Telecom and media companies support the intentions behind FCC and FTC “junk fees” regulatory actions, but implementation raises questions and potential compliance headaches, industry representatives said. At an FCBA event Monday, Brownstein Hyatt financial services lawyer Leah Dempsey said many industries see the White House and regulatory agency focus on junk fees as "kind of a campaign issue." She said President Joe Biden will likely be "touting the war on junk fees" at his next State of the Union address. Dempsey also said there are concerns that agencies are coming to predetermined outcomes on fees.
The space industry is in disagreement over FCC reliance on case-by-case reviews of orbital debris disclosures. Pushing back on SpaceX criticisms of the orbital debris order on reconsideration on January's FCC agenda (see 2401180064), Viasat said Friday in docket 18-313 that different satellite systems pose various space sustainability risks. Accordingly, "there is nothing improper" about taking a case-by-case approach to application reviews. While backing a case-by-case approach, Astroscale said that an "expansive reliance on case-by-case analysis, without a strategy for evolution, will inhibit efficiency." It urged that the draft order include a commitment that the Space Bureau will issue guidance on orbital debris mitigation information disclosures and case-by-case reviews. With such guidance, operators wouldn't have to rely as much on "identify[ing] emerging disclosure precedents across hundreds of disparate" international communications filing system files, it said.
The FCC Media Bureau initiated a proceeding that will revoke the licenses of two Daniel Stratemeyer-owned radio stations due to nearly $25,000 in unpaid regulatory and administrative fees, according to an order to pay or show cause in Friday’s Daily Digest. The delinquent fees are for WRIK(AM) Brookport, Illinois, and KZMA(FM) Naylor, Missouri, from fiscal years 2010, 2012 and 2013, the filing said. The FCC sent the bills to the Treasury Department for collection, and Stratemeyer has 60 days to show the fees are paid, or his stations could lose their licenses.
T-Mobile representatives laid out the carrier’s stance on spectrum used for supplemental coverage from space (SCS), holding a series of meetings with FCC commissioner aides. The FCC shouldn’t create a satellite allocation in the U.S. Table of Frequency Allocations permitting SCS operations, said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-65. “Adding a Mobile-Satellite Service (MSS) allocation, either on a co-primary or secondary basis is unnecessary for the provision of SCS,” T-Mobile said: “Current allocations for terrestrial spectrum should remain as-is, confirming, among other things, that the affected spectrum is allocated for terrestrial purposes.” Terrestrial licensees already holding licenses that cover their subscribers’ devices should “obtain a second license for the same devices, covering the times when those subscribers receive service from space stations,” T-Mobile said.
The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition objected to changes Aeronet sought (see 2401120048) to the FCC’s draft 70 and 80 GHz band order, set for a vote Thursday (see 2401040064). The FCC shouldn’t allow “Aeronet’s eleventh-hour ex parte filings to derail adoption of the draft order,” said a filing posted Friday on docket 20-133. The agency’s practice of releasing draft orders before open meetings “has appropriately allowed interested parties to ask the Commission to clarify the language in an order before adoption,” the coalition said: “However, Aeronet’s proposal amounts to a wholesale change in the proposed rule that would eliminate a coordination trigger protecting existing [fixed service] links.” CTIA raised similar concerns (see 2401180062).
The Electric Power Research Institute briefed the FCC about the analysis it used that led to file challenges to various public trials of 6 GHz automated frequency coordination (AFC) systems (see 2312220043). EPRI submitted test vectors consisting of locations along fixed-service system centerlines "with line of sight to an FS receive station,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 21-352. “The AFC operator response for each test vector was compared to a free space path loss (FSPL) calculation,” EPRI said: “Locations where it was found that the AFC operator assigned co-channel maximum power spectral density (PSD) was more than 3 dB in excess of the maximum PSD based on the FSPL calculation were included in the challenge letter.” EPRI understands the metrics it used were different from those the FCC specified, the filing said.
The FCC should approve Samsung Electronics America and Ericsson waiver requests for 5G base station radios that work across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum, CTIA said (see 2303280054). “Commenters in this proceeding have highlighted that use of a single radio covering two bands, rather than two separate radios operating in the same bands, has substantial benefits,” a filing posted Friday in docket 23-93 said. A multiband radio “reduces the weight and physical footprint of tower collocations, which allows for additional equipment, potentially by different operators, to be deployed,” CTIA said. They are also more energy efficient than using multiple radios, the group said: Samsung maintains the proposed radio will increase energy efficiency by 30%-45% “as compared to two standalone units.”
Wavelength asked the FCC to reconsider a December Wireline Bureau order denying its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application Friday. The company said in an application for review posted in docket 19-126 that the bureau's denial was "based solely on financial concerns raised at the eleventh hour" after previously determining that Wavelength's technical plans and qualifications "are sound." The bureau "should not be permitted to summarily dismiss Wavelength’s application as part of a last-minute rush to conclude overall RDOF applicant review, while denying Wavelength an opportunity to correct the bureau’s manifest errors," it said. It asked the FCC to reverse the decision and "promptly issue a ready-to-authorize notice."
Consolidated asked the FCC to grant it a six-month waiver of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction rules concerning letters of credit. The company said in a petition posted Friday in docket 19-126 that it needed a waiver so it may continue receiving RDOF support while it seeks a new bank to issue LOCs. Consolidated said the Universal Service Administrative Co. notified it that its current issuer, Wells Fargo, is now below the Weiss bank safety B- rating required under RDOF rules.
The FCC wants comments by Feb. 19, replies by March 5, in docket 19-195 on its broadband data collection challenge process. A public notice posted Friday noted the FCC must submit a report to Congress on the data collection process and whether any tools are needed to improve the data's accuracy.