Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan said he remains worried about what the U.S. Supreme Court will decide on the USF's constitutionality, though he also expressed optimism that the program will survive the Consumers' Research challenge (see 2504140039). Donovan spoke during a Free State Foundation webcast this week, hosted by former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Wednesday that he's standing pat on the spectrum legislative language he released last week as part of the panel's portion of the GOP's planned budget reconciliation package, despite ongoing objections from some Armed Services Committee Republicans who agreed to the deal. Meanwhile, House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told us Tuesday that he's willing to accept the Senate Commerce proposal’s language exempting the 7.4-8.4 GHz band from potential sale.
Satellite broadband providers, especially Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper service, are likely the big winners in the Commerce Department’s rewriting of the BEAD program rules, New Street’s Blair Levin told investors Monday. Smaller providers that use unlicensed spectrum to offer broadband also won, he said. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, slammed the revised rules that the Trump administration released Friday (see 2506060052).
Republican lawmakers have begun taking sides publicly and behind the scenes in favor of a range of contenders to succeed departing GOP FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington as he prepared to exit the agency Friday afternoon (see 2506040073). Former Breitbart executive Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, publicly endorsed Gavin Wax, Simington's chief of staff, for the role. Other officials and GOP insiders are eyeing different candidates as the agency enters an indefinite period with only two commissioners. Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks was also set to leave Friday, leaving the commission with a 1-1 partisan tie.
Senate Commerce Committee Republicans released the panel's portion of a budget reconciliation bill Thursday night with language that proposes mandating that the FCC sell at least 800 MHz of reallocated spectrum, as expected (see 2506050064). Some communications industry groups praised the measure, but observers said they expect other stakeholders to criticize it. Lobbyists said they expect that Senate Commerce Democrats will likely vote against the proposal, as party-affiliated House Commerce Committee members did last month when that panel marked up its part (see 2505140062) of what became the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, insisted in a brief interview Thursday that a deal he reached Wednesday with top Armed Services Committee Republicans for spectrum language in the chamber’s budget reconciliation package (see 2506040078) remains in place, despite panel member Mike Rounds, R-S.D., indicating new wrinkles emerged. Senate Commerce planned to release its reconciliation language Thursday but hadn’t by our deadline. Meanwhile, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, National Emergency Number Association and other groups urged Senate Commerce to allocate some future auction proceeds in its reconciliation proposal for next-generation 911 tech upgrades.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and member Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said in interviews Wednesday night they were close to a deal with Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on spectrum language for the Cruz-led panel's imminent budget reconciliation proposal that will exclude certain bands from possible sale. Cruz in recent weeks had signaled he wanted to pursue a spectrum reconciliation title without band exclusions if possible (see 2505130059).
Top Senate Republicans told us Wednesday that they're likely to prioritize confirmation votes for GOP FCC nominee Olivia Trusty much earlier than expected as a result of Commissioner Nathan Simington’s abrupt exit. Simington said Wednesday he plans to depart the FCC “at the end of this week,” as we reported (see 2506030069). Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said he will resign Friday, also as expected (see 2505220043). The departures mean the FCC's party makeup will stand at a 1-1 tie by week’s end. That will also leave the commission below the statutory three-commissioner quorum, posing potential problems for Chairman Brendan Carr’s agenda heading into the commission’s planned June 26 meeting (see 2506040061).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, insisted in a brief interview Thursday that a deal he reached Wednesday with top Armed Services Committee Republicans for spectrum language in the chamber’s budget reconciliation package remains intact, after panel member Mike Rounds, R-S.D., indicated that new wrinkles had emerged. The deal ensured the spectrum title would exclude the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and parts of the 7 and 8 GHz bands from possible sale through the entirety of a proposed restoration of the FCC’s lapsed auction authority, which would run through Sept. 30, 2034. Rounds, Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., pushed for exclusions on the 7 and 8 GHz bands.
NASHVILLE -- The federal government is warehousing or squatting on much of its spectrum holdings, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said Monday at the Fiber Broadband Association’s Fiber Connect 2025 trade show and conference. Also at the event, states and providers complained about BEAD uncertainty (see 2506020047).