Ligado urged the FCC to reallocate the 1675-1680 MHz band for shared commercial use, licensed on a nationwide basis, “but limited to uplink-only operations,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-116. Representatives spoke with staff from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology. The proposal “would allow the spectrum to be put to good use supporting 5G IoT services and be consistent with the key conclusion of the in-depth spectrum sharing study conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that it is feasible to open the band to sharing with commercial uplink-only operations,” Ligado said. The FCC sought comment on the band in 2019 (see 2006010057). Ligado said it envisions the band “being used to provide free-standing 5G IoT services to critical infrastructure industries such as electric utilities” and that it could be paired with the adjacent 1670-1675 MHz band.
NCIC Communications backed Worth Rises' call for the FCC to set video calling rates on a per minute basis for incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS). The IPCS provider also asked the commission in a letter Tuesday in docket 23-62 to "immediately address" single-pay transaction fees for phone calls. "The FCC will have to expand its authority in order to capture all video visitation providers and subject them to rules that are adopted in this proceeding," NCIC said, noting IPCS companies "provide only about half of the video visitation systems in the corrections industry." The company said it was "aware of numerous IPCS providers not registered with the FCC who claim to be outside of the scope of FCC authority by offering video visitation" and phone calls over non-interconnected VoIP platforms.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau will conduct a voluntary exercise of the disaster information reporting system (DIRS) for all communications providers June 10-12, according to a public notice in Tuesday's Daily Digest. The exercise is intended to help communications providers test and practice accessing and filing DIRS reports, training employees on DIRS reporting, and updating DIRS contact info, the PN said. It will begin with a mock activation letter to all registered DIRS participants from the Public Safety Bureau June 10, the PN said. “The activation letter will clearly state that this is only an exercise and not a real DIRS activation.” The letter will include a list of preselected counties that form the affected area for the mock-DIRS activation, and providers will be asked to report data on any communication assets they have in those counties. “As this is only an exercise, the Bureau does not expect to receive actual counts of outages,” the PN said. “If a provider does not have any communications assets in the affected counties, it can still participate in the exercise by reporting mock data for the pre-selected counties.” The agency wants initial data by 10 a.m. EDT June 11 and an updated report by the same time on June 12. The bureau will send a deactivation letter by 3 p.m. EDT June 12 "letting all participants know that the exercise has been completed,” the PN said.
T-Mobile will buy “substantially all” of UScellular’s wireless operations in a deal valued at about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt, the companies said Tuesday. The transaction includes about 30% of UScellular spectrum and all the company’s wireless customers and stores. UScellular will remain a tower business. Both companies agreed to a $60 million breakup fee if they back out of the deal. T-Mobile said the transaction is likely to close in mid-2025.
Pixxel Space Technologies anticipates launching its FFLY constellation of three low earth orbit earth-imaging satellites as part of an Oct. 1 SpaceX rideshare launch mission, the satellite imaging company said in an FCC Space Bureau application posted Friday.
Comments are due June 27, replies July 12, as the FCC Space Bureau seeks a refresh of the record on proposed orbital debris mitigation rules, said a notice for Tuesday's Federal Register. The bureau said it was seeking a refresh on such issues as whether to measure collision risks in the aggregate for a non-geostationary orbit constellation or on a per satellite basis and what factors would be relevant in conducting an aggregate risk analysis. It also seeks input on using a 100 object-years metric -- the number of years each failed satellite remains in orbit, added across all the satellites -- for assessing the risk of derelict satellites in orbit from a constellation. The rules came from a Further NPRM that was adopted in 2020 alongside the FCC's orbital debris order (see 2004230040). Comments are due in docket 22-271.
Viasat's argument that assessing a satellite constellation's regulatory complexity should consider factors beyond altitude (see 2405170032) ignores that there is "a direct, physics-based relationship" between altitude and regulatory complexity issues, such as spectrum efficiency and complexity of orbital debris, SpaceX representatives told FCC Space Bureau staffers, according to a filing Friday in docket 24-85. A large system at a lower orbit can present much less complexity than a smaller, higher one, it said. It said the FCC repeatedly rejected constellation size as a good proxy for system complexity and the work burden on staff. "Using a proceeding to determine regulatory fees to reverse this long-standing policy, while rejecting an altitude-based proxy that directly aligns with system complexity, would be arbitrary and capricious," it said.
The FCC is inexplicably inconsistent about conditions it places on satellite constellations, SpaceX representatives told the offices of the five agency commissioners, said a filing Friday in docket 18-313. SpaceX said that while the agency has put 100 object-year caps -- that's the number of years each failed satellite remains in orbit, added up across all the satellites -- on some constellations, it has not done so with Amazon's proposed 3,232-satelite Kuiper constellation. Nor has it required that Kuiper report cumulative object-years any failures represent, though it has required such reporting of some other constellations, SpaceX said. "Now that a greater number of operators are beginning to deploy their systems in earnest, the Commission must ensure that the Bureau applies Commission-level precedent consistently and avoids providing special treatment," SpaceX said.
The FCC expanded the focus of its test lab security NPRM to ask additional questions about the supplier’s declaration of conformity (SDoC) process for obtaining equipment authorization. Commissioners approved the NPRM unanimously Thursday as officials discussed this change (see 2405230033). The NPRM was posted Friday. It proposes barring test labs from entities on the agency’s “covered list” of unsecure companies from participating in the equipment authorization process. In addition, it proposes taking other steps to bolster U.S. security. The final version adds a paragraph not included in the draft on SDoC issues that would potentially broaden the reach of revised rules. “Our current rules on authorization of equipment through the SDoC process do not require that any requisite testing of equipment be conducted by an accredited, FCC-recognized test lab,” the NPRM asserts: To “test labs in which entities identified on the Covered List have certain direct or indirect ownership interests or control do not participate in our equipment authorization program, we seek comment on whether the Commission also should require that all equipment authorized pursuant to the SDoC process be tested by accredited and FCC-recognized test labs.” The NPRM explains that the SDoC program is used for equipment that doesn’t have a radio transmitter but includes digital circuitry. It cites as examples computer peripherals, microwave ovens, industrial, scientific and medical equipment, power supply devices, LED light bulbs and TV interface devices. All the commissioners except Nathan Simington produced a written statement attached to the NPRM.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau asked for comment on the effects of the May 7-11 geomagnetic storm, which peaked on the 11th. Comments should be filed in docket 24-161 and are due June 24. Coronal mass ejections from the sun can distort the propagation of RF waves, the Friday notice said. On May 11, the FCC High Frequency (HF) Direction Finding Center “observed significant disturbance in the propagation of HF radio signals,” the bureau said. The bureau encouraged commenters “to provide any available evidence, particularly electromagnetic spectrum analyses, imagery, or chronological logs relating the storm’s impacts.” Comments should “include the description of the impacts; make and model of affected communications equipment, which could include transmitters, receivers, transceivers, switches, routers, amplifiers etc.; make, model, and type of affected antennae and their composition; frequencies affected; type and composition of cable adjoining communications equipment and the antennae, if applicable; duration of the impact; and any residual effects observed in the hours following restoration,” the notice said.