Intrepid is dropping its petition asking the FCC to preempt a contract that Cottage Grove, Minnesota, has with another provider for deployment of fiber-optic infrastructure there. In a motion to withdraw posted Friday (docket 25-248), Intrepid said it and the city have settled, "and there is no longer a 'controversy' requiring resolution by the Commission." In its petition, Intrepid said Cottage Grove granted exclusive access to another provider and was denying Intrepid access to its right of way.
Comments are due Sept. 5, replies Sept. 12, on Crown Castle's proposal to sell its fiber network business to Fiber FinCo. That company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Front Range, a joint venture between investors DigitalBridge Group and Sweden’s EQT. Filings should be posted in docket 25-174, said a Friday order by the FCC Wireline Bureau. Crown Castle sought agency clearance in May.
Wireless and aviation groups are working together to look at how the upper C band can be safely reallocated for full-power licensed use, officials from the Aerospace Industries Association, Airlines for America and CTIA told the FCC in a filing posted Friday. Questions about the implications for radio altimeters, which use adjacent spectrum, surfaced ahead of FCC approval of a notice of inquiry on the band (see 2502120046).
The Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to throw out an appeal of last year’s FCC order giving the FirstNet Authority, and indirectly AT&T, control of the 4.9 GHz band through a nationwide license (see 2410220027). The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI), which leads the appeal, fired back, saying a challenge by PSSA also should be tossed.
NTCA, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and other commenters told the FCC last week that they dislike a proposal to deregulate telephone access charges more now than they did five years ago, when the agency last sought comment (see 2008050030).
New questions in the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s previously routine equal employment opportunity (EEO) audit letters appear to be aimed at seeking out broadcaster diversity hiring programs and grievances against them.
Testing done in Colombia -- like previous testing conducted in Romania -- confirms that a non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite system can protect geostationary orbit (GSO) system Ku-band downlinks even when using co-frequency beams, according to SpaceX. In a docket 25-157 filing posted Thursday, SpaceX recapped a meeting with the FCC Space Bureau, saying it will submit a full report of the Colombia testing soon. The company said the test results "deliver direct, real-world evidence" supporting the protection criteria that it proposed. SpaceX has petitioned the commission for a revision of U.S. spectrum-sharing methodology between NGSO and GSO fixed satellite service downlinks (see 2408120018).
Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley this week urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and acting Media Bureau Chief Erin Boone to set a specific date for an ATSC 1.0 sunset, according to an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 16-142. “The best way to spur the availability of more consumer devices is to provide certainty regarding a sunset,” the filing said. Issuing a prompt NPRM on ATSC 3.0 would allow the FCC to sunset 1.0 in the top 55 markets by February 2028, as NAB has proposed, it added. "ATSC 3.0 is a game-changing opportunity for broadcasters to diversify their revenue streams and ensure that they can continue to serve their viewers -- but time is of the essence.”
Comments are due Sept. 22, replies Oct. 21, in docket 17-169 on the FCC’s NPRM seeking input on updates to its slamming and truth-in-billing rules, according to a Federal Register notice released Thursday (see 2507240055). The NPRM was unanimously approved at the July FCC meeting, but Commissioner Anna Gomez said then that any updates should preserve consumer protection measures. Chairman Brendan Carr said at the meeting that while the agency has heard concerns that the rules impose unnecessary burdens on companies, it has received zero complaints about slamming in 2025.
The FCC is seeking nominations by Oct. 20 for six positions on the Universal Service Administrative Co. board, said a Thursday notice from the Wireline Bureau. Those positions, which have three-year terms, are representatives for commercial mobile radio service providers, incumbent local exchange carriers, cable providers, state consumer advocates, and libraries and schools participating in the USF.