Ethan Lucarelli, 42, first chief of the FCC Office of International Affairs, died Monday of undisclosed causes. An Alexandria, Virginia, resident, Lucarelli joined the FCC in 2020, holding positions in the Wireless Bureau and chairwoman’s office before assuming his most recent position in 2023. Prior to the FCC, Lucarelli was director-regulatory and public policy at Inmarsat and an associate at Wiley. Since 2012, he was an adjunct lecturer at George Washington University Law School. Lucarelli was a key FCC official at the World Radiocommunication Conference last year in Dubai (see 2310270047). Lucarelli's death leaves the International Affairs Office even more shorthanded. Recently, Nese Guendelsberger, one of its deputy chiefs, was tapped in an acting capacity as an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks (see 2404250030). “The FCC family is deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and friend, Ethan Lucarelli,” an FCC spokesperson wrote in an email: “Over his years in private practice and public service, Ethan earned a reputation for his intelligence, honesty, dependability, and sensitivity. … He was open-minded, sincere, and valued the opinions of those who worked with him.” The loss “will be felt by all of us at the Commission and around the world who had the pleasure of working with him.” Survivors include his wife, Victoria Correa; mother, Diane Eubanks; father, Joseph; and siblings, Matthew and Melissa. Visitation is scheduled for May 25, 2-5 p.m., at Elmwood Chapel, 11300 W. 97th Lane, St. John, Indiana. Donations are being accepted for a scholarship in his name benefiting George Washington University Law School students participating in moot court competitions.
Qualcomm representatives discussed the company’s support of proposed FCC rules allowing unmanned aircraft use of the 5030-5091 MHz band, meeting with aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington. Qualcomm previously met with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on an order before commissioners (see 2405080032). Qualcomm discussed “the anticipated explosive growth of low-flying UA operations” and “ensuring that aircraft (particularly small UAs and, in the future, air taxis) can avoid in-flight collisions with other aircraft, infrastructure, and other objects.” The filing was made Tuesday in docket 22-323.
The National Sheriffs’ Association met with aides to all the FCC commissioners, except Anna Gomez, on the group’s opposition to giving FirstNet use of the 4.9 GHz band through a sharing agreement (see 2401190067). “Sheriffs are the primary law enforcement users of the 4.9 GHz band,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 07-100. Allowing FirstNet onto 4.9 GHz spectrum "would turn over the band to FirstNet’s partner, AT&T, to serve both its public safety and commercial wireless consumers,” the NSA said.
A petition challenging FCC equipment testing rules should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and standing, the agency said in its respondent brief Monday (docket 23-1311) in the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit. Petitioners iFixit, Public Resource and Make Community allege the FCC violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it amended rules incorporating four new equipment testing standards, and did so without the proper notice and comment protocol (see 2403280002). Their petition asks the D.C. Circuit to remand the rules to the FCC for what they contend should be a proper rulemaking (see 2311090002). But in seeking review, the petitioners don’t address the suitability of updating the standards, the FCC’s brief said. Instead, they contend that by incorporating the standards in the rules by reference to their availability elsewhere, the commission violated the notice-and-comment requirements of the APA, and undermined the public interest in making law available to the public, it said. In its brief, the FCC argued that incorporation by reference “is a longstanding practice that allows an agency to refer, in the text of a published rule, to material available elsewhere instead of republishing that material in the rule itself.” In addition, the FCC said the petitioners aren’t labs engaged in testing RF-emitting equipment. Moreover, they haven’t identified any interest that the rules proposed and adopted by the commission would affect. The petitioners’ challenge fails even if the D.C. Circuit “were to reach the merits of their arguments,” the brief said, arguing the FCC provided the public sufficient notice and an opportunity to comment in the rulemaking. The agency also complied with the law governing incorporation by reference by ensuring that the standards were reasonably available to the class of persons affected, said the brief. That’s “all that the law requires,” it added. Accordingly, the petition for review should be dismissed, it said.
Qualcomm remains hopeful the FCC will approve final rules this year for cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) in the 5.9 GHz band, but the technology is moving forward in the interim, with the agency approving more than 50 waivers already, John Kuzin, Qualcomm vice president-spectrum policy and regulatory counsel, said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Qualcomm is a longtime proponent of the technology (see 1801220024).
All three 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges hearing oral argument Wednesday on Gray Television’s appeal of a $518,000 FCC forfeiture order seemed skeptical of the agency’s rationale for the penalty amount but split on Gray’s arguments against the FCC’s authority over deals for TV station network affiliation.
The FCC will address "additional measures to combat emerging security challenges of the digital age" during the commissioners' open meeting June 6, said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a note Wednesday. Commissioners will consider a proposal requiring that ISPs comply with new rules concerning border gateway protocol (BGP) security and a pilot program supporting cybersecurity services for E-rate participants. Also on the agenda is a proposal that would change existing bank rating standards for high-cost programs and updates to the commission's low-power television rules.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announces as co-leaders of new Spectrum Steering Team Susan Mort, deputy chief-Wireless Bureau, and Ira Keltz, deputy chief-Office of Engineering and Technology; OET Legal Adviser Krista Witanowski becomes chief of staff (see 2405140027) … Open Geospatial Consortium taps Peter Rabley, co-founder of the data trust nonprofit Place, as CEO ... FleishmanHillard rehires Scott Radcliffe from Apple as global director-cybersecurity; he previously served as FleishmanHillard’s senior global data privacy and security expert before leading Apple’s cybersecurity communications.
The FCC should fundamentally change its relationship with broadcasting, provide more flexibility for the ATSC 3.0 transition, and not allow broadcasting to decline as newspapers have, Commissioner Brendan Carr said Tuesday. Speaking at the Radio and Television Summit of the Americas, Carr referenced The Washington Post slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” The FCC “may be the one flipping out the light” through recent actions that discourage investment in broadcasting, he said. For example, Carr mentioned the Standard General/Tegna deal and the proposed enforcement action against Nexstar and Mission related to their local marketing agreement for WPIX New York. The FCC is “going down the path of imposing enforcement -- fines -- against broadcasters doing exactly what they told us they were going to do,” Carr said. The agency has allowed wireless companies to sunset and transition to new wireless technologies and should do the same for broadcasters on ATSC 3.0, he said.
Alaska Telecom Association representatives emphasized to the FCC the importance of the Alaska Connect Fund to improving mobile wireless service in the state and other issues. The representatives met with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington. “We urged the Commission to quickly move forward with the Alaska Connect Fund to provide needed certainty to carriers and the consumers they serve in the state,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. USF support is “essential to make service available and affordable in Alaska and the Alaska Connect Fund can build on past successes,” the group said.