The Wireline Bureau has dismissed Sonic Telecom’s 2021 petition for reconsideration of portions of the FCC's unbundling network elements rules, said an order on reconsideration Friday. “We find that Sonic fails to show any material errors or omissions, raise any new or additional facts or arguments it could not have raised during the original proceeding, or provide any reason otherwise warranting reconsideration,” the order said. Sonic had argued that the FCC’s UNE rules were based on unsubstantiated predictions and untrustworthy data (see 2102090077). “Sonic’s Petition merely restates arguments the Commission has already rejected, and to the minimal extent it may raise new evidence or arguments, such evidence or arguments could have been raised earlier,” the bureau said.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington wants his colleagues to speak only English during FCC proceedings in the wake of a White House executive order declaring it as the U.S.’s official language, he said in a post on X Monday. The post seemed aimed at fellow FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who sometimes reads a Spanish version of her meeting statements. During last week’s FCC open meeting, Simington -- who was born and raised in Canada -- read out one of his statements in Romanian, seeming to mock Gomez.
The status of the FTC's "click to cancel" rule, which is being challenged by NCTA and others before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2411220029), is unclear under the new presidential administration, Venable wrote this week. New FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson voted against the rule when it was originally promulgated, and arguments that Commissioner Melissa Holyoak made in her dissent were seemingly echoed in the petitioners' brief before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to Venable. President Donald Trump's executive order requiring regulatory agency leaders to assess rules for potential rescission or modification "add[s] to the uncertainty of the rule's future," it said.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Thursday that staffing changes are coming to the FCC and that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is likely headed to the agency. Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez warned about the Donald Trump administration’s continuing moves against the federal workforce. Commissioners agreed on three wireless items (see 2502270042) and Calm Act rules at the meeting, as well as taking additional steps on robocalls.
New U.S. tariffs against China and weakening consumer demand will result in a slower market for PCs and tablets than originally forecast, IDC said Wednesday. Global PC volume is now expected to hit 273 million in 2025, a 3.7% increase over 2024, while tablet shipments are expected to shrink 0.8%, IDC said. It projects an anemic compound annual growth rate of 0.4% for PCs in 2025-29. “Price hikes stemming from tariffs in the US combined with subdued demand are leading to a negative impact within the largest market for PCs,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
A notice of inquiry on the upper C-band and an NPRM on a proposed AWS-3 auction saw calls for changes from the drafts that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr circulated. However, industry officials said they expected only limited tweaks, with a vote scheduled at Thursday's open meeting.
Rules for protecting GPS from mobile satellite service (MSS) operations in the L band work and don’t need to be revisited, according to satellite and direct-to-device (D2D) interests. But the GPS world is alarmed about the proliferation of D2D hardware in the band and what that could mean for adjacent-band GPS operations, according to comments posted Friday on Regulations.gov as NTIA solicited input on potential interference to the GPS L1 signal from L-band operations at 1610-1660.5 MHz (see 2412260003).
T-Mobile made its final written arguments this week at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit against a $80 million fine imposed by the FCC for allegedly not safeguarding data on customers' real-time locations. T-Mobile was also fined $12.2 million for violations by Sprint, which it later acquired. The FCC and the government defended the fines in January during the last weeks of President Joe Biden's administration (see 2501130061). Oral argument is scheduled for March 24.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.