The government's repository of regulatory actions and comment deadlines is experiencing delays publishing complex rules due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an “unusually” large number of documents submitted this year, said Katerina Horska, Office of the Federal Register legal affairs and policy director. The Federal Register typically publishes rules within three days of receiving items, but some “can take more than a month,” she emailed us Wednesday. “Given the unusually high volume of documents submitted since the beginning of this year, compounded with the number of emergency documents related to COVID-19 submitted over the past several months, lengthy and more complex documents are taking longer to publish.” The FTC is among communications agencies affected. Horska said FR staff processes documents “on a first-in, first-out system as much as possible,” but that process may be interrupted by emergency documents for the pandemic and the time it takes to work with agencies on edits. For “complex” documents that aren't designated as emergencies, “the backlog has only extended the usual processing time,” she noted. "The FTC has experienced delays of three to four weeks on rulemaking documents (proposed rules, final rules)," emailed a commission representative Thursday. "There have been no delays on notices." NTIA hasn't experienced slowdowns with its FR documents, most of which at that agency are routine and not of a regulatory nature, a rep said. The FCC declined to comment.
The FCC corrected the reply comments deadline for the NPRM on proposed changes to the agency's ex parte rules (see 2009020006). Replies are due Oct. 19, not Nov. 2, said Thursday's Federal Register.
Increasing Lifeline mobile broadband minimums would “particularly harm eligible low-income Lifeline recipients,” said TruConnect in a call Monday with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, per a filing posted Thursday in docket 11-42: “These Americans depend on the Lifeline program for affordable mobile wireless services so they can grapple with the economic impact of" COVID-19. If the monthly MSS is increased to 4.5 GB, the company said it may consider relinquishing its eligible telecom carrier designations in some states without subsidies available to supplement the federal subsidy and the new data requirements. Others say similar (see 2009150072).
The FCC Wireline Bureau extended a waiver of access stimulation rules through Dec.1 for CLEC Inteliquent, said an order Thursday. COVID-19 caused a continued increase in traffic for conference-calling services Zoom and Cisco WebEx, which are Inteliquent customers, the order said. The bureau previously extended the waiver in June to Sept.1 (see 2006230015) but denied Inteliquent’s request to set the deadline to March, “given the ongoing uncertainty about how long the pandemic will continue to impact Inteliquent and its customers.” Granting Inteliquent’s waiver “in increments of three months has proven to be a workable and effective timeframe by which to closely monitor the effects of the pandemic on Inteliquent’s terminating-to-originating traffic ratios,” the order said.
Intelsat asked the FCC to approve transferof control of Gogo's licenses to it as part of its planned $400 million buy of Gogo's commercial aviation connectivity business (see 2009010001), in an International Bureau application Tuesday.
Monoprice recalled Category 6 Ethernet bulk CMR communications cable used in home and office networks for not meeting UL 1666 voluntary safety standards, posing a fire hazard when exposed to a flame, said the Consumer Product Safety Commission Wednesday. Consumers should stop using the recalled cables and contact Monoprice to schedule a free visit to inspect and replace the cable. It was sold at the Monoprice website, Amazon and through installation companies December 2018-February 2020 for $20-$130.
Zebra spoke with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff on a waiver request allowing its ultra-wideband locating device to use 7.125-8.5 GHz. “Its transmissions are extremely low power, and there have never been any [such[ interference complaints ,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-17: The device is used for airline worker safety monitoring, tracking in auto and airline assembly plants, and NFL player and ball tracking.
A Facebook experimental satellite launched Sept. 2 to test means of improved broadband connectivity experienced an attitude control issue and "is currently under control," a company spokesperson emailed us after our report was published Monday (see 2009140001). The company reported to the FCC that the satellite developed "increasing spin rates" during its first few orbits, and ground interventions brought attitude under control. It said special temporary authority to communicate using earth stations in Alaska and Hawaii would let partners add to diversity of earth stations communicating with the satellite and accelerate its return to normal operations.
Fifty-six of 90 agencies use IoT technology, but some don’t because of cybersecurity concerns and lack of return on investment, GAO reported Monday. Forty-two use it to control or monitor equipment and systems. Nearly 40 said they use it to control devices and facilities, and 28 to track physical assets.
Facebook's PointView Tech low earth orbit broadband test satellite is "uncontrollably spinning," Universal Space Network (USN) said in an FCC International Bureau application Friday as it petitioned for a waiver of frequency coordination so it can provide emergency telemetry and telecommand support to the satellite launched Sept. 2. PointView received an Office of Engineering and Technology experimental license grant in 2019 for its E-band Athena satellite. USN said Athena has an orientation issue causing the spin, and without remediation, "the spacecraft will be lost." Facebook didn't comment Monday.