Commissioners are expected to approve, with no dissents and few questions, an order and Further NPRM Friday on the 800 MHz rebanding, FCC and industry officials said. The order is loosely tied to T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Sprint (see 1910020030) but didn’t generate controversy. No parties reported meetings at the FCC on the item in docket 02-55.
States protested the FCC denying waivers of Wednesday’s deadline to hard-launch the Lifeline national verifier in Connecticut, Georgia, Nebraska, New York and Vermont. State and other officials told us low-income people could lose inexpensive telecom service. Tuesday’s Wireline Bureau order responded that states have themselves to blame (see 1910220060). “It was harsh,” said Vermont Department of Public Service Telecommunications and Connectivity Division Director Clay Purvis.
Some media-focused officials testified in favor of a shorter-term Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization during a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing. The possibility has come into increasing focus as the law's Dec. 31 expiration nears (see 1910220058). Witnesses otherwise adhered to their existing STELA stances. Several Senate Commerce members later told us they're no closer to deciding what direction to go on the issue.
NPR, NAB and the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) have concerns about FCC proposals to update technical rules on low-power FM stations, posted through Tuesday in docket 19-193 for Monday’s NPRM comment deadline (see 1907310044). Representatives for LPFM entities such as REC Networks and Prometheus Radio Project said proposals don’t go far enough to relax interference restrictions for LPFM. “20 years is enough time to take the training wheels off and move LPFM forward into the next 20 years,” said REC Networks. “The net effect of enacting these proposals would be more congestion in the already crowded FM band,” NAB said.
ISPs and state telecom authorities asked the FCC to delay the first-round auction for its $20 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund until it gets better broadband mapping data. In replies posted through Tuesday in docket 19-126, the California Public Utilities Commission, National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) and Navajo Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, among others, supported delay.
Offices of state attorneys general leading an antitrust investigation of Google plan to meet in Colorado to determine next steps, a state official told us Tuesday. The gathering could take place Nov. 11, though the date is in flux. Of the 51 AG offices we contacted, Arizona was the only to comment. “As a lead state in the Google antitrust investigation, Arizona is actively involved in all stages of the strategy and execution of the investigation,” a spokesperson emailed. “We will be there.”
The FCC sees 6 GHz as critical to the future of Wi-Fi and unlicensed, said Chairman Ajit Pai at the Mobile World Congress in Los Angeles Tuesday. The band will provide “huge 160 MHz channels that could be used for unlicensed innovation, the likes of which we only conceive now,” said Pai, interviewed by CTIA President Meredith Baker. The FCC is looking for “an accommodation” for public safety, business and other users of the band, he said.
Trade groups representing Connect America Fund ISP auction participants urged in interviews and filings with the FCC to fine-tune a draft order on reconsideration that would update broadband performance measurements for the rural, high-cost USF program. Commissioners vote on the order, in docket 10-90, Friday (see 1910040053). Interested parties met with officials, sometimes repeatedly, in recent weeks.
Communications sector lobbyists and officials say they will be watching during and after the Senate Commerce Committee's planned Wednesday hearing on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization (see 1910160036) for any new signs of the direction committee leaders plan to go. Both Senate Commerce and the House Commerce Committee appear to be nearing decision on contours of their respective STELA bills, though they appear likely to differ on the time frame for renewing the statute, lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce also examined the recertification debate in June, as did the House Communications Subcommittee (see 1906050083). STELA sunsets Dec. 31.
The FCC Wireline Bureau denied petitions from Connecticut, Georgia, Nebraska, New York and Vermont to postpone launch of the Lifeline national eligibility verifier scheduled for Wednesday, in an order Tuesday on docket 11-42. States worried the Lifeline NV isn't fully operational and will improperly drop eligible phone and broadband customers from the program (see 1910180004). Eligible telecom carriers will be required Wednesday to use the NV for consumers applying for Lifeline in Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.