AT&T and other ISPs would be happy with standardized bans on behaviors such as blocking or shaping online traffic, which they don't do anyway, instead of the net neutrality policy "whipsaw" that seems to follow changes in political parties, CEO John Stankey said Tuesday. Industry wants to avoid uncertainties of such possibilities as price regulation or behavioral constructs on new services, he said. Broadband accessibility -- which is largely a rural issue -- and affordability need to be addressed, he said. Funding for Lifeline needs changing because the system “is not going to make it. It’s an accident waiting to happen,” Stankey said. Subsidies must be sufficient to provide fixed broadband, not just mobile, he said. Noting China has an internet different from the U.S., Stankey said bifurcation of internet along national lines is likely to continue, as is bifurcation of internet standards.
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
An FCC decision on how to handle SpaceX's pending license modification isn't near, as the agency seems to want to give some form of approval but is stuck on the question of whether the modification should be part of the 2020 non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite processing round, parties involved in the proceeding told us. Critics of SpaceX plans repeatedly said the license mod seeking OK for lower orbit for more than 2,800 SpaceX satellites (see 2004200003) should be handled in a different processing round than the constellation's approval. SpaceX and the FCC didn't comment.
Most broadband subscribers picked up by cable ISPs during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to remain, even without Keep America Connected (KAC) pledge conditions and after people return in bigger numbers to workplaces and schools, experts told us. It's less clear whether a subset of those, brought in by KAC, will stay. Comcast and Charter Communications expect a return to growth like they had pre-pandemic.
Satellite interests backed and wireless interests opposed a Satellite Industry Association call for a fixed satellite service (FSS) allocation in the 51.4-52.4 GHz band, in FCC comments Tuesday in RM-11871. Many satellite operators are developing networks and systems that would operate using feeder links in the V band, Boeing said in support of SIA. "Immediate action ... is warranted" since a global FSS allocation in the spectrum adopted at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference took effect Jan. 1, Boeing said. Amazon's Kuiper said a proposed rulemaking should be expanded to allow non-geostationary use of the spectrum, as well as geostationary, instead of initiating a second NPRM for NGSO use. NGSO and GSO providers can maximize their feeder link operations with access to the 51 GHz spectrum, it said. Hughes said the swath is domestically allocated as a shared federal and nonfederal band for terrestrial fixed and mobile wireless services, but it's largely unused by federal and nonfederal services. But CTIA said access to high-band airwaves is a major part of the U.S. 5G strategy, and the availability of such "is already heavily imbalanced towards satellite use." It said SIA's effort would "forestall steady progress that the U.S. has made in identifying and licensing high-band spectrum for mobile terrestrial use." SIA's petition said FSS in 51 GHz can share with other services while protecting passive services in adjacent bands.
The commercial space industry is no longer solely dependent on government, Quilty Analytics President Chris Quilty said Tuesday during the Space Foundation's annual "state of space" seminar. He said it's benefiting from "some of the best fundamentals we've seen in decades," with a favorable regulatory environment, good tech trends in launch and phased array antennas, and small-satellite development. He also cited "dramatic improvement" in funding opportunities, particularly from venture capital. He said satellite demand is shifting "dramatically" from geostationary to non-geostationary orbit. China is now "unambiguously" the U.S.' chief space rival, surpassing Russia, he said. Quilty said this could be "the year of the first launch" with numerous launch vehicles due to take maiden flights, and also should be the year SpaceX's Starlink broadband constellation goes to wide commercial availability. Hurdles facing the space industry include a workforce shortage and skills deficit, said Tom Zelibor, Space Foundation CEO. Former NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan said commercial earth observation is facing a "best of times/worst of times set of tensions." She mentioned numerous new companies and technologies and questions about ensuring the ongoing existence of data streams that are important for climate outlooks and weather forecasting but don't necessarily have commercial value.
Expect some commercial space policy changes, but not dramatic ones, from President Joe Biden's White House and acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's FCC, experts told us. Many see the FCC under Rosenworcel's interim leadership likely to act to advance the orbital debris Further NPRM. The FCC didn't comment.
Viasat's "feigned interest in environmental protection" is an effort to slow FCC processes, since it ignored other non-geostationary orbit systems for a singular focus on SpaceX, that company said in an International Bureau response Thursday to Viasat seeking a National Environmental Policy Act review of a pending license modification (see 2012230003). SpaceX said modification will improve the environmental and safety footprint of its constellation. Viasat "cannot simply rewrite environmental regulations to suit its current arguments," and the FCC categorically exempted from NEPA review most agency actions, it said. "SpaceX engages in legal gymnastics in a failed attempt to distract from what a wide variety of third parties recently have made clear," Viasat said. "Starlink poses environmental risks that have not fully been examined by the FCC (or any other agency) -- risks to our atmosphere, to a dark and quiet sky, and to our continued use of space. We welcome a science-based analysis of these issues, before SpaceX is permitted to deploy another 2,800 satellites into the skies." Amazon, speaking with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington, said the pending modification will greatly increase interference to and from its Kuiper system in uplinks and downlinks, and SpaceX's redesigned system should be included in the non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) processing round initiated in March 2020. Separately, Amazon said doing so would ensure SpaceX coordinates with other NGSO systems in that processing round. It said SpaceX hasn't addressed claims it may have launched hundreds of satellites with gateway antennas inconsistent with its license, and said SpaceX should clarify the antenna redesign requested in the pending modification, plus the performance and design parameters of the gateway antennas on its currently operational satellites. SpaceX didn't comment Friday.
How bound the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is by a 2017 D.C. Circuit decision that resulted in the FCC scrapping part of its junk fax rule (see 1811140054) was the central issue in oral argument Tuesday as petitioner Bais Yaakov of Spring Valley, New York, challenged that March agency order. Hearing the case were Judges Dennis Jacobs, Richard Sullivan and Steven Menashi.
Having rejected a stay of Ligado's L-band plan amid a review of NTIA's petition for reconsideration (see 2101200001), the FCC isn't expected to decide on petitions for recon from the first half of 2020 (see 2005210043) until the back half of 2021, if not 2022, the company's backers and critics told us. Many see it unlikely the agency will reverse itself on its unanimous approval (see 2004200039).
Charter Communications ended 2020 with 19,000 more video customers than it had a year earlier, and it expects to do better in its video trends this year than the MVPD industry overall, CEO Tom Rutledge said during an analyst call Friday as the company announced Q4 results. Rutledge said the growth was driven in part by its broadband connectivity growth. He said industry growth will continue to decline "at a moderate pace," while Charter "won't have quite the internet growth … we had in 2020." Charter ended 2020 with 15.6 million residential video subscribers. It also ended the year with 27 million residential broadband subs, up 2.1 million year over year; 9.2 million residential voice subs, down 228,000; and 2.3 million residential mobile subscriptions, up 1.2 million. Rutledge said this year should have a return to pre-pandemic trends in internet subscriber additions, plus a full recovery of the advertising business as the economy also fully rebounds. He said that during Q4, Charter's minimum broadband speed offering of 200 Mbps went from being available in about 60% of its footprint to 75%. Rutledge said the 210 citizens broadband radio service priority access licenses that Charter bought for $465 million will be used on targeted 5G small cells. He said that over the next four to five years, up to a third of Charter's traffic might end up on the CBRS spectrum. The stock closed down 7.2% at $607.56.