While Amazon's Kuiper satellite constellation is the subject of reports that it's facing significant delays, precedent suggests those hurdles are normal and should get resolved as momentum builds, Quilty Space analyst Caleb Henry wrote Wednesday. In their first year, SpaceX's Starlink and Eutelsat's OneWeb fell short of the number of batch launches they had targeted, he said. Given how much Amazon has put into Kuiper -- an estimated $16.5 billion-$20 billion -- the FCC is likely to extend Kuiper's license, he added. The inaugural commercial launch of Kuiper satellites is slated for Monday (see 2504220002).
NAB wants the FCC to overhaul its website, stop tying rules to specific databases and do away with local public notice rules for stations, the trade group said in comments filed Wednesday in docket 24-626. The filing was a response to a December NPRM that sought comments on cleaning up outdated references and processes in broadcast regulations (see 2412100057).
Opponents of T-Mobile’s proposed buy of wireless assets from UScellular met with aides to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington to elaborate on their concerns, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 24-286. The parties at the meeting were the Rural Wireless Association, EchoStar, Communications Workers of America, Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute. They discussed many of the issues presented in other meetings at the FCC (see 2503210032).
After decades of work by federal agencies dealing with Ligado and its predecessors, still nothing has been invested in its proposed terrestrial L-band network, said aviation organizations and allies that opposed the FCC's 2019 Ligado authorization. They sent letters this week to President Donald Trump and congressional leadership. "Move on [and] put the issue to rest" by getting the FCC to grant the pending petitions seeking reconsideration of Ligado's authorization (see 2005210043), they said. Ligado's authorization poses an interference threat to GPS, satellite communications and weather forecasting services, said nearly 100 groups and companies, including AccuWeather, Airlines for America, American Farm Bureau Federation and American Meteorological Society. Congressional recipients included Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Ligado didn't comment Thursday.
With the 25-year license of its South America-1 submarine cable network set to expire, Telxius Cable is seeking a renewal. In an FCC application posted Thursday, Telxius said the SAm-1 cable network continues to operate, so the company wants to relicense it until 2051. SAm-1 connects Florida, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru, offering bulk capacity to wholesale and enterprise customers, the application said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Thursday posted new filing deadlines for a Talton petition seeking a waiver of the commission’s rules capping the rates for audio and video for incarcerated people provided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Comments are now due May 8, replies May 15, in docket 23-62. The bureau suspended earlier deadlines on the petition (see 2504170020) after public interest groups, led by the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, objected to Talton’s request for confidential treatment.
The Senate Commerce Committee said Wednesday night that it will mark up two telecom measures during an April 30 meeting that will also consider Republican FCC nominee Olivia Trusty (see 2504230051). Lawmakers will vote on the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (S-259) and Enhancing First Response Act (S-725). The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. S-259 and its House companion (HR-906), which was advanced by that chamber's Commerce Committee, would require the FCC to publish a list of communications companies with FCC licenses or other authorizations in which China or other foreign adversaries’ governments hold at least a 10% ownership stake. Congressional leaders included an earlier version of the measure in a scuttled December continuing resolution (see 2412180033). S-725 and the similar 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services Act (HR-637) would reclassify public safety call takers and dispatchers as a protective service.
Shareholders at major communications, media and tech companies are increasingly grappling with diversity, equity and inclusion questions, as is evident from numerous DEI-related shareholder proposals on the agendas of companies' latest annual meetings. The increased shareholder activism around DEI isn't limited to tech and communications, as the 2025 proxy season is experiencing a jump in proposals seeking to roll back or limit those corporate efforts, according to the Conference Board.
Carrier groups urged the FCC to move cautiously as it updates its Part 36 separations rules, which haven’t seen a major overhaul for more than 35 years. The rules remain important for many small providers, they noted in comments due Wednesday in docket 80-286. The FCC also has the ongoing “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding, which is examining eliminating rules of all kinds (see 2504140046 and 2504140063).
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez condemned the agency’s threats against broadcast networks and warned that a loss of its independence could hurt internationally. Gomez delivered remarks during a Center for Democracy & Technology event Thursday in Washington. It was the first stop on what Gomez called a “1st Amendment Tour” in a release earlier this week. “I'm embarking on a tour to talk about this administration's efforts of censor and control, because we need people to understand what's happening, and we need them to speak out,” she said Thursday. “We are in an alarming moment, and I am not someone who is generally alarmist.”