South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) called on Congress and the FCC to grant state prisons the authority to jam contraband cellphones in their facilities, following a report by state grand jurors highlighting the issue. The 34th and 35th State Grand Jurors released reports Wednesday finding that inmate criminal organizations are still able to operate with their leaders in prison. “Locking someone up doesn’t make us safer if they’re still running criminal empires from behind bars,” Wilson said: "We know how to stop this; the technology already exists and is being used in federal prisons." Jamming inmates' cellphone communication "would immediately eliminate so much of the criminal activities within our state prisons," one of the reports said.
NCTA opposed Airspan Networks’ request last month for a waiver allowing it to manufacture a multiband radio device that operates across the citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) and C bands. “The FCC has seen deep interest by wireless providers in deployment of 5G service in both the 3450 MHz and the 3700 MHz bands, and there is an ongoing, recognized and growing need for base station manufacturers to support operations in these bands cost-effectively,” Airspan said in its request.
EchoStar and the Rural Wireless Association urged the FCC to reject waivers allowing Grain Management's proposed purchase of T-Mobile's 800 MHz spectrum in exchange for cash and Grain's 600 MHz spectrum portfolio (see 2503210033). Utility groups weighed in to support the transaction. Reply comments were posted Wednesday in docket 25-178, closing out the pleading cycle.
Comments are due July 24 in docket 25-195 on Consolidated Communications’ application to discontinue legacy voice services in three exchanges in New Hampshire, said a public notice in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The application will be granted automatically Aug. 9, unless the FCC notifies the company otherwise. The agency is also soliciting comments on Consolidated's discontinuance request for Vermont (see 2507080060).
Paramount’s settlement with President Donald Trump over the editing of a 60 Minutes segment “should alarm anyone who values a free and independent press,” FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said Tuesday evening at an American Civil Liberties Union town hall in Wheaton, Maryland. The event was the latest in Gomez’s “First Amendment Tour” series of speaking engagements. The settlement was a “desperate move,” and Paramount “would have prevailed [in court] on the facts and on the law,” Gomez said. “Instead of standing on principle, Paramount opted for a payout.” She told the 45 or so attendees that “now is the time to stand up and push back against this assault on free expression, because even when this administration holds so much power, it remains afraid of everyday citizens speaking up and using our voices.” The country needs the corporate parents of media organizations to support a free press, she added. “To have a free press, we need to have free journalists, free from corporate pressure that shareholders would prefer to settle with the administration than support their news organizations.”
T-Mobile is adjusting its practices to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs targeted by the Trump administration, said Mark Nelson, the carrier's general counsel, in a letter to the FCC posted Wednesday. Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized T-Mobile for making the concessions.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases are marked with a *.
There was mixed reaction to Verizon's request for the FCC to waive the handset-unlocking requirement that the carrier agreed to as a provision of its acquisition of Tracfone and its purchase of 700 MHz C-block licenses in a 2008 auction (see 2505200051). Verizon has said the unlocking mandate raises the risk that handsets will be used in crimes, an argument supported by law enforcement commenters. Comments on Verizon’s waiver request were due this week in docket 06-150.
Approval of SES' buying Intelsat should be conditioned on the new combined company complying with a variety of national security directives, NTIA petitioned the FCC on Monday (docket 24-267). The petition was on behalf of the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector, or Team Telecom. The proposed conditions include the new company making available, when requested, network-management information or a list of customers that have hosted payloads on U.S. satellites or are using U.S.-located earth stations to connect with SES satellites. The $3.1 billion deal was announced in April 2024 (see 2404300048).
A pirate radio operator in the Boston area has agreed to pay $10,000 to the FCC as part of a settlement with the agency, said an order and consent decree in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. In April 2024, the FCC approved a $597,775 notice of apparent liability against Jean Marius, operator of the unauthorized radio station Radio Tele Planet Compas in several communities in Massachusetts. After the NAL, Marius gave the agency evidence of his inability to pay the proposed forfeiture, according to the consent decree. After determining that he had ceased broadcasting, the Enforcement Bureau agreed to the reduced amount, which Marius must pay within 30 days. Under the consent decree, Marius agreed not to commit future acts of pirate broadcasting or assist anyone else in doing so. If he violates the settlement within the next 20 years, he will have to pay the remaining $587,775 proposed, the consent decree said.