests largely buttress claims made last month as the FCC seeks comments about communications with ESIMs in the 28.35-28.6 GHz band (see 2601220027). In comments posted Friday, wireless interests also pushed back on SpaceX calls for the FCC to green-light ESIM operations across a wider array of Ku-band frequencies.

Industry commenters advised the FCC against handing down more regulation in response to a Further NPRM seeking comment on tougher call ID rules (see 2601070012). Numerous comments called the state of the call-branding market “nascent.” Reply comments were due last week in docket 17-59 on the FNPRM, which commissioners approved in October (see 2510280024).

Holding the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in Shanghai (see 2512010044) poses special challenges and the U.S. must make sure its management remains as neutral as possible, said Steve Lang, U.S. ambassador to the last WRC in 2024. Lang also said China likely pushed to hold the conference because officials there were concerned about growing U.S. influence at the ITU. Lang spoke on a Technology Policy Institute podcast posted late Thursday.

The Trump administration Thursday finalized a rule that will mean fewer protections for up to 50,000 federal workers. That could have significant implications for the FCC, the NTIA, the FTC and other federal agencies involved with communications policy, but the net effect may not be known for months, experts said Friday. The White House must still identify which employees fall under the new Schedule PC. The final rule is also expected to face a slew of legal challenges from federal employee unions and others.

The battle continues over whether the FCC should further tweak its incarcerated people’s communications services rules in a way that’s more friendly to IPCS providers. Comments were due this week in docket 23-62 on a Further NPRM approved as an add-on to the October order that rolled back 2024 rates. Commissioners unanimously approved those rates following congressional direction in the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022 (see 2501280053).

Congress made the right move by forestalling state or local regulation that could have held up development and deployment of the internet, and similar approaches might be warranted for AI, Meta Head of Global Policy Kevin Martin said Thursday. Pointing to the federal moratorium on state and local government taxation on internet access and the restrictions on taxes on e-commerce, the former FCC chairman said a similar moratorium on AI, an inherently interstate service, would give the federal government time to study AI oversight and make recommendations. Martin was speaking at Incompas’ policy conference in Washington. Much of the Incompas event revolved around permitting related to AI and data centers, particularly energy permitting.

A new requirement buried in a robocall order that took effect Wednesday could lead to daily fines for nearly every entity that does business with the FCC, large and small, multiple attorneys told us.

Communications Daily is tracking the below lawsuits involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases are marked with a *.

AI is quickly evolving from something that was entertaining to something employed by businesses for real-world “tactical uses,” former White House official Asad Ramzanali said Wednesday. At the same time, the public doesn't like the data centers that AI is spawning, he said. Ramzanali, director of AI and technology policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, spoke during a Fiber Broadband Association webcast with Gary Bolton, the group's CEO.

FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty said Wednesday she hopes to see agency action on a GPS replacement in 2026 and also discussed AI, network resilience and copper wire theft during a “fireside chat” with Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Nicol Turner Lee. In addition, Trusty said working with Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez has been “a pleasure” but declined to respond to a question on whether she would support the White House firing Gomez if a third Republican was appointed to the agency. “I’ll defer to the president on the oversight and management of nominees,” she said. “I'm going to work with everyone and anyone at the commission to forward the agenda and the mission.”