The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology OK'd additional environmental sensing capability sensors for the 3.5 GHz band, as sought by ESC operators CommScope, Google, Federated Wireless and Key Bridge Wireless. That's per a public notice Thursday.
The FCC scheduled a virtual event Jan. 15 to provide resources and information on getting a job in tech to diverse high school and college students, parents and guidance counselors, said a public notice Wednesday. A Road Map to Tech Jobs will be hosted by the Diversity in the Tech Sector Working Group of the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. Including speakers from large tech sector companies such as AT&T and Charter, the event will focus on the sorts of careers available, the experience needed, resume building, networking and education advice. Communications Daily released its Special Report on diversity in the communications industry Wednesday (see 2012160045).
The FCC Wireline Bureau extended for a third time a waiver of access stimulation rules for CLEC Inteliquent, said an order Wednesday. An earlier order extended the waiver to Dec. 1 (see 2009170055). The new extension runs through March 1. COVID-19 caused a continuing increase in traffic for conference-calling services Zoom and Cisco WebEx, which are Inteliquent customers, the order said.
Rate-of-return carriers may include their actual rates for consumer broadband-only lines for the first three months of 2019 instead of revenue based on the maximum rate, the FCC Wireline Bureau ordered Wednesday. Forms are due Dec. 31.
Q1 USF revenue will be around $10.1 billion, and the contribution factor is projected to reach 31.8%, the FCC said in Tuesday's Daily Digest, as expected (see 2012020052). The Universal Service Administrative Co. projected collection for Connect America at $1.34 billion, E-rate at $611.3 million, Rural Health Care $166.9 million, Lifeline $262.3 million and the Connected Care pilot $8.3 million.
Increased access to broadband is associated with higher farm productivity, the FCC Office of Economics and Analytics reported Tuesday. The working paper said an increase in connectivity to 25/3 Mbps results in higher crop yields, and a 1% increase in such connections per 1,000 households is associated with a 3.6% increase in corn yields. Access to the internet also allows farmers to boost profitability, lower supply costs and gain access to credit, the report said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau said Monday it extended the gift rule waiver deadline to June 30 for E-rate and Rural Health Care program participants. The original deadline of Sept. 30, 2020, was previously extended to the end of this year (see 2009030063).
A deadlocked 2-2 FCC probably means “stalemate on local preemption issues,” said Spiegel McDiarmid local government lawyer Tim Lay on a NATOA webinar Monday: “The commission can’t do nearly as much preemptive damage to local government authority as the past commission has for the past four years.” Lay noted the chair could still exert some influence through staff decisions and the agency’s positions on litigation. A split commission is probably better for local governments than the 3-2 GOP body, agreed Kitch attorney Mike Watza -- unless industry treats the stalemate as no cop on the beat. Even in a 2-2 commission, the Democratic chair can change advisory committees’ charters and memberships, said National League of Cities Legislative Director Angelina Panettieri. With Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel likely to be chair at least on an interim basis, expect more emphasis on the homework gap, digital equity and consumer protection, Panettieri predicted: “One of the things that Biden folks have made clear is they really want to focus on equity.” That might mean closer looks at affordability and competition in urban and suburban areas, “and hopefully ... reversing preemption of municipal broadband.” Lay sees possible agreement on many spectrum issues and some broadband and mapping issues, but likely disagreement on any new requirements for providers.
E-rate applicants and service providers may submit an invoice up to 120 days after the Universal Service Administrative Co. issues a letter approving a post-commitment request or granting an appeal of a previously denied or reduced funding request, said a new order by the FCC Wireline Bureau. The order in Friday's Daily Digest also allows relief to be requested regardless of whether applicants or providers were unable to file an invoice while awaiting a post-commitment decision and file a waiver request. It also waived the existing invoice rule for program participants that were unable to submit an invoice while awaiting a post-commitment decision and filed a pending request for a waiver during FY 2016. This is "the right thing to do right now," said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement. She also expressed disappointment the commission didn't take more action.
NTIA plans a virtual meeting Jan. 13 at noon EST to discuss progress in the multistakeholder process on promoting IoT software component transparency, says Friday’s Federal Register. “Modern development practices” such as code reuse and an information technology marketplace with many mergers and acquisitions “make it challenging to track the use of software components,” said the agency. IoT “compounds this phenomenon” with the layering of smart connectivity features on new devices, it said: “The sheer quantity of software means that some software products ship with vulnerable or out-of-date components.”