FCC Commissioners Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks confirm they will depart the agency this week, though it’s unclear who will replace them (see 2506040073) … Cable One Chair, President and CEO Julia Laulis will retire by Dec. 31 or upon appointment of her successor, when she will become senior adviser; internal and external succession candidates are under consideration ... FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's Senior Counsel Arpan Sura adds chief AI officer to his remit ... The Pennsylvania Senate unanimously confirms Darryl Lawrence as state consumer advocate.
Blue Origin is now aiming for an August launch for its Moon Lander MK1 Pathfinder mission, it told the FCC Space Bureau in a filing posted Wednesday. The proposed mission was originally expected in Q1 2025 (see 2408020001). The company told the bureau this week that once the lander touches down on the moon's surface, its mission there should take about 24 hours. Blue Origin anticipates using the S band for mission uplinks and downlinks, with the X band as a backup, it said.
Democratic lawmakers said at a House Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday that cuts to staffing and budgets at the FCC and FTC threaten efforts to combat robocalls and robotexts. “Republicans are regularly undermining efforts to address these threats, cutting funding and staff from the very entities that protect consumers, all to give giant tax breaks to billionaires who don’t need them,” said ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
GCI slammed comments by the Alaska Remote Carrier Coalition and OptimERA opposing GCI’s request for modification or waiver of the Alaska population-distribution model to utilize the broadband serviceable location fabric and of the mobile “waterfall” methodology (see 2504140020).
Comments are due July 21, replies Aug. 18, on a Further NPRM on next-generation 911, the FCC said Wednesday. Comments should be filed in dockets 21-479 and 13-75. The NG911 FNPRM proposes updates to the agency’s 911 reliability rules, extending those rules that cover legacy 911 networks to service providers that control or operate critical pathways and components in NG911 networks. Commissioners approved it 4-0 in March (see 2503270042).
Smith Bagley Chairman Kevin Frawley met with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to discuss changes to USF, including the company's proposal to allow wireless carriers to use legacy high-cost support to “rapidly construct 5G” within their eligible telecom carrier service areas. Frawley “described the longstanding and ongoing challenges in constructing, operating, and maintaining mobile wireless network infrastructure on remote Tribal lands, including challenges in upgrading to 5G due to the extreme expense of extending fiber to all of [Smith Bagley's] towers,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-32.
President Kris Hutchison and others from Aviation Spectrum Resources Inc. met with FCC Wireless Bureau staff on a request the company made as part of the “Delete” proceeding. In that proceeding, ASRI asked the commission “to eliminate an outmoded rule specifying a geographic restriction for the aeronautical VHF channel of 136.750 MHz, which limits the efficient and constructive use of the aeronautical VHF band by the aviation industry.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Wednesday approved a request from the C-band Relocation Payment Clearinghouse (RPC) to end operations at the end of June (see 2505140034). The bureau also designated Verizon, “on behalf of all the 3.7 GHz Service licensees, to directly assume responsibility for the RPC’s last outstanding program cost ‘in the event of a favorable Commission or favorable final court ruling regarding the pending appeal.’” That step was at the request of the RPC.
If the U.S. wants to win on AI, it must focus on telecom regulatory issues like permitting, Incompas CEO Chip Pickering told the House Communications Subcommittee on Wednesday. Pickering spoke during a hearing on how U.S. communications networks can support AI.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.