Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky met with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Apple’s alleged blocking of messaging app Beeper Mini (see 2402280076). “Interoperability and interconnection are core [Communications Act] Title II requirements with a long pedigree,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 08-7. “The first enumerated power of the Commission obligates common carriers to interconnect with each other,” Beeper said. Public Knowledge and Reset.tech representatives also attended the meeting.
Blue Stream Fiber raised questions about the "timing and need" of the FCC's proposed ban on bulk billing arrangements for broadband in apartment buildings in meetings with Wireline Bureau staff, with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, and with an aide to Commissioner Anna Gomez (see 2403050069). The company said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-142 that bulk billing "only works to provide high quality internet services at affordable prices where all residents in a community share the cost associated with providing the service." Blue Stream Fiber also asked the FCC to seek comment on "the benefits of bulk billing arrangements" rather than "tentatively conclude that they should be broadly banned."
The Bank Policy Institute raised "serious concerns" about the FCC's use of the Weiss Bank's safety rating for programs that require support recipients to obtain a letter of credit. "By relying on Weiss ratings in its regulations, the FCC effectively deputizes the organization to determine which banks may and may not provide letters of credit to carriers that participate in FCC programs," the group said, but Weiss "does not demonstrate the qualifications necessary for this responsibility." The group said in a letter posted Thursday in docket 17-182 that the Weiss rating system's methodology is "opaque" and the organization "appears to lack sufficient resources to adequately assess all of the institutions it purports to rate." It asked the FCC to eliminate the requirement, noting Weiss "regularly promotes crypto assets as an alternative to traditional banks on its official website."
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr on Thursday slammed the agency's draft order that would restore net neutrality regulations (see 2404040064). In a new statement, Carr said reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title II telecom service is "a solution that doesn't work to a problem that doesn't exist." He also pushed back on claims that Title II reclassification is necessary for public safety. The 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire in Santa Clara County, California, which Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has cited as justification for net neutrality, "has nothing to do with the FCC's Title II net neutrality rules," Carr said, noting the fire department "purchased a data-limited plan that cost less than an unlimited data plan" and experienced a speed reduction "as outlined in its plan" when the department reached its plan limit (see 2404080068). The federal government "already has ample authority to advance its law enforcement goals without Title II" and the FCC has "identified no gap in national security that Title II is necessary to fill," Carr said.
Some Democrats warned they might join Republicans opposing a California digital equity bill when it reaches the Assembly floor. At a livestreamed hearing Wednesday, the Assembly Communications Committee voted 7-3, with one member not voting, to advance AB-2239 to the Judiciary Committee. The bill would codify in state law the FCC’s definition of digital discrimination (see 2402080068).
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Brett Guthrie (Ky.) are highlighting reaching a deal on an expansive spectrum legislative package as a top communications policy priority if they succeed retiring Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) as the panel's lead Republican in the next Congress. Both contenders separately told us their spectrum focus wouldn’t waver if Rodgers and other congressional leaders reach a deal this year that restores the FCC’s lapsed auction authority and other airwaves-related priorities. Talks on spectrum legislation have largely stalled since early 2023, but Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others are shopping new proposals (see 2403210063).
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the unopposed motion of the American Television Alliance of low-power stations to intervene as of right in defense of the FCC’s Dec. 26 quadrennial review order against the four consolidated petitions challenging the order for allegedly violating Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act (see 2404080002), said a signed clerk’s order Wednesday. The consolidated petitions pending in the 8th Circuit are from Zimmer Radio (docket 24-1380), Beasley Media Group (docket 24-1480), NAB (docket 24-1493) and Nexstar Media Group (docket 24-1516).
Affordable connectivity program providers will be reimbursed up to $14 for providing the benefit to nontribal households next month, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Tuesday in docket 21-450 (see 2403040077). ISPs will also be reimbursed up to $35 for serving tribal households and up to $47 for connected devices.
The FCC Wireless Bureau Wednesday denied a waiver request by Lincoln County, Maine, to operate a travelers’ information station (TIS) that deploys equipment not certified for Part 90 use, using AM radio spectrum. “Since the County did not include an engineering analysis in its … request, we cannot determine whether operation of the proposed transmitter at its maximum output power of 500 watts would interfere with incumbent AM broadcast stations,” the bureau said. The bureau also denied a similar request by Waldo County, Maine. The county argues it's “a coastal jurisdiction and is susceptible to severe summer and winter storms, in the form of blizzards, nor-easters, ice storms, tropical storms and hurricanes,” and it “can experience out-of-control forest fires that can burn into neighborhoods and cut off escape routes,” the bureau said: “Though these circumstances may be factual, and though [we] do not downplay the severity of such threats, we find that these do not constitute unique or unusual circumstances, as these circumstances could apply to other areas of the country."
The FCC should make inventory spectrum available for free to “non-dominant” carriers to promote competition, EchoStar, the parent of Dish Wireless, told the FCC (see 2404090045). “Non-incumbent carriers (more specifically, every carrier other than AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon) should have a ‘right of first refusal’ to all Inventory Spectrum,” EchoStar said. The company also urged the FCC to address the lower 12 GHz band, as advocated by the 12 GHz for 5G Coalition (see 2312270045): “Substantial evidence in the record shows that fixed 5G services can provide broadband to tens of millions of Americans, while fully protecting existing non-geostationary orbit Fixed-Satellite Service and Direct Broadcast Satellite customers.” In another filing this week in docket 24-72, electric utilities said the approaches the FCC is examining don’t provide the certainty they need. “Currently, utilities have very few options for accessing spectrum -- particularly spectrum with the certainty provided by licensed exclusive-use -- and those limited options are increasingly insufficient in bandwidth,” they said. “The ability to access Inventory Spectrum presents one potential solution to the problem of spectrum availability.” The filing was signed by the Edison Electric Institute, the Utilities Technology Council, the Utility Broadband Alliance, FirstEnergy, Southern California Edison and the Southern Co. The Blooston Group of small and rural carriers said the best approach would be site-based licensing, which “would provide a simpler and lower cost way to promote access to spectrum in rural areas, and by entrepreneurs and smaller operators.” Third-party coordinators and licensee-to-licensee coordination “could be relied upon to minimize harmful interference between operators,” Blooston said. NCTA said the Lower 3, 7, Lower 37 and 12.7 GHz bands would be “perfectly situated -- both spectrally and technologically” for licensed-shared and unlicensed spectrum access frameworks. “A coexistence-based approach in each band would allow for efficient and cost-effective spectrum use by a diverse set of users, offer the fastest method of putting this spectrum in the hands of businesses and consumers, and enable federal and non-federal incumbents to continue providing critical services without disruption,” NCTA said.