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.
T-Mobile representatives explained in a meeting with FCC staffers its stance on exempting 5G network slicing from proposed net neutrality rules (see 2401310046). “T-Mobile emphasized that it is not asking the Commission to create a wholesale exemption from open internet rules for services powered by 5G network slicing,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-320. But some services that network slicing supports “are so specialized and distinct from general-purpose broadband” that they warrant updating the commission’s list of examples of non-broadband internet access services, T-Mobile said. T-Mobile cited as examples massive machine-type communications that support the IoT and ultra-reliable and low-latency communications supporting mission-critical services. “Updating the Commission’s examples of non-BIAS data services to reflect these technologies will give the industry greater certainty and help foster investment and innovation in these new service offerings,” the carrier said.
Supplemental coverage from space applications should show how those deployments would support 911 call and text routing to the geographically appropriate public safety answering point with sufficient location information, Intrado said. In a meeting with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington's office recapped in a docket 22-271 filing Monday, company officials said some SCS 911 calls and texts will need to be routed to a nationwide 911 relay call center that can retrieve the location from the handset or ask the user verbally for the location and the nature of the emergency, they said.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation called on regulators to rethink their spectrum sharing approach, refocusing on a top tier providing licenses for full-power use of a band, with reliable access at all times. “The dichotomy between dynamic spectrum sharing and exclusive licensing is a false one,” ITIF said in a report released Monday: “Reliable, full-power access is possible within a dynamic sharing framework if the FCC auctions super-priority rights to commercial users.” ITIF cited the model provided by the citizens broadband radio service band, which offered three tiers, with priority access licenses (PALs) sold in an FCC auction, with lesser rights than the incumbent Navy systems the rules are designed to protect. “We should not confuse the particulars of that band with the principles of the dynamic sharing system,” the report said. “In a band with significantly fewer incumbency interests, rights amenable to proponents of exclusive, shared, and unlicensed spectrum can coexist within a dynamic sharing system with only a minor alteration: Instead of just protecting incumbents and auctioning PALs that are secondary to the incumbents’ rights, the FCC should also auction licenses for the same type of rights the Navy has in the CBRS band.” ITIF noted widespread industry criticism of how CBRS works. Part of the reason “for decrying CBRS is that it should hardly qualify as ‘sharing’ when the federal incumbent retains the right to do whatever it wants whenever and wherever it wants,” the report said. ITIF noted there have been no reports of Navy systems suffering harmful interference since CBRS was launched. “Any party that thinks the Navy has reliable, full-power access in the current CBRS band should leap at the opportunity to get the same deal in another band,” ITIF said.
The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Monday on Echodyne’s pursuit of a five-year extension of its waiver of rules allowing ground-based use of its EchoGuard radar, which detects objects on the ground and in the air, using the 24.45–24.65 GHz band (see 2402090064). Comments are due March 27, replies April 11, in docket 17-352. A 2019 waiver expires June 12 (see 1906130051).
CTIA told the FCC “the record strongly supports” its request for a 12-month extension (see 2401090026) of the FCC's six-month deadline for carriers to implement rules protecting consumers from SIM swapping and port-out fraud. “The record also makes clear that a workable compliance deadline serves the public interest,” CTIA said, in a filing posted Monday in docket 21-341: “CTIA shares the Commission’s goals of fraud prevention and security for consumers and business customers.” The FCC “significantly underestimated the time needed for industry compliance with the new SIM swap and port-out fraud rules,” the Competitive Carriers Association said. Meeting a six-month deadline “would be a significant challenge to even the largest nationwide carriers” and most CCA members are “smaller carriers with extremely limited resources and often over-extended staff multitasking on multiple projects,” CCA said. NCTA also supported CTIA’s petition, saying the new rules “will require the development of new authentication procedures, new customer notifications, and new recordkeeping, among other things.” Covered companies “will have to undertake significant employee training efforts,” NCTA said. Replies to oppositions were due Friday at the FCC.
USTelecom and NCTA want the FCC to abandon its proposal to reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title II telecom service, the organizations said in a joint letter posted Monday in docket 23-320 (see 2401180042). "Regulating usage-based billing is unnecessary and would only serve to eliminate options for consumers," they said. USTelecom and NCTA said regulation is "unnecessary" because there is "no evidence that network operators exercise market power in negotiating interconnection agreements." The proposed bill-and-keep model would also be "affirmatively harmful" to consumers because "forbidding ISPs from charging for interconnection would exert upward pressure on consumer broadband prices," they said.