Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth during his Tuesday Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing appeared to lean against repurposing portions of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band with commercial wireless use, an issue that stalled negotiations during the last Congress on spectrum legislation and is likely to be a flashpoint this year (see Ref:2501070069]). Senate Armed Services member Mike Rounds, R-S.D., was the only panel member who mentioned DOD’s spectrum priorities in the incoming Donald Trump administration during the hearing, which was at times rancorous and primarily focused on the nominee’s past behavior and statements.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's upcoming export controls on advanced AI semiconductors will introduce hurdles that could push U.S. allies closer to China, a technology think tank and a semiconductor industry group said this week. Both the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the Semiconductor Industry Association urged President Joe Biden's administration to reverse course. ITIF said it should “immediately” rethink the "overdesigned, yet underinformed" restrictions, which are expected to be published as an interim final rule before Biden leaves office. SIA, "deeply concerned by the unprecedented scope and complexity" of the potential regulation, asked the government to instead issue the restrictions as a proposed rule -- which would allow for industry feedback and possible revisions without a set effective date -- or allow the new Trump administration to decide how to move forward.
The FCC should grant broadcasters a brief retroactive waiver of the agency’s audible crawl rules to allow them to adequately display emergency information until the agency decides on a longer-term solution, nearly every commenter said in docket 12-107 responding to a recent NAB petition (see 2411290007).
The FCC submarine cable NPRM now asks about ensuring cable licensees don't use equipment or services from entities on the agency’s covered list of organizations that pose a U.S. security threat. Commissioners at their open meeting Thursday unanimously approved the subsea cable NPRM, as expected (see 2411120001), as well as a robocall third-party authentication order. They also approved 5-0 an order creating a permanent process for authorizing content-originating FM boosters, which let broadcasters geotarget content within their broadcast reach for up to three minutes per hour (see 2411140053). The meeting saw the four regular commissioners praise Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who said Thursday she would step down Jan. 20, the date the next presidential administration takes power. Minority Commissioner Brendan Carr, who is slated to become chair (see 2411180059), discussed his agenda with media (see 2411210028).
A commercial in-space servicing industry -- long discussed -- is coming, but when remains a big question mark, Chris Blackerby, Astroscale chief operating officer, said Wednesday. Speaking at the annual Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS) conference in Arlington, Virginia, he said there's demand for such services in geostationary orbit but not to expect a market for in-space servicing in low earth orbit anytime soon. Blackerby said governments are the likely customers for in-space servicing in the near term, though eventually the bulk of the marketplace will be commercial operators contracting for services. Mark Quinn, head of insurance broker Willis Towers' space division, said some space insurers no longer provide coverage after a spate of huge claims during the past two years.
The Bureau of Industry and Security and DOJ are investigating U.S. mobile phone parts producer Lumentum for potentially violating U.S. export controls on shipments to Huawei, according to corporate filings.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will likely redirect the panel's airwaves legislative focus toward a version of his 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act (S-3909) next year should Republicans control the Senate after the Nov. 5 elections and he becomes chairman. Cruz could face continued headwinds from DOD's staunchest Capitol Hill backers if he pursues legislation similar to S-3909, lobbyists and others predicted. Current Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., hopes she can attach her rival Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) to an end-of-year omnibus package (see 2409170066).
The Commerce Department's revised space-related export control rules announced Thursday are aimed at "further[ing] U.S. innovation and technology leadership while protecting U.S. national security and foreign policy interests," the agency said. Under the revised rules, Commerce is ending license requirements for exports to Australia, Canada and the U.K. of some items for remote sensing or space-based logistics, assembly or servicing spacecraft. It also is ending license requirements for the export of certain space components to more than 40 nations. And it's proposing to transfer jurisdiction of some defense-related space technology from the State Department's U.S. munitions list to Commerce's control list, meaning Commerce could use license exceptions to allow exports of that tech to allies. The rules changes are "a really big deal [and] the biggest change to space export controls since the Obama Admin reforms," Aerospace Corp. Systems Director Brian Weeden posted on LinkedIn Friday. The changes should help the U.S. "expand [its space] technological leadership into the future," Aerospace Industries Association CEO Eric Fanning said.
Communications companies said they’re responding to power outages and network damage in the wake of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday night. Emergency 911 systems appeared largely to withstand the onslaught, as they did with Hurricane Helene two weeks earlier (see 2409270058). AccuWeather said the total damage and economic loss from Milton will likely be between $160 billion and $180 billion, making it "one of the most damaging and impactful storms in Florida history."
T-Mobile sees limited potential for dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) in carrier networks, Egil Gronstad, senior director-technology development and strategy, said Tuesday. During an Ookla webinar, Gronstad said T-Mobile views its early move to launch a 5G stand-alone (SA) network as critical. It examined DSS and found the efficiency is “pretty bad,” he said. DSS has been “hyped a lot … and we also had high hopes for it.” T-Mobile decided “very early on” that it wanted to make a “quick pivot to SA.” He added, “We drove the chipset and ecosystem very hard from the very beginning to support SA.” Almost all the devices on T-Mobile’s network are SA-capable. That has allowed the carrier to “quickly refarm spectrum from LTE to 5G." Gronstad thought T-Mobile’s major competitors would have done more to move to SA by now. T-Mobile has also worked hard on voice-over new radio (NR), which is voice on a 5G network. “Voice-over NR was a fairly large undertaking -- almost as large as voice-over LTE back in the day.” Vendors tell T-Mobile “just a handful” of operators are moving to voice-over NR globally “and we are five years into the 5G journey,” Gronstad said. “There is a lot more to be done still.” T-Mobile considers high-band spectrum for 5G a “failure.” The carrier didn’t fall “for this millimeter-wave trap,” which was “mostly set up by academia.” Verizon “took the bait and banked on millimeter-wave.” Gronstad also underscored the importance of handset makers enabling the use of new technology in their phones. The pro versions of Apple’s new iPhone 16 support power class 1.5 and uplink multiple-input and multiple-output, “which was music to my ears,” he said. “We have been working so hard to try to get the flagship handset vendors to support this.” Those additions will improve coverage capacity and throughput, he said.