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.
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.