A number of smaller providers are alleging that T-Mobile is trampling on their ability to use 2.5 GHz licenses they own by operating in their service areas at such high power levels. CEOs of the companies told us they have been assured that the FCC Enforcement Bureau will issue notices of apparent liability, but nothing has happened so far.
Industry groups told the FCC last week that it doesn’t have the authority it asserts to require companies to move offshore call centers back to the U.S. Commissioners unanimously approved an NPRM on the issue in March (see 2603260046), and comments are already coming in, though they’re not due until Tuesday after the agency extended the deadline.
Lifeline advocates slammed a DOJ advisory opinion released Friday, which instructs the FCC that benefits received through the program are subject to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, and recipients need to provide more than just their Social Security number to be eligible. The opinion stressed the importance of not providing any funding to immigrants who haven't been in the U.S. for at least five years and don't have "qualified" status.
NCTA and Verizon may not always agree, but both urged the FCC to get aggressive on accelerating the IP transition and moving remaining carriers from an intercarrier compensation (ICC) regime to a bill-and-keep framework. Nearly 100 groups and companies responded to the February NPRM in initial comments, which were due this week and included opposition from NARUC and others (see 2605270032)
The Environmental Health Trust (EHT), Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and three individual plaintiffs last week filed for a writ of mandamus from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asking it to order the FCC and the Food and Drug Administration to comply with the court’s 2021 remand of the commission's 2019 RF safety rules (see 2108130073). The groups want the FCC to update its 1996 limits for RF exposure.
NARUC told the FCC that the agency doesn’t have some of the authorities it claims in a February NPRM on speeding up the IP transition and moving remaining carriers from an intercarrier compensation regime to a bill-and-keep framework (see 2602180046). Also in comments due Tuesday (docket 25-311), NTCA said the proposals would be terrible for some rural local exchange carriers (RLECs).
The FCC appears likely to move forward on a rulemaking to look further at Qualcomm’s sidelink technology in the U-NII-2B band (5350-5470 MHz), but the agency also may be tempted to explore uses beyond the Qualcomm proposal, industry observers said Wednesday. Qualcomm told the FCC in reply comments, which were due Friday in docket 19-116, that the record reflects “overwhelming support for sidelink from leading public safety organizations.” Other groups raised concerns in the initial comment round (see 2605080014).
The FCC's NPRM on the future of the USF high-cost program didn’t see wholesale changes sought by Elon Musk's SpaceX questioning the continuing need for the program (see 2605150035), but it was tweaked to mention satellite competition more prominently. The final NPRM also saw the addition of more than two dozen questions not in the draft.
The FCC added more than 20 questions to a further NPRM on its broadband data collection (BDC), approved 3-0 last week as part of a broader BDC item (see 2605200047). The agency posted the order and FNPRM Thursday, including two new paragraphs examining mobile wireless issues.
Groups representing smaller carriers warned the FCC last week that competition in the U.S. telecom sector is on the decline. The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) argued that “competition in rural America remains materially weaker than the national averages suggest.” Comments were due Thursday in docket 26-78 as the FCC prepares its biannual report on the state of competition in the communications marketplace.