The Wi-Fi Alliance on Wednesday marked the fifth anniversary of the FCC's controversial order opening the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use (see 2004230059). “The 6 GHz band has played a critical role in enabling next-generation Wi-Fi -- driving the global rollout of Wi-Fi 7 -- by relieving network congestion and expanding high-performance connectivity,” the alliance said: Since the FCC order was approved, “billions of 6 GHz Wi-Fi devices have entered the market, underscoring the rapid adoption and far-reaching benefits of forward-looking spectrum policy.”
The U.S. National Grid Institute urged the FCC to direct wireless carriers to change how they report the location of wireless calls to 911. They should “replace all references to civic (street) addresses and to latitude and longitude in reporting the horizontal component of incident locations with the term ‘U.S. National Grid geoaddress,’” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 07-114. Such geoaddresses “provide an unambiguous way to describe locations in areas away from established road networks, or those involving a natural disaster where road signs have been destroyed,” the group said.
Former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, now president of CTIA, met this week with his former aide, current Chairman Brendan Carr. Carr rose to general counsel and then commissioner under Pai. “Terrific meeting with @BrendanCarrFCC,” Pai said Tuesday night on X. “He’s been a leader on wireless issues since his earliest days as a Commissioner and has charted an ambitious course upon taking the reins as @FCC Chairman earlier this year. Excited to work with him and his team on extending U.S. leadership!”
The FCC sent letters to Verizon, AT&T, EchoStar, Charter, Comcast, Altice, Cox and Mediacom asking for internal data as the agency finalizes an order on T-Mobile’s proposed buy of wireless assets, including spectrum, from UScellular. The FCC has in the past sought such data to get a broader view of the market as it considers a transaction. The letters, which came from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics, were posted in Wednesday’s Daily Digest and in docket 24-286.
SI Wireless, a small wireless broadband provider, sued the FCC in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit after the FCC blocked payments under its Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. SI accused the FCC of retaliation. The program pays for the removal of unsecure Chinese gear, mostly from wireless networks. SI serves rural southern Illinois and parts of Tennessee and Kentucky.
House Judiciary Committee Democrats on Wednesday decried reports that Bill Owens, the longtime executive producer of CBS’ 60 Minutes, is resigning (see 2504220070) as the network faces Trump administration pressure over the program’s interview last fall of former Vice President Kamala Harris. CBS faces a $10 billion lawsuit from President Donald Trump, as well as an FCC news distortion proceeding (see 2504140044 and 2502050063). CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, also needs FCC approval to finalize its $8 billion purchase by Skydance (see 2503210049).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases since the last update are marked with a *.
AT&T CEO John Stankey warned Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could hurt the carrier, echoing Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg on Tuesday (see 2504220033). Unlike Verizon, which lost postpaid phone subscribers in Q1, AT&T reported 324,000 postpaid phone net adds in the quarter, buoyed by FirstNet.
Two top Senate Commerce Committee Democrats are voicing concerns that speculation that President Donald Trump may move to fire FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez (see 2503200057) will scare off potential Democratic candidates to replace retiring Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Democratic FCC stakeholders began worrying about Gomez’s fate after Trump’s unprecedented March firings of Democratic FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter (see 2503190057). Legal experts said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday that the U.S. Supreme Court appears likely to overturn Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S., a 1935 decision stopping the president from firing FTC commissioners without cause, which has implications for the FCC and other independent agencies.
A loss of agency independence will ease the path for corruption and make it harder to address bipartisan issues such as privacy and increasing competition, said a trio of Democratic agency officials recently fired by the White House. For agencies like the FTC or Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, “if we are an arm of the administration, then instead of being a watchdog, we become a lap dog,” said fired PCLOB member and former FCC official Travis LeBlanc during a Center for American Progress panel discussion Wednesday.