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.
The Rural Wireless Association urged the FCC in comments posted Friday to look at AT&T’s proposed buy of 700 MHz and 3.45 GHz licenses from UScellular in the broader context of the U.S. wireless market. The sale of the licenses is tied to a larger deal with T-Mobile that's also still before the FCC (see 2504150046). Replies to oppositions were due at the FCC on Thursday in docket 25-150.
USTelecom submitted a letter to the FCC Enforcement Bureau asking for the continuing designation of its Industry Traceback Group as the registered robocall traceback consortium. Letters of intent to serve in the role were due at the FCC on Friday.
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Friday approved the transfer of control of Megawatt Communications from Jack Cathey to RSTN Communications (docket 25-146). The bureau noted that no one filed an opposition. Megawatt serves parts of Tennessee and is designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier there.
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., on Thursday night criticized spectrum language included in the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1). The House cleared HR-1 Thursday 215-214 with provisions that would restore the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2034, and mandate that the federal government reallocate at least 600 MHz of airwaves for commercial licensed use (see 2505220064). “There is strong bipartisan concern about handing over this spectrum,” Lujan said. “Yet House Republicans are moving ahead at President [Donald] Trump’s directive, prioritizing billionaires over the urgent need to invest in broadband access.”