NTIA will host a spectrum policy symposium in Washington on Sept. 10, said a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. “Panelists are expected to include participants from the Executive Office of the President, the FCC, Executive Branch agencies, and leading wireless and satellite companies,” it said. The event will start at 9:30 a.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
Repair work on Quintillion's damaged subsea cable off the North Slope of Alaska is underway, the company said Friday. It reported that two repair ships are on-site, with crews on one working to locate the damaged segment via a remotely operated vehicle. Good ice and weather conditions "continue to support the safe and efficient execution of this work." The cable repair and testing work should take up to a week, Quintillion said, with burial of the replacement to take an additional two weeks. The company said in January that the damaged line could result in "prolonged" outage of its service to North Slope and northwest Alaskan communities (see 2501220001).
NextNav is hopeful that the FCC will move forward soon on an NPRM following up on its March notice of inquiry asking about the wide range of possible alternatives to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), said Renee Gregory, the company's vice president of regulatory affairs. Opponents of NextNav’s proposal to use 900 MHz spectrum for PNT are less anxious for the FCC to take next steps.
Nexstar’s profitability and plans to acquire Tegna undercut broadcaster arguments for doing away with the national ownership cap, said MVPDs, civil rights groups, Newsmax and others in comment filings in docket 17-318. Replies were due Friday.
Chad Winters named COO of Cass Communications, Cass Cable TV and Cass Telephone, replacing Thomas Allen, who's retiring Aug. 31 but remaining on the boards of all three companies … Dean Ball, ex-White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, joins Foundation for American Innovation as senior fellow ... James Dodd retires as Viasat senior vice president and president of commercial services, effective on or about Nov. 1, but will continue as a non-executive employee through Dec. 31 ... Newsmax adds David Gandler, FuboTV, to its board.
Vermont's Otter Creek Communications Union District (CUD) completed its fiber broadband construction "ahead of schedule and under budget," the Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) said Tuesday. The project, which reached 3,626 unserved and underserved areas, was completed with $2.99 million remaining. The CUD and VCBB negotiated an agreement with Consolidated Communications, Fidium and GoNetSpeed on construction, service quality and fair pricing. VCBB Executive Director Christine Hallquist highlighted the project as an "example of a CUD strategically reviewing the current level of service in their area, acknowledging the best course of action was to partner with the existing telecom providers serving most addresses, and then holding them accountable to the community."
NEW ORLEANS -- Broadband experts, attorneys and local officials welcomed the use of AI Wednesday at the National Association of Telecom Officers and Advisors' annual conference (see 2508190045) here. Some said it could streamline permitting and speed deployment timelines but warned that federal preemption and lax oversight risk sidelining state and local voices in shaping how the technology changes communications policy.
Too many areas in the middle of the U.S. lack the critical infrastructure they need, such as designated interexchange points (IXPs), said Tonya Witherspoon, a consultant who led digital transformation initiatives at Wichita State University (WSU). During a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday, she said most of the nation’s IXPs are on the East and West Coasts or in more populous states like Texas. Policymakers so far have paid too little attention to the dearth of U.S. IXPs, other speakers agreed.
Kelly Grier, formerly Ernst & Young, joins AT&T’s board, effective Sept. 1, replacing Scott Ford, Westrock Coffee, retiring … FCC Chairman Brendan Carr adds Courtney Cowper, ex-Honeywell, as special assistant in his office … Salem Media Group names Richard von Gnechten, WaterStone, as chairman of the board, replacing Executive Chairman Edward Atsinger in running board and stockholders meetings; Atsinger will retain his title through Dec. 31 and continue overseeing company operations.
States face a challenge getting their BEAD final proposals to NTIA by the Sept. 4, but most will meet the deadline, Colorado Broadband Office Executive Director Brandy Reitter said Tuesday at the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum. Large states like Texas and California will probably need extensions, she told us. Reitter said she was fairly confident NTIA in turn would meet its deadline for reviewing the final proposals within 90 days of receiving them.