Senate Commerce Committee members John Curtis, R-Utah, and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., filed the Taiwan Undersea Cable Resilience Initiative Act on Wednesday to protect that country’s communications infrastructure against Chinese sabotage. The bill would mandate that DOD, the departments of State and Homeland Security, and the U.S. Coast Guard jointly deploy real-time monitoring systems and other measures to defend Taiwan’s undersea cables. It would also direct State to “encourage and support the hardening” of undersea cables near Taiwan and direct the U.S. to work with “like-minded international partners” to counter Chinese government sabotage of that infrastructure, including by imposing sanctions.
Now with a Republican majority, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday laid out policy priorities that range from accelerating and easing broadband infrastructure deployment to tackling blue-collar workforce issues.
The Media Bureau has approved Sinclair’s sale of five stations to Rincon Broadcasting and waived a limit on common ownership of top-four stations in the same market, said an order Tuesday. The bureau also rejected a petition to deny the deal from recently formed public interest group Frequency Forward (see 2504150056). The group’s “allegations concerning Sinclair’s character qualifications have repeatedly been considered and rejected,” the order said.
The Consumer Technology Association, CTIA and other groups opposed an FCC proposal to update its “covered list” of unsecure companies to reflect a January finding by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security on connected vehicles (see 2505270059). Commenters said the FCC should let BIS complete its work before considering revising regulations. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has long raised concerns about Chinese involvement in U.S. networks and in March launched a Council for National Security at the agency (see 2503130012).
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FCC’s USF contribution scheme in a 6-3 opinion Friday in Consumers’ Research v. FCC, but dissenting and concurring opinions from several conservative justices appeared to invite future challenges, attorneys told us.
Republican Olivia Trusty’s confirmation Wednesday to a full five-year FCC term cements an incoming GOP majority at the commission, but there's still substantial uncertainty about whether President Donald Trump will pick nominees to succeed ex-Commissioners Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks, former officials and other observers told us. The Senate voted 53-45 Wednesday to confirm Trusty, as expected (see 2506170072). Senators also cleared her Tuesday to finish former Democratic Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's term, which ends June 30.
The Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) urged the FCC to consider adding communications equipment and services associated with connected vehicle technologies to the “covered list” of unsecure equipment when it poses a risk to national security. Comments are due June 27 on the finding by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security that the provision of some connected vehicle hardware or software by Chinese- or Russian-controlled entities can pose “an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security and the safety and security of U.S. persons.”
The FCC asked for comment on whether it should update its “covered list” of unsecure companies to reflect a January finding by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. BIS found “that the provision of certain connected vehicle hardware or software by certain Chinese- or Russian-controlled entities poses an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security and the safety and security of U.S. persons.” The notice, published by the FCC Public Safety Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology in Tuesday's Daily Digest, asks for comments by June 9 in docket 18-89.
The FCC approved an order and Further NPRM Thursday aimed at squelching “bad labs,” continuing work started in the last administration. Commissioners also decided the agency would look well beyond its initial plans of considering the 12.7 and 42 GHz bands for satellite broadband spectrum. Those items were approved 4-0, as were updated foreign-ownership rules (see 2505010037).
The FCC Enforcement Bureau notified the Beachwalk (At Hallandale) Condominium Association that it’s suspected of interfering with public safety communications through the use of a signal booster in the 799-805 MHz band. Agents detected the transmissions in January, emitting from a property that’s part of the Miami-area association, the bureau said.