Impulse Space is aiming to launch the Impulse-3 orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) later this year, it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application posted Monday. It said Impulse-3 -- its third OTV mission -- will deploy up to four third-party satellites and host six non-deployable payloads. The mission is also intended to demonstrate on-orbit maneuvering capabilities. Impulse-3 will operate in the S and X bands, the company added.
Saying Amazon gave no advance word of its plans to launch its first batch of Kuiper satellites Wednesday (see 2504020044), EchoStar's Hughes is asking for more time to submit the technical demonstration that the FCC requires, showing how Hughes will protect those non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites from interference from its Jupiter 3 satellite. In an FCC Space Bureau waiver request posted Monday, Hughes asked for 40 additional days. Hughes said a condition of Jupiter 3's license is that 60 days before the initial scheduled launch of a new U.S. NGSO fixed satellite service system, Hughes either has to complete coordination with that NGSO operator or submit the technical demonstration. Hughes and Amazon are in coordination discussions, the filing said, but the additional time will let Hughes either complete that coordination or file its technical demonstration.
The Q4 2024 inflation adjustment figure for cable operators using Form 1240 is 2.34%, said the FCC Media Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics in Monday's Daily Digest. In the year-ago quarter it was 1.63%.
Comments are due May 7, replies June 6, on NAB's February petition seeking a nationwide timeline for the ATSC 3.0 transition (see 2502260051), the FCC Media Bureau said in a public notice posted Monday in docket 16-142. In its petition, NAB suggested a February 2028 deadline for stations in the top 55 markets -- covering 70% of the U.S. population -- shifting to 3.0-only broadcasts. It also asked the FCC to require that all TV broadcast receivers include 3.0 tuners.
Nexstar is reportedly having its local stations run segments that urge viewers to contact the FCC and call for broadcast deregulation. The Desk reported Monday that the segments -- about agency Chairman Brendan Carr's "Delete Delete Delete" deregulatory agenda (see 2503120024) -- began running last week. They finish with a mention of a link to a Nexstar website that includes prewritten social media posts urging deregulation of broadcast-related rules. A Nexstar spokesperson emailed that the agency "has asked for interested parties and the public to assist it in identifying regulations that should be updated or eliminated to address what Chairman Carr has called a 'break-glass moment for America’s broadcasters.'" He said "that initiative is an important news story for local broadcasters, worthy of mention by the very newscasts and outlets that are under threat from the outdated regulations at issue."
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau on Monday delayed for a year some of the requirements of the agency's February 2024 Telephone Consumer Protection Act consent order (see 2402160048). Originally set to take effect Friday, the requirements were delayed until April 11, 2026.
The FCC on Monday announced lower prices to check the agency’s reassigned numbers database. The agency said it cut the costs of all existing subscription tiers by 20% and added two new tiers “to better meet industry needs.” The database is “designed to prevent a consumer from getting calls intended for someone who previously held their phone number,” it said: “Subscribers use the database to determine whether a telephone number may have been reassigned so they can avoid calling the wrong consumer.” The changes should “make it easier for callers to check large volumes of numbers before calling them, potentially reducing misdirected calls from reaching consumers.”
Anuvu is seeking a de novo review before the FCC's administrative law judge of a Wireless Bureau decision upholding a rejection of Anuvu's C-band relocation claims for reimbursement. In a docket 21-333 petition posted Monday, Anuvu said last month's bureau order upholding a C-band relocation payment clearinghouse decision that denied part of Anuvu's reimbursement claims doesn't acknowledge or address the substantive legal argument Anuvu raised.
The FCC Wireline Bureau denied petitions for reconsideration of agency rules for the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) program. The bureau clarified in response to a petition by Blooston Rural Carriers that the submission of cybersecurity plans is “an iterative process” that provides some flexibility in meeting requirements. The bureau rejected other requested changes.
The FCC on Monday granted a waiver of the one-year downward revision deadline to revise the 2023 FCC Form 499-A filed by CNET System and a waiver of the 45-day revision deadline for the May 2024 499-Q Granade filed. Both small VoIP providers, CNET is located in Wisconsin and Granade in Alabama. The FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of the Managing Director noted that the agency usually doesn’t approve such waivers.