The Jan. 30 FCC meeting is shaping up to be busy, including likely action on the C band and possibly 6 GHz, based on early indications. The agency has seven weeks to get ready, versus less than three weeks between the November and December meetings. Key staff are being asked to avoid taking time off headed into the meeting because Chairman Ajit Pai anticipates a heavy agenda. This period is typical and gives staff time to celebrate the holidays.
Some officials and lobbyists believe legislative efforts to repeal a provision of the 2012 spectrum law that mandates public safety move off the 470-512 MHz T band by 2021 and combat state and local-level diversion of 911 fees are unlikely to advance until the new year. Those issues are now tied to a bid to attach language on a pending FCC auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band to FY 2020 federal spending bills. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is pushing to attach language from his C-band-centric 5G Spectrum Act (S-2881) to the spending bills despite Democrats' opposition. Senate Commerce last week approved adding language from the Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act (HR-451/S-2748) and the 911 Fee Integrity Act (HR-2165) to S-2881 (see 1912110038).
FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks concurred during a unanimous vote to clarify the VoIP symmetry rule Thursday. That upholds reversal of a 2015 rule that would have allowed over-the-top VoIP providers to assess terminating fees on long-distance calls even if they had neither last-mile end-office facilities nor partnered with a local exchange carrier that did. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit later vacated the older rule and remanded it.
The FTC should continue presuming viewers of youth-directed online content are children, despite efforts from YouTube and the tech industry seeking carve-outs for adults watching it. It’s a central issue in the agency’s review of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act rule (see 1912090061), based on comments in docket 2019-0054 collected through Thursday.
The FCC approved 5-0 an NPRM that proposes to reallocate the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi and cellular vehicle to everything, while potentially preserving a sliver for dedicated short-range communications. All commissioners said DSRC has never lived up to its promise. Chairman Ajit Pai said support for the change has been overwhelming.
Telecom and mental health interests cheered FCC 5-0 approval Thursday of an NPRM designating 988 for a national three-digit suicide prevention and mental health hotline number. The final version wasn't released.
FCC staff is talking with officials in California, Oregon and Texas on agreements to check eligibility of those states' low-income subsidized telecom service subscribers, Chairman Ajit Pai told us after Thursday's commissioners' meeting. "I expect those agreements will be reached and [the] verifier stood up in those states by the end of the year. We are making progress." FCC employees are working with other agencies so the national verifier can "ping," or check with, other databases to confirm subscriber eligibility, he said.
T-Mobile won't stop being the "Uncarrier" after it buys Sprint, CEO John Legere said at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The combined company would join the league of top rivals by market share. After about two hours of friendly questions from the defendant side, states grilled T-Mobile on alternative ways to compete. But they only had about 30 minutes and will complete cross-examination Friday.
Commissioners approved an NPRM 5-0 on clearing 3.1-3.55 GHz, seen by some as a sleeper item with big implications. The item sparked a debate among members on whether the FCC is doing enough on mid-band spectrum. Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., sat through 90 minutes of the meeting, signaling his ongoing concerns about setting rules for an upcoming auction of the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band.
International competition could cripple the U.S. space industry over the next decade as U.S. allies and adversaries invest heavily in their nascent domestic startups while the U.S. government isn’t doing enough to encourage the industry here, said SmallSat Alliance Chairman Charles Beames Wednesday at an International Institute of Space Law symposium. House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairwoman Kendra Horn, D-Okla., said the U.S.’s past approach to commercial space regulation encouraged innova- tion, but now that framework is ineffective, as possible applications mushroom.