Obtaining and maintaining a satellite license is more expensive in the U.S. than anywhere else, and the FCC should eliminate the surety bond requirement for geostationary orbit (GSO) satellites, Astranis said in a pair of docket 25-133 filings posted Friday. The company recapped meetings with the FCC Space Bureau and Commissioner Nathan Simington's office about the surety bond and the agency's regulatory fees. It said the bond requirement disproportionately affects new entrants because companies without long-term banking relationships or big balance sheets must pay a fee to a bank to issue the bond, as well as set aside substantial collateral.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez will speak at a Free Press event Wednesday as part of her “First Amendment Tour.” The event will be held at California State University in Los Angeles at noon, with a livestream starting at 12:30 PT. In addition to Gomez, it will feature Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., Free Press co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez and officials from public broadcasting and the press. In a release, Gomez said the tour is “an effort to defend the First Amendment from those who use it as a weapon against the very freedoms it protects.”
An FCC order allowing digital FM stations to operate with asymmetric power on the digital sidebands took effect Friday, the Media Bureau said in a public notice that day in the Daily Digest. The order was unanimously approved ahead of the September meeting (see 2409250053).
NAB said in reply comments filed last week that the FCC should proceed with a rulemaking on software-based emergency alert systems over the objections of EAS equipment manufacturer Digital Alert Systems (see 2505050055). “The record consists of nearly unanimous support, with only one self-interested detractor,” NAB said, adding that the agency can explore DAS’ objections over the course of the rulemaking process. “NAB has full confidence that the Commission, with input from industry experts, will be able to identify and properly address such issues."
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied Gray’s April petition for a rehearing of its legal challenge against a $518,283 forfeiture imposed by the FCC, said an order Friday. Gray had sought rehearing en banc (see 2504220052) in the wake of the 5th Circuit’s recent ruling against the FCC over a penalty assessed against AT&T (see 2504180021). “The Petition for Rehearing En Banc is DENIED, no judge in regular active service on the Court having requested that the Court be polled on rehearing en banc,” said Friday’s order. In March, the 11th Circuit upheld the FCC’s forfeiture order against Gray over a violation of ownership rules (see 2503070004) but vacated the penalty because the agency didn’t adequately provide notice that the violation was “egregious.”
Now that the FCC has approved Verizon's proposed acquisition of Frontier (see 2505160050), the deal is under mounting scrutiny in states including California and West Virginia, where initial public comments are running against the deal. Utah, Nevada, Virginia and Texas have already given their OK.
The Wireless Microphone Spectrum Alliance (WMSA) met with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff about several regulatory changes the group is seeking, including in a filing in the “Delete” proceeding. Among the topics discussed was the group’s request “to remove the arbitrary and unnecessarily restrictive” 50 low-power auxiliary station device eligibility threshold for a Part 74 license, said a filing posted Friday in docket 25-133. The requirement “originated in 2012 and was based on a forecast of TV whitespace device deployment which has proved overly optimistic, rendering the rule entirely unnecessary and restrictive.”
UScellular on Friday updated the FCC on its proposal to relinquish its eligible telecommunications carrier designations in various states (see 2505210029). The carrier listed the status of requests in 15 states, with most filed in March or April. UScellular has yet to file in Oklahoma. The Missouri Public Service Commission approved the relinquishment May 14, the filing said (docket 09-197).
NextNav representatives met with FCC staff about a recent engineering report on interference issues raised by the company’s proposal that the FCC reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band “to enable a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing services (see 2503030023). Company officials discussed the real-world conditions and scenarios it modeled to support the study’s conclusions,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 24-240. NextNav said its technical assumptions “were based on well-accepted international industry standards wherever possible, including [3rd Generation Partnership Project] specifications and ITU recommendations, as well as information provided by Part 15 commenters.”
The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment Friday on a waiver request by Tiverton, Rhode Island, which wants to add a base station in the 470-512 MHz T band to its public safety radio system. A waiver is needed because of an adjacent TV station located in Boston, about 50 miles away, the bureau said. Tiverton says it’s “in dire need of improved coverage and building penetration in its historical downtown business district,” the bureau said. Comments are due June 12, replies June 23, in universal licensing system file 0010645349.