Big tech companies prospered because of openness but now champion exclusionary policies as AI grows in importance, former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a Brookings commentary published Wednesday. AI is app-based and depends on openness in data, computing power and the models themselves, Wheeler wrote.
AST SpaceMobile wants to add 2020-2025 MHz to its planned 248-satelllite non-geostationary orbit satellite system. In an FCC Space Bureau application Wednesday, AST said the "otherwise fallow" piece of the 2 GHz band would give it additional capacity and throughput for its direct-to-device service.
Charter Communications seems to now have a policy of not renewing or signing new contracts with wireless ISPs for upstream wholesale services, which could cut off internet service to communities served by WISPA members, the trade group said Thursday. In an FCC filing in docket 25-233, WISPA said the Charter move could also mean higher costs for those communities due to less competition for upstream wholesale services. The policy could be applied more broadly once Charter closes on Cox Communications, it added.
The FCC Wireline Bureau reminded carriers Thursday of revised robocall-mitigation database filing requirements and related rules adopted by the agency in 2024 (see 2601050026). The filing window opens Feb. 1, and providers must recertify their filings by March 1, the bureau said.
The FCC's NPRM on reforms to internet-based telecommunications relay service, which is on the agency's January agenda (see 2601080066), talks about doing away with the TRS Advisory Council but doesn't ask for input on the council's benefits, according to Deaf Equality and TDIforAccess. In a docket 03-123 filing posted Thursday, the groups said the NPRM should solicit comments on ways of refreshing the council rather than doing away with it. The filing recapped a meeting with FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff.
Satellite and wireless interests are at odds over whether there still needs to be a 50 MHz guard band in the 28 GHz band as protection for upper microwave flexible-use service (UMFUS) networks. The FCC Space Bureau last month solicited comments in docket 17-95 about communications with earth stations in motion (ESIM) in the 28.35-28.6 GHz band (see 2512190009).
With Winter Storm Fern looming this weekend, Federated Wireless asked the FCC for a waiver of rules that require environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbents in the citizens broadband radio service band from harmful interference. The waiver is for dynamic protection areas in the eastern U.S. most likely to be affected, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 15-319.
Proposed reforms to the FCC’s application of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) will speed wireless deployments and significantly reduce costs, according to a study by NERA Economic Consulting, which was conducted for CTIA and released Thursday.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr pushed back Thursday against criticism from House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., about the Media Bureau's Wednesday guidance that late-night and daytime TV talk shows aren't automatically exempt from the obligation to provide political candidates equal time (see 2601210064). The bureau found that partisan-motivated programming wouldn't qualify for the exemption under long-standing precedent. The equal opportunity rule requires that political candidates be given equal time on non-news broadcast programming.
Blue Origin's planned TeraWave mega constellation, with 5,408 satellites in low and medium earth orbit, won't disrupt consumer broadband competition, according to analysts. Blue Origin, which is owned by Jeff Bezos, announced the mega constellation Wednesday.