FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel released a nine-part podcast series called “FIRSTS Conversations” about “leaders who cleared the path for others or launched an innovative technology that changed how we operate and live our modern day lives,” said an agency news release Wednesday. Rosenworcel is the FCC’s first female permanent chair. The debut episode’s guest is former FCC Chairman Bill Kennard, the first African American to head the agency. Other guests include documentarian Ken Burns, ITU Secretary General Doreen Bogdan-Martin and AOL founder Steve Case. “For every historic ‘first’ there are always people who came before them, who cleared the path and made it easier for others to follow and go even farther,” said Rosenworcel in the release. “That’s the virtuous cycle, and what this podcast speaker series aimed to uncover.” Rosenworcel previously hosted a podcast called Broadband Conversations from 2018 to 2020, on "women who are making a difference in our digital lives."

The FCC's 988 call georouting rule has a compliance deadline of Jan. 13 for nationwide commercial mobile radio service providers and Dec. 14, 2026, for non-nationwide providers (see 2411080002).

Nokia anticipates President-elect Donald Trump will make his tech priorities clear early in the new administration, Brian Hendricks, Nokia’s chief policy and government affairs officer, said in a statement on Monday. “It is critical that programs like rip-and-replace and the Affordable Connectivity Program, which require new funding, be part of the early focus,” Hendricks said: “Failure to address these programs will risk expanding the digital divide, particularly in rural parts of the country. Aggressive action to restore spectrum auction authority to the [FCC] and to prioritize critical bands for future wireless deployments will provide the needed opportunity to fund and stabilize these programs via auction proceeds.” Hendricks called on the administration to work with Congress.

Minus the end of the affordable connectivity program (ACP), EchoStar saw its wireless subscriber numbers growing in Q3, CEO Hamid Akhavan said Tuesday as the company announced Q3 financial results. EchoStar said it ended Q3 with 912,000 Hughesnet satellite broadband subscribers, and that it's adding subscribers as it offers high-speed unlimited data via its Jupiter 3 satellite. It finished the quarter with 7 million Boost wireless subscribers, and discounting ACP issues, it added 62,000 subscribers in Q3, it said. ACP-related subscriber churn crested in Q3, said Jeff Boggs, senior vice president-finance for EchoStar's Hughes. He said ACP should have significant impacts in Q4. Akhavan noted the proposed sale of Dish Network to DirecTV is expected to close in late 2025. If the DirecTV deal doesn't go through, then EchoStar still has "a path forward" using cash from other sources, he said. EchoStar ended Q3 with revenue of $3.9 billion, down from $4.1 billion in Q3 2023 due to fewer subscribers, it said. In addition, it ended Q3 with 8 million pay-TV subscribers -- 5.9 million Dish subscribers and 2.1 million Sling TV subscribers. It said its 5G voice service covers 208 million Americans, and it plans to expand coverage to Boston, Pittsburgh and Seattle in coming weeks, taking it to more than 216 million Americans covered by year's end. Akhavan said that while few devices were compatible with its terrestrial network at the start of the year, today it has a larger portfolio, including iPhones 15 and 16 and most Android devices. EchoStar expects it will notably grow its Boost Mobile market share in 2025. Asked about not joining the Mobile Satellite Services Association, Akhavan said it's largely a "spectrum availability partnership" and EchoStar's spectrum holdings are sufficient without needing to join.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other officials condemned Friday an alleged wave of hate texts following the presidential election's conclusion Tuesday night. The NAACP said Thursday it received reports of texts in multiple states, including Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania, from an unknown source, urging that recipients report to a plantation to pick cotton. The "messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday's election results,” NAACP CEO Derrick Johnson said. “These messages are unacceptable,” Rosenworcel said. “That’s why our Enforcement Bureau is already investigating and looking into them alongside federal and state law enforcement.” The FBI said Thursday night it’s “aware of the offensive and racist text messages sent to individuals around the country and is in contact with the Justice Department and other federal authorities on the matter.” Cloud-based mobile phone service provider TextNow believes at least some of the messages came through its service in what it called “a widespread, coordinated attack.” As “soon as we became aware, our Trust & Safety team acted quickly, rapidly disabling the related accounts in less than an hour,” the company said in a statement. President-elect Donald Trump’s team sought to distance itself from the text messages amid criticism from the NAACP and others that his campaign’s rhetoric prompted the onslaught. Trump’s “campaign has absolutely nothing to do with these text messages,” a spokesperson said in a statement. The Biden administration condemned “these hateful messages and anyone targeting Americans based on their ethnicity or background.” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) and New York AG Letitia James (D) both raised alarm bells about the text messages. “These messages are horrific, unacceptable, and will not be tolerated,” Brown said. “If you have been sent one of these texts, I am asking for you to please come forward and report it.” James called the messages “disgusting and unacceptable,” and also encouraged anyone “who has received an anonymous, threatening text message to report it to my office.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and other congressional Democrats also condemned the texts. There “are extremists in America who feel empowered” following Trump’s election to a second term to send the “racist, vile and threatening” messages, Jeffries said Friday. “We will not be intimidated by anyone.” House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York urged “a full investigation into the source of these despicable messages and call for the perpetrators of this hateful scheme to be held accountable for their actions.”

