Industry groups are backing calls that would refine the FCC's challenge processes for the national broadband map and broadband serviceable location fabric, they said in reply comments posted Wednesday in docket 19-195 (see 2402200073). Many seek changes that would improve the challenge process for mobile service and increase transparency in how disputes are adjudicated within the commission.
The Senate reconfirmed Democratic FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and approved Republican commission nominees Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak Thursday night on voice votes, setting the body up to soon return to a 3-2 Democratic majority. The commission hasn't had any Republican members since former Commissioner Christine Wilson departed in March 2023. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., lifted his hold on Ferguson earlier Thursday after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted for Hawley’s Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act (S-3853). Ferguson, Virginia's solicitor general, is a former McConnell aide. The chamber also unanimously confirmed FCC inspector general nominee Fara Damelin, setting up the watchdog office to have its first permanent leader since Congress made it independent of the agency in 2018.
Many small and mid-sized internet service providers (ISP) have doubts that they will participate widely if at all in the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. At ACA Connects' annual summit Wednesday in Washington, President Grant Spellmeyer said members are concerned "about where BEAD is headed" on project requirements and conditions. "Places like Pennsylvania have got some troubling provisions that are slowing members down," he said. "I think you're going to see wildly disparate results across the 50 states." One ISP that operates in multiple states told us it's leaning away from participating in the states with particularly onerous conditions.
Meagan Foster, former chief of staff for Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and former staffer at NTCA and USTelecom, joins Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies as senior principal with tech focus … Cable One elevates Ken Johnson to chief operating officer ... Metronet promotes Joe Salerno to senior director-business development ... Ericsson promotes Rebecca Rohr to chief compliance officer, succeeding Jan Sprafke, departing “to pursue other opportunities” … FuboTV adds Neil Glat, Sportfive, also former NFL, to its board ... CommentSold, video commerce platform, hires Filip Vítek, ex-Flaconi, as executive vice president-AI and data ... Incompas creates AI Center with MLC Strategies’ Mignon Clyburn, former FCC commissioner; Colin Crowell, The Blue Owl Group managing director; Rob Hale, Granite Telecomm CEO; Milo Medin, Google vice president-access and wireless services; and Robert Robbins, University of Arizona president, as advisers.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks should ask the Media Bureau to develop a fuller record on the FM nonduplication rules before restoring them (see 2402270019), NAB said during an ex parte meeting with an aide to Starks last week, according to a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-310. The agency should “pause” action on a circulated reconsideration order because three years have passed since the rules were eliminated, the filing said. “The benefit of this significant passage of time is that the Commission can actually collect and analyze information to better understand whether, and in what circumstances, broadcasters are taking advantage of the rule’s elimination,” NAB said.
The legal battle over the FCC’s 2018 quadrennial review order appears headed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation randomly selected that circuit from the three where petitions for review were filed, said a consolidation order Tuesday (see 2402250001). The 8th Circuit was the venue for an appeal filed by Zimmer Radio. The other possible circuits in the lottery were the 5th and 11th, where appeals were filed by Nexstar and Beasley Media, respectively. All previous QR challenges were decided by a panel in the 3rd Circuit, but after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision, that panel no longer has jurisdiction in the matter. The 5th, 8th and 11th circuits are seen as having conservative leanings, while the 3rd Circuit is considered more favorable to parties seeking to uphold regulations. Parties in the case could still seek to have it moved to a different circuit, but attorneys familiar with appellate procedure told us that rarely occurs. With the circuit for the case decided, it's likely that more challenges to the order will be filed, including an anticipated one from NAB, attorneys told us. Only circuits where appeals were filed in the 10 days after the order appeared in the Federal Register are added to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s lottery.
Florida could soon join other states that designate mobile phone providers as eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) for the federal Lifeline program. Florida's House voted 113-0 for SB-478, which previously received unanimous Senate support (see 2402210055). If signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), the bill would immediately transfer wireless ETC designation powers from the FCC to the Florida Public Service Commission.
Representatives of MidWave Wireless spoke with staff of all the FCC commissioners about the 1.4 GHz band and FCC's supplemental coverage from space framework draft order (see 2402220059), set for a March 14 commissioner vote. “MidWave holds all licenses for the 1.4 GHz band (1390-1395 MHz and 1432-1435 MHz) across all Geographic Independent Areas,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-65. “MidWave is presently focused on developing productive flexible use services to support a range of potential services including public safety and utility management, and will ensure those services protect the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service.”
The Georgia Department of Transportation supports a 5G Automotive Association petition (see 2106030075) asking the FCC to reduce by 20 dB the permitted level of unwanted emissions from the unlicensed services that share the 5.9 GHz band. The 5GAA is looking to protect cellular vehicle-to-everything operations from unlicensed use of the band (see 2402290042). “As 5GAA’s Petition highlights, the unwanted emissions levels that the FCC adopted for unlicensed services that neighbor C-V2X in the 5.9 GHz spectrum band place C-V2X’s benefits at risk by subjecting the technology to harmful interference,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-138.
The FCC Office of Communications Business Opportunities Tuesday issued a small-entity compliance guide explaining FCC rules for the 76-81 GHz band. Commissioners approved an order 3-0 in July 2017 expanding the 76-77 GHz spectrum allocation for vehicular radars to include the entire 76-81 GHz band and transitioning automotive radars out of the 24 GHz band (see 1707130056). The FCC “established an efficient regulatory framework for radar applications operating in the ... band, while also promoting more effective use of spectrum, fostering technological innovation, and providing a consistent set of technical rules and policies for vehicular radars and airport operations areas radars operating within the band,” the guide says.