Numerous industry and FCC officials told us Tuesday that FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington is expected to leave the agency or announce an imminent departure this week. Simington and his office didn’t respond to requests for comment. His term expired last year, but he was expected to stay until the end of 2025. The makeup of the agency is already in flux: Current Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said he will leave before the FCC's planned June 26 meeting (see 2505220043, and the confirmation of Republican Olivia Trusty isn’t expected until late June or July (see 2505290053). It's seen as unlikely that Simington would exit before Starks and leave the FCC with a Democratic majority. However, if he departs after Starks but before Trusty’s confirmation, it would leave just two commissioners. The Communications Act requires a quorum of three. An announcement Wednesday from Simington would precede FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s expected announcement of his agenda for the June 26 meeting, lobbyists said.
The FCC's denial of LTD Broadband's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase 1 long-form application wasn't arbitrary and capricious, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Tuesday in a per curium order rejecting LTD's petition for review (No. 24-1017). LTD was the largest winning bidder and challenged the FCC's denial of its long-form application after more than a yearlong review process. A three-judge panel held oral argument in November (see 2411050040). The court disagreed with all LTD's arguments. It said the FCC's guidance on RDOF rules "does not describe a light-touch, deferential review" and determined that the agency gave LTD "fair notice" of its review. The court also disagreed that LTD was treated differently from other bidders and that the FCC could alternatively deny only part of its winning bids because there wasn't "a sufficient basis in the record for the FCC to distinguish" areas where LTD "was and was not financially and technically prepared to provide service." LTD CEO Corey Hauer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Citing the uncertainty around its spectrum rights because of FCC issues, EchoStar said Friday it had opted to forgo making a $326 million cash interest payment due that day on corporate debt that matures in 2029. In an SEC filing, EchoStar said the nonpayment counts as a default on the 2029 notes, but it pointed out that it has a 30-day grace period to make the payment, giving the FCC time to provide the relief the company requested. If the commission grants EchoStar relief, "we may confidently continue investing in our network buildout and expansion of our Boost business" and mobile satellite service offerings. The company this week asked the FCC to deny VTel Wireless' petition for reconsideration on an extension of EchoStar's 5G network buildout deadlines and to confirm that it has satisfied the 2024 commitments it made for that extension (see 2505280002).
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington is right that broadcast ownership restrictions need modernization, but his call for streaming platforms to be subject to MVPD-like regulation (see 2505270054) is economically flawed, International Center for Law & Economics senior scholar Eric Fruits wrote Friday. That would extend an outdated regulatory framework over more technologies, he said. Streaming began and grew because streamers weren't subject to the heavy-handed rules that traditional linear providers were, and expanding legacy rules to streaming platforms could discourage technological experimentation, he said. Instead, the commission should revisit the broadcast industry's national cap and "offer the MVPDs the same light-touch rules that streamers currently enjoy."
The FCC Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director revoked the licenses of two Kremling Enterprises-owned radio stations in Texas because they had nearly $14,200 in unpaid regulatory fees, according to an order Friday. KYKM(FM) Yoakum and KTXM(FM) Hallettsville have delinquent fees from FY 2017-21and FY 2024. The order also dismissed pending renewal applications for the stations.
Verizon and AT&T are backing the C-band Relocation Payment Clearinghouse's request that it be allowed to shut down June 30 (see 2505140034). Substantive functions related to the C-band transition are complete, Verizon said in a filing posted Friday (docket 18-122). Pointing to Anuvu's pending appeal of a denied claim, Verizon said the 3.7 GHz service overlay licensees will guarantee payment to Anuvu in the event of a favorable FCC or final court ruling. AT&T filed similarly last week.
NextNav's proposed reconfiguration of the lower 900 MHz band would cost the tolling industry an estimated $6.8 billion, far outweighing supposed economic benefits, according to industry representatives. A docket 25-110 filing posted Friday recapped a meeting with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington and the offices of Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Anna Gomez. During that meeting, International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association and E-ZPass Group representatives discussed the industry's economic impact study indicating that the direct and indirect costs of the NextNav proposal would be "many tens of billions of dollars across many industries" (see 2504300022).
Five years after the launch of its 5G Home Internet fixed wireless service, T-Mobile is the fastest-growing ISP and the fifth-largest in the U.S., the company told the FCC Friday (docket 22-211). In its latest annual status report on its 5G deployment requirements as part of its 2019 Sprint acquisition, T-Mobile said it has more than 6.5 million customers and is available to more than 70 million homes. As of March 31, its low-band 5G covers 98.45% of the U.S. population, while its midband 5G covers 94.75%; its six-year milestone requirement is for 99% and 88% coverage, respectively. It has already met all its rural 5G network coverage requirements, though it continues to extend its low-band and midband rural coverage, T-Mobile said, and it has also already met all its in-home broadband service milestones.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a $25,000 penalty against the owner of a citizens band radio service station in Rockford, Illinois, for malicious interference and unauthorized operation, said a forfeiture order in Friday’s Daily Digest. Jayme John Leon violated FCC rules by using his station to make one-way transmissions and send nonverbal, indecipherable sound effects over long periods, the order said. His transmissions included recorded comedy routines, air raid siren sounds and “unintelligible, data-like” noises, said the 2023 notice of apparent liability that preceded Friday’s forfeiture order. The NAL said Leon has a history of noncompliance with FCC orders, previously being fined $14,000 for transmitting obscene and profane language. According to the NAL, Leon has said the broadcasts were caused by “a milk crate containing a battery-operated CB radio placed by an unidentified third-party at a corner near his house,” but he hasn’t provided evidence of the device. The Enforcement Bureau gathered evidence that showed the transmissions coming from an antenna on Leon’s home, the NAL said.
Metronet VoIP customers in 20 states will be moved to T-Mobile VoIP service on or after July 1, T-Mobile told the FCC on Friday (docket 00-257). T-Mobile and KKR announced in 2024 their $4.9 billion purchase of fiber operator Metronet (see 2407240020). The states are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.