CTIA generally supports the rule changes proposed for the disaster information reporting system (DIRS) and other emergency alert systems, it told the FCC in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-346. The NPRM is set for a vote at the agency's Aug. 7 open meeting (see 2507170048). “CTIA and its member companies support the FCC’s efforts to ensure that public safety stakeholders have actionable information to maintain critical services, including 911 and 988,” the group said. In deciding which information is most usable, “the Commission should consider that there is a growing consensus among industry and public safety stakeholders that the current framework for outage notifications, including those notifications to 911 and 988 special facilities in areas where DIRS has been activated, is leading to outage notification fatigue."
The draft submarine cable order on the FCC's Aug. 7 agenda (see 2507170048) needs to clear up potentially confusing language about the scope of the security risk management plan certification requirements, CTIA said in a filing posted Wednesday (docket 24-523). It called for the draft order's requirements to apply only to submarine cable systems, not all an operator's systems.
The FCC has logged more than 3,000 comments complaining about a Wireline Bureau decision to delay some deadlines for incarcerated people’s communications service until April 1, 2027 (see 2506300068). “The FCC's sudden reversal" on regulations that passed unanimously last year is "plainly shameful,” said a filing by Caitlin Bambery posted Wednesday in docket 23-62. “It delays more than four decades of necessary relief for those who need it most, families with incarcerated loved ones.”
EchoStar is again making previously delayed interest payments to holders of company notes as it said it continues to try to address issues with the FCC. In an SEC filing Wednesday, EchoStar said it was paying the interest originally due July 1 on 2026 and 2028 notes. Beyond its talks with the FCC, the company said it's engaged in "wide-ranging efforts to explore alternative or complementary pathways that could, if successfully implemented, resolve the FCC’s stated concerns in a manner acceptable to the Company."
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Trade groups are urging federal agencies to treat deliberate damage to communications networks, such as fiber-optic cable cuts, as domestic terrorism in some instances and increase investigative and enforcement resources in regions with more incidents. Widespread, organized attacks on communications networks represent "a significant and rapidly growing threat demanding urgent, coordinated federal, state, and local action," the groups said in a letter Wednesday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Tuesday night confirmed reports that he's urging President Donald Trump to pick Democratic nominees to the FCC and FTC in a bid to ease Democrats’ opposition to speeding up confirmations ahead of the August recess. Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others told us they’re skeptical that the Trump administration will follow through, given that the president didn’t pick minority-party nominees to independent commissions during the first six months of his term and fired sitting members of the FTC and other bodies.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has opened an investigation into Comcast NBCUniversal’s relationship with its affiliates, days after President Donald Trump targeted the network in a social media post. Carr told Comcast in a letter Tuesday that the Media Bureau will scrutinize its affiliation agreements for restrictions on streaming negotiations or competing for local sports rights, as well as terms that could “unduly inhibit” local broadcast station programming decisions.
Clearing as much as 60 MHz in the upper C band could happen within 12 months of an FCC order initiating an upper C-band transition, Eutelsat told agency officials. The company recapped its meetings with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's office and with Commissioner Olivia Trusty in a docket 25-59 filing posted Tuesday. Eutelsat said it could get that 60 MHz free through compression and wouldn't need new satellite launches. It alternately could clear as much as 130 MHz within three years of an FCC order, it said, with two additional C-band satellites and all services compressed. Eutelsat urged the FCC to use the 2020 C-band transition framework as the foundation for any further reallocation of upper C-band spectrum. That would include a satellite-operator-led transition, structured financial incentives and reimbursement, it noted. Clearing meaningful additional C-band spectrum would require "significant" financial investment by Eutelsat, and financial incentives "should appropriately align with this effort," the company told the commission.
Representatives of the Utilities Technology Council told FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty "how utilities need access to additional spectrum to support the safe, reliable and secure delivery of essential electric, gas and water services to the public at large,” according to a filing posted Tuesday in docket 24-99. The spectrum “needs to provide sufficient capacity to simultaneously support multiple utility voice and data applications, including high resolution video for security, as well as low latency applications such as advanced distribution automation, distributed energy resources management systems and protective relaying systems.” The group also met with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.