The FCC activated the disaster information reporting system for seven counties in California for Tropical Storm Hilary, said a public notice Sunday. Reports were due starting Monday. The alert includes Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. The agency also issued public notices on emergency contact procedures for licensees that need special temporary authority, priority communications services and on 24-hour availability of FCC staff. The Public Safety Bureau sent a reminder to entities working to clear debris and repair utilities to avoid damaging communications infrastructure.

The FCC has deployed staff to Hawaii “assessing the impact on communications services and infrastructure to help local, state, and federal authorities to identify how to best support restoration and emergency response,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a release Friday listing the agency’s work on the Maui wildfires. “Having worked for Senator Inouye, I experienced firsthand the kindness and collective spirit of Aloha that guides the people who call Hawai’i home,” said Rosenworcel in the release, referring to the late Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii. Seventeen of 21 cellsites in the affected area have been restored, and the number of cable and wireline subscribers out of service is down to 14,494, from a height of around 25,000 during the fires. The agency has been using High Frequency Direction Finding scans to determine the operational status of AM stations carrying public safety information, assisting carriers with logistics and state processes to expedite communications restoration, and working with officials on the ground to determine priority needs, the release said. “We will continue to work closely with local, state, and federal partners as families and residents all over the island begin to rebuild and recover from these devastating wildfires,” said Rosenworcel.

Dish Network filed an agreement at the FCC Wednesday to buy 800 MHz spectrum licenses from T-Mobile. Dish also asked a federal court in D.C. to delay the terms of the deal, allowing the purchase to slip until next summer, giving it more time to put together funding, Dish confirmed Thursday. "DISH and T-Mobile jointly filed an application seeking authority from the FCC to transfer the 800 MHz licenses to DISH," a Dish spokesperson emailed: "To give DISH more time to responsibly finance the purchase of this spectrum, DISH also filed a motion in the District Court for the District of Columbia today to modify the Final Judgment to extend the timeline for the actual divestiture until June 30, 2024." The spectrum was part of a complicated set of arrangements allowing T-Mobile to complete its buy of Sprint. Dish was required to pay $3.6 billion to buy the licenses, with a $72 million fee for walking away from the deal (see 1907260071). “Grant of the Application will further important public interest benefits well-recognized by the Commission,” told the FCC. “In its order approving the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, the Commission explicitly recognized the benefits of DISH entering the market as the fourth nationwide, facilities-based provider deploying a 5G network. … The terms of the Final Judgment are designed to facilitate DISH’s entry into the wireless market as a facilities-based provider and grant of the instant Application would further this important objective and enhance competition in the mobile wireless marketplace by making DISH a stronger competitor in the offering of mobile voice and broadband services.” The filing was made through Dish subsidiary American H Block Wireless Holding. Dish had until Aug. 11 before T-Mobile would terminate the offer, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said on an earnings call last month (see 2307270064). “We’re in discussions with Dish about whether or not there might be a win-win that’s different from their initial privilege,” he said at the time.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a 2022 FCC decision revoking Pacific Networks’ and its subsidiary ComNet’s authority to offer domestic or international services in the U.S. (see 2203160031). The FCC “revoked these authorizations based on concerns that the carriers posed national-security risks and had proven themselves untrustworthy,” said a Tuesday decision written by Judge Gregory Katsas, in docket 22-1054. “The carriers argue that the FCC’s reasoning was substantively arbitrary and was rendered with inadequate process,” he said: “We reject both contentions.” The U.S. “has grown increasingly concerned about espionage and other threats from Chinese-owned telecommunications companies,” Katsas wrote. He noted Team Telecom weighed in after the FCC ordered Pacific Networks and ComNet to show cause in 2020 why their authorizations shouldn’t be revoked, saying “China’s Ownership” of the companies “raised ‘significant concerns’ that the carriers would be ‘forced to comply with Chinese government requests, including requests for communications intercepts.’” The carriers contend the FCC “unreasonably found a threat to national security,” Katsas said. “But the Commission meticulously explained -- over the span of 62 pages -- how the carriers’ domestic operations threaten national security,” he said. “We cannot second-guess the FCC’s judgment that allowing China to access this information poses a threat to national security,” the court said. The FCC “adequately explained its decision to revoke Pacific Networks’ and ComNet’s authorizations, and it afforded adequate process to the carriers,” Katsas wrote: “We therefore deny the petition for review.” Circuit Judges Harry Edwards and Karen Henderson joined the decision. The judges were on the same panel that upheld the FCC's revocation of China Telecom Americas’ domestic and international authorities last year (see 2111150025).

