The Wireless and Public Safety bureaus offered guidance to intelligent transportation system licensees pursuing waivers of FCC rules to operate roadside units using cellular vehicle to everything technology in the top 30 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band. Additional waivers of gear authorization rules are needed “with respect to both roadside units and on-board units,” said Friday's notice in docket 19-138: Certification “must be obtained prior to marketing, sale, or operation of this equipment for use under any waiver authorizing operation of C-V2X-based equipment.”
Grant the Connect America Fund Phase II Coalition petition to waive FCC rules that reduce CAF-II support where the estimated number of eligible locations is less than the estimate for the CAF-II auction, Microsoft asked, posted in docket 10-90 Thursday. The RDOF process for locations requested will better ensure broadband is timely deployed in unserved rural areas, align the location count process in the CAF-II and RDOF programs for better efficiency, and spare CAF-II recipients “unnecessary economic harm,” the company said.
Nominations for the FCC chair's awards for advancement in accessibility are due by Sept. 17, said a notice in Thursday's Daily Digest. Nominations should be sent to FCCAAA@fcc.gov.
Microsoft’s petition for reconsideration of FCC ATSC 3.0 distributed transmission system rules doesn’t make a legitimate case, commented NAB and America’s Public Television Stations by Tuesday's deadline in docket 20-74. Microsoft and TV white space advocates “have simply failed to deploy the technology at scale to provide any meaningful level of service,” the groups said. Allowing the DTS order to move forward would undercut FCC efforts to pave the way for white space devices, said the Wireless ISP Association, the only other commenter by Wednesday afternoon. The DTS order runs counter to statements from acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks that support the waiver process for DTS pushed by Microsoft, WISPA said. “The Order authorizes significant 'spillover'" of DTS "signals into adjacent white space areas, increasing the potential for harmful interference and limiting the areas where white space devices can be deployed.” Microsoft’s argument the new rules would let stations use DTS to provide service equivalent to the largest station in a market is “incorrect,” NAB and APTS said. Reconsideration would prioritize the unlicensed white space tech over 3.0 efforts of licensed broadcast spectrum holders, said NAB and APTS. Microsoft grossly inflated the use and efficacy of white space devices, they said. “There are slightly over 300 actual white spaces devices operating in the entire United States,” said the broadcast groups. “Many states do not have even a single white space device operating.” Microsoft didn’t comment.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and three other congressional Democrats urged Amazon and Facebook Wednesday to end their bid for FTC Chair Lina Khan’s recusal from antitrust decisions involving the companies (see 2107160052). Khan “has no ... conflicts that would require recusal,” Warren and the other Democrats wrote Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “There is no basis for her recusal under the current federal ethics statute or FTC precedent. Your efforts to sideline Chair Khan appear to be nothing more than attempts to force an FTC stalemate that would allow you to evade accountability for any anti-competitive behavior.” Others signing are Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. Both companies “have engaged in a coordinated attack to discredit Chair Khan on ethics grounds, even -- in the case of Amazon -- going so far as to request immunity from any future antitrust investigations,” the lawmakers said. “The real basis of your concerns appears to be that you fear Chair Khan’s expertise and interpretation of federal antitrust law.” The platforms didn’t comment.
Disagreements continued in replies on Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI) and 5G Automotive Association petitions for reconsideration of reallocating the 5.9 GHz band (see 2106030075), in filings posted through Tuesday in docket 19-138. The change in administrations since the order was adopted last year “coupled with significant concerns about the Commission’s decision raised by stakeholders … both necessitate reconsideration of the decision,” AAI said: Oppositions to its petition “mischaracterize the amount of spectrum needed for life-saving [vehicle-to-everything] applications that can support automated vehicle technologies.” 5GAA claimed “broad support for the one issue on which 5GAA seeks partial reconsideration,” that the FCC should provide cellular-V2X an additional 20 dB of protection from out-of-band emissions in the Wi-Fi part of the band. “Opponents of this position largely contest the requested relief on procedural grounds in the hope of persuading the Commission to ignore 5GAA’s well-founded concerns,” the group said. T-Mobile said 5GAA raises questions worth considering. “Responses to the 5GAA Petition highlight that there are serious questions regarding whether the OOBE limits adopted … are appropriate,” the carrier said: “Whatever emissions limits the Commission adopts, T-Mobile strongly agrees that C-V2X operations must be protected from harmful interference by unlicensed devices.” NCTA targeted supporters of the 5GAA petition: “If the Commission were to undo its Order and adopt the 5GAA OOBE mask, it would delay the long-awaited benefits of gigabit-Wi-Fi." The AAI petition “should be granted because the Commission did not properly evaluate record evidence,” said Continental Automotive Systems. The part of the order reallocating most of the band for Wi-Fi is “unlawfully arbitrary and capricious,” the company said.
The FTC reserves the right to challenge a transaction regardless of whether the deal was fully investigated before Hart-Scott-Rodino Act “clearance,” acting Competition Bureau Director Holly Vedova wrote Tuesday. Citing a “tidal wave of merger filings that is straining the agency’s capacity to rigorously investigate deals ahead of the statutory deadlines,” she said the agency is sending standard form letters informing companies that the FTC’s “investigation remains open and reminding companies that the agency may subsequently determine that the deal was unlawful.” Companies that proceed without a full investigation are doing so at their own risk, she wrote: “This action should not be construed as a determination that the deal is unlawful, just as the fact that we have not issued such a letter with respect to an HSR filing should not be construed as a determination that a deal is lawful.”
Rather than a SpaceX blanket authorization for up to 1 million end-user earth stations in motion to communicate with its non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) broadband constellation (see 2103080002), the company scaled back its FCC application to a blanket license for up to 500, it told the International Bureau via an amendment Friday. SpaceX said that instead of seeking authorization for deployment as vehicle-mounted earth stations, earth stations on vessels and earth stations aboard aircraft (ESSA), it now seeks authorization only as ESAAs. It asked for a waiver that would let it use 12.2-12.7 GHz for ESAAs communicating with NGSOs.
Display-only video monitors and projectors should be exempt from FCC user-interface rules if they don’t render audio, said the Information Technology Industry Council in a call Tuesday with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Wireless Bureau staff, per a filing posted Friday in docket 21-140. ITI was represented among others by Senior Policy Counsel Joel Miller, former Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s chief of staff when O’Rielly was at the agency. Miller left the FCC in early 2021 and was hired by ITI in May. Display-only monitors and projectors “do not possess the hardware or firmware needed to produce audio feedback,” the filing said. Requiring the devices to produce audio could effectively eliminate display-only devices, the group said: Changing the construction of such monitors to comply with user-interface rules would require additional chips, which are in a shortage. So manufacturers would need more time to comply.