Comments are due July 7, replies July 21, on the FCC’s proposals for FY 2025 regulatory fees, said an NPRM released Thursday. The agency on Wednesday unanimously approved the NPRM, which seeks comment on a proposal to reclassify 61 indirect full-time equivalents (FTEs) as direct FTEs, as well as on the $390,192,000 in proposed fees. The costs of indirect FTEs are borne by all FCC regulatory fee payors, while direct FTEs are paid only by the licensees serviced by the bureau or office to which they are assigned. The reallocation is based on the FCC determining “that certain FTE work in the Office of General Counsel, the Office of Economics and Analytics, and the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is sufficiently linked to the oversight and regulation of regulatory fee payors in a core bureau.” Among the proposed changes to FTEs, the Wireless and Wireline bureaus' payors would see their direct FTEs increase by 23 each, while Media Bureau payors would see an increase of 13 FTEs. The regulatory fee NPRM doesn’t seek comment on proposed changes to the way fees for space and earth stations are calculated, because the proceeding for a recent Further NPRM on that subject (see 2502260017) is still open, Thursday’s NPRM said.
Police have arrested Jeffrey Gary, formerly an assistant division chief in the FCC Enforcement Bureau, for allegedly assaulting a woman. The attack occurred Friday evening near the Braddock Metro Station in Alexandria, Virginia, per a release this week from the Alexandria Police Department. Gary is being fired from the FCC, where he had served in the Enforcement Bureau's Telecommunications Consumers Division. Police said Gary has been linked to at least one other attack.
The FCC on Thursday posted the three items set for votes at the commission’s June 26 meeting, all of which are aimed at cutting regulations. It will consider cutting cable TV rules and an engineering requirement tied to the agency’s broadband data collection, as well as addressing text telephone-based telecom relay service rules.
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 (see 2506040078) remains in place, despite panel member Mike Rounds, R-S.D., indicating new wrinkles emerged. Senate Commerce planned to release its reconciliation language Thursday but hadn’t by our deadline. Meanwhile, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, National Emergency Number Association and other groups urged Senate Commerce to allocate some future auction proceeds in its reconciliation proposal for next-generation 911 tech upgrades.
FCC Commissioners Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks confirm they will depart the agency this week, though it’s unclear who will replace them (see 2506040073) … Cable One Chair, President and CEO Julia Laulis will retire by Dec. 31 or upon appointment of her successor, when she will become senior adviser; internal and external succession candidates are under consideration ... FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's Senior Counsel Arpan Sura adds chief AI officer to his remit ... The Pennsylvania Senate unanimously confirms Darryl Lawrence as state consumer advocate.
Blue Origin is now aiming for an August launch for its Moon Lander MK1 Pathfinder mission, it told the FCC Space Bureau in a filing posted Wednesday. The proposed mission was originally expected in Q1 2025 (see 2408020001). The company told the bureau this week that once the lander touches down on the moon's surface, its mission there should take about 24 hours. Blue Origin anticipates using the S band for mission uplinks and downlinks, with the X band as a backup, it said.
Democratic lawmakers said at a House Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday that cuts to staffing and budgets at the FCC and FTC threaten efforts to combat robocalls and robotexts. “Republicans are regularly undermining efforts to address these threats, cutting funding and staff from the very entities that protect consumers, all to give giant tax breaks to billionaires who don’t need them,” said ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
GCI slammed comments by the Alaska Remote Carrier Coalition and OptimERA opposing GCI’s request for modification or waiver of the Alaska population-distribution model to utilize the broadband serviceable location fabric and of the mobile “waterfall” methodology (see 2504140020).
Comments are due July 21, replies Aug. 18, on a Further NPRM on next-generation 911, the FCC said Wednesday. Comments should be filed in dockets 21-479 and 13-75. The NG911 FNPRM proposes updates to the agency’s 911 reliability rules, extending those rules that cover legacy 911 networks to service providers that control or operate critical pathways and components in NG911 networks. Commissioners approved it 4-0 in March (see 2503270042).
Smith Bagley Chairman Kevin Frawley met with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to discuss changes to USF, including the company's proposal to allow wireless carriers to use legacy high-cost support to “rapidly construct 5G” within their eligible telecom carrier service areas. Frawley “described the longstanding and ongoing challenges in constructing, operating, and maintaining mobile wireless network infrastructure on remote Tribal lands, including challenges in upgrading to 5G due to the extreme expense of extending fiber to all of [Smith Bagley's] towers,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-32.