The FCC should add co-primary space-to-space allocations for intersatellite service (ISS) in the 18 GHz band, NASA and NTIA recommended in a report last week. NASA and NTIA said the FCC also should adopt a Table of Allocations footnote to ensure that space-to-space links in the band for federal systems are limited to communications with a nonfederal network for space relay purposes. The 2023 national spectrum strategy identified 18.1-18.6 GHz as one of five spectrum bands NTIA should study for potential repurposing (see 2311130007). In their report, NASA and NTIA said that with NASA not building additional tracking and data relay satellites, new ISS allocations in the band will provide regulatory certainty that would support the development of commercial services to meet NASA's space-to-space links needs in the future.
T-Mobile told the FCC that it complied with an unlocking requirement that was part of the order a year ago approving its acquisition of Mint Mobile and other assets from Ka’ena (see 2404250047). The redacted filing, posted Friday (docket 23-171), blanks out the number of devices that were unlocked. T-Mobile agreed to unlock “all Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile devices activated on the T-Mobile network both pre- and post-closing.” That concession was less than what public interest and consumer groups sought and not as broad as an earlier Verizon unlocking agreement.
NextNav told the FCC it's working with location and monitoring services (LMS) licensees to address concerns about the company's proposal that the FCC reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band to enable a “terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing services. Initial comments were due last week on the FCC’s broad investigation of the NextNav proposal and other GPS issues (see 2504290042).
The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry protested Talton’s failure to provide data the ministry needs to comment on a Talton petition seeking a waiver of the commission’s rules capping rates for audio and video for incarcerated people provided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The FCC Wireline Bureau recently reopened the comment cycle on the petition, with initial comments now due Thursday (see 2504240026).
Alaska's Matanuska Telecom Association has used Alaska Plan funds over the past eight years to improve broadband speeds at roughly 31,000 locations and has increasingly focused on fiber to the home, according to a filing Friday (docket 23-328). It recapped a meeting of MTA and Alaska Telecom Association representatives with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's office. MTA said its fiber focus has led to the upgrade of 9,465 units to 100/20 Mbps, 236% of its original 4,000-unit commitment. It plans to upgrade an additional 3,653 locations this year, it said.
The FCC on Friday approved waivers for Ericsson and Samsung Electronics America to offer dual-band radios that operate across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum. Samsung filed its waiver request last year, and Ericsson, which already had a waiver, sought a second that parallels Samsung's request (see 2303170044). NCTA and WISPA raised concerns, which the Wireless Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology addressed in the order.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us in recent days that negotiations on potential compromise spectrum legislative language for a budget reconciliation package remain in flux. They emphasized it's still uncertain there will be a deal to obligate an airwaves pipeline as part of the measure. Their comments contrasted with the optimism that Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., voiced in recent interviews about the prospects of a spectrum deal that would satisfy pro-DOD legislators, who have resisted reallocating military-controlled midband airwaves.
The FCC sought comment Friday on eliminating 2,057 docketed proceedings as dormant. A sampling studied by Communications Daily found many smaller, limited dockets, often in which few, if any, filings had been made. The FCC said it closed almost 100 other dockets “administratively” in advance of the release. The notice from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) isn’t tied to the ongoing “Delete” proceeding, the agency said. Comment deadlines will come in a Federal Register notice.
A proposal from FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington to fight “fake news” by capping fees that broadcast affiliates pay networks could include provisions protecting Fox, broadcast and FCC officials told us. Simington described the idea in a Thursday op-ed, co-written with Gavin Wax, his new chief of staff, and published in The National Pulse. President Donald Trump reposted the proposal Friday morning on Truth Social.
Parties interested in being the space launch frequency coordinator for the FCC's space launch service must divulge any interest they have in FCC licenses, including through subsidiaries or affiliates, said a Wireless Bureau notice for Friday's Federal Register. The bureau announced the mechanism and criteria for frequency coordinator selection, saying applicants must show they can get technical data from licensees and maintain a database of transmitter locations and operational parameters. They also must show knowledge of or experience with wireless telemetry and with space launch and aerospace transmissions. In a separate notice announcing the licensing and coordinating procedures for the space launch service, the bureau said space launch service licensees will have to register the fixed, base, itinerant and mobile stations needed for a launch in the FCC's universal licensing system under its nationwide, nonexclusive license. Launch service licensees can choose up to 5 MHz of their own bandwidth and can request more if they can show why it's needed.