Wireless carriers must have 72 hours backup power at many California cellsites to maintain coverage during wildfires and public safety power shutoffs, the California Public Utilities Commission decided unanimously Thursday. Also at the livestreamed virtual meeting, commissioners all supported a utility affordability order that defines essential internet service as a fixed service providing 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds, plus 1 terabyte of data.
The FCC approved updated rules for finding the vertical location of wireless callers to 911 over partial dissent by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and concerns by Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. The concerns were expected, with the FCC getting contradictory advice about the order (see 2007100045), which updates rules commissioners approved in November (see 1911220034). The first mandates kick in next April.
Thursday's ruling tossing out Privacy Shield must result in a speedy replacement, industry groups said (see 2007160014). The European Court of Justice nixed the personal data transfer regime because of what it considered overzealous U.S. surveillance and inadequate ombudsman protections. The decision throws trans-Atlantic data flows into turmoil, stakeholders said. Industry urged both parties to return immediately to negotiations, while privacy advocates and consumers pressed the European Commission to do more to protect citizens in future talks.
Approval of a different cable leased access rate structure went awry Thursday with a brief administrative law crisis. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel questioned whether the item -- with two approvals and three concurring votes -- had actually been adopted. Administrative law experts told us it's a novel issue. Chairman Ajit Pai and acting General Counsel Ashley Boizelle said it counts as adopted.
A bipartisan group of House Oversight Committee members urged support Wednesday for creating a White House national cyber director. Republican opponents questioned the need for creating additional bureaucracy and duplicating cyber authorities, during a virtual hearing. Proponents cited COVID-19 as an example that the federal government isn’t prepared to respond to global threats.
The House Commerce Committee approved 10 telecom bills Wednesday, including the Utilizing Strategic Allied (USA) Telecom Act (HR-6624), as expected (see 2007140062). Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., emphasized that the measures up for votes Wednesday were "all consensus bills, which are truly bipartisan, and the details of which have been worked out with myself and" ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore. The committee is known to have excluded (see 2007130054) some high-profile bills the House Communications Subcommittee advanced in March that had drawn Republican criticism, including the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855) and Reinforcing and Evaluating Service Integrity, Local Infrastructure and Emergency Notification for Today’s (Resilient) Networks Act (HR-5926).
U.S. 911 call centers face a “very likely budget crisis” due to COVID-19 (see 2005120038), said Mark Reddish, APCO senior counsel, during a NG-911 Institute webinar Wednesday. Call centers remain mostly locked down four months after the pandemic hit, other officials said.
House Republicans are offering dueling amendments to that chamber’s FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395) that respectively try to advance and stop efforts to hinder Ligado’s L-band plan. HR-6395 and Senate NDAA version S-4049 have anti-Ligado language (see 2007010070). The three new amendments are among several proposals to tack on 5G security and other tech and telecom-related language to HR-6395 once it reaches the House floor next week. The House Rules Committee will consider proposed amendments Friday. The videoconference meeting begins at 11 a.m. EDT.
Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday the FCC will stick with Dec. 8 for starting the auction of C-band spectrum for 5G, circulating draft final auction procedures (see 2007150047). Commissioners approved the auction 3-2 in February, including a procedures NPRM (see 2002280044). The FCC will also consider inmate calling services rates and media modernization among other items at the Aug. 6 commissioners’ meeting.
Citing bigger risks of collisions in orbit and stymied use of the 12 GHz band for 5G services, satellite and wireless interests filed petitions Monday with the FCC International Bureau asking it to reject SpaceX plans to relocate 2,824 planned non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) broadband satellites to a lower orbit (see 2004200003). SpaceX didn't comment Tuesday.