EchoStar has met its next FCC deadlines for its 5G network buildout ahead of schedule, Chief Operating Officer John Swieringa said. Speaking to analysts Thursday after the market's close as EchoStar announced quarterly earnings, Swieringa said the company's final construction deadline next year would likely be pushed to 2028 due to meeting the 2025 deadlines. The company had a June 14 deadline for its network to be compliant with 3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 17 standards. It had also committed to having at least 24,000 towers deployed by then. That deadline was set in exchange for additional time the FCC granted EchoStar last year to meet construction milestones attached to some of its wireless licenses (see 2409200049). The company didn't say how many towers were deployed.
Talton made its case at the FCC for why its petition seeking a waiver of the agency's rules capping the rates for audio and video for incarcerated people should get confidential treatment. Talton serves U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and “compelling disclosure of sensitive material on such a flimsy basis as seen here risks chilling petitioners from confidently disclosing their protected information to the FCC,” the company said in a filing posted Friday (docket 23-62).
Reply comments are now due May 19 on proposed changes to submarine cable rules (docket 24-523), the FCC Office of International Affairs ordered Friday. The seven-day extension will allow parties more time to gather information needed for replies, it said. The subsea cable NPRM was adopted unanimously by the FCC commissioners in November (see 2411210006).
Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and 21 other Republican senators are urging the FCC to “modernize [its] broadcast ownership rules to enable broadcasters to compete with today's media giants.” Broadcasters doubled down in late April on calls for station ownership deregulation as part of the FCC’s “Delete” docket (see 2504290054).
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington wants to reassign staff at the Media Bureau, “slash” the USF and streamline FCC licensing, he said in a column in The Daily Caller Friday, co-authored with new Chief of Staff Gavin Wax. The FCC “is a prime candidate for [Department of Government Efficiency]-style reform,” they said in the column.
Wiley's David Gross, a former top State Department official on communications, said the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027 will be critical, as WRCs usually are. But it’s unclear where the meeting will be held, with China making a strong bid to serve as host, he said. Gross spoke during a Free State Foundation webcast posted Friday and hosted by former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly.
An ATSC 3.0 tuner mandate and a set date for the switch to the new standard are necessary for TV broadcasting to survive and compete with streaming, said Sinclair, Scripps, Gray and others in comments filed in response to NAB’s 3.0 petition in docket 16-142 by Wednesday’s deadline. The Consumer Technology Association, public interest organizations and multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) groups disagreed, arguing that a mandatory transition would increase costs for consumers and MVPDs, all to provide broadcasters with a new revenue stream.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in an interview Thursday that “we are going to have [a restoration of the FCC’s lapsed] auction authority and a spectrum pipeline” in the coming budget reconciliation package, as talks appeared to be moving closer to a compromise headed into the weekend. Meanwhile, House GOP leaders are coalescing around a deal that would pair a 10-year renewal of the FCC’s auction mandate with a 450 MHz pipeline of airwaves that the commission can repurpose for 5G use, said several communications sector lobbyists who are closely monitoring negotiations.
The outlook on what happens next on the Digital Equity Act (DEA) is uncertain after President Donald Trump said his administration won’t fund the program. Congress approved DEA in 2021 as part of a $1 trillion infrastructure package under former President Joe Biden. In a Truth Social post late Thursday, Trump said he's canceling DEA, which industry officials predicted will lead to inevitable legal challenges and months if not years of uncertainty.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Monday night called House Commerce Committee Republicans’ budget reconciliation proposal “encouraging” but stopped short of backing the measure. House Commerce’s proposal, which the panel will mark up Tuesday, would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction authority through the end of FY 2034 and tee up 600 MHz of bandwidth for sale within six years of enactment.