The FCC asked for comment on whether it should update its “covered list” of unsecure companies to reflect a January finding by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. BIS found “that the provision of certain connected vehicle hardware or software by certain Chinese- or Russian-controlled entities poses an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security and the safety and security of U.S. persons.” The notice, published by the FCC Public Safety Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology in Tuesday's Daily Digest, asks for comments by June 9 in docket 18-89.
Rather than focusing on deleting certain regulations, the Trump administration should consider shuttering the FCC, wrote Thomas Lenard, a senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute. “The White House is closing and shrinking other agencies, and it should consider doing the same to the FCC -- as the administration has a responsibility to evaluate whether the agency has outlived its raison d’etre,” Lenard said this week in The Wall Street Journal.
The FCC made limited changes to an NPRM on foreign-ownership rules, as agency officials indicated at last week's meeting, where commissioners approved the item 4-0 (see 2505220056). The FCC posted the NPRM on Tuesday.
The U.S. is in dire need of commercial services to complement or back up GPS, though global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and space industry experts expect commercial services to face a business challenge in competing with GPS' free signals. Some speakers at a George Washington University/Aerospace Corp. seminar Tuesday also said RF diversity could help tackle GPS interference problems but would see a major regulatory fight. In response to an FCC notice of inquiry regarding positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) alternatives, NTIA on Tuesday submitted an "inventory" of possibilities (see 2505270037).
While the FCC is downplaying the extent of staff departures, uncertainties surround their effect on the agency. Industry officials also said the attrition so far -- 78 employees were announced to have left as of the end of April (see 2505200058) -- is concentrated among the most experienced staff and could presage a much larger exit.
NTIA is “hard at work” identifying 600 MHz of midband spectrum for licensed use, acting Administrator Adam Cassady said at an agency town hall last week. “That is utterly critical to our mission,” he said. Lynna McGrath, deputy associate administrator for the Office of Spectrum Management (OSM), said NTIA has set up five working groups to explore the commercial use of three target bands.
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."