Numerous C-band earth station operators, especially small broadcasters, will likely opt for the lump sum option in the C-band clearing, we were told by industry and law experts. Sept. 14 is the deadline for lump sum election. ACA Connects, protesting the lump sum's not including integrated receivers/decoders, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to stay that deadline (see 2008270052).
Congress will never act on a stand-alone bill that would block the FCC from making public safety vacate the 470-512 MHz T band, Enterprise Wireless Alliance President Mark Crosby told the virtual IWCE conference Thursday. The House Commerce Committee approved the Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act (HR-451) in July (see 2007150068). Crosby said the bill can get through only if appended to a COVID-19 stimulus package.
House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, is considering all options to restore law enforcement access to ICANN’s Whois database, a spokesperson told us Wednesday. Earlier, FTC Chairman Joe Simons wrote Latta about concerns about the availability of accurate domain name registration information when investigating crimes.
With the launch of FirstNet, and federal focus on interoperable communications, federal-local government relationships have improved markedly over the past 10 years, experts said Thursday on the final day of IWCE's virtual conference. Others said gaps remain.
Not including the cost of integrated receivers/decoders (IRD) from the C-band lump sum amount available to earth station operators is contrary to regulatory plain text and common sense, ACA Connects said in a writ of mandamus application Thursday asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to stay the Sept. 14 C-band lump sum election deadline. Lawyers involved in the C-band proceeding said ACA's ask faces an uphill challenge at the D.C. Circuit, but the cable group had seemingly no other option given the rapidly approaching deadline. The FCC didn't comment.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission sought to retain telecom authority while agreeing Thursday to propose changes to some state rules to reflect changing competition. “We can improve our regulatory construct while continuing to exercise our jurisdiction responsibly,” said Vice Chairman David Sweet before commissioners voted 4-0 for an amended NPRM at the PUC’s teleconferenced meeting. Later in Wyoming, CenturyLink said it’s complying with a 2019 agreement to get landline deregulation in rural areas of that state. California and Texas commissions also mulled telecom matters at Thursday meetings.
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign appears unlikely to deviate in any substantive way from the administration’s existing stances on 5G and broadband policy, despite questions about whether language in an agenda outline released earlier this week (see 2008240056) was a callback to past nationalization proposals. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden cited broadband and other infrastructure during the party’s convention last week as part of “a new foundation for economic growth" (see 2008210001).
The FCC’s May order reallocating a 6 GHz swath of spectrum in 900 MHz for broadband could be a game changer for utilities (see 2005130057), speakers said Wednesday at IWCE. Most are still watching, they said. On another panel, experts said despite the growth of FirstNet many public safety agencies remain committed to land-mobile radio (LMR).
The FCC should reject proposals to reallocate the 4.9 GHz band, long dedicated to public safety use, recommended former FirstNet Chair Sue Swenson in a keynote speech at the virtual IWCE Wednesday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is considering another look at the band (see 2005040061), the subject of a 2018 Further NPRM. Swenson is the founder of the recently formed Public Safety Spectrum Alliance, which is pushing to keep the band in public safety’s hands (see 2008170023).
The FCC ended the citizens broadband radio service auction after the final bidding round Tuesday, with total bids of $4.585 billion, or just more than 21 cents MHz/POP. The auction offered the largest number of spectrum licenses ever in a single FCC auction and was the first FCC mid-band auction for 5G. Questions remain about who drove up the bids in the auction and the amount bid by wireless carriers, cable operators, Dish Network or companies planning to offer private networks. The next big mid-band auction of C-band spectrum starts Dec. 8.