Close to two dozen providers notified the FCC last week about possibly or actually having fallen short of Rural Deployment Opportunity Fund (RDOF) deployments that were to be completed by the end of 2025. Several said pole attachment and permitting woes were the hold-up or cited delays tied to the fall 2025 federal government shutdown and changes to the BEAD program. The RDOF notifications involved locations in at least 28 different states.
The FCC closed out the comment cycle last week for an NPRM on proposed changes to wireless infrastructure rules, with support from industry and continuing opposition from RF safety advocates and many local government groups (see 2601150043). Reply comments were due Thursday (docket 25-276) in response to the item, which commissioners approved 3-0 in September (see 2511250075), and there were still no signs of agreement among the different sides.
Nexstar’s proposed $6.2 billion purchase of Tegna must be approved to stave off the “five-alarm fire” of competition from streaming and tech companies, Nexstar and Tegna said in a joint reply filing posted in docket 25-331 Friday. The FCC has authority to waive the national cap, they said, while all the entities objecting to the deal -- including Newsmax, Free Press and EchoStar -- lack standing to participate in the proceeding (see 2601020025).
The administration’s pro-5G, pro-business agenda may be about to clash with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda of some of President Donald Trump's loyalists. As the FCC wraps up an NPRM on proposed changes to wireless infrastructure rules to make 5G deployments faster (see 2601160045), reports are emerging that Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is ramping up a study of the risks from cellphone radiation. The Food and Drug Administration has also taken down webpages saying that cellphones aren’t dangerous. The FCC didn't remove similar declarations on its website.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., is continuing to push for some of the public broadcasting funding that Congress rescinded last year to return as part of an FY 2026 appropriations minibus bill currently under negotiation (see 2601080070), but lawmakers and observers see diminishing chances that will succeed. Meanwhile, Congress continued Wednesday night and Thursday to advance separate FY26 appropriations packages that would fund the FCC and NTIA.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted unanimously Thursday to approve Verizon's purchase of Frontier Communications. The deal represents “a major shift” in the communications competitive landscape in California, CPUC President Alice Reynolds said. A lot of Frontier's network in the state needs investment, particularly in rural and tribal areas, and Verizon will bring that, she said. She and other commissioners repeatedly cited what they called significant commitments that Verizon made for broadband deployment, digital equity, service quality, discounted service for low-income households and labor protections.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., told us that he's aiming to have a final figure for the amount of funding to include in the Next Generation 911 Act (HR-6505) before the full Commerce Committee marks up the measure. As expected (see 2601130072), the subpanel on Thursday advanced HR-6505 and five other communications bills on bipartisan voice votes: the Public Safety Communications Act (HR-1519), Lulu’s Law (HR-2076), the Emergency Reporting Act (HR-5200), Kari’s Law Reporting Act (HR-5201) and the Mystic Alerts Act (HR-7022).
Questions remain about the future of the FCC’s voluntary cyber trust mark program, which commissioners approved 5-0 in March 2024 (see 2403140034), because of concerns that progress has stalled after UL Solutions dropped out as lead administrator. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr earlier raised concerns about UL’s purported ties to China. Last week, the agency asked for applications from companies willing to replace UL Solutions, which are due Jan. 28.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
House Communications Subcommittee Democrats fulfilled expectations (see 2601130067) that they would spend much of a Wednesday FCC oversight hearing criticizing commission Chairman Brendan Carr over his media regulatory actions and his perceived devotion to only pleasing President Donald Trump. Republicans avoided those topics almost entirely and instead focused on praising Carr’s FCC tenure. Meanwhile, Carr continued to dodge what ended up being a bipartisan push to pin down his position on proposals to eliminate or ease the national TV station audience reach cap (see 2601140071).