NASHVILLE -- BEAD deployment activity will necessitate permitting reform at the federal, state and local levels, C Spire Vice President-Government Relations Chris Champion said Tuesday at the Fiber Broadband Association's annual conference and trade show. Agencies are aware “they are about to be bombarded” with applications, he said. Those permitting reforms must be paired with appropriations that allow agencies to staff up to handle applications, he said. Numerous other speakers echoed the call for permitting reform.
Numerous industry and FCC officials told us Tuesday that FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington is expected to leave the agency or announce an imminent departure this week. Simington and his office didn’t respond to requests for comment. Simington’s term expired last year, but he was expected to stay until the end of 2025.
Commissioner Geoffrey Starks is leaving the FCC Friday, the same day as Commissioner Nathan Simington, Starks said in a release a few hours after Simington’s announcement. Starks said in March that he would leave the agency this spring (see 2503180009) and announced at the May 22 FCC meeting that he wouldn't be in office for the June 26 meeting. “Serving as a Commissioner has been the highlight of my career. I am immensely proud of all that we have achieved together,” Starks said in the release. Starks' and Simington's departures will leave the FCC with just two commissioners. The Communications Act requires a quorum of three, but there are federal rules that would allow the FCC to proceed with fewer, attorneys told us.
Republican FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington announced Wednesday that he will leave the agency at the end of this week (see 2506030069). Simington thanked his staff and said he felt he was leaving the agency in good hands under Chairman Brendan Carr. Simington was confirmed as a commissioner in the first Trump administration in 2020.
Verizon certified at the FCC that it’s in compliance with the agency’s vertical-location accuracy requirements and has deployed z-axis location technology “on a nationwide basis at accuracy within 3 meters above or below (plus or minus 3 meters) the handset” for 80% of wireless 911 calls made from z-axis-capable devices. Verizon is also delivering z-axis data to 911 call centers in height-above-ellipsoid format and “has complied with the test bed and live call data provisions in the rules,” said a filing Monday in docket 17-78.
Federated Wireless executives discussed the need for changes to the citizens broadband radio service rules in a meeting with staff from the FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology, said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-258. Federated officials discussed “several practical, near-term improvements that can be readily implemented” in the band.
Amateur radio operator Hunter Reed asked the FCC to launch a rulemaking on expanding agency rules from 40 years ago, which require local governments to reasonably accommodate amateur radio installations, to clarify that they apply to homeowners associations (HOAs). The current rules don’t “extend to private land-use restrictions enforced by HOAs,” said the petition posted Monday in docket 25-133. “In an era where a significant portion of residential housing is governed by HOAs, this omission critically hampers the ability of many licensed operators to install antennas and fulfill their public service and emergency communication roles.”
The FCC announced Monday a 30-day extension of the June 9 deadline for current 4.9 GHz licensees to provide the agency with granular licensing data or face cancellation of their licenses. The new deadline is July 9.
CTIA representatives urged the FCC to move quickly to launch the AWS-3 reauction during a meeting with staff from the Office of Economics and Analytics and the Wireless Bureau. They “discussed the strong consensus in the record supporting the use of the Clock-1 auction format and reiterated that changes to geographic licensing are outside the scope of the authority delegated by the Commission to OEA and [the Wireless Bureau] for purposes of the Auction 113 Public Notice,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 25-70.
Comments are due June 16, replies June 23, on the transfer of Arkwest Communications from Spectracom to Fiber Acquisitions, said the FCC Wireline Bureau in a public notice Monday. Arkwest provides phone and broadband service in three Arkansas counties.