Comcast likely wasn't a big participant in the C-band auction, judging by the money it plans to plow into stock repurchases, analysts said. In a Q4 call Thursday, CEO Brian Roberts didn't directly address the FCC C-band or citizens broadband radio service. He said the company's "capital-light" mobile model, led by mobile virtual network operators, "is the right one for us." The stock closed up 6.6% at $51.60.
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 FAA-like space traffic management (STM) agency in the Commerce Department "would be a great service to the world," said House Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chair Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., on a Politico panel Wednesday. He said STM issues were on the back burner as a federal priority, behind establishing Space Force, but will likely get more attention in President Joe Biden's administration. Speakers said the Biden administration should continue the National Space Council. Victoria Samson, Secure World Foundation's Washington office director, said the council has been an effective coordinator of agencies, though it’s not clear who in the Biden administration might quarterback it the way former Vice President Mike Pence did. A year into Space Force’s existence, it remains “a work in progress,” said Cooper, hoping fellow Democrats overlook any “taint” of its association with the Trump administration. He said he supports an investigation into that administration's decision to create a $1 billion headquarters for the military branch in Alabama.
Business interests in the communications and tech universe that decried the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill violence (see 2101060057) and froze political action committee giving (see 2101110062) likely wouldn't have felt so compelled to do so a few years ago, crisis communications experts told us. They said it's increasingly a norm for businesses to speak up, even on issues in which they aren't directly involved. Agency officials like FCC commissioners aren't under similar pressures and express their opinions more out of personal convictions, said Texas A&M communications professor Timothy Coombs.
Educating the public, particularly about 10-digit dialing, could be one of the heaviest lifts for LECs in implementing one three-digit national suicide prevention hotline number, regional carriers and experts told us. Meeting North American numbering plan administrator (NANPA) milestones for the unified 988 number could be a challenge, they said, though local carriers didn't foresee big problems. Verizon said Dec. 21 it had implemented such dialing for its wireless customers, though landline customers won't have that until July 2022.
Law firms, broadcasters and advocacy groups were beneficiaries of 2020’s federal Paycheck Protection Program. More than five dozen law firms and other organizations in communications and media got a total of more than $142 million to forestall job losses due to the pandemic. That's per our analysis of PPP data using the Accountable.US and ProPublica databases. The figure excludes forgivable loans of less than $1 million.
Including an automatic dispatchable location to be conveyed with calls to the 988 suicide prevention hotline is seen raising technical and privacy concerns (see 2012220022), so some telecom interests urged the FCC to get interested parties together to reach consensus, in replies posted Tuesday in docket 18-336. USTelecom said the FCC's report to Congress about geolocation feasibility should include a recommendation for more study "in a proper forum by a field of experts from the public safety, voice service provider, and mental health communities." NCTA said the FCC should create an industry forum to tackle these issues and try to get consensus on operational requirements of Lifeline call centers and how to best design a location information solution for 988 calls. CTIA said the FCC should gather stakeholders to evaluate and provide specific recommendations. Vibrant Emotional Health, which administers the Lifeline call center network, said Lifeline counselors will need to access caller location information "only in rare but urgent circumstances" and Lifeline policy is to access location information only in "imminent risk situations."
SpaceX can put 10 satellites at a lower orbit, but the request for a lower orbit of an additional 2,814 satellites remains on hold, the FCC International Bureau ordered Friday. OK'ing those 10 to be launched into a polar orbit allows continued development and testing of the company's broadband service in high-latitude areas, it said, dismissing concerns. It said the 10 don't raise the interference worries that had been alleged for the full 2,824 in SpaceX's license modification request (see 2007140001) or the 348 that would be in its polar shell. Nor do they raise the cumulative orbital debris concerns, it said. The FCC deferred on the rest of SpaceX's request, including a lower specified altitude of its constellation from 1,100-1,300 km to 540-570 km and a blanket authorization for some operations. It delayed a decision about the broader license modification request whether to require an environmental assessment. SpaceX, which asked for at least a partial approval of its lower-orbit modification to provide polar region service (see 2011190001), didn't comment. Applauding Viasat's environmental review petition (see 2012230003) drawing attention to possible light pollution from satellite constellations, the American Astronomical Society said in bureau comments Thursday that constellations at lower altitudes are better for dark-sky astronomy. AAS said satellites at heights of 600 km or less appear brighter but are in sunlight for less of the night, while higher-orbit satellites are more in focus and move more slowly across the sky. It said SpaceX's Starlink satellite modifications lowered their apparent brightness, and other large low earth orbit constellations should use its and other mitigation techniques.
Viasat's argument the FCC should do a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review of SpaceX's pending license modification (see 2012230003) comes as the incoming Joe Biden administration is likely to put more emphasis on NEPA requirements. However, that may not ripple out to the FCC, environmental and space law experts told us.
Dish Network and SpaceX disagreed about the 12 GHz NPRM on circulation (see 2012290032), in RM-11768 ex parte postings Wednesday. Dish representatives told aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington that terrestrial flexible use in the band, coordinated with direct broadcast satellite providers and terrestrial broadband operators, "is readily manageable." It said an NPRM would let the FCC determine means of coexistence between satellite and terrestrial services in the band. It said approval of SpaceX's request for lower orbits for 2,824 planned satellites operating in the 12 GHz band can't come until SpaceX shows how it will satisfy the equivalent power flux density limits that protect DBS from interference. SpaceX told a Simington aide that multichannel video and data distribution service licensees' own technical studies show the mobile rights they want in the band can't coexist with incumbent operators. SpaceX allies also opposed the NPRM. Connected Nation said it could hurt investment in low earth orbit satellite broadband, "artificially limiting what could otherwise be a true game changer for rural America." North Carolina State University's Friday Institute for Educational Innovation said it "would hate to see a last minute change in spectrum policy that hinders the nascent LEO technology."
The draft NPRM on circulation about opening the 12 GHz band to 5G service has been added to the FCC's January agenda, per the sunshine agenda Wednesday evening. Also added are two public notices: one unveiling the first round of selections for the agency's Connected Care pilot program, and one seeking comment on competitive bidding procedures for a 2.5 GHz auction. It was expected that Chairman Ajit Pai might put 12 GHz NPRM and 2.5 GHz auction procedures on the agenda to assure a vote on them. Both were circulated last month. The Connected Care selections began in late December.