Adtran will invest about $5 million in its Alabama factory to expand its manufacturing of key electronics equipment used for high-speed internet networks, the company said Wednesday. The announcement comes as part of the Biden administration's "Investing in America" effort and will create up to 300 new jobs. Also Wednesday, NTIA said it plans to release a draft of its build America, buy America (BABA) requirements for its broadband, equity, access and deployment program "later this summer." Adtran said it will expand its existing domestic manufacturing capacity for optical line terminal systems and onshore production of optical network terminals from Southeast Asia. The BEAD program "really opens up an avenue for us to be able to increase our manufacturing throughput, ultimately lower cost, get to kind of an equal footing, and be able to manufacture here in the U.S.," said Adtran CEO Tom Stanton. "Everyone has to have access if we're going to succeed," said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. The BEAD program is a "jobs and infrastructure program," Davidson said: "If it can be made in America, then it should be made in America." Wednesday's announcement is "another great step forward in preparing the fiber access equipment supply chain to be NTIA BEAD compliant," emailed Fiber Broadband Association Gary Bolton. Adtran's investment will "ensure that BEAD recipients can procure the fiber access gear they need for the BEAD fiber network deployment, while meeting the BABA requirements," Bolton said.

An FCC update on the Hawaii wildfires shows 11 of the 21 cellsites that serve the most affected areas of West Maui are down, an improvement from 19 down in Monday’s report (see 2308140061). The update also shows the number of cable and wireline subscribers without service at 16,700, down from 17,832.

T-Mobile asked the FCC for special temporary authority to use the 2.5 GHz spectrum licenses it won in a 2020 auction in Maui, Hawaii, as the island starts its recovery from a devastating wildfire. The carrier has failed to get the FCC to allow use of all the licenses through STAs while the agency waits for Congress to reauthorize its auction authority (see 2307070042). The STA application “may be granted without being listed in a Public Notice because the requested authority is necessary to address extraordinary circumstances requiring operation in the public interest and delay in the institution of such service would seriously prejudice the public interest,” T-Mobile said Tuesday. “The requested STA will permit T-Mobile to deploy up to 190 MHz of contiguous spectrum on” Maui, “using Channels 1 and 2 to increase capacity for mobile and fixed home internet on the island, including the ability to support mobile hotspots devices as part of relief efforts,” the carrier said, noting the STA will benefit more than 156,000 people, based on 2020 census data. As of Dec. 30, T-Mobile said it offered fixed internet to some 13,000 homes and business in Maui. “As the Commission is aware, the island of Maui has been devastated by raging wildfires that have resulted in the deaths of at least 99 people, complete destruction of the town of Lahaina, and damage or destruction to numerous other homes and businesses,” T-Mobile said.

The nation's largest cable, wireline phone providers and fixed wireless services -- combined representing about 96% of the market -- added about 840,000 net additional broadband subscribers in Q2, compared with a pro forma gain of about 700,000 in Q2 2022, Leichtman Research Group said Monday. It said those providers in total have 112.9 million subs: 76.2 million cable subs, 30.7 million wireline phone subs and 5.9 million fixed wireless subs. Leichtman said Verizon's and T-Mobile's fixed wireless services added 890,000 subs in Q2, compared to 815,000 net adds the same quarter a year earlier. Cable added about 10,000 subs, vs. a loss of about 60,000 the same quarter a year earlier, and wireline lost about 60,000 subs, similar to its Q2 2022 losses.

The FCC activated a more focused version of the disaster information reporting system called DIRS-Lite for the wildfires in Hawaii and is receiving "more granular situation-specific information through ongoing direct communications with communications providers,” said a communications status report Monday. In a standard DIRS release, the information is self-reported by telecommunications providers. Nineteen of the 21 cellsites that serve the most affected areas of West Maui are down, and 17,832 cable and wireline subscribers are out of service. The Wireless Bureau granted special temporary authority to AT&T Mobility to use several frequencies for microwave backhaul from five cell towers, and to operate two cells-on-wheels and three temporary microwave sites, the report said.

Major wireless carriers said they were rushing equipment to Maui to try to restore coverage of the island lost in the wake of wildfires there last week. "West Maui is pretty much down," Tamara Paltin, Maui County councilwoman for West Maui, emailed Friday. "If you see a bunch of folks looking at their phone, for some reason that area could catch, but if you go back in an hour might not happen," she said. "Biggest concern is ability to be able to communicate." She said SpaceX Starlink receivers "are running here and there" and efforts were underway to set up towers on Lanai to reach West Maui. AT&T said Friday it had deployed portable generators to cellsites affected by power outages "where it is safe to do so." "Some of our cell sites are inaccessible at this time due to the fires, however, our teams continue to plan for immediate restoration efforts," it said. It said its network disaster recovery team and FirstNet Response Operations Group "are working with local public safety to deploy a locally based portable cell site to provide Band 14 connectivity dedicated to public safety and service for residents." It said it also was shipping backhaul equipment and other portable communications solutions from the neighboring islands. It said the FirstNet group was "working around the clock to support public safety’s emergency communications and has liaisons engaged with local and federal agencies." T-Mobile said its emergency management team was preparing to deploy portable satellite and microwave solutions to restore service in affected areas "when it is safe to do so." It said its cellsites were "holding up well during the fires," but power outages could affect customers. Verizon said it had emergency network assets, including mobile cellsites, en route to Maui. IT said it was deploying satellite-based mobile hot spots in evacuation centers.