The Justice Department is trying to avoid public attention to and judicial scrutiny of its conduct, Vermont National Telephone (VTEL) told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last week as it argued for an oral hearing on DOJ's motion to dismiss. In a reply in support of its motion for an oral hearing (docket 1:15-cv-00728), VTEL said the court can't follow DOJ's argument that the issue can be decided based on the parties' written submissions, since DOJ hasn't submitted evidence supporting its dismissal decision. DOJ is seeking dismissal of relator VTEL's litigation against Dish Network designated entities (DE) Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless over allegations of fraud in the FCC's 2015 AWS-3 auction (see 2403040052). In a reply in support of its motion to dismiss this month, DOJ said there's a lack of evidence Dish and the DEs failed to make a material disclosure to the FCC as well as a lack of damages. It said VTEL hasn't contested that Dish and the DEs paid full price for every license they received as they were never awarded any bidding credits. "Given the extensive written submissions by the parties (with Relator filing hundreds of pages on this issue), the United States respectfully submits that such a hearing is not necessary here," DOJ said. In a statement, EchoStar's Dish said VTEL's fraud claim case "has always been frivolous, and the DOJ was absolutely justified in moving to dismiss it." It said VTEL's allegations of political interference "are false and baseless."
A revised substitute version of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) circulating Friday jettisons the bill’s mandate for the FCC to sell licenses on the 12.7-13.25 GHz band by the end of 2027, as some lobbyists expected (see 2406120058). The revisions, filed as a substitute amendment to S-4207, reflect changes the Commerce Department, DOD and Joint Chiefs of Staff sought in exchange for their endorsement of the measure last week. S-4207’s supporters hope the changes will help ease the bill’s path forward after Senate Commerce postponed three past markups of the measure since early May (see 2405010051). The amount of future auction proceeds S-4207 to be allocated to a range of telecom projects remains the same in the substitute amendment, including lending the FCC $7 billion to fund the expired affordable connectivity program in FY 2024 and $3.08 billion for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. The substitute amendment would reapportion $700 million in additional Chips and Science Act money that S-4207 previously allocated to National Institute of Standards and Technology research programs. Instead, it will go to the National Science Foundation for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education grants and other research. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., will seek a vote on the substitute amendment as part of a Tuesday markup session on S-4207. That meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.
State lawmakers may be more inclined to pursue broadband affordability policies in the wake of recent FCC and court rulings as well as last month's ending of the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP), multiple telecom experts said last week. Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D) told Communications Daily he hopes “these developments will lead to stronger support in 2025” for an affordable broadband proposal that failed this year. However, some anticipate ISPs will likely object, and fiscal constraints could limit states' efforts.
CTIA and other commenters raised concerns about an FCC notice seeking comment on rules for implementing multilingual wireless emergency alerts. Comments were due last week in dockets 15-91 and 15-94 on a notice from the FCC Public Safety Bureau (see 2405130047).
The Senate Commerce Committee is again postponing a planned markup of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207), a spokesperson confirmed Monday night. The Tuesday meeting would have been Senate Commerce’s fourth attempt to vote on S-4207, which in a revised form unveiled last week would renew the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority for five years but mandated no sales of specific bands. S-4207’s prospects of getting bipartisan support had appeared doubtful Monday, but the bill’s backers were continuing that afternoon to court a handful of Republican holdouts to back it.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks announces Flynn Rico-Johnson, former deputy chief of staff to Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., as policy adviser-wireless, space, and international issues … Project Liberty Institute names former Taiwan Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang as senior fellow … Manatt Phelps adds Mike Katz as a partner in its financial services practice; based in Manatt’s New York office, Katz will help lead the expansion of the firm’s blockchain capabilities ... Evolution Equity Partners, cybersecurity venture capital firm, promotes Aron Khurana to partner, in addition to his continuing role as head-investor relations.
The popularity of Fox's WTXF Philadelphia TV station is immaterial to whether the license applicants, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and Fox, have shown the character required of broadcast licensees, Fox critics said in docket 23-293 this week. The filers backed the Media and Democracy Project's request for nonpublic evidence submitted in court cases against Fox by voting machine companies (see 2403040080). Signatories to the filing include former FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes, former Weekly Standard editor William Kristol and William Reyner, former regulatory counsel for News Corp. and Fox. The filing was in response to filings by the Philadelphia Phillies professional baseball team, 76ers professional basketball team and Flyers professional hockey team in support of the Fox affiliate station.
The FCC Media Bureau reaffirmed its dismissal of a petition from Alabama's Athens State University for a construction permit for a new low-power FM station. In a letter Thursday, the bureau said its staff correctly dismissed the application for not meeting co-channel and first-adjacent channel spacing requirements. It also rejected ASU's request for a waiver based on typographical errors in the application. "We agree that providing new locally-originated service is a laudable goal, however, the loss of LPFM service to Athens, unfortunately, was caused by Petitioner’s mistake, not by an erroneous or harsh Bureau approach to its Application," the bureau said.
Railroads face a growing need for spectrum in light of requests from the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Railroad Administration but have had difficulty identifying additional spectrum to use, the Association of American Railroads said in a meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Joel Taubenblatt and staff. AAR explained “the railroads’ current use of spectrum in the 160-161 MHz, 219.5-222 MHz, 450 MHz, 900 MHz, and 6 GHz bands,” a filing posted Thursday in docket 24-99 said. The group discussed “how the railroads continue to improve their technology and use their existing spectrum more efficiently.”
Liberty Latin America agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and implement a compliance plan to settle an investigation of FCC rule violations by subsidiaries Liberty Mobile in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The fine was tied to a 2023 data breach, the FCC Enforcement Bureau said Thursday. The affiliates failed to “reasonably protect the confidentiality of customer information,” file in a timely way a report in the FCC’s data breach reporting portal and “abide by the conditions of a Commission order, in connection with a data breach of a third-party vendor,” the bureau said.