The FCC should amend rules so broadcasters can use software in place of the physical emergency alert system (EAS) equipment currently required, said NAB in a petition for rulemaking Monday. The FCC put NAB's petition out for public comment Wednesday, and comments are due May 2. Under the NAB proposal, using the software in lieu of physical EAS boxes would be voluntary, and the software would need to be able to operate if internet or cloud connectivity is interrupted. The petition stems from a proposal NAB made in 2022 (see 2306020064), which the Federal Emergency Management Agency endorsed in 2024 (see 2407050021). “Given that our proposal has been pending now for over two years, NAB respectfully requests expedited consideration of this Petition,” NAB said.
As the spectrum wars continue, WifiForward released a study Wednesday that found Wi-Fi was responsible for more than 7 million U.S. jobs in 2023. It projected that the figure would grow to more than 13 million by 2027 and 21 million by 2032. “This growth is driven by significant direct employment derived from the economic value of Wi-Fi, coupled with substantial indirect employment from upstream supply chains and a Wi-Fi-facilitated boost in consumer spending,” the analysis said. Telecom Advisory Services wrote the study.
A representative of the Open Technology Institute at New America warned an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr against higher power limits and lower out-of-band emissions (OOBE) levels in the citizens broadband radio service band (see 2503130049), said a filing posted Wednesday. “With more than 400,000 base stations deployed by more than 1,000 operators for a wide variety of use cases, it would be fatally disruptive to accede to the demands of a small subset of users to raise power to a level that will inevitably increase interference and reduce channel availability for most other users, especially [general authorized access] users who have just recently built out the vast majority of [CBRS deployments] in reliance on the Commission’s rules,” Michael Calabrese said in the filing in docket 17-258. That is especially true for rural and small communities where hundreds of wireless ISPs “have relied on the Commission’s CBRS rules to invest in equipment sold by [original equipment manufacturers] such as Cambium Networks and Tarana Wireless to offer more affordable fixed wireless broadband services.”
The FCC must follow the same designated entity (DE) rules in the reauction of AWS-3 as it followed in the original 2014 auction, Dish Network parent EchoStar told the agency in comments this week on an auction procedures NPRM (see 2504010055). EchoStar hinted at a legal challenge if the FCC changes the rules. Two Dish-controlled DEs, Northstar and SNR, defaulted on winning bids in the auction, and EchoStar and the DEs “reasonably could be subject to a deficiency payment” if the auction underperforms, said a filing Tuesday in docket 25-70.
The FCC should reform and refocus its annual reports on broadband availability required by Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act, the Phoenix Center said in an analysis released Wednesday. Historically, the FCC’s Section 706 reports “have been plagued by partisan interpretations and have failed to address the core issues behind broadband deployment gaps,” the center said in a separate news release. The FCC hasn’t created consistent definitions of when a deployment timeline is “reasonable” and “timely,” as required by the statute, and what actions should be taken when deployment doesn’t meet those requirements, the Phoenix Center said.
Free State Foundation President Randolph May said Wednesday that Verizon is correct and the FCC should ignore the Coalition for IP Transition's arguments urging conditions on Verizon’s buy of Frontier (see 2504010070). “The Coalition doesn't identify any specific harms arising from the merger,” May blogged: “Under prevailing agency precedents (even if sometimes breached to achieve pro-regulatory ends), merger conditions may only be imposed to remedy transaction-specific harms.” May noted that “on its face,” the coalition’s filing “is addressed to matters pertaining to the entire voice services market.”
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington expects an extension of the categories of equipment that can receive the cyber trust mark, a more empowered NTIA under the current administration, and an FCC “one-stop shop” for space company permitting, he said Wednesday at the Information Technology Industry Council’s Intersect 2025 summit. “I think the emphasis that you're going to see within the commission specifically is an emphasis on greatly streamlining the licensing procedure,” he said. The FCC is “internally working on” creating “some sort of a one-stop shop where we can consolidate the process of getting to space and creating an interface that's usable” for a wide variety of companies. He said it’s not clear if that one-stop shop would ultimately be part of the FCC, but the agency is taking on the job of “figuring it out.”
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New lawsuits are marked with a *.
Lawyers for the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society said Wednesday that groups defending the USF had a good day last week, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in the Consumers' Research case (see 2503260061). They spoke during a SHLB webinar.
The FCC should use a still-open 2017 proceeding to eliminate the national ownership cap, NAB said in a letter to the agency Wednesday. The rule bars any single TV broadcaster from owning stations that, as a group, reach more than 39% of the total number of U.S. TV households. “This outmoded rule prevents broadcasters -- but not any other video service providers -- from competing for audiences and vital advertising revenues across the county,” NAB said.