The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) and more than 80 other groups jointly urged House lawmakers not to pass the Senate-cleared Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (S.J.Res. 7) to undo the FCC's July 2024 order allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots. The Senate cleared S.J.Res. 7 earlier this month on a 50-38 party-line vote (see 2505080055).
The FCC’s “bad labs” order and Further NPRM, approved by commissioners 4-0 last week and posted this week, contains a lengthy cost-of-benefit analysis weighing the costs and risks of not moving forward with the rules. FCC officials noted last week that this was the only major change from the draft (see 2505220056), though the agency also added a paragraph on DOJ's concerns. Other changes were mostly cosmetic, based on a side-by-side comparison.
Rate regulation would harm competition in the broadband marketplace and undermine efforts to close the digital divide, said ACA Connects in a new study released Thursday. The study, conducted in partnership with Cartesian, found four "cascading" effects of rate regulation: less investment, less competition, a slowdown in pricing declines and harm spillover.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said at a listening session and panel discussion hosted Wednesday by Free Press that she doesn’t expect the agency to “liberally” use a good-cause exception to notice-and-comment rules or delegated authority when it takes action on the “Delete” docket. “I am hopeful that, in fact, a lot of these rules will come up to vote,” she said at the Los Angeles event, which was part of her “First Amendment Tour” (see 2504240064).
A U.S Supreme Court decision Thursday requiring judicial deference to agency environmental reviews of infrastructure projects could have implications for broadband deployment, drawing attention from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. “For too long, America’s infrastructure builds have been held back by reams of red tape,” wrote Carr in a post on X about Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado. “But today, the Supreme Court helps to correct course -- eliminating needless environmental hoops. As the FCC works to unleash more infrastructure builds, permitting reforms like this are key.”
While BEAD is critical to serving the most difficult-to-reach 5.5 million homes in the U.S., the money available through the program pales in comparison to what providers are spending to bolster broadband connectivity, Fiber Broadband Association CEO Gary Bolton said in an interview. The slow pace in making changes to the BEAD program has been “a colossal failure” on NTIA’s part, he added. FBA will hold its Fiber Connect conference next week in Nashville.
Senate leaders may still try to hold votes on Republican FCC nominee Olivia Trusty and NTIA administrator nominee Arielle Roth in late June, shortly before the upper chamber breaks for the week leading up to the July Fourth holiday, but lobbyists now believe both confirmations are more likely to happen in the lead-up to the August recess. Lobbyists told us that Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks’ pledge last week to resign before the agency's June 26 meeting (see 2505220043) is easing Republicans’ pressure to expedite Trusty’s confirmation because the GOP will gain a majority even without her taking office.
The 51.4-52.4 GHz band is currently allocated domestically for fixed and mobile services, but there's robust evidence supporting its use for satellite communications, the FCC said Tuesday as it released the satellite spectrum Further NPRM adopted at its May 22 meeting (see 2505220056). The draft FNPRM was limited to asking about opening the 12.7 and 42 GHz bands to satcom. The adopted version added the 51.4-52.4 GHz, 92-94 GHz, 94.1-100 GHz, 102-109.5 GHz and 111.8-114.25 GHz bands. It also asks about creating a domestic fixed satellite service allocation in the 52.14-52.4 GHz allocation; whether that allocation's use should be limited to non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites; and whether limits on unwanted power emissions could ensure NGSO compatibility with space research operations in the nearby 52.6-54.25 GHz band. In addition, it seeks comment on whether any satellite use of the 92.0-94.0 GHz, 94.1-100 GHz, 102.0-109.5 GHz and 111.8-114.25 GHz bands should be limited to gateway unlinks for NGSO systems, as well as about the possibility of extending the self-coordinated and data-assisted “light-licensing” framework for the 70/80/90 GHz band to those W-band frequencies.
The Alaska Remote Carrier Coalition discussed with an FCC staffer the differences between completing the Alaska Plan under the Form 477 format and shifting to the broadband data collection data, as required for the Alaska Connect Fund, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-328.
Geophysical Survey Systems Inc. (GSSI) asked the FCC to act on its 2019 request for a waiver of commission rules for ultra-wideband ground-penetrating radar devices to allow the certification and marketing of a new device it's developing. The device would help autonomous vehicles in stay in a lane.