The FCC’s order allowing geotargeted radio broadcasts let broadcasters “go after new revenue streams” and is “the dawn of new possibility for radio,” said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks in remarks at the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters Black Media Summit and Power of Urban Radio Forum. The order is “a game changer,” especially for “small and singleton owners that are working hard to stay on the air,” said Starks. Both the commissioner and NABOB were vocal supporters of the radio geotargeting order before it was approved unanimously in April. REC Networks and Press Communications targeted the order with petitions for reconsideration (see 2406210054). The FCC is working to wrap up the 2022 quadrennial review “as soon as we can,” said David Strickland, media adviser to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, in a panel discussion Thursday. Strickland declined to comment on the timing of the 2022 QR or say whether ongoing litigation over the 2018 QR could influence it.
The FCC’s February Telephone Consumer Protection Act consent order (see 2402160048) is effective April 11, said a notice in Friday’s Federal Register. The commission adopted rules “making it simpler for consumers to revoke consent to receive unwanted robocalls and robotexts,” said a Friday notice from the FCC: “Callers and texters must honor these optout requests in a timely manner.”
A six-year extension of the freeze of the FCC's federal-state jurisdictional separations of telecom costs and revenue is "appropriate," said four state members of the Federal-State Joint Board on Separations in a letter filed Friday in docket 80-246. The commission in July proposed extending the current freeze, set to expire Dec. 31 (see 2407020017).
FCC Connect2Health task force members will provide an update on maternal health and broadband mapping efforts during commissioners' open meeting Thursday. The task force will speak on "new, more extensive broadband and maternal health data sets" that will be added to the Mapping Broadband Health in America platform, said a news release Thursday (see 2306200074). The update will also "consolidate the chronic disease, opioid, and maternal health modules into one unified platform," the agency said.
FCC efforts to have 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline calls georouted to the crisis call center closest to the caller's location should be replicated for calls to the national toll-free poison control number, America’s Poison Centers (APC) said. In a docket 18-336 posting Friday, APC said routing calls to a poison control center based on area code, not physical location of the caller, can have "adverse and potentially life-threatening consequences." Poison control center specialists are experts in the poisonous plants and animals of their region and can provide tailored support, said the association, which represents 54 accredited poison control centers in the U.S. FCC commissioners will vote at their open meeting Thursday on a proposed 988 georouting requirement (see 2409250041).
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology on Friday approved tweaks that Continental Automotive wanted in a waiver the company received last year authorizing a tire pressure monitoring system operating in the 315 and 433 MHz bands (see 2312190080). The technical changes will "ensure clarity with respect to the equipment authorization process and implementation of the Order, and in light of the fact that Continental wishes to move forward now,” the company said in May when it sought the waiver (see 2405160024). “We modify two waiver conditions and include a new waiver condition that requires Continental’s device to minimize the amount of time that the device needs to complete the drive cycle calibration and permits shorter silent periods between transmissions for shorter drive cycles that occur prior to the full calibration of Continental’s [tire pressure] sensor,” OET said in an order in docket 22-382: “We find the modifications requested by Continental will provide additional clarity to the existing Waiver Order. Moreover, we agree with Continental that the revised waiver conditions are consistent with the existing record.”
CTIA representatives spoke with aides to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez about changes the group is seeking to the commission’s draft hearing-aid compatibility order (see 2410090051). The order is set for a commission vote Thursday (see 2409260047). “CTIA reiterated that its members have long been aligned with the goal of achieving 100 percent HAC and are working hard to introduce new and better wireless devices and services for all consumers, including those that use hearing devices,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-388.
The FCC continues getting advice supporting and opposing a proposal that would give the FirstNet Authority control of the 4.9 GHz band (see 2408160027). The Harvard Fire-Emergency Medical Services Department endorsed the proposal in a filing posted Friday in docket 07-100. “This action is essential to enhance public safety communications and ensure reliable, mission-critical support for first responders” and the FirstNet Authority “has proven it can effectively manage and deploy the public safety spectrum,” the department said. The Virginia Sheriffs' Association said the spectrum belongs “in the hands of sheriffs and other local entities who know best how to use it.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “remains supportive” of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) “and believes Republicans and Democrats should come together on a robust spectrum package to ensure the U.S. has a competitive edge for 5G, while delivering affordable internet to American families and securing bipartisan national security and innovation priorities,” a spokesperson emailed. S-4207 would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2029, and provide a vehicle for allocating funding for the commission’s lapsed affordable connectivity program and other telecom priorities. Lead sponsor Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is eyeing potentially attaching the measure to an end-of-year package amid attempts to resurrect it after it repeatedly stalled earlier this year (see 2409170066). Schumer’s continued support for S-4207 is important because there was uncertainty about whether he would back a push to attach it to year-end legislation or pivot to prioritize a version of the Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act (S-2238) that Senate Commerce amended in July to include funding for ACP and rip and replace (see 2408220041), lobbyists told us.
The Biden administration is moving forward on the national spectrum strategy, in some cases more quickly than is widely recognized, Shiva Goel, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, told the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas last week. Goel’s comments build on the remarks of NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson at MWC (see 2410090045). “We're hard at work already on lower 3 and 7 and 8 [GHz],” Goel said. “We're bringing lower 37 [GHz] to a close” and “18 GHz is in full swing already, and then there's everything else.” Goel said DOD, which is working with NTIA on the lower 3 GHz study, hasn’t been “secretive” about its “preference for a … solution” based on dynamic spectrum sharing. “We're supporting” DOD “in building a demo of that capability,” but “that doesn't mean we can't also collaborate on other options for the band.” The strategy’s research and development plan is in its final stages, he said. On staffing, “we're getting the agencies together to spot gaps and ways to fill them to make sure we have people in government able to do this work far into the future.” Goel continued: “Our spectrum problems aren't getting any easier.” The relationship between NTIA and the FCC “is as good as I've ever seen it,” said Ira Keltz, the commission’s new acting chief engineer. The No. 1 priority is the proposed spectrum pipeline and the FCC’s Spectrum Steering Team, which he co-chairs, is hard at work, Keltz said. “We've got plenty of staff at the commission completely engaged in all the activities that are going on.” The top priorities are the lower 3 and 7.8 GHz studies, but the FCC is also focused on 37 GHz, he said. “There's still a ways to go” on the strategy, said Will Johnson, Verizon senior vice president-federal regulatory and legal affairs, “but there [are] also things to celebrate.” The wireless industry knows it will need about 1,500 MHz of mid-band spectrum over the next 10 years, and the pipeline “still remains fairly uncertain,” Johnson said: “We know some bands that are being studied. … But in terms of knowing which bands are actually going to make their way all the way through to commercial use, to auction, we're pretty far from having that kind of clarity at this point.” Luciana Camargos, GSMA head of spectrum, called for more leadership from the U.S. During the World Radiocommunication Conference last year, the U.S. message was that it didn’t want international mobile telecommunications in the 6 GHz band, but it failed to offer alternatives, Camargos said. The U.S. “didn't even support the new agenda item” looking at 4, 7 and 15 GHz, she said: “To me, that's very relevant. … If you don't support looking forward, how can you lead on this?” Keltz said the FCC understands wireless industry concerns about a spectrum pipeline. "We need high-powered dedicated spectrum," he said: "I think we need a little of everything. ... We need to make sure that our unlicensed industry has spectrum they can use." CTIA and GSMA co-sponsor MWC.