Todd Schlekeway, president of NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, called for changes in how the wireless industry does business with tower companies. Schlekeway's open letter came as earnings season begins for carriers and NATE members.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced acting leadership for a number of bureau offices Friday but not for the offices of Workplace Diversity or Communications Business Opportunities. An executive order that President Donald Trump issued Monday that ends federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts could affect those offices and their staff, industry and FCC officials told us. Neither office was mentioned in Carr’s release Monday announcing the shuttering of other FCC diversity efforts (see 2501210070). The FCC didn’t respond to repeated inquiries about those offices' fate. Office of Workplace Diversity staff were present at an all-hands meeting that Carr held Thursday, FCC employees told us.

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg told investors Friday that the carrier’s network is holding up reasonably well in the Los Angeles area as wildfires sweep through the region. Meanwhile, Verizon announced it added more than a billion postpaid mobile and broadband subscribers in Q4, its best numbers in more than a decade, though the carrier's move to AI dominated its investor presentation. There was little discussion on the call about Verizon's huge investment in 5G.

President Donald Trump renewed the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology on Thursday to “provide advice and evidence-based recommendations to the President to ensure that policies are informed by the latest scientific discoveries and technological advancements,” the White House said. The council will “champion bold investments in innovation, the elimination of bureaucratic barriers, and actions to help the United States remain the world’s premier hub for scientific and technological breakthroughs.” Trump’s executive order reestablishing PCAST would give the advisory council up to 24 members and sets as its co-chairs the White House AI and "cryptocurrency czar," a role previously given to David Sacks, and the assistant to the president for science and technology. Other PCAST members should be “distinguished individuals and representatives from sectors outside of the Federal Government appointed by the President,” the EO said. “These non-Federal members shall have diverse perspectives and expertise in science, technology, education, and innovation.” The White House said Trump’s first administration “accelerated research and collaboration,” including via “spectrum auctions to unlock valuable frequencies for 5G and innovation.”

House Commerce Committee leaders drew battle lines during and after a Thursday Communications Subcommittee hearing over GOP proposals to move spectrum legislation as part of an upcoming budget reconciliation package (see 2501070069). House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone of New Jersey and other Democrats strongly objected to using reconciliation as a spectrum vehicle because it would allocate future license sales revenue to fund tax cuts instead of telecom priorities. Lawmakers from both parties again cited long-standing DOD objections to repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and other military-controlled frequencies as a continued flashpoint in spectrum legislative talks in this Congress (see 2501070069).

The Donald Trump administration’s decision to remove all members of the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) raises questions for the wireless industry, since the board was developing a report on the Salt Typhoon cyberattacks (see 2412050044), industry experts said. China's Ministry of State Security reportedly launched the attacks. The dismissal came as acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman removed all members of departmental advisory boards as the administration cleaned house. “This is a case of out with the old, in with the new,” Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, told us. “Terminating the CSRB is a way ... Trump's team" can remove "any potential [Joe] Biden holdovers” and seems like “part of a broader reset of advisory committees for the new administration.” Castro predicted that federal law enforcement will pursue an investigation into Salt Typhoon and work with the private sector on it, “but CSRB won't be the lead vehicle for this activity in the short term.” The CSRB was created as part of a Biden executive order aimed at strengthening U.S. cybersecurity. CSRB is part of DHS, and the department’s “leadership, and its actions came under heavy criticism by then-candidate Trump and the GOP,” John Strand of Strand Consult said in an email. “There are legitimate issues of how to handle Salt Typhoon,” he said. “That Salt Typhoon even happened is a wake-up call, and it demands a top-to-bottom review of security and likely a reboot of the national cybersecurity establishment, which is falling short of expectations.” “Disappointing that the CSRB was disbanded, especially given their work looking into salt typhoon,” Daniel Cuthbert, a London-based cybersecurity expert, said on X. “That report would have been vitally important for not just the US but many others.”

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents FCC and FTC employees, is challenging the White House's Schedule F executive order aimed at reducing federal worker protections against firing. The EO -- one of a slew the new Trump administration issued Monday (see 2501210070) -- expressly applies to career employees, who typically remain in their jobs after a presidential transition, NTEU said in a complaint filed this week with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (docket 1:25-cv-00170). NTEU said the EO runs contrary to Office of Personnel Management rules that limit transferring positions into new categories. The EO "will radically reshape the civil service by drastically increasing the number and type of employees who are in a new category of excepted service and be at risk of dismissal without adverse action rights," the union said. It asked the court to enjoin President Donald Trump from instituting or enforcing the EO.

House Commerce Committee leaders are cautioning that the Communications Subcommittee’s planned Thursday spectrum policy hearing isn’t necessarily an indication that the panel will seek early action on an airwaves legislative package. Some lawmakers and lobbyists instead said the hearing is aimed at educating the subpanel’s crop of new members on the complicated dynamics at play in the spectrum legislative debate. New House Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and other Republicans are eyeing using an upcoming budget reconciliation package to move on spectrum legislation (see 2501070069).

The FCC Media Bureau and Enforcement Bureau have set aside decisions made last week under the previous FCC chair to dismiss complaints against stations owned by ABC, CBS and NBC, according to orders filed in docket 25-11 Wednesday.

NCTA CEO Michael Powell and CTIA Executive Vice President Brad Gillen are among those set to testify Thursday during a House Communications Subcommittee hearing on spectrum legislative issues, the Commerce Committee said Tuesday. House Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and other Republicans are eyeing using an upcoming budget reconciliation package to move on spectrum legislation (see 2501070069). Other witnesses on House Communications’ hearing docket: Public Knowledge CEO Chris Lewis and the Trump administration's former acting NTIA Administrator Diane Rinaldo, now Open RAN Policy Coalition executive director. The panel will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.