Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Monday night she will vote against Republican FCC nominee Olivia Trusty’s confirmation on the floor, potentially presaging broader Democratic opposition ahead of likely floor votes this week to advance her confirmation. Cantwell’s new opposition to Trusty is notable, as she was one of six Senate Commerce Democrats who voted to advance the nominee out of committee in late April.
Lawmakers and lobbyists told us they expect the Senate will hold confirmation votes on Republican FCC nominee Olivia Trusty as soon as this week, after Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., filed cloture on her Thursday night (see 2506120097). Thune previously indicated he was likely to move up Trusty in confirmation priority after Republican FCC commissioner Nathan Simington abruptly departed the commission earlier this month (see 2506040073). Simington’s exit and the simultaneous departure of Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks left the commission in a 1-1 tie and lacking a quorum.
NW Spectrum asked the FCC to delete an exception in its Part 27 rules allowing the use of higher power levels in the 2.5 GHz band. “The Exception is no longer needed to incent deployment and competition in the 2.5 GHz band, and it is being abused by T-Mobile to the detriment of smaller wireless competitors in the 2.5 GHz band that are not working with T-Mobile,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 25-133.
NCTA urged the FCC to convene an industry working group to coordinate a process for completing the IP transition. “Since 2004, the Commission consistently has recognized the importance of transitioning voice networks to IP technology,” said a filing posted this week (docket 21-479). “While significant progress has been made over the last two decades, the IP transition has stalled, with no clear target date for all networks in the United States to fully operate in an IP environment.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau announced revised deadlines Thursday for comment on 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. Initial comments are now due July 2, replies July 12, and must refer to dockets 23-62 and 12-375. The bureau last month suspended “indefinitely” comment deadlines following objections that Talton hadn’t provided the data that other parties need to formulate comments (see 2505070057). The bureau said only that the deadline was suspended so that the agency could consider the complaints.
The leaders of the House and Senate Communications subcommittees said Thursday they're reviving the bicameral USF revamp working group, which had paused its work on legislative recommendations last year amid uncertainty following the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in the Consumers' Research lawsuit against the program’s funding mechanism (see 2407300053). The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for its review of the case in March (see 2503260061). Working group members had considered melding the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program with USF’s Lifeline program and keeping the latter’s narrower eligibility rules (see 2404170066).
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said Thursday that during a two-week trip to California, she talked to Apple about its partnership with Globalstar to provide emergency satellite connectivity to iPhones. She also met with TV studio executives from ABC, NBC and Fox; entertainment-sector labor union representatives from the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of TV and Radio Artists and the Writer’s Guild of America, West; and space industry companies Planet, Astranis, Rocket Lab and K2 Space, as well as NASA’s Ames Research Center.
The FCC and DOJ on Thursday asked the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reject challenges to the FCC’s July order implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022, which reduces call rates for people in prisons while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039). The government said the order addresses the monopoly power of incarcerated persons communications services (IPCS) providers to set calling rates.
SpaceX is taking another stab at obtaining FCC approval to operate in the 1.6/2.4 GHz bands, but it's unlikely the commission will act quickly, if at all, space spectrum experts told us.
Former FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington told broadcasters Thursday that Chairman Brendan Carr has chosen not to take steps to ease the ATSC 3.0 transition. Carr could have long ago had the agency issue guidance to speed the approval of ATSC 3.0 channel-sharing applications, even without a Republican majority, Simington said in a speech at the ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference.