The Amazon-backed Connect Everyone Coalition is pressing agencies including the FCC, DOD and Commerce and Transportation departments to do away with some of the duplicative regulatory approvals needed for space launch activity. In a letter to the agencies Tuesday, the coalition said the separate approvals necessary for launch authorization often involve "uncoordinated timelines and conflicting requirements." Space approvals also often require submitting nearly identical environmental assessments to multiple agencies, when there should be a shared environmental review, it argued. In addition, the group complained about safety reviews done by multiple agencies for launch range safety determinations and "a persistent lack of transparency around launch scheduling and delay decisions." Changes such as a transparent launch coordination mechanism and shared standards and full reciprocity for range safety determinations across federal agencies "will let operators build, lead, innovate and create value for the American people."
Ligado is seeking FCC Space Bureau approval to operate an L-band payload that would be placed on AST SpaceMobile's low earth orbit constellation. In a bureau application Monday, Ligado said the SkyTerra Next payload would provide 5G service to consumers in conjunction with the space-based mobile broadband to be provided by AST. AST would provide telemetry, tracking and control functions for SkyTerra Next, while Ligado would retain operational control of the payload itself, the filing said.
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) wants the FCC, Congress, the White House and DOJ to reject the Nexstar/Tegna deal, the group said Tuesday in a news release, which was highlighted in a separate release from fellow deal opponent Newsmax. “At a time when media bias is already undermining public trust, the last thing our nation needs is even greater consolidation of the television broadcast industry,” said ZOA National President Morton Klein.
NAB is shifting its staff to prioritize the development and deployment of the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS), an ATSC 3.0-based U.S. backup for GPS that's seen by broadcasters as an important justification for shifting U.S. consumers to 3.0. “By investing more resources in BPS, we are accelerating a technology that strengthens national resilience while creating meaningful long-term opportunities for our members,” said NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt in a release Tuesday.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau has canceled one notice of apparent liability and reached settlements with nine companies related to violations of the agency’s Reassigned Numbers Database (RND) rules, said several orders Monday. The nine settlements all involved companies that failed to provide timely information to the RND administrator on disconnected phone numbers, the orders said. Under the terms of the settlements, Claro Puerto Rico will pay $32,000, and Stratford Mutual, FiberHawk and Integrated Path will each pay $30,000. Point Broadband will pay a $27,000 settlement, while Data Network Solutions will pay $15,000, Salsgiver Telecom will pay $14,000, Palo Communications will pay $12,000 and Fort Mojave Telecommunications will pay $9,000. The bureau canceled a similar NAL against Communications Plus after finding that the company reported the disconnections, but through an affiliate.
The window to file FCC Form 855 certifications for hearing-aid rule compliance opens Jan. 2 and closes Feb. 2, said the Wireless Bureau in a public notice Monday. The FCC “requires wireless service providers to file FCC Form 855 certifications to ensure compliance with the Commission’s wireless hearing aid compatibility rules,” the reminder said. “Service providers who offer handset models for sale or use in the United States are required to annually file this form.”
Comments are due Jan. 8, replies Feb. 9, on a waiver petition from New Florence Telephone to allow the merger of four commonly owned study areas in Missouri, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice posted Tuesday in docket 96-45. The merging study areas are those of the New Florence Telephone Co., New London Telephone Co., Orchard Farm Telephone Co. and Stoutland Telephone Co. “Petitioners state that merging the study areas will provide more efficient operations, accounting, and regulatory compliance and will result in more operating funds to provide high-quality service,” the notice said.
Securus wants the FCC to extend the deadline for a requirement that prison-calling providers bill for video on a per-minute basis, said a waiver petition posted Tuesday in docket 23-62. Previous FCC orders have extended the deadline to April, but Securus now seeks a further delay until April 30, 2027, due to technical and operational challenges. The company is working on a new platform to accommodate the per-minute billing and other FCC policies but needs more time to complete it, the petition said. “Based on current progress and logistical realities, Securus projects that its tablet-based systems will be fully transitioned by April 2026, while terminal-based systems will require until April 2027 for completion.” Without an extension, “Securus would face the untenable choice of offering video calling services for free at a financial loss or discontinuing them entirely, both of which would harm incarcerated persons and their families,” the filing added. “Securus has committed to maintaining current per-session rates consistent with the previous waiver order, and Securus will comply with Commission rate caps once per-minute billing is implemented.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr condemned Free Press as a “radical group” in a post Monday on X after the organization issued a report on President Donald Trump’s “war on free speech,” which called Carr a “sycophant” willing to act against Trump’s critics. The report “analyzes how President Trump and his political enablers have worked to undermine and chill the most basic freedoms protected under the First Amendment,” Free Press said.
Countries all over the globe are competing to advance in the fields of technology, and the U.S. needs to be engaged internationally and to be constantly working to win that race, said FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty in remarks Tuesday at the International Institute of Communications' North America Digital Communications & Media Forum. Trusty’s speech focused on what she learned by speaking with communications regulators from around the world while recently representing the U.S. at the World Telecommunication Development Conference. “These conversations reinforced for me that the work we do at the FCC has implications far beyond our borders, and that staying engaged internationally is not optional, it is essential,” she said. “These global lessons are a wake-up call: U.S. leadership in communications policy is not guaranteed. Initiatives like Delete, Delete, Delete show we are taking steps to modernize our rules and procedures, but we must continue to act with intention to remain the global benchmark.”