Mike O'Rielly, former FCC commissioner, joins Information Technology and Innovation Foundation board ... Keith Woods retiring as NPR's chief diversity officer, effective May 2 … California Senate confirms Matthew Baker's reappointment to California Public Utilities Commission.
Globalstar's expanded contract with Apple (see 2411010003) will fund its next satellite constellation, CEO Paul Jacobs told analysts Thursday. In an application earlier this month with the FCC Space Bureau, Globalstar said its planned next-generation low earth orbit mobile satellite service deployment, with a price tag of more than $1 billion for the satellites and ground infrastructure, would augment its connectivity in areas where there's no terrestrial coverage. It said that C-3 system would have greater signal strength and multiple satellites overhead, meaning better in-building and in-vehicle connectivity for users. The constellation will consist of 48 satellites and six orbiting spares, enabling new IoT and consumer-based offerings. Globalstar said its existing direct-to-device SOS emergency messaging service to iPhones is available in the U.S., Canada, 12 European countries, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Apple’s September release of iOS 18 enabled satellite-delivered two-way messaging in the U.S. and Canada between users, it said. When asked about a deployment timeline, Jacobs didn't comment.
The full FCC approved two notices of apparent liability against Florida pirate broadcasters proposing a total of just more than $385,000 in penalties, according to NALs and a release issued Friday. The NALs were each approved 3-1, with Commissioner Nathan Simington dissenting. Simington said in September that he will dissent from all proceedings involving monetary forfeitures until the FCC responds to the U.S. Supreme Court’s SEC v. Jarkesy decision (see 2409060054). The agency proposed penalties of $325,322 for Abdias Datis for operating an unauthorized station in Miami and $60,000 against Aaron Streeter over a station in Miami Gardens. The agency previously approved a $120,000 forfeiture against Datis in September for operating a station in Miami under the same name, “Unique FM.” FCC agents found the station operating in November 2024 and as recently as last month (see 2409260026). The FCC doesn’t have the authority to collect forfeitures on its own and relies on local U.S. attorneys to pursue collection. Streeter was operating a station called “Da Pound FM” that was found by FCC agents in March 2024, the release said. Streeter told the FCC then he would cease broadcasting but was found doing so again last month. “The FCC will not tolerate unlicensed radio broadcasting. It’s that simple,” said FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in the release. “Licensed radio stations have invested time and money into their operations and are relied on by the listening public for news, entertainment, and even lifesaving warnings. Pirate operations break the law and get in the way of these important services.”
FailSafe offers technology that can help identify callers who try but fail to get through to 911, the company told the FCC Friday. The company said it provides “the Intelligent Signaling Network data that accompanies every wireless, landline and [IP] call into actionable 911 alerts.” Its “methodology takes the regulatory spotlight off recalcitrant carriers, which frankly, never wanted the 911 reporting job in the first place,” said a filing in docket 15-80. “Instead it focuses on people affected, rather than estimates based solely on carrier performance.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s letter to Verizon concerning its diversity practices (see 2502270072) -- which referenced its pending purchase of Frontier -- sets “a dangerous precedent,” FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said in a statement Friday. “I strongly oppose conflating policy agendas with an unrelated transaction review. This is even more troubling given that the pleading cycle for this transaction has closed,” Starks said. “Leveraging transaction reviews in this fashion [will] only chill investment when it is sorely needed.”
The FCC posted Friday its notice of inquiry concerning the upper C band and the NPRM asking questions in preparation for an AWS-3 auction, both of which commissioners approved 4-0 on Thursday (see 2502270042). As indicated during the meeting, the NPRM now contains a section on a possible tribal priority window that wasn’t proposed in the draft.
CTIA President Meredith Baker welcomed FCC approval Thursday of a notice of inquiry on the upper C band (see 2502270042). “This is the kind of swift action we need on spectrum in order to meet skyrocketing consumer demands for wireless data and to secure our global technology leadership,” Baker said: “Other countries have allocated significantly more licensed mid-band spectrum for 5G services, jeopardizing our economic competitiveness abroad. Making Upper C-band available for 5G services will strengthen our nation’s wireless networks, drive innovation, and create jobs at home.” Baker also called on Congress to renew FCC auction authority.
T-Mobile filed a heavily redacted further response to a series of questions the FCC posed in December about the company’s proposed buy of “substantially all” of UScellular’s wireless operations, including some of its spectrum, in a deal valued at $4.4 billion (see 2412270031). In response to questions on deployment incentives, T-Mobile told the FCC it doesn’t “provide incentives for consumers to subscribe to its fixed wireless service offerings.” The carrier “focuses on providing consumers with reliable service and extended value across a variety of strongly competitive subscription offerings in the nationwide in-home broadband marketplace.” T-Mobile noted that it’s now the nation’s “fifth largest and fastest-growing” ISP. Most data was redacted from the filing last week in docket 24-286.
Google's GU Holdings has received a green light from the FCC Office of International Affairs to build and operate a non-common carrier submarine cable system linking California and Guam to Taiwan and the Philippines, the agency said Friday. The cable system, TPU, will have a total capacity of about 260 Tbps, it said. GU -- which had previously received special temporary authority to construct and test the portions of the cable system in U.S. territory -- plans to begin offering commercial service on TPU in May.
Permitting difficulties and inaccurate Form 477 data have hampered SCI Broadband's efforts to meet its rural deployment opportunity fund buildout obligations, according to CEO Ron Savage. In a docket 10-90 filing posted Friday recapping a meeting with the FCC, Minnesota's SCI said it was bringing the issues to the agency's attention before potentially seeking a waiver from serving certain census blocks where it received RDOF funding.