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.
The Wireless Infrastructure Association urged the FCC to move forward on a proposal in a January NPRM seeking comment on a voluntary, negotiation-based process to transition 10 MHz in the 900 MHz band to broadband (see 2505190025). The proposal is consistent with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s "Build America Agenda,” and the record “shows overwhelming support for the proposal,” said a filing Thursday in docket 24-99. “This proposal is particularly timely as the nation looks at ways to improve the reliability and capacity of utility networks to power revolutions in AI technologies.”
The C-band Relocation Payment Clearinghouse has shut down, the FCC Wireless Bureau said Thursday. The clearinghouse submitted a final written certification of completion on Wednesday, indicating that it had finished its administrative duties, the notice said. The bureau approved the clearinghouse ending operations in June (see 2506040046).
A recent decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court upholding the FCC's 2024 data breach notification rules (see 2508140052) likely has broader implications for the agency, lawyers at Cooley wrote Wednesday. “The decision’s expansive reading of Section 201(b) [of the Communications Act] suggests that the FCC’s power extends beyond the actual provision of service to cover all ‘practices’ in support of providing the service, which could lead to more aggressive regulation in the future,” they wrote.
Members of the North American Spectrum Alliance spoke with FCC staff about the need for the agency to look more closely at upper C-band issues, according to a filing Wednesday in docket 25-59. The FCC is examining an auction of the spectrum, which carriers see as well-suited for full-power licensed use.
NTCA representatives spoke with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr about small providers' need for greater clarity as they move away from time-division multiplexing-based interconnection. They discussed how to “facilitate and expedite the voluntary migration of small rural providers from legacy voice services to cloud-based and hosted VoIP services,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-97.
Comments are due Sept. 22, replies Oct. 21, on the questions raised in the pole attachments NPRM adopted by the FCC at its July meeting (see 2507280053), said a notice for Friday's Federal Register. The docket is 17-84. Among the questions asked in the NRPM is whether Section 224 of the Communications Act, which governs pole attachments, also covers light poles.
Portions of the FCC's Part 76 rules, which govern multichannel video and cable TV service, are off the books, as the agency said Thursday that its Media Bureau had axed 43 of those requirements under its "Delete" initiative. The order pointed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' 2013 Time Warner Cable decision, which vacated the temporary standstill rule for program carriage complaint proceedings, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's 2013 EchoStar decision, which set aside a pair of 2003 orders adopting encoding rules. In both cases, the agency said, the rules have no legal effect but remain in the Code of Federal Regulations, and doing away with them effectuates the courts' decisions.
Shifting federal priorities away from fiber toward newer technologies like low earth orbit (LEO) satellites is creating uncertainty for states' broadband plans and funding, experts and local officials warned Thursday at the National Association of Telecom Officers and Advisors' (NATOA) annual conference (see 2508200037). Panelists said the move has rattled the industry, left local governments scrambling for resources, and raised questions about how states will balance cost, access and long-term reliability without the possibility of new federal support.
Political scrutiny of Skydance Media's purchase of Paramount Global is growing, with the ranking members of the House Commerce and Judiciary committees demanding Thursday to see internal company communications, as well as those between the FCC and the companies.