A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is expected in a matter of weeks in the Consumers' Research case challenging the USF contribution factor and the USF generally, even as SCOTUS wades through numerous emergency petitions from the Trump administration, industry experts said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. USF likely needs an overhaul, they added, but that could be difficult if the FCC loses at SCOTUS, which typically issues several high-profile decisions in June.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, insisted in a brief interview Thursday that a deal he reached Wednesday with top Armed Services Committee Republicans for spectrum language in the chamber’s budget reconciliation package remains intact, after panel member Mike Rounds, R-S.D., indicated that new wrinkles had emerged. The deal ensured the spectrum title would exclude the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and parts of the 7 and 8 GHz bands from possible sale through the entirety of a proposed restoration of the FCC’s lapsed auction authority, which would run through Sept. 30, 2034. Rounds, Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., pushed for exclusions on the 7 and 8 GHz bands.
Top Senate Republicans told us Wednesday that they're likely to prioritize confirmation votes for GOP FCC nominee Olivia Trusty much earlier than expected as a result of Commissioner Nathan Simington’s abrupt exit. Simington said Wednesday he plans to depart the FCC “at the end of this week,” as we reported (see 2506030069). Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said he will resign Friday, also as expected (see 2505220043). The departures mean the FCC's party makeup will stand at a 1-1 tie by week’s end. That will also leave the commission below the statutory three-commissioner quorum, posing potential problems for Chairman Brendan Carr’s agenda heading into the commission’s planned June 26 meeting (see 2506040061).
The Aerospace and Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council asked the FCC Wireless Bureau to revisit some coordination procedures for commercial space launch service laid out in a public notice the bureau issued in March (see 2503260003). In a reconsideration petition posted Tuesday (docket 13-115), the organization challenged a limit on coordinating with primary aeronautical mobile telemetry operations that support flight testing in the 2360-2395 MHz band. The bureau decided to restrict the scope of coordination because there have been no complaints of harmful interference to date, which AFTRCC said ignores the fact that there have been few launches where using the 2360-2395 MHz Band was even a possibility. The group also asked for reconsideration of the decision not to require suborbital launch coordination requests to include duration of transmission information. In addition, it requested that the FCC reconsider the decision not to require space launch operators to make initial coordination requests at least 60 days before prospective launch windows. The bureau should clarify that new coordination is needed if the timing of a proposed launch changes to fall completely or partially outside a previously coordinated launch window, it said.
Charter Communications' planned purchase of Cox Communications would make the combined entity the largest residential ISP in the U.S., with 34.1 million subscribers, Parks Associates said Monday. Charter and Cox have no overlapping footprints, and both use Verizon for mobile virtual network operator services, Parks said. The timing of the deal, announced last month (see 2505160060), is right, "with a merger-friendly environment and the FCC promising to smooth the way for service providers." The proposed acquisition comes as the two companies, and cable overall, face challenges in an increasingly competitive residential market from fixed wireless's low prices and wide availability and fiber overbuilders' speed and reliability. Parks said the merger creates bundling opportunities for the combined company.
Making cloud services pay into the USF would increase the price of the services, drive down adoption and negatively affect the economy, according to a new study from the Computer & Communications Industry Association. The study was written by Raul Katz, director-business strategy research at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information at Columbia Business School and funded by Amazon Web Services. Ruiz discussed the results Tuesday on a webcast with Trevor Wagener, CCIA's research center director and chief economist.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday urged the FCC to take last week’s Supreme Court decision limiting the scope of environmental reviews into account as it considers changes to rules on National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) requirements (see 2505290075). The FCC is seeking comment on a CTIA petition seeking regulatory relief on NEPA and National Historic Preservation Act rules, which has proven controversial (see 2505160035).
The Wireline Bureau reminded recipients in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program that they must file status updates with the FCC every 90 days. The next due date is July 2, said a notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest.
The Rural Wireless Association, Communications Workers of America and public interest groups asked the FCC to consider spectrum sales between UScellular and the three major wireless carriers together, rather than as separate transactions. “These transactions represent a significant restructuring of the mobile wireless market and effectuate the exit of UScellular as a mobile wireless carrier,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 25-150. The groups met with staff from across the FCC, along with Public Knowledge, New America’s Open Technology Institute and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.
Astra Navigation asked the FCC to consider its technology, which translates magnetic fields into navigational data, as a non-spectrum-reliant alternative to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing. The company offers “an American-made technology that converts the Earth’s magnetic fields into 3D positioning data without reliance on network connectivity or deployment of special infrastructure,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 25-110. Company representatives met with staff from across the agency.