FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Monday urged the Office of Management and Budget to reclassify 911 communicators as first responders in the federal employment classification system. The letter marks National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which is this week. “Our Nation’s 911 operators are among our most vital first responders,” the letter argues: “The professionals who take these calls to set emergency response in motion operate with extraordinary skill in a pressure-filled environment.” Rosenworcel noted her long-standing advocacy of reclassifying the status of 911 communicators (see 1908140017) and that many states have taken that step.
Viya updated the FCC on its work to harden its network in the U.S. Virgin Islands using federal funding (see 2306300024). Work on general hardening is ongoing, though parts were completed last year, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-143. Some of the data was redacted. “Some of the anticipated work for 2023 was pushed to 2024 so the total spending is less than funds received from July through December 2023,” Viya said: “Spending in 2024 will reflect both the remaining 2023 funds as well as the 2024 funding.”
The Open Technology Institute at New America urged the FCC to approve a rule change allowing fixed wireless use of the lower 12 GHz band, but with conditions. In a meeting with Wireless Bureau staff, OTI urged a tribal set aside. “The license rights to all or at least a substantial portion of the 500 megahertz on Tribal lands should be made freely available for broadband deployment at the request of Tribal authorities,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 20-443. The group also said unused spectrum in the band “should be authorized for opportunistic access on a non-interfering basis for fixed wireless services.”
Ookla raised concerns with FCC Broadband Data Task Force staff about problems entering data into the agency’s database. The company discussed concerns carriers and wireless industry groups have raised “about the rules and requirements that are currently preventing tests from third-party apps, including Speedtest by Ookla, from being utilized to capture data needed for challenging claimed coverage reported to the FCC and included on the mobile view of the National Broadband Map,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 20-32. Ookla noted the submission portal requires “fields that are not commonly in use by apps created by the private sector and may, in fact, be collected by only the FCC’s own speed test mobile application.” Ookla asked about “the need for these uncommon data fields in the collection process, the possibility that other applications, such as those from Ookla, may be able to capture the same information, as well as an interest to investigate whether these uncommon data points were necessary for the task force to fulfill its mission.”
The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition urged the FCC to take a cautious approach in making any changes to power spectral density rules for automated frequency coordination systems in the 6 GHz band, as sought by Broadcom and others. “To ensure transparency in future changes to AFC systems” the group asked the commission to “require operators making changes to their AFC to rerun the test vectors required by the Office of Engineering and Technology’s testing plan public notice and file a copy of the resulting report in the docket for public comment,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-352. The Broadcom letter “raises a crucial question about how changes to AFC systems will be made going forward,” the FWCC said: The OET public notice “did not specify what information would be necessary in future public notices regarding changes to an AFC” and the Broadcom letter “gives the Commission the opportunity to provide clarification on that question now.”
Incompas pushed back on CTIA's claims regarding some FCC-proposed rules for call labeling and blocking in a meeting with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff (see 2404080034). The group noted that the "lack of transparency into the call labeling and presentation practices that carriers and their analytics providers deploy is an increasing problem." FCC oversight of call labeling and blocking is necessary to ensure that "pay-to-play" business models "do not stymie nondiscriminatory, competitively neutral standardized solutions," Incompas said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 17-59. "Without greater accountability and transparency, competitive providers, their customers and end-users will be significantly disadvantaged," the group warned, asking the FCC to also "standardize the inclusion of rich call data."
A coalition of more than 50 small ISPs asked the FCC to investigate the "grossly inaccurate broadband speeds" reported by LTD Broadband to the commission's broadband data collection (BDC). The commission's recent enforcement action against Ohio's Jefferson County Cable TV for incorrect broadband location reporting "should serve as ample precedent for initiating enforcement actions against more egregious data reporting which is currently on the record," said the Accurate Broadband Data Alliance in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 19-195 (see 2403180063). The group argued that LTD and its subsidiary, GigFire, "continue to game the BDC" by "impugning the veracity of entities daring to file BDC challenges against the faulty data."
Possibly facing the end of the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP), the California Public Utilities Commission should quickly modify grant rules to ensure service stays affordable, said The Utility Reform Network in petitions Friday and Monday. “We don’t have the luxury of time here,” said TURN Telecom Policy Analyst Leo Fitzpatrick in an interview Monday. The state cable association slammed TURN’s proposals. But the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF), a group that has led efforts to sign up low-income Californians for ACP, supports having “another opportunity to discuss the imperative for California to have a back-up plan to replace the” federal program, said CEO Sunne Wright McPeak in an email Monday.
The satellite industry is divided over an FCC proposal to assess FY 2024 regulatory fees on authorized but not-yet operational satellites and to put a bigger portion of the satellite regulatory fee burden on the shoulders of non-geostationary orbit operators. Comments filed in dockets 24-85 and 24-86 also show pushback regarding regulatory fees specifically for in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) operations. Comments were due Friday on an NPRM adopted in March regarding regulatory fee changes for satellite and earth stations due to the agency reorganization that replaced the International Bureau with the Space Bureau and the Office of International Affairs (see 2403140060).
LAS VEGAS -- ATSC 3.0 is finally in a position to generate cash for TV stations and remains the industry’s hope, according to interviews with broadcasters and several 3.0 product announcements at NAB Show 2024. However, not everyone is convinced and even 3.0 supporters concede the transition still faces challenges. “We need a date certain” for the end of the FCC’s substantially similar requirements, said BitPath CEO John Hane. “If we had some relatively minor adjustments in the transition rules, a lot more stations would be converted.” “I’m sure it’s gonna pan out, it just won’t happen as fast as Americans like,” said Byron Allen, Allen Media CEO, in an interview.