In response to a request for comment, the Wireless Infrastructure Association urged NTIA to focus on improving permitting processes and access to land as well as power if it wants to spur growth of data centers. NTIA said in the September RFC it’s seeking better understanding of data center issues related to the power grid, supply chain, workforce development and cybersecurity (see 2409040016). “Particularly relevant to the wireless industry is the deployment of neutral host and edge data centers” which “provide critical capacity and enable interconnection -- key drivers of the digital economy,” WIA said. Innovation at the edge “will help 5G networks realize their potential in high-bandwidth, low-latency communications,” the group said: “This will not only improve mobile broadband but unlock new technologies like augmented and virtual reality and bring new AI tools into peoples’ everyday lives.” Incompas members “consistently face delays in permitting and gaining access to the public rights-of-way when deploying broadband,” the group said. Incompas supports “increasing access to public rights-of-way, accelerating approval of permits, and asking state and local governments, utilities, and railroads to charge fees that are based only on their actual, objectively reasonable costs.” Incompas said the electric grid poses a challenge: “The electrical grid must be modernized to support this economic growth and ensure: 1) timely access to reliable energy for large customers, 2) utilities and grid operators move fast to build new carbon free generation, new transmission and modernize existing transmissions through [grid enhancing] technologies, and 3) utilities have the programs available for large customers to support their operations with new renewables and carbon-free electricity.” The Information Technology Industry Council called data centers the “infrastructure backbone that underpins today’s digital economy.” ITI said it’s critical that policymakers “have a comprehensive understanding of data center market dynamics, including the different data center types and sizes.” The group also stressed the importance of technology-neutral rules and speeding permitting. Data centers are “essential to our modern and distributed economy and are the foundation upon which our modern digital ecosystem is built, including cloud computing, IoT, AI, and many other virtual products and services,” ITI said: “They provide the necessary computing power and storage capacity to enable these innovations, making them an essential part of AI and emerging technology value chains.”

The FCC Enforcement Bureau held a meeting of government communications officials from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. Thursday to discuss communications security threats, an FCC news release said Friday. “The threats facing the communications sector are bountiful and know no territorial boundaries, therefore it is imperative that we work with our closest allies to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect our respective citizens and critical infrastructure,” said EB Chief Loyaan Egal in the release. The officials discussed “emerging security and enforcement trends in the communications sector related to national security, data protection, cybersecurity, and transnational fraud, as well as a greater shared commitment to cooperation and collaboration.” Officials from New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau, the U.K. Office of Communications and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada attended the event, the release said.

Missing in many spectrum policy discussions during events and conferences is a unified "spectrum voice for enterprise," technology analyst and founder of the U.K.’s Disruptive Analysis Dean Bubley wrote on LinkedIn. There should be an alliance of companies "like Boeing, John Deere, Walmart, Tesco, Marriott, Coca Cola, Shell and Johnson & Johnson that takes a collective stance on licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum," he noted in a post this week. Such companies "are at the forefront" of wireless connectivity, communications and sensing through use of public 4G and 5G networks, private 4G and 5G and wireless in their facilities, and specialized wireless applications such as microwave links and industrial mesh, he wrote. "They collectively see the need for, and relative benefits of, different spectrum regimes, and complex landscapes of service providers and vendors." Yet they are represented only indirectly. "There is no coordinated 'Enterprise Spectrum Advocacy' group, either to give the collective voice of business users at conferences, or to respond to initiatives such as FCC, NTIA, Ofcom or EU consultations and national spectrum strategies." Technology-specific industry associations often avoid discussing multi-technology systems, he added.

The FCC “is not in the business of regulating content, full stop,” said Commissioner Anna Gomez Tuesday in a speech on the dangers of disinformation at The Media Institute’s Free Speech Gala. “Mis- and disinformation cloud our view of reality and inhibit our ability to discern the truth,” said Gomez, adding that “regulatory options are limited” in combating the problem. Modern technology and the decentralization of news have made it easier for false stories to spread further, Gomez said. She noted the response to hurricanes Helene and Milton as a recent example of the harms of disinformation. “Unworthy news sources” spread rumors that “dissuaded survivors from seeking help, and weakened morale among our first responders.” Gomez said “preserving local media” is a possible antidote to misinformation, because it offers “community specific information in an easy-to-access, reliable format.” As the U.S. “contends with a growing frequency in weather-related disasters, it is imperative that we make preserving local media a priority.” During the event, The Media Institute honored former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley with a lifetime achievement award. In addition, it presented former America’s Public Television Stations CEO Patrick Butler with the American Horizon Award. Cahill Gordon Senior Counsel Floyd Abrams, who represented The New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case, received the Institute’s Free Speech award.

NextNav's FCC petition on a proposed terrestrial complement to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing services is "a strong step toward addressing" the U.S.' national security PNT risk, according to cybersecurity expert David Simpson. The former head of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau wrote Wednesday in Breaking Defense that a commission order establishing a ground-based PNT service category "would let the market introduce and sustain competitive solutions without the tail of a new federal program." Now Pamplin Business College Professor in Leadership and Cybersecurity at Virginia Tech, Simpson said that while the FCC is reviewing the record on the NextNav proposals, DOD and other agencies overseeing GPS should motivate a diverse mix of PNT solutions. NextNav provided partial support for a Simpson paper about the need for a terrestrial alternative for GPS PNT services (see 2409110035).