As part of quantum computing company IonQ's planned purchase of Capella Space (see 2505080048), they're asking the FCC to sign off on transfer of Capella's licenses to IonQ. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Wednesday, the companies said the deal also needs NOAA approval. They said Capella has FCC authorizations to launch and operate 15 satellites and has four in orbit now. The Capella acquisition is intended to strengthen IonQ’s position in quantum networking technologies to be used to build the quantum internet and related infrastructure for the space economy, the application said.
The appellate court decision that the FCC's 2024 equal employment opportunity data collection requirement for broadcasters was outside the agency's statutory authority (see 2505190044) makes some proposed FCC actions "inherently suspect," Wilkinson Barker broadcast lawyer David Oxenford wrote Wednesday. The proposed rules regarding the use of AI-generated content in political advertising (see 2407250046) also relied heavily on the agency's supposed public interest authority, Oxenford said. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has talked about holding broadcasters liable for not meeting some public interest standard, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision could suggest that standard doesn't give the FCC authority to establish broadcast codes of conduct, except in areas specifically enumerated by statute, he said. "In light of this decision, there will no doubt be much evaluation of the text of the FCC’s statutory authority to see what rules and what proposals may be on shaky ground."
T-Mobile representatives met with FCC staffers to discuss the difficulty of calculating eligible and supported households for the purposes of fixed wireless access as the agency considers the company’s proposed buy of wireless assets from UScellular. Parts of the filing, posted Wednesday in docket 24-286, were redacted.
Since any FCC action on EchoStar's use of the 2 GHz band could affect the future of open radio access network deployments, more time to comment on the relevant public notices is warranted, a collection of interest groups said Tuesday (docket 25-173). Public Knowledge, the Open Technology Institute at New America, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance backed Incompas' call to add 30 days to the comment deadline for the FCC's EchoStar public notices (see 2505190056). The groups said the extra time is also justified because the FCC must consider the effect on EchoStar's Dish Network subscribers if the commission makes it impossible for Dish to expand its 5G network to the point of viability.
Talton again asked the FCC to approve its petition seeking confidential treatment of its request for a waiver of the agency's rules capping the rates for audio and video for incarcerated people (see 2505090012). Talton, which serves U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, responded this week to a filing from Stephen Raher, principal of Amalgamated Policy Research (AMR) and an advocate of lowering calling rates for prisoners and their families.
The FCC opposed a push by incarcerated persons communications services (IPCS) provider Securus to move the appeal of the FCC’s prison-calling order from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to the 5th Circuit (see 2501280053). The FCC questioned the rationale for the move in a brief posted Wednesday (docket 24-8028).
AT&T reached an agreement with Lumen to buy substantially all the company’s mass markets fiber business for $5.75 billion in cash, AT&T said Wednesday. The business line has about 1 million fiber customers and reaches more than 4 million locations across 11 U.S. states, AT&T said. It said it hopes to close the deal in the second half of this year.
The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the Network Equipment Transparency Act (S-503) on a unanimous voice vote Wednesday. S-503 would direct the FCC to report every two years on the effect of gear availability on the deployment of broadband and other communications services as part of the commission’s assessment of the state of the communications marketplace. The panel also advanced Commerce Department general counsel nominee Pierre Gentin 15-13, with all Democratic senators reflecting their opposition during his confirmation hearing to President Donald Trump’s move to block Digital Equity Act funding (see 2505090051).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Oklahoma is aiming to bring high-speed internet to 95% of its residents by 2028 in a major push to close the digital divide, said Oklahoma Broadband Office Executive Director Mike Sanders during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday. Sanders outlined how the state is using a mix of federal funding, tribal partnerships and strategic planning to expand fiber coverage (see 2505050060). "We'll be north of that" 95% mark, Sanders said, "but it's going to take all the other federal programs and the flexibility for our state to achieve that."