Wisconsin Bell failed to persuade the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to grant its petition for an en banc rehearing of an August decision reversing and remanding a lower court ruling regarding how much the company charged schools and libraries through the FCC's E-rate program (see 2308020067). The opinion, released Tuesday in case 22-1515, noted that no judge sought a vote for a rehearing.

Dish Wireless, which is building a stand-alone 5G open radio access network, received a $50 million grant from NTIA to establish the Open RAN Center for Integration & Deployment (ORCID), EchoStar said Wednesday. Echostar said the grant was the largest so far under the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. ORCHID “will serve a critical role in strengthening the global Open RAN ecosystem and building the next generation of wireless networks," said Charlie Ergen, EchoStar chairman: The center "will be uniquely positioned to test and evaluate Open RAN interoperability, performance and security from domestic and international vendors.” The center combines field and lab testing and will use Dish’s spectrum, the company said: Multi-tenant lab and field testing will happen in Dish’s Cheyenne, Wyoming facility. NTIA also announced five other grants under the program Wednesday, including $21.7 million to fund a Viavi testing lab. The company “aims to create a fully automated, cooperative, open and impartial testing-as-a-service offering that's dedicated to Open RAN interoperability, performance and security,” NTIA said. The agency awarded $2 million to Virginia Tech to explore ORAN cybersecurity. Cirrus360 gets nearly $2 million “to develop a new test method that uses a digital twin of integrated RAN components to model their implementation,” NTIA said. Northeastern University and Rice University also got funding. “The new facilities we fund with this round of grants will help move open technologies from the lab to the field,” said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals returned a U.S. Chamber of Commerce challenge of Maryland’s digital ad tax to a state district court. In an opinion Wednesday (case 22-2275), the appeals court agreed with the U.S. District Court in Baltimore (case 21-cv-00410) that the Tax Injunction Act (TIA) prevents federal courts from reviewing the tax. However, it disagreed that a decision on the constitutionality of a related pass-through ban was moot.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals returned a U.S. Chamber of Commerce challenge of Maryland’s digital ad tax to a state district court. In an opinion Wednesday (case 22-2275), the appeals court agreed with the U.S. District Court in Baltimore (case 21-cv-00410) that the Tax Injunction Act (TIA) prevents federal courts from reviewing the tax. However, it disagreed that a decision on the constitutionality of a related pass-through ban was moot.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., chairman of the House Select Committee on China, has urged the Commerce Department to consider placing the United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence firm Group 42 Holdings (G42) on the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List, citing possible export control risks from the company’s work with China’s military, intelligence services and state-owned companies.

As the FCC sees increased dissent votes by Republican minority commissioners, those dissents frequently challenge agency authority. That's becoming a more common line of argument among GOP commissioners across federal regulatory agencies, often based on the U.S. Supreme Court's major questions doctrine, administrative law experts tell us. Republican commissioners and former commissioners say dissent votes are a reflection of the Democratic majority pushing partisan issues. Commissioner Nathan Simington in a statement said he is "disappointed that the Commission is now focused on misguided, partisan items, but I remain hopeful that we can continue making progress on real, non-partisan solutions to long-standing technical issues."

The district court’s decision in Hachette vs. Internet Archive, in favor of four publisher plaintiffs, “paints with far too broad a brush,” said a Dec. 22 corrected amicus brief (docket 23-1260) from HathiTrust, filed Thursday before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Appeals Court.

States can achieve universal broadband with a mix of fiber, fixed wireless and satellite technologies, Vernonburg Group CEO Paul Garnett said during a Wireless ISP Association webinar Thursday. Garnett demonstrated his consulting group’s broadband planning tool, which estimates an “optimal” extremely high cost per location threshold for each jurisdiction. “If you make the right decisions, you will be able to achieve your internet-for-all goals,” he said. Deploying broadband becomes increasingly expensive as a state gets closer to reaching all unserved and underserved areas, said Garnett: There are points where it makes sense to consider fiber alternatives, he said. Estimating about $53.6 billion in grant funds available across the entire U.S., including multiple federal and state sources, the tool suggests that 58% of locations should receive fiber, 38% should be served with fixed wireless and 4% should get satellite service, so all unserved and underserved locations are covered. Some states will rely more on wireless than others, Garnett said. With about $270 million in available grant funds, Maryland could serve 46% of locations with fiber, 52% with fixed wireless and 2% with satellite, according to the tool's calculations. For Utah, with about $388.6 million in grants, it estimates a mix of 67% fiber, 27% fixed wireless and 6% satellite. WISPA commissioned Vernonburg to create the tool, a WISPA spokesperson said. “[Vernonburg] did all the modeling work without deep input from us on what the outcome would be.”

Petitioners Maurine and Matthew Molak are seeking 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals review of the FCC’s Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing funding for Wi-Fi service and equipment on school buses under the commission’s E-rate program, according to their petition Wednesday (docket 23-60641). The Molaks are “aggrieved” by the ruling because it will increase E-rate program “outlays” and “thereby directly increase" the amount of the federal universal service charge they pay each month as a line-item on their phone bill to fund the program's costs, their petition said. In addition, the Molaks have “a special interest in this matter” as co-founders of David’s Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the memory of their son “and committed to ending cyberbullying through education, legislation, and legal action,” it said. The ruling “undermines that crucial mission by enabling unsupervised social-media access by children and teenagers” on school buses, it said. The ruling exceeds the FCC’s statutory authority and “is contrary to law,” it added. The Molaks are asking the 5th Circuit to vacate the ruling “and grant such other relief as it may deem appropriate,” said the petition.

Petitioners Maurine and Matthew Molak are seeking 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals review of the FCC’s Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing funding for Wi-Fi service and equipment on school buses under the commission’s E-rate program, according to their petition Wednesday (docket 23-60641). The Molaks are “aggrieved” by the ruling because it will increase E-rate program “outlays” and “thereby directly increase" the amount of the federal universal service charge they pay each month as a line-item on their phone bill to fund the program's costs, their petition said. In addition, the Molaks have “a special interest in this matter” as co-founders of David’s Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the memory of their son “and committed to ending cyberbullying through education, legislation, and legal action,” it said. The ruling “undermines that crucial mission by enabling unsupervised social-media access by children and teenagers” on school buses, it said. The ruling exceeds the FCC’s statutory authority and “is contrary to law,” it added. The Molaks are asking the 5th Circuit to vacate the ruling “and grant such other relief as it may deem appropriate,” said the petition.