UScellular agreed in a Monday filing that lawyers for Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) who represent the Rural Wireless Association can be considered “Outside Counsel of Record for RWA for the purposes of the Protective Order in this proceeding and that no further clarification as to their status is required at this time.” RWA has opposed T-Mobile’s proposed purchase of UScellular's wireless assets (see 2501290019). UScellular reported on a meeting that included FCC staff, T-Mobile representatives and Carri Bennet and others from WBD on the law firm’s status in the proceeding. Bennet acknowledged in the meeting that her title with RWA “has been changed from ‘General Counsel’ to ‘Outside General Counsel’ to further clarify her role,” said the filing in docket 24-286.
Wireless ISP Association representatives supported a draft notice of inquiry on the upper C band and an NPRM on issues related to an auction of AWS-3 spectrum in a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. Commissioners are scheduled to vote on both Thursday (see 2502060062). About the NOI, “terrestrial use and spectrum sharing may be possible in the band and may be deployable at lower power and more expeditiously in light of the proximity of the band to radio altimeters,” WISPA said in a filing Friday in docket 13-185. “The questions in the draft C-Band Notice of Inquiry will allow WISPA to address those points in the docket for that proceeding.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied Hilliary Acquisition’s request for a writ of mandamus seeking the return of $841,128.25 in down payments for 42 licenses when it was the high bidder during the 2020 citizens broadband radio service auction (see 2412110065).
Luminys on Monday disputed the FCC’s finding that the company was selling equipment from Dahua, which is on the agency's “covered list” of providers of unsecure gear (see 2502140040). Parts of the filing, in docket 25-85, were redacted. “The Commission should not revoke the equipment authorizations because Luminys made no false statements or representations,” Luminys said. “The equipment for which Luminys sought, and obtained, authorization is not ‘covered’ under the Commission’s rules, nor is any of the equipment described in these authorizations produced by an entity named on the Covered List.” The Public Safety Bureau’s “tentative determinations appear to be based purely on speculation, not evidence, and are wrong.”
The Communications Workers of America and Bandwidth separately opposed AT&T’s moves to close additional parts of its legacy copper network (see 2501310046). AT&T CEO John Stankey said in January that the carrier plans to file applications at the FCC to stop selling legacy products in about 1,300 wire centers, which is roughly a quarter of the AT&T footprint (see 2501270047). AT&T started the push during the last administration and is taking a more aggressive approach at the current FCC.
Free Press co-CEOs Jessica Gonzalez and Craig Aaron urged the Senate Commerce Committee to "refuse to ratify" President Donald Trump's FTC and FCC picks ahead of a Tuesday hearing with FTC nominee Mark Meador, a former staffer for Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and FCC nominee Olivia Trusty, who was an aide to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Gonzalez and Aaron said in a Monday blog that the committee should not act "unless and until the Trump administration reverses course, guarantees the independence of expert agencies, disavows any plans to remove sitting commissioners, and respects the separation of powers." They also urged the Senate Commerce Committee to "haul in" FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson to "answer for their actions before giving them even more power to abuse." The Trump administration is "threatening to remove sitting commissioners without cause, slashing budgets with abandon, and sacking staff without authority or due process," the co-CEOs said. "It’s a brazen abuse of executive power designed to settle political scores and undermine the long history of bipartisan deliberation and debate that informs decision-making at these essential agencies."
Anyone with a transaction before the FCC should "move with all deliberate speed" to identify and end "any invidious forms" of diversity, equity and inclusion discrimination at their company, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a Policyband interview published Monday. Asked about the Department of Government Efficiency auditing the FCC, Carr said the agency is "doing a soup-to-nuts review" of its multimillion-dollar contracts. "I'm confident there is a lot of fat at the FCC that we'll be able to trim." Carr said the FCC is "somewhat differently situated" from some other regulatory agencies -- the Communications Act doesn't include for-cause removal protection of FCC commissioners -- and it's "aligned with the policies" in the executive order directing the FCC and other federal agencies to submit for review all proposed and final regulatory actions to the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs before they appear in the Federal Register (see 2502180069).
Rules for protecting GPS from mobile satellite service (MSS) operations in the L band work and don’t need to be revisited, according to satellite and direct-to-device (D2D) interests. But the GPS world is alarmed about the proliferation of D2D hardware in the band and what that could mean for adjacent-band GPS operations, according to comments posted Friday on Regulations.gov as NTIA solicited input on potential interference to the GPS L1 signal from L-band operations at 1610-1660.5 MHz (see 2412260003).
Telecom and utility companies must engage in early communication and collaboration to ensure efficient and safe broadband deployment, industry leaders said Monday at NARUC's Winter Policy Summit. NARUC Telecom Committee members also voted unanimously to adopt two resolutions on utility demand response communication and on vandalism or theft of communications infrastructure.
An FCC advisory opinion on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act would be “a fool's errand” and should be “DOA,” Commissioner Anna Gomez said Sunday in a thread on X responding to a New York Post report that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is planning to act on 230 soon. “The FCC should not be in the business of controlling online speech,” Gomez said. “Congress and the courts must quickly step in to stop this unlawful power grab.”