The FCC is giving fixed satellite service earth station operators in the 3.6-3.7 GHz band until Oct. 17 to register with the agency. The FCC noted the registration was required for grandfathered stations as part of its work on the citizens broadband radio service band. The deadline for this year was Dec. 1, 2021. “We recognize that this is a relatively new process and so, to avoid any unnecessary service interruptions, we are providing a one-time grace period for any FSS earth station licensee that failed to submit its 2022 annual registration,” said a Thursday notice: After Oct. 17 “registrations that have not been completed for 2022 may be deactivated or deleted, and the site will no longer merit protection by the Spectrum Access System administrators.”

Former U.S. Rep. Michael Ferguson will lead AT&T’s federal legislative relations team starting Oct. 3, replacing Tim McKone, who is retiring, AT&T staff were told in an internal announcement. Rhonda Johnson, who oversees AT&T’s state and local government affairs and social engagement initiatives in California, will lead federal regulatory relations, replacing Joan Marsh, also retiring, effective the same date, said a second announcement (see 2205110068). Both incoming executives will have executive vice president titles. Ferguson, a Republican, represented New Jersey’s 7th District for eight years, retiring in 2009. He is leaving BakerHostetler, where he heads the firm's federal policy team. “In his new role, Mike will be responsible for managing the federal advocacy team representing AT&T before Congress, the White House and executive branch departments,” said the internal announcement: “He will develop legislative strategy to ensure our business objectives are able to flourish.”

In one of its first hybrid events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FCC on Tuesday held an all-day environmental compliance workshop at its new headquarters. Staff presented and took questions on the FCC’s tower construction notification system, requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and the rules for working with Native American tribes. “Your role in the process of reviewing and deploying wireless infrastructure is absolutely critical,” said Joel Taubenblatt, acting chief of the Wireless Bureau. “During the last few years during the pandemic, we've seen the importance of communications services across the country and wireless services,” he said: “We've seen how [the pandemic] has changed the way people interact with work, with schools, with their medical service providers, and with their family and friends. … We have seen how all of you have adjusted during this period of time to make sure that the review and deployment of wireless facilities can continue.” Daniela Arregui, Enforcement Bureau attorney adviser, underscored the importance of following FCC environmental rules. “Never start construction, including breaking ground, clearing brush, cutting trees, prior to completing the requirement of the environmental review,” she said. “It is important to document, authorize, and review each element of the project during each phase of construction,” she said: “Notify and actively engage with the state historic preservation officers and the tribal historic preservation officers throughout the process. Applicants should be doing more than minimally following up on an electronic Section 106 notification or responding to inquiries.” Notify the Wireless Bureau and the Enforcement bureaus “when you suspect a violation,” she said. Answer FCC inquiries whenever they are posed, Arregui said. “A letter of inquiry is a commission order” and “recipients are required to respond timely, fully, and completely,” she said. “Even if there is no substantive violation, the failure to respond completely can, itself, result in significant monetary penalties,” she said.

The FCC's rejection of SpaceX's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application (see 2208100050) “is so broken it is hard not to see it as an improper attempt” to undo the prior FCC’s decision to permit satellite broadband service providers to participate in RDOF, said SpaceX Friday in an application for review of the decision. “The decision appears to have been rendered in service to a clear bias towards fiber, rather than a merits-based decision to actually connect unserved Americans.” In rejecting the application, the agency “misused data outside the record” on SpaceX’s speeds, “ignored robust record evidence” of SpaceX’s capability to expand, and didn’t accurately weigh SpaceX’s pricing against competitors, the appeal said. Commissioner Nathan Simington welcomed the appeal. "I am troubled that the decision to rescind SpaceX’s RDOF award applied standards that were not in our RDOF rules, were never approved by the Commission, and in fact made their first appearance in this drastic action," Simington said in a statement Monday. "I urge my fellow Commissioners to review SpaceX’s appeal and take prompt action to uphold our rules." Commissioner Brendan Carr has also been critical of the rejection of SpaceX's application (see 2208240049). The FCC's rejection of the SpaceX application, "lengthy review" of SpaceX’s application to launch more satellites, and NTIA’s move to exclude satellite from the BEAD program will combine to slow rural broadband access and "risk giving Chinese satellite internet providers, who have the full support of their government, a competitive advantage in serving the rest of the world," Simington said. “Any suggestion that Starlink is relatively expensive is unsupported by an apples-to-apples comparison because SpaceX, unlike other RDOF bidders, fully discloses its true cost to consumers,” the application for review said. “Changing the rules to undo a prior policy is grossly unfair” after SpaceX has already invested “thousands of employee hours and millions of dollars” into RDOF preparations, SpaceX said. The appeal also says the agency violated SpaceX’s Fifth Amendment due process clause, and improperly denied a request for waiver. The FCC should reverse the Wireline Bureau’s decision, grant SpaceX’s long-form application, and waive the deadline to submit evidence that SpaceX is an eligible telecommunications carrier in states where it hasn’t yet been so designated, the review application said. The FCC didn’t comment.

