The Alabama First Responders Wireless Commission (AFRWC) became the latest group opposing a Public Safety Spectrum Alliance push to give FirstNet access to the 4.9 GHz band. “The AFRWC appreciates the PSSA's efforts to preserve the 4.9 GHz band for public safety use but does not support the award of a nationwide license to the FirstNet Authority,” a filing posted Friday in docket 07-100 said. It said Alabama has 28 licenses that the FCC issued for public safety use. “AFRWC understands the Commission's goal for the 4.9 GHz band is to retain local control, use the band more, and preserve its public safety nature.”
Gogo Business Aviation said it doesn’t support or oppose a proposal that the FCC launch a rulemaking authorizing 5/5 MHz broadband deployments in the 900 MHz band, but if the FCC moves forward it should protect Gogo’s operations. The FCC recently took comment (see 2405030053). “If the Commission decides to move forward with adopting the requested notice of proposed rulemaking, it should incorporate the interference mitigation and remediation obligations proposed in Gogo BA’s recently filed comments,” said a filing last week in docket 24-99. The company supports its air-to-ground network traffic from aircraft through a network of some 260 ground stations in the U.S. and Canada, said the filing. “A major component of Gogo BA’s inflight service is maintaining consistent and reliable service links between ground stations and aircraft using a small amount of spectrum,” the filing said: Gogo’s ground stations “receive transmissions from aircraft via the 894-896 MHz band and transmit to aircraft via the 849-851 MHz band. Base stations receive transmissions from aircraft often at very low strengths due to the long transmission distances between aircraft and base stations.”
Wi-Fi Alliance representatives said 6 GHz deployments are going well but urged that the FCC address requests for waiver to permit automatic frequency coordination systems to take building entry loss into account “for a specific type of 'composite’ standard-power device that, by design, is restricted to operate only indoors.” The representatives met with aides to the five commissioners. In March, the Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment on the waiver. The 6 GHz standard-power device “ecosystem,” operating under AFC control, “is rapidly expanding and is already delivering connectivity benefits,” a filing posted Friday in docket 23-107 said. “We emphasized that the relief sought in these requests for waiver would expand the 6 GHz standard-power device capabilities to deliver connectivity benefits without raising the interference potential,” the alliance said.
The FCC's Emergency Connectivity Fund was to sunset on Sunday, the agency said in a public notice Friday in docket 21-93. All purchases needed to be made by then to be eligible for reimbursement; funding requests with a June 30 service delivery date need an Aug. 29 invoicing filing deadline.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel defended a March Further NPRM that bans bulk billing arrangements between ISPs and multi-dwelling unit (MDU) owners (see 2403050069). Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., prompted Rosenworcel's response. In a May 20 letter released Friday, the lawmaker wrote the proposed ban “threatens both the affordability and accessibility of essential digital services” because the practice enables “seniors, fixed-income individuals, and other residents to aggregate their purchasing power.” ISPs argue banning bulk billing will bring broadband bill shock and market instability (see 2405080043). In a June 10 letter, Rosenworcel said the FNPRM “has the potential to empower consumer choice and boost competition, as well as build on the agency’s ongoing efforts to improve broadband transparency.” She acknowledged the FCC in 2010 “found that these arrangements can predominately offer benefits to consumers,” but “a lot can change in 14 years and, as is true with many policies in the telecommunications sector, it is often in the public interest to reexamine long-standing policies to ensure they have kept up with changes in technology and the marketplace, especially when it comes to consumer protection and choice.” The FNPRM “provides an opportunity to build a record on” bulk billing “that reflects the consumer experience today, and that is why it is important to have the public weigh in on these issues,” Rosenworcel said.
ISP groups will voluntarily dismiss their lawsuit against Vermont’s net neutrality law, a Friday notice at the U.S. District Court of Vermont said. The groups are ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA, USTelecom and the New England Cable & Telecommunications Association (case 2:18-cv-00167-CR). Vermont’s law seemed in good shape following significant, late-April decisions by the FCC and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2405030057).
