Incompas is asking to add 30 days to what it called an "extremely short comment deadline" for public notices related to EchoStar's 5G network buildout and spectrum use. The notices raise "important and complex policy questions ... pertaining to the rights of licensees to their spectrum and the Commission’s authority to impinge upon those rights," it said in a time-extension motion posted Monday (docket 25-173). Both public notices -- about whether EchoStar is using the 2 GHz band for mobile satellite service consistent with its authorizations and about a proposed reconsideration of EchoStar's extended 5G network buildout deadlines -- have an initial comment deadline of May 27 (see 2505130003).

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said Friday at a policy forum that removing all minority-party commissioners would weaken the agency’s ability to defend its rules in court. “The Communications Act doesn't just require three commissioners for quorum,” she told the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Tech Freedom audience. “It requires that there will be one member of a minority party, and that, in and of itself, could weaken whatever defense that a future FCC may have if there is no such single minority party member.” The agency also wouldn’t be able to present evidence that it had considered dissenting opinions, making it harder for a one-party FCC to present itself as an expert agency, said Gomez and Tech Freedom President Berin Szoka.

ARRL, which represents amateur radio operators, opposed NextNav’s proposal to use lower 900 MHz spectrum for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) in reply comments on an FCC notice of inquiry (see 2505140017). Comments were posted this week in docket 25-110. “Many billions of unlicensed devices are in use to provide hundreds of applications and functionalities to the American public," and the numbers continue to grow, ARRL said: “These devices coexist with amateur radio operations in the 902-928 MHz band but they as well as amateur radio operations would be displaced if a 5G-like PNT service was authorized to use this spectrum.”

The White House’s pattern of removing dissenting officials from independent agencies is “vividly illustrative” of the administration’s fear and weakness, said FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez in a speech for The Media Institute Thursday. “Even when this administration holds so much power, it cannot tolerate disagreement or dissent,” Gomez said. “And if I’m removed from my seat on the commission, let it be said plainly: It wasn’t because I failed to do my job. It’s because I insisted on doing it." Congress has always intended for the FCC to be independent, she noted. During the creation of the FCC's predecessor Federal Radio Commission, Congress considered giving power over the airwaves to the commerce secretary, she said. That idea was struck down “specifically because Congress feared that a single individual, subject to political will, would possess too much control” over radio.

Bandwidth demand worldwide continues to climb, but that growth is slowing, TeleGeography analyst Alan Mauldin blogged this week. He said increasing bandwidth demand "seemed unstoppable for a long time," up 45% year over year in 2020. But in 2024 the growth was 29%, he said, with the biggest increase in Africa and the lowest in the relatively mature U.S./Canada. Despite the slowing annual growth rate, demand tripled between 2020 and 2024, surpassing 6.4 petabits per second, he said.

The biggest criticisms of BEAD -- its timeline and complexity of the grant-approval process -- were crafted to deliver timely benefits while still meeting statutory imperatives that originated through bipartisan consensus, former NTIA senior adviser Tim Stelzig wrote Wednesday. Although there has been little BEAD deployment work since the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act became law in late 2021, BEAD isn't a good example "of an outsized bureaucratic preference for process," despite some critics painting it that way, he said.

FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington wants the agency to immediately begin “a top-to-bottom review” of its enforcement process and foster an internal culture of “legal humility over expansive power,” he said in an op-ed published Wednesday in The Hill. Like the others in Simington’s recent blitz of opinion columns (see 2505090068 and 2505130050), the op-ed was credited to both Simington and his Chief of Staff Gavin Wax. Simington and Wax said the agency needs to reform its enforcement procedures to account for U.S. Supreme Court rulings such as Jarkesy v. SEC, which courts have interpreted as rendering the FCC’s ability to assess monetary forfeitures unconstitutional (see 2504180021). Simington previously vowed to dissent from all monetary forfeiture votes until the agency reviews its enforcement powers (see 2409060054).

Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday amplified a social media post from Gavin Wax, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington’s chief of staff, on improving American manufacturing and competing with China. “Important point by Gavin,” Vance wrote in support of Wax's post about making American-made tech products competitive globally. Vance chiming in to support Wax is the latest example of prominent figures connected with President Donald Trump’s administration weighing in on issues raised by Simington and Wax since the latter joined Simington’s staff late last month. Since then, the two have authored a string of co-bylined articles on mostly FCC-centric topics that nevertheless are drawing attention from powerful Republicans. Trump himself reposted Simington and Wax’s article on broadcasting network affiliate fees (see 2505020066), and Simington recently appeared on the shows of former lawmaker Matt Gaetz and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon to discuss his articles with Wax.

Given White House efforts to bring independent agencies under its control, it may be time to reconsider the FCC's structure, Free State Foundation President Randolph May wrote Monday. President Donald Trump's firing of two Democratic FTC commissioners and a Democratic National Labor Relations Board member is being challenged in court and likely will be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court, he said. If SCOTUS sides with the White House, Congress might want to change the FCC's structure and functions "to better comport with what may be the new constitutional reality" of previously independent agencies now under substantial executive branch control, May said. One potential option he cited would be to split FCC functions, with policymaking done by a single official in the executive branch, potentially in NTIA, and a multi-member commission retaining responsibility for holding adjudications and enforcement proceedings. That quasi-judicial function should help keep the commissioners insulated from executive branch interference, he said.

The FTC's "click-to-cancel" rule will take effect July 14, the agency said late Friday as it announced a 60-day delay of Wednesday's compliance deadline. The agency adopted the order on automatic subscription renewals in October (see 2410160032). It said the additional time, which was adopted 3-0, follows "a fresh assessment of the burdens that forcing compliance by [May 14] would impose." Marashlian & Donahue advertising and data privacy lawyer Susan Duarte wrote Monday that the new deadline applies to compliance with three specific areas: disclosure statements, consent requirements and cancellation requirements. She said the prohibition against misrepresenting material facts has been in effect since Jan. 19 and remains enforceable. NCTA is among parties challenging the click-to-cancel rule in court (see 2410240001).