House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other congressional leaders were optimistic Tuesday they can avoid a partial government shutdown that would otherwise shutter the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service and other agencies when an existing continuing resolution expires Friday night. A second CR covering the FCC, FTC, NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and the DOJ Antitrust Division lasts through March 8 (see 2401180057). Johnson told reporters after a meeting with President Joe Biden and Capitol Hill leaders he’s “very optimistic” that Congress can keep government running. “We believe that we can get to agreement on these issues and prevent a government shutdown, and that’s our first responsibility,” he said. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., agreed. “We can’t shut the government down,” Schumer said, but to do that now “means we need CRs” rather than a “minibus” appropriations package Johnson recently floated.
SpaceX didn't comment Tuesday on FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's recent explanation that the Wireless Bureau rejected Starlink's application for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) money in 2022 (see 2208100050) because it didn't meet “program requirements,” including “difficulty meeting the basic uplink and downlink speed standards for the program.” Republicans escalated criticism of the FCC after the commission upheld the Wireline Bureau's decision in December (see 2312130027). All RDOF applicants “were subject to the same rules -- the smallest carriers and largest carriers alike,” Rosenworcel told House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida and 11 other Republicans in letters released Friday night. The GOP lawmakers pressed the issue in January. The Wireline Bureau's finding about Starlink's speed issues “has since been confirmed by the company’s most recent publicly available performance data,” Rosenworcel said: The bureau found Starlink “showed download speeds from 53-65 Mbps and upload speeds from 7-10 Mbps. As a result, the Commission concluded that Starlink would not be reasonably capable of meeting its performance obligations across the significantly larger customer base and service area it had committed to serving as a result of its winning RDOF bids, which would put even greater pressure on its network.” Starlink’s “proposal would have required every subscriber to purchase a $600 dish to simply start to receive the service,” she said. “No other services supported by the program included such high start-up costs on rural consumers.” The FCC's “review indicated that in more than 6,501 census blocks where Starlink sought support from the RDOF program were not unserved rural households, but actually parking lots, traffic medians, and locations that already have service like the Chicago Loop and Newark International Airport,” Rosenworcel said: “When we requested that Starlink no longer seek funding for these locations, the company refused.”
E-rate participants and advocates welcomed the FCC's proposed cybersecurity pilot program for schools and libraries in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 23-234 (see 2311130062). A coalition of education associations and school districts from 42 states and Puerto Rico urged the FCC to move forward, saying public schools are "now the industry most targeted by ransomware attacks" because they are "data-rich environments that often lack advanced resources and technology." The FCC should update the definition of firewalls under category two services to include "industry standard firewalls that are necessary to counter the most common, yet devastating, cyberattacks," the coalition said. The group also backed the schools and libraries cybersecurity pilot program, asking the FCC to "adequately fund the pilot and to shorten its duration so that entities can immediately strengthen their cybersecurity defenses by next school year." Establish an 18-month timeline for the pilot program, said E-rate compliance consulting firm Kellogg & Sovereign. Consider an "open data model" so the public, researchers, program participants and other stakeholders can "independently analyze and use data to support informed decision-making." The American Library Association noted that smaller libraries lack staff time and expertise to apply for the program and urged the FCC to require the Universal Service Administrative Co. to conduct outreach. ALA backed a one-year timeline for the pilot, saying the proposed three-year timeline "just adds unnecessary delay in the urgent need to make cybersecurity tools eligible for E-rate support."
The FCC’s rechartered Technological Advisory Council will meet March 19, starting at 10 a.m., at FCC headquarters, the commission said Tuesday. Dean Brenner, a former executive at Qualcomm, returns as chair. The FCC announced in August TAC would be relaunched, with the first meeting then expected by the end of last year (see 2308240051). TAC last met in August (see 2308170057). “The TAC will consider and advise the Commission on topics such as continued efforts at looking beyond 5G advanced as 6G begins to develop ... to facilitate U.S. leadership; studying advanced spectrum sharing techniques, including the implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the utilization and administration of spectrum; and other emerging technologies,” the FCC said.
Multichannel video programming distributors and broadcasters disagree on the FCC's proposed requirement of mandatory reporting of channel blackouts due to failed retransmission consent talks. MVPDs back the requirement, while broadcasters oppose it, according to docket 23-427 comments this week. The commissioners adopted the blackout reporting NPRM in December (see 2312210061).
The wireless industry disputed the need for additional requirements to block texts, including extending requirements to originating providers and requiring use of “reasonable analytics” to block texts likely to be illegal, in response to a December Further NPRM (see 2312130019). But other groups said the FCC should consider additional rules and can’t rely on the wireless industry's voluntary efforts. Comments were posted this week in docket 21-402.
Sen. Joe Manchin told us Tuesday he supports Congress allocating funding for the FCC's affordable connectivity program (ACP). "The money's there," but congressional leaders must "get the bill on the floor," the West Virginia Democrat said after a speech at the NARUC meeting in Washington. Later, a NARUC panel said states should learn from Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) problems when setting rules for internet service providers to participate in the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program.
Ligado is fighting efforts by Iridium and aviation associations to file an amicus brief supporting dismissal of Ligado litigation against the U.S. government regarding the company's planned L-band use (see 2402120009). In a U.S. Court of Federal Claims opposition Friday (docket 1:23-cv-01797), Ligado said it would be improper for Iridium to participate as an amicus for the defense since Iridium "is not a friend of this Court [but] is a friend (and business partner) of a party -- the United States Government." Ligado said Iridium "is merely another arm of the United States Government in this matter, parroting the Government’s arguments with interests that are perfectly aligned." Ligado said Iridium's disputing of FCC findings and facts alleged in the complaint is irrelevant for now, as at the current stage of the litigation the court must accept as true the allegations in Ligado's complaint. Ligado said Iridium's advancement of legal arguments infringes on DOJ's "statutorily mandated exclusive authority and responsibility to litigate on behalf of the United States."
The FCC won a Technology & Engineering Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the broadcast incentive auction, an agency news release said Monday. “The Incentive Auction provided significant benefits to broadcasters, wireless carriers, consumers and American taxpayers, and it is very gratifying that the Academy has acknowledged the creativity and success of the FCC’s effort by conveying this award,” said Jean Kiddoo, former chair of the Incentive Auction Task Force, in the release.
The Wireless ISP Association praised the FCC's Friday order approving the launch of automated frequency coordination providers in the 6 GHz band (see 2402230050). “WISPA expects that this newly expanded marketplace will bring unimagined internet capacity quickly, flexibly and cost-effectively to places once thought ‘off the map,’” the group said: “This will enable connection of more Americans to life-bettering broadband.” WifiForward also praised the order. The databases launched “build upon a long line of innovations that the FCC has authorized to promote coexistence of different applications, which means better, faster connectivity for consumers, economic value and greater peace of mind for incumbent operators,” it said.