The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council approved three reports Monday, during a final, hybrid meeting under the current iteration, including on the use of virtualization technology to promote more reliable and secure 5Gm supply chain security and the use of hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) in 5G. Officials said the group approved 10 reports during its tenure.

NTIA announced funding allocations for its broadband, equity, access, and deployment program Monday. All entities will receive a formal notice of their allocations Friday, the agency said. The $42.5 billion program will be used for broadband deployment efforts, adoption and workforce development. Initial proposals may be submitted from July 1 through Dec. 1. States and territories will have access to 20% of their allocated funds once their proposal is approved by NTIA. Texas is receiving by far the largest BEAD award, at more than $3.3 billion.

Contrary to what the U.S. Bankruptcy Court decided, SES and Intelsat's C-Band Alliance agreement "is certainly not a model of clarity," U.S. District Judge Robert Payne for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled Friday as he reversed the Bankruptcy Court's denial of SES' $421 million claim against Intelsat for the collapse of the CBA. In his 57-page decision Friday (docket 3:22-cv-00668),Payne remanded the case to Bankruptcy Court. SES sought damages from the CBA's collapse as part of Intelsat's now-concluded Chapter 11 bankruptcy (see 2007140029). At oral argument in March, Payne was critical of the CBA agreement (see 2303200062).

More than three years after a 6 GHz Further NPRM was approved in April 2020 (see 2004230059), the FCC hasn't acted. Speculation in 2020 was that the agency could act before the end of the Trump administration (see 2012180057). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit largely upheld the 2020 6 GHz order 18 months ago (see 2112280047).

Broadcasters believe a letter from Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., could move FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to refresh the record on a nearly decade-old proceeding on classifying streaming services as MVPDs, but the programming networks don’t agree. Rosenworcel’s March 24 letter (see 2303310061) to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, “reflects her latest thinking on the matter,” emailed an FCC spokesperson Friday in response to questions about Rosenworcel’s stance and Cantwell's comments. The FCC “lacks the power to change these unambiguous provisions on its own,” the Chairwoman wrote then.

Here are last week’s most-read stories on court proceedings affecting telecom, tech and media that were covered in-depth by our sibling publication Communications Litigation Today. Current subscribers can click the reference number hyperlink or search the story title. Nonsubscribers can gain access by signing up for a complimentary preview.

Ukraine continues to be a vibrant IT market despite the ongoing war, speakers said Thursday during the Ukraine Recovery Conference, held Wednesday and Thursday in London. Ukraine led the world in digitization even before Russia invaded and continues to do so, being an example for other countries on e-government, they said. It's now the best place for the world's public and private sectors to test digital products, services and hypotheses, said Prime Minister Mykhailo Federov.

An upcoming Supreme Court decision in Biden v. Nebraska, which concerns the White House’s student loan forgiveness program, could clarify to what degree the court’s major questions doctrine (see 2302080064) could be used to challenge the actions of federal agencies such as the FCC, said HWG's Chris Wright and FCC Deputy General Counsel Jacob Lewis Thursday on a virtual FCBA panel.

FCC nominee Anna Gomez faced tough questions Thursday on net neutrality, data privacy, the Standard General/Tegna deal and how she would balance her current role leading the U.S. delegation in preparing for the World Radiocommunication Conference if she's confirmed to the FCC. The Senate Commerce Committee nomination hearing saw Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hit by many of the same questions on his nomination for a second term on the FCC. Commissioner Brendan Carr, also being renominated, and Fara Damelin, nominee for FCC inspector general, faced fewer questions.

Without intervention, China will repeat the strategy that let it largely erode the West's once-unassailable advantage in telecommunications technology, but this time China will focus on AI, cloud computing and other vital core technologies, said Nate Fick, State Department's inaugural ambassador-at-large-cyberspace and digital policy, Wednesday at a Hudson Institute event. He was confirmed in September (see 2209150049). Citing China's subsidization of domestic companies and its financing of internet architecture deployments in developing nations, Fick said that "we are not going to match them dollar for dollar." Instead, the U.S. needs to identify specific technologies and geographies that matter most and build coalitions around them, he said.