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a draft order that would require emergency alert system and wireless emergency alert participants to create and implement cybersecurity plans and broadcasters and cable companies to notify the FCC of EAS equipment defects within 24 hours of discovery. The draft rules would also require that EAS participants have contingency plans for delivering alerts. The order stems from an October 2022 NPRM on cybersecurity proposals for WEA and EAS, which drew industry criticisms that new cybersecurity rules would be overly burdensome and duplicative (see 2310300057). The draft order is “informed by stakeholder input” and “would reduce risks to communications networks, in keeping with a whole-of-government effort to establish cybersecurity requirements to support national security and public safety,” a release said. The item follows a recent trend at the agency of circulating controversial items without attaching them to open meeting agendas, thus keeping the draft version from being publicly released (see 2404010062).
The FCC’s rechartered Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council on Friday held the first meeting of its cycle at FCC headquarters. The meeting was organizational and offered little substance. CSRIC will focus on AI and 6G with three working groups (see 2406100047). And it will consider “how can we harness AI for good … while also preventing and mitigating harms associated with the use of AI,” Public Safety Bureau Chief Debra Jordan said. Another focus is next-generation 911, Jordan said. “In the future, consumers will have an increasingly wide range of wireless devices that can transmit 911 calls over a variety of networks -- you will examine how to best ensure people can call for help across these expanding platforms and options and in the next-generation 911 environment,” she said. Moreover, CSRIC will develop a plan “for more secure and reliable 6G networks and services that minimize risks,” she said. It feels like 5G is just getting started, “but we want to be forward-looking,” Jordan added. Sanford Williams, an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, said, AI “has swiftly transitioned from a futuristic concept to an integral part of our daily lives, from voice assistance … to advanced machine learning algorithms predicting consumer behavior.” Williams added, “AI is literally everywhere.” He played for CSRIC members the deepfake President Joe Biden political robocall that was featured during the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee Wednesday (see 2406260041). Williams noted that Biden’s executive order on AI (see 2310300056) delegated several tasks to the FCC, including examining the potential for AI “to improve spectrum management, increase the efficiency of non-Federal spectrum usage and expand opportunities for the sharing of non-Federal spectrum.” The order instructed the FCC to consider use of AI for improving network security, resiliency, and interoperability through next-generation technologies including self-healing networks, 6G, and open radio access networks, Williams said. FCC staff need help from industry experts in all CSRIC's areas of study, he said. In brief remarks, Rosenworcel thanked members for agreeing to serve on CSRIC. "It will be hard to surpass the last CSRIC’s work on 5G network security and mitigating the vulnerabilities of software in cloud services, but I think you’re up to the challenge,” Rosenworcel said. CSRIC co-Chair Billy Bob Brown from the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the world has never faced greater cyber risks. “I believe we face the greatest challenge of our generation -- an existential challenge -- but I also have hope.” CSRIC is expected to next meet Sept. 27.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court Friday rejected an FCC motion to move the net neutrality appeal to the D.C. Circuit (see 2406240027). “When considering a motion to transfer a multi-circuit petition, we give considerable weight to our selection in the lottery,” the court said in docket 24-7000. “That lottery system would not mean much if a party disappointed by the luck of the draw could transfer the case to its preferred forum.” The case doesn’t present any of the “unusual circumstances requiring transfer,” the order said. Eleven petitions for review were filed in seven circuits, the court said. “All but one of the petitioners oppose transfer,” it said: “The D.C. Circuit has some familiarity with the legal classification of broadband through its consideration of prior FCC orders. But the FCC’s vacillating positions on the proper classification of broadband demonstrate that the prior orders do not represent the staggered implementation of a single undertaking.”
The commercial space industry widely objects to the FCC's proposed "object-years" approach for space safety, with numerous operators in comments last week calling it ineffective and more than one deriding it as "simplistic" (docket 18-313). Those comments were part of a record refresh in the FCC's orbital debris mitigation docket (see 2405020048). The FCC's object-years proposal would cap at 100 the number of years failed satellites in a constellation could remain in orbit. It has placed 100 object-years conditions on several non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellations in the past year (see 2406120006).