FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who led U.S. preparation for last year’s World Radiocommunication Conference before she was confirmed to the FCC (see 2309120074), warned that the U.S. must prepare now for WRC-27. “Overall, we did very well, but it’s complicated,” Gomez said of WRC-23. “We succeeded in maintaining the 6 GHz band as the home for unlicensed innovation,” though other countries “also claimed victory because they received designations that allow them [to] use parts of the band” for international mobile telecommunications, she said. Gomez spoke Tuesday at the Americas Spectrum Management Conference. The U.S. also won on new allocations for satellite use of the 17 GHz band, she said. “Some countries were seeking to place new restrictions on the ability of countries to authorize satellite systems to provide commercial services in frequencies that have not been allocated internationally for satellite use,” she said: “That did not happen and that is a big win for the U.S. and innovation.” She also discussed the importance of the sharing model offered by the citizens broadband radio service band, developed through “intentional collaboration” between the FCC, the NTIA and DOD. “CBRS has demonstrated that shared spectrum schemes are not only possible but successful and can scale up to incorporate developments, protect incumbents, create more access and encourage new market entrants.” Gomez also stressed the importance of Congress restoring FCC auction authority. Currently, “our agency cannot begin the lengthy preparatory work to hold an auction” and “we are even limited in how we can use staff time for auction planning.” Gomez warned of a talent drain at the commission. “Bright, talented attorneys, economists, engineers and staff that have built years of expertise in spectrum auctions are having to pivot to other work,” she said. “The robust, expert team that we developed and grew in preparation for more auctions is slimming down.”
Expect a Donald Trump White House and FCC to focus on deregulation and undoing the agency's net neutrality and digital discrimination rules, telecom policy experts and FCC watchers tell us. Brendan Carr, one of the two GOP minority commissioners, remains the seeming front-runner to head the agency if Trump wins the White House in November (see 2407120002). Despite repeated comments from Trump as a candidate and president calling for FCC action against companies such as CNN and MSNBC over their news content, many FCC watchers on both sides of the aisle told us they don’t expect the agency to actually act against cable networks or broadcast licenses under a second Trump administration.
Congressional leaders haven't reached a consensus on how to resurrect the FCC's expired affordable connectivity program. In interviews this week, lawmakers pointed to a range of options, including an expected third attempt at a Senate Commerce Committee markup next week (see [2405310070]) of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207). The FCC formally shuttered ACP Friday after supporters on Capitol Hill failed numerous times at allocating stopgap funding (see 2403280001).
Sweden leads the world in alternatives to GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that offer the precise timing services needed for 5G, speakers said Wednesday during a Mobile World Live webinar. Sweden’s approach includes launching the nonprofit-owned Netnod, which the government and operators fund. In the U.S., questions have been raised on Capitol Hill about carrier reliance on GNSS (see 2403120073).
House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee members questioned FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday on the commission's funding request for increased staffing across the agency and the affordable connectivity program. During the hearing on the FCC's FY 2025 budget proposal (see 2403110056), some legislators raised concerns about the FCC's work on combating illegal robocalls and its spectrum authority.
CTIA and its major members agreed that grants of special temporary authority (STA) are the best method of getting “inventory” spectrum into play, in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 24-72. Others continue to stress the benefits of dynamic sharing and other mechanisms (see 2404090045). The FCC sought comment in March as the agency marked the one-year anniversary of its general auction authority expiring.
President Joe Biden is requesting increased funding in FY 2025 for the FCC, Patent Office and the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (see 2303130070). The FY25 requests are lower than FY24's for the FTC, NTIA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, DOJ’s Antitrust Division and some Agriculture Department broadband programs, though in some cases the Biden proposal exceeds ultimate Congressional allocations for FY24. Biden signed off Saturday on the Consolidated Appropriations Act FY24 appropriations minibus package (HR-4366), which included funding cuts for NTIA and other Commerce agencies but a slight increase for DOJ Antitrust (see 2403040083). The Senate voted 75-22 Friday night to approve the package.
CTIA supports a public notice by the FCC Wireless Bureau Thursday seeking comment on how to make unassigned licenses in the agency's inventory available for use absent general auction authority (see 2403070062). CTIA appreciates Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s “focus on spectrum auctions as an ‘indispensable’ tool for promoting economic growth and national security,” emailed Scott Bergmann, senior vice president-regulatory affairs. The notice “only underscores the importance of Congress moving rapidly to restore the FCC’s auction authority and create a pipeline of licensed spectrum to ensure our wireless leadership.”
The U.S. government will seek dismissal of Vermont National Telephone (VTEL) litigation against Dish Network designated entities (DE) Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless over allegations of fraud in the 2015 AWS-3 auction. The U.S. is the relator in the VTEL litigation. DOJ filed a notice of intent to intervene and dismiss Friday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (docket 1:15-cv-00728). It hasn't said in court filings the reasoning behind its move to get the case dismissed, and didn't comment Monday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2022 reversed the lower court's dismissal of VTEL's False Claims Act suit against the Dish DEs and remanded it to the D.C. District Court (see 2205170026).
The approach to spectrum allocation on the Hill and in industry is maturing, which may explain in part the problems Congress is having as it considers renewing the FCC’s auction authority, experts said during a Technology Policy Institute webinar Wednesday. That authority largely lapsed in March (see 2312200061),