SpaceX's efforts to access the 2 GHz band -- where EchoStar enjoys sole use -- are key to its direct-to-device ambitions, but they're also creating a major spectrum fight between the two companies, spectrum and satellite experts told us. Some see SpaceX eyeing the spectrum to enhance its D2D service and to block EchoStar's and are asking if SpaceX anticipates competing directly with wireless carriers.
A U.S. Supreme Court opinion late Thursday preventing fired independent commissioners from resuming their work is a strong indication that the high court will allow President Donald Trump to remove FCC and FTC commissioners from the minority party, academics and attorneys said in interviews Friday.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks will leave the agency before its June 26 meeting; replacement plans are unclear (see 2505220043) ... European business communications provider Dstny Group names Yann Le Helloco, ex-InfoVista, as chief product and technology officer … Telecommunications customer experience firm TechSee names Lawrence Askowitz, the Bank Street Group, to its telecom advisory board.
Coordination with federal spectrum users is the biggest regulatory challenge in the bands where Capella Space operates, the synthetic aperture radar satellite operator told FCC leadership. In a docket 25-133 filing posted Thursday, Capella recapped 10th-floor meetings at which it said coordinating with federal users can take longer than the FCC's licensing process. Other issues cited included the variation in coordination restrictions from license to license based on unpredictable factors and licensees not having the information they need to avoid congested frequencies and locations. Capella asked the FCC to help mitigate the coordination challenges by sending application materials for coordination as early as possible and improving communication with other agencies. The company also urged the agency to reduce its surety bond requirement for some satellite licenses by making it subject to a one-year grace period rather than the 30-day deadline. The Capella staffers met with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, the offices of Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, and Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz.
Any FCC approval of Skydance Media's proposed purchase of Paramount Global should include conditions safeguarding Paramount's entertainment industry employment, Project Rise Partners (PRP) co-Chair Daphna Ziman told FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, according to a filing posted Thursday (docket 24-275). PRP has also made an offer to buy Paramount (see 2504030049). Other concerns that PRP raised include reports about Skydance's alleged involvement in Paramount operations before the deal is approved and how the transaction could affect CBS' relationship with its affiliates. Asked Thursday during the FCC's monthly meeting about the timing of its decisions on Skydance/Paramount, Chairman Brendan Carr said the agency continues to run “a normal review process” of the deal's merits. He said the agency is or has been working through numerous transactions of late, such as Verizon/Frontier Communications.
Representatives of TransUnion met with staff from the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs and Wireline bureaus to discuss the company’s “market-driven” calling solution. “Businesses currently face two interrelated dilemmas -- certain calls that are authentic are being spam-tagged and/or blocked and calls that are fraudulently spoofed are getting through to unwitting consumers,” said a filing posted Thursday (docket 17-59). TransUnion has found that up to 25% of some companies’ calls “are mislabeled as spam,” while as many as 15% of some calls from financial institutions are “spoofed,” the filing said: “TransUnion’s solutions, based on global call authentication standards, allows consumers to see businesses’ name, logo, and call reason information on their incoming call screen, providing greater confidence that a call is legitimate.”
UScellular filed data at the FCC on its radio access network, answering questions about its proposed sale of wireless assets to T-Mobile (see 2405280047). The carrier redacted all the data in the filing, posted Thursday in docket 24-286. Based on text that wasn't stripped, the company provided data on how it defines congestion, its average cost per radio and its fixed wireless access offering, among other areas.
The International Connectivity Coalition continues to lobby the FCC to keep 25-year submarine cable system licensing terms and to adopt bright line rules for restricting or prohibiting transactions that have links to a foreign adversary (see 2505200039). In a docket 24-523 filing posted Thursday, ICC reported on a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, at which it also advocated for a fast-track review for parties whose licenses were approved previously.
The FCC questioning the progress of EchoStar's 5G network deployment (see 2505120074) could set the stage for a clash with White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Michael Kratsios, analyst Tim McDonald wrote Thursday in a blog post. Kratsios could interpret the FCC action as a direct challenge to his strategy of promoting and protecting emerging technologies in which the U.S. could be preeminent, McDonald said. While the FCC might see what it's doing as providing market certainty by enforcing its rules, he added, OSTP very well could view the FCC action as jeopardizing the idea that EchoStar's open radio access network deployment shows that the U.S. can build telecom infrastructure without Chinese vendors.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez on Thursday called the FCC’s actions against regulated companies that force them to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs “sinister.” She was particularly critical of the Wireline Bureau’s order last week approving Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of Frontier (see 2505160050) after Verizon agreed to get rid of DEI programs, which she said were “meant to increase fairness in hiring in the workforce.”