Ligado told the FCC Monday it won’t move forward at this time on a planned pilot deployment in Virginia. “Ligado has reached this decision to allow time for the company’s discussions with the” NTIA, “acting in its statutory role on behalf of the Executive Branch, to resolve in a fair and reasonable manner issues relating to the government’s ongoing use of Ligado’s terrestrial spectrum,” said a filing in docket 11-109. A National Academies of Sciences report released Friday (see 2209090032) found that while most GPS receivers won't face interference from Ligado’s 5G network, Iridium’s mobile satellite services used by the DOD would likely see “harmful interference.”

The FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC) and the Media Bureau will host a Digital Skills Gap Symposium and Town Hall starting at noon Sept. 22, said a public notice Monday. The virtual event is intended to “examine the issues and challenges that states and localities face in addressing the need for greater adoption of digital skills training,” the PN said. The symposium will include a panel discussion on the “Digital Equity Act (DEA), the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), and other efforts to address access to broadband,” the PN said. The event will also feature a town hall discussion on “how to build the case for equity and diversity as the foundation for eliminating America’s digital skills gap” and other topics related to providing access to digital skills training.

The FCC clarified that a draft NPRM on emergency alerts security circulated by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel for a vote by commissioners (see 2209070076) is separate from a second emergency alert NPRM circulated for a vote at the Sept. 29 open meeting (see 2209080057).

Ecobee is piloting a program with San Diego Gas & Electric that’s designed to help prevent power outages caused by extreme weather, sustained high heat and natural disasters, said the smart home company Friday. In an emergency, eligible customers in SDG&E’s service territory will be notified when slight, temporary temperature adjustments are needed on their ecobee smart thermostats to reduce demand and help avoid an outage. When an energy emergency is called, customers will be notified on their mobile app and thermostat screens of an upcoming temperature adjustment of one to four degrees and how long it will last, Ecobee said. Customers can opt out of the program. The thermostat will “pre-cool the home” before the temperature adjustment occurs to help maintain comfort, said the company.

FY 2022 regulatory fee payments must be received by the FCC no later than 11:59 p.m. EDT Sept. 28, said a Media Bureau public notice listed in Friday's Daily Digest. "While FY 2022 regulatory fees will not become effective until the rulemaking is published in the Federal Register, regulatees, at their own discretion, may submit payments at any time before the FY 2022 regulatory fees due date," the PN said. Fees must be paid using the commission registration system (CORES), since the FCC discontinued the former fee filer system in 2021, the PN said. Industry-specific guidance for fee payments can be found on the agency's regulatory fee webpage.

A draft FCC item on orbital debris planned for a vote at the agency’s Sept. 21 open meeting agenda (see 2209080057) is intended to “promote U.S. leadership in the space economy,” wrote FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a post Friday. “One of the biggest threats to the growth of our space economy is the risk of junking our skies with space debris that could knock out working satellites,” she said. The FCC also put out a news release on the orbital debris item Friday, in which Rosenworcel said the item “will mean more accountability and less risk of collisions that increase debris.” A draft order on requiring inmate calling services providers to increase access to relay services “also includes measures to inject more fairness in the system, such as a reduction in prison phone rates for ancillary service charges,” the post said. Rosenworcel also emphasized the accessibility benefits of an NRPM seeking comment on rules encouraging broadcasters and cable operators to send warnings using IP-based formats which can transmit richer information and “make sure the text shown with certain alerts is in ‘plain English.’” Rosenworcel described an item on changing references in FCC rules to analog television as “updating obsolete media rules.” The FCC “will vote on a proposal to clean up these rules and replace references to analog with references to digital,” the item said. Rosenworcel usually posts on upcoming items the day before they circulate.