Representatives of the National Consumer Law Center urged the FCC to take a limited approach in response to a petition by the Ecommerce Innovation Alliance and others asking the agency to issue a declaratory ruling that people who provide prior express written consent to receive text messages can't claim damages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for messages received outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. (see 2503030036). Representatives met with aides to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, said a filing posted Monday in docket 02-278. The center said the FCC could address the Edison Electric Institute's complaints (see 2504280016) “by issuing a waiver for communications seeking enrollment in demand response programs,” without making other changes.
A representative of Federal Technology Solutions Inc. (FTSI) met with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on the company’s pursuit of E-rate support after it missed a Universal Service Administrative Co. deadline. It was denied more than $320,000 in E-rate support from funding year 2019 “due to a minor error that caused FTSI to submit its invoices to USAC shortly after the applicable deadline,” said a filing posted Monday (docket 25-133). “This amount represents approximately 5 percent of FTSI’s annual revenue, and its loss has significantly harmed the company.”
The legal counsel for Rural Alaska School Districts spoke with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on a pending request for waiver of FCC E-rate rules. The counsel discussed a Wireline Bureau declaratory ruling from last year, said a filing posted Monday in docket 02-6.
The FCC received pushback to proposals in a January NPRM seeking comment on a voluntary, negotiation-based process to transition 10 MHz in the 900 MHz band to broadband. However, other commenters, led by utilities, urged the FCC to move forward. In 2020, the FCC approved use of 6 GHz of the band for broadband while retaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057). Comments were due Friday and mostly posted Monday in docket 24-99.
The FCC received additional backing for proposals to change commission rules for the 24.45-24.65 GHz band that would provide more spectrum for drones. Support was evident in reply comments on a January NPRM (see 2504160017). The NPRM also sought comment on opening the 450 MHz band “to aeronautical command and control operations” and modernizing “legacy power rules” for aviation air-ground systems in the 849-851 and 894-896 MHz bands.
Requiring most broadcasters to gather and report equal employment opportunity data on workforce diversity is outside the FCC's legal authority, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday. The Texas Association of Broadcasters, National Religious Broadcasters and American Family Association challenged the FCC's 2024 EEO order (see 2405130041). The FCC has broad authority to act in the public interest but "cannot invoke public interest to expand the scope of its authority to act in ways Congress has not authorized it to act," Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod, Edith Jones and Carl Stewart said in a 19-page decision (docket 24-18) written by Elrod.
HERSHEY, Pennsylvania -- FCC officials speaking Saturday at the FCBA's annual seminar expressed confidence that the agency will regain spectrum auction authority. Chief of Staff Scott Delacourt said the commission expects at least one auction, AWS-3, within the next year and is taking steps to ensure it can support that auction, such as preparing necessary IT, he said. Commissioner Nathan Simington said Congress sees midband spectrum as a priority, so a significant auction should be teed up by year-end.
A host of conservative groups urged the FCC to repeal national and local radio and TV ownership limits. “Without reform, valued local broadcast radio and television services could disappear entirely,” the groups told Chairman Brendan Carr in a Wednesday letter, which was circulated by NAB Friday. Signatories to the letter included Heritage Action for America, Americans for Tax Reform, the Digital First Project and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The Center for American Rights, which has filed FCC complaints against the programming of NAB members Paramount, Disney and NBCUniversal, also signed. NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in a release Friday that the trade group was “grateful for the wide-ranging support to modernize these outdated broadcast ownership rules and echo the call for the FCC to level the playing field.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Friday asked for comment on a petition filed by GCI to change how Alaska Plan final milestone commitments, which are due at the end of next year, are evaluated. Comments are due May 27, replies June 3, in docket 16-271. GCI wants to use revised methodology in its calculations, the bureau said. While the current model, developed in 2016, “was the best that could be done at the time it was adopted given the then-available data, incorporating the Fabric can further improve the Model’s approximation of where Alaskans are actually located,” GCI said in an April petition. “As such, a modified Model would provide a more accurate assessment of GCI’s compliance with its Alaska Plan mobile commitments,” GCI said.
The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) and AT&T disagreed sharply on the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials’ request that the FCC launch an NPRM on rules for the 4.9 GHz band (see 2502070020), including increasing the equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) limits to make the band more attractive for 5G. Reply comments were due Thursday in docket 07-100.