Big telecom companies differed with rural telcos on how much the Nebraska Public Service Commission should rely on new FCC broadband data for Nebraska USF (NUSF) high-cost distributions. The PSC posted comments Monday on short-term issues in a comprehensive USF review opened Aug. 29 (see 2308290044).
The Senate confirmed FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr to new five-year terms Saturday, providing stability for the agency and assuring a 3-2 Democratic-controlled commission through the end of the current administration. Two big, contentious items are already in the pipeline -- a net neutrality NPRM at the commissioners' Oct. 19 open meeting and a Nov. 15 statutory deadline to issue digital discrimination rules, with a commission meeting also scheduled for that day. If the Senate hadn't acted, Starks would have had to leave in January and the FCC would have been back to a 2-2 split between Democrats and Republicans.
Most commenters want the FCC to use a nonexclusive licensing approach for the 42 GHz band, they said in reply comments posted Monday and last week in docket 23-158. Among the major carriers, only T-Mobile filed comments (see 2308310053). Commenters also urged the FCC to approve a similar regime for the lower 37 GHz band. Commissioners approved 4-0 an NPRM in June asking about three potential approaches in the band -- nationwide nonexclusive licensing, site-based licensing and technology-based licensing (see 2306080042).
Broadband experts raised concerns about the affordability requirements for middle-income households through NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program, speaking during an American Enterprise Institute event Monday. Some said imposing pricing requirements and the FCC's efforts to reclassify broadband as a Title II service could hurt the BEAD program's deployment goals (see 2309280084).
By 2035, someone might be killed or injured every other year by falling debris from SpaceX's Starlink satellites, the FAA said last week in a congressionally mandated study of the reentry risks posed by low earth orbit (LEO) megaconstellations. The FAA said that estimate comes from projections of Starlink's constellation growth size, and the 28,000 fragments expected to survive reentry each year. "If SpaceX is correct in reporting zero surviving debris ... the rise in reentry risk is minimal over the current risk," it said. The report focused on Starlink because of an Aerospace Corp. technical study indicating more than 85% of the expected risk to people on the ground and aviation in 2035 is projected to come from that particularly large constellation, the agency said. To have regulatory oversight of LEO reentry issues, the agency could pursue a rulemaking to amend its payload review process, the study said. But the FAA wouldn't go that route if the FCC or Commerce started regulating debris impacts from reentering satellite constellations, it said. The FAA said its regulatory reach is also limited since its authority doesn't cover payloads launched outside the U.S. by noncitizens or entities not organized in the U.S.
Eutelsat closed on its all-stock takeover of OneWeb, following Eutelsat shareholder approval, it said Friday. OneWeb will be a Eutelsat subsidiary, it said. Eutelsat said its geostationary constellation paired with OneWeb's low earth orbit constellation -- set to offer global coverage by year's end -- opens up various fixed and mobile connectivity markets and applications. "We can address a wider range of customer requirements and provide hybrid connectivity services where they are required worldwide," CEO Eva Berneke said. "The Eutelsat-OneWeb combination has given us the scale, financial strength, and business proposition to capitalise on the significant opportunity.” The deal is considered unlikely to face big regulatory headwinds in the U.S. (see 2207250041) and got FCC Space Bureau approval last month (see 2308040051).
The waiver requests in Lockheed Martin's pending application for a lunar surface and lunar orbit communications network (see 2303160002) run contrary to the shared and equitable frequency use needed for lunar operations, Astrolab told the FCC Space Bureau last week. "Rather than hastily granting broad spectrum rights to any one party ahead of broader government and international decisions," the FCC should follow spectrum management principles such as clear interference protections for shared use of lunar frequencies and neutral authorizations and sharing of spectrum among lunar systems and services, it said. Astrolab says it's developing a multipurpose rover to operate semi-autonomously on the moon, with its first commercial mission expected in 2026. It said it intends to seek FCC approval for the rover's radio system. It also urged FCC coordination of its approaches to Lockheed Martin and other commercial operations on the moon with other federal agencies' lunar activities and planning.
Two notices published Friday follow up on an FCC April order and NPRM on decisions of the World Radiocommunication Conferences in 2015 and 2019. One Federal Register notice “makes non-substantive, editorial revisions to the Commission’s Table of Frequency Allocations,” effective Oct. 30. A second notice seeks comment on the NPRM (see 2104260053). Comments are due Oct. 30, replies Nov. 28, in docket 23-120.
The FCC Wireless Bureau granted a temporary waiver of rules for volume control testing requirements sought by the ATIS Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force (see 2304060053). “Under the terms of the time-limited waiver we grant today, a handset may be certified as hearing aid-compatible under the 2019 ANSI Standard if it meets the volume control testing requirements described in this Order as well as all other aspects of the 2019 ANSI Stand,” the bureau said Friday. The order lays out the technical standards devices still must meet to be certified. “By taking these steps, we ensure that when the exclusive use transition period ends” Dec. 5 “new handset models can be certified as hearing aid-compatible using the 2019 ANSI Standard as modified by the conditions established in this Order,” the bureau said: “Our actions allow consumers with hearing loss who use hearing aids or cochlear implants to benefit from wider availability of handsets offering improved hearing aid compatibility under the 2019 ANSI Standard’s radio frequency interference and inductive coupling requirements.”
An order making changes to rules for the FCC’s equipment authorization program, approved 4-0 by commissioners in March (see 2303150026), is effective Oct. 30, said a Friday Federal Register notice. The order updates FCC rules to incorporate “four new and updated standards that are integral to equipment testing,” all from ANSI or the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission.