Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., confirmed to us this week they intend to stay in their respective roles in the 118th Congress. Incompas CEO Chip Pickering said during a Thursday webinar he believes there will be relative continuity in the House and Senate Commerce panels’ leadership. That continuity contrasted with top-level turnover in House Democratic leadership after Thursday announcements by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland that they will step down from top party roles after this Congress.
Industry and state broadband officials emphasized the need for better data on broadband availability and public-private partnerships as NTIA prepares to administer its broadband, equity, access and deployment program, speaking at USTelecom's broadband investment forum Wednesday. Some raised concerns about regulatory requirements in the BEAD program and ensuring state broadband offices are prepared to administer funding to subgrantees.
FirstNet’s band 14 license “expired” Tuesday without being renewed by the FCC. But FCC officials said there’s no reason to worry -- FirstNet’s current license remains active as long as the renewal application is pending in the agency’s universal licensing system. The FirstNet Authority board met Wednesday, but members didn’t express concerns about the renewal. Authority officials said the initial band 14 deployment is now scheduled to be completed in March.
NEW YORK -- Multiple deployments of satellite/smartphone communications face numerous regulatory and technological implementation hurdles, with many operators likely years away from being able to go to market, Globalstar Chairman Jay Monroe told us Wednesday. He and other executives discussed the company's partnership with Apple unveiled in September (see 2209070016) as part of an investor conference at the New York Stock Exchange. Monroe said Apple did "significant ... magic" to make the Globalstar-enabled iPhone 14 SOS messaging service, which went live Tuesday. It's not clear who would perform that for other satcom operators' announced plans, he said.
The priority during the lame-duck session for Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is to pass kids privacy legislation, staffers for their offices said Wednesday.
Ensuring U.S. leadership in the development of telecom and other standards must be a top national priority, said National Institute of Standards and Technology Director Laurie Locascio during a Telecommunications Industry Association virtual conference Tuesday. Locascio and other speakers said industry, not governments, should lead on standards.
NEW ORLEANS -- State regulators’ telecom priority in the year ahead will be “trying to deploy where broadband isn’t,” said new NARUC President Michael Caron in an interview at the association’s conference here. Caron hopes new FCC broadband maps coming Friday will be more accurate and include more people who lack service, he said. On a Monday panel about the maps, state commissioners asked an FCC official if the agency is up to the task and what states can do to help.
A draft order on updating references in FCC rules to Nielsen publications is expected to be approved with few changes at the agency’s Nov. 17 meeting, FCC and industry officials told us. Though the NPRM that preceded the order led to calls from Commissioner Nathan Simington and broadcasters for the FCC to scrutinize its relationship to the ratings company, the draft order says it's “premature to initiate a proceeding at this time” on the matter: “There is currently no apparent alternative data source for the Commission to rely upon.”
The FCC encouraged entities interested in applying for the affordable connectivity program's outreach grants to present "innovative outreach strategies" that can be implemented at the multistate or national level, due to the limited funding available, said Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff during a webinar Tuesday. Attendees sought guidance on how to navigate the application process and how the bureau will base its funding decisions.
As the pace of novel space missions looks to rapidly take off in coming years, the U.S. commercial space economy is hurting from lack of one regulatory agency designated to authorize and oversee those missions, several speakers told the National Space Council Monday. NSpC Commercial Space Policy Director Diane Howard said Monday's listening session and another scheduled for Nov. 21 (see 2210130033) will provide fodder as the council comes up with a national space priorities framework.