Granting the FCC’s motion to transfer the consolidated challenges to the commission’s net neutrality order to the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit would “subvert” Congress’ preference for “dispersed regulatory challenges rather than specialized courts,” CTIA, USTelecom and eight other groups told the 6th Circuit in a joint opposition brief Monday (dockets 24-7000, 24-3449, 24-3450, 24-3497, 24-3507, 24-3508, 24-3510, 24-3511, 24-3517, 24-3519).
Expanding the reach of the citizens broadband radio service band via reworking the aggregate interference model (see 2406120027) opens the door to further significant CBRS operational changes, wireless and spectrum experts said Tuesday. They spoke during a CBRS seminar that the New America's Open Technology Institute sponsored. Preston Marshall, chairman of the OnGo Alliance, which promotes spectrum sharing, said that while the "CBRS 2.0" operational changes announced this month were uniformly beneficial to users, future "CBRS 3.0" discussions could start edging into areas, such as power levels, where there would be winners and losers. He said industry needs to come to a coherent, cohesive position to present to regulators rather than the government having to "arbitrate a food fight."
Public recriminations escalated Monday night and Tuesday after the Senate Commerce Committee yanked a planned committee vote on the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) for the fourth time (see 2406170066). The panel described Tuesday's markup as “canceled” but characterized previous situations as postponed. Senate Commerce planned a vote on a revised version of the measure (see 2406140062) Tuesday that the Commerce Department, DOD and the Joint Chiefs of Staff endorsed last week. Observers cited the finger-pointing to justify their doubts that there's a path forward for the measure or another major spectrum package during this Congress.
Sean Spivey, former senior policy adviser in NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management and also ex-FCC, joins Wilkinson Barker as a partner-telecom ... Tegna hires Artsy CEO Michael Steib as president-CEO and director, succeeding David Lougee retiring, effective Aug. 12; company also adds former Away President Catherine Dunleavy and X’s Denmark West to its board as independent directors ... Spectra7 announces the retirement of CEO Raouf Halim, with board Chair Ron Pasek becoming interim CEO ... Pax8 promotes global engineering lead Eric Stevens to chief AI officer ... Sangoma Technologies adds April Walker, ex-Salesforce vice president, to its board ... DigitalOcean cloud provider appoints Bratin Saha, former vice president-general manager, Amazon Web Services, as its chief product and technology officer.
Muon Space wants to add a third satellite to its authorization for a two-satellite non-geostationary orbit constellation. In an application with the FCC Space Bureau posted Monday, Muon said MuSat-4 will carry a global navigation satellite system reflectometry payload similar to MuSat-2 and -3, plus a new infrared sensor. The company said that while MuSat-2 is in orbit, -3 and -4 are scheduled for a Q1 2025 launch.
The FCC needs a solid threshold for accidental explosions that applies to all space operators, but the record lacks specific proposals for calculating or enforcing such a metric, SpaceX said Monday in docket 18-313, recapping meetings with the offices of the five commissioners. As such, the FCC should seek comment on methodologies that can make this transparent and ways of enforcing it, SpaceX said. It said the current record lacks much information about the appropriate method for calculating the probability of accidental explosions, so operators can assess compliance. A draft order on circulation proposes a cap on the probability that a satellite applicant suffers a debris-generating accidental explosion (see 2405290074).
New York state’s affordable internet law won’t be enforced for now, ISP associations said Monday. The industry groups won’t file a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc of a 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision upholding New York state’s Affordable Broadband Act, according to a Friday letter to the court from ACA Connects, CTIA, NTCA, USTelecom and the New York State Telecommunications Association. The 2nd Circuit ruled in April that federal law doesn’t preempt the 2021 New York law requiring $15 monthly plans with 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds for qualifying low-income households (see 2404260051). The 2nd Circuit issued its mandate on that decision Monday. While Friday’s letter to the court didn’t say why ISPs wouldn’t seek rehearing, the industry groups previously told the court they were working toward an agreement with the state that would make a rehearing petition unnecessary (see 2406060038). In a joint statement Monday, the associations said they agreed not to seek rehearing because Attorney General Letitia James (D) agreed to “suspend enforcement of this law while the courts consider the litigation in this case.” The ISP groups said they “continue to support state and federal measures that foster broadband affordability without requiring rate regulation.” While the groups won’t seek rehearing by the 2nd Circuit, they could still seek U.S. Supreme Court review by the end of July. However, the industry groups expect a 6th Circuit ruling before that deadline -- possibly in the next three weeks -- on the FCC’s order reclassifying broadband as a Title II service, said an industry lawyer involved in the appeals process. The 6th Circuit ruling would affect how ISPs proceed on their challenge to the New York law because the 2nd Circuit decision was based on broadband as Title I, the lawyer said. If the 6th Circuit stays the FCC order, preserving a Title I world, industry would likely appeal the 2nd Circuit decision to the Supreme Court, the source said. However, if there isn’t a stay and the Title II order takes effect, industry could instead file a fresh lawsuit at the district court challenging the New York law under the Title II regime, the attorney said. AG James agreed not to enforce the state law until Aug. 21 or 14 days after a potential 6th Circuit stay of the FCC order, the attorney said. New York’s AG office referred us to the New York Public Service Commission for comment. However, a PSC spokesperson said the commission doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry asked the FCC to keep rates for incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS) "as low as possible" (see 2406120059), according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 23-62. In a call with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the group said safety, security and surveillance costs should be excluded from the rates because those functions "are not the appropriate financial burden of incarcerated people and their families." UCC Media Justice also asked the commission to remove the 50-person average daily population threshold required to provide telecom relay service-related and point-to-point video obligations.
Presentations to the FCC's World Radio Conference Advisory Committee, including its subcommittees and working groups, as well as at WAC-sponsored roundtables and presentations between WAC members and FCC staff or commissioners, are exempt for ex parte purposes, the commission's Office of International Affairs said in a notice Monday. The notice also said if pending FCC proceedings and WAC issues overlap, the FCC "will not rely ... on any information submitted to the WAC ... or information WAC members conveyed to FCC staff or Commissioners unless that information is first placed in the record of the relevant proceeding."
Tribal officials asked about outreach, funding and data privacy connected with the FCC’s proposed missing and endangered persons (MEP) alert code during a virtual tribal consultation and listening session Monday (see 2405240043). The agency's Office of Native Affairs and Policy conducted the event. Speakers were broadly supportive of the MEP code but expressed concern about some of the proposal's details. Funding should go from the FCC directly to native groups so they can implement the new code, Sally Fineday of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe said. Reycita Billie, the Navajo Nation Police Department's missing and murdered indigenous people liaison, said the agency should focus on communicating with the public about the new code. “Public education is very important to our community members,” she said. Many members of the public aren’t clear about their options when a loved one is missing, she said. The FCC should consider privacy and data sovereignty issues when any information is collected or shared in connection with the MEP code, a speaker from Washington state said. “How are we ensuring that tribes maintain control of it, that they have access to it, have the ability to edit, delete or share as tribes see fit?” he asked. Michelle Beaudin, a council member for the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe in Wisconsin, said the FCC should also create MEP wireless emergency alerts. “I believe there's so many more people that have their phones versus the TV or radio,” she said.