The FCC activated the disaster information reporting system and mandatory disaster response initiative over communications effects from severe flooding in Kentucky, said a public notice Monday. The systems are active for 10 Kentucky counties: Clay, Harlan, Knott, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Martin, Owsley, Perry and Pike. A DIRS update released Tuesday showed that 0.8% of cellsites and 7,247 cable and wireline subscribers were without service in the affected areas. "With historic flooding across Kentucky, President [Donald] Trump has taken action and this evening the FCC activated our systems to ensure that communications providers support mutual aid + roaming and provide reports on the status of communications networks," FCC Chairman Brendan Carr posted on X Monday night.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Tuesday afternoon directing the FCC, other “so-called independent” federal agencies and all other executive branch entities to “submit for review all proposed and final significant regulatory actions” to the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) “before publication in the Federal Register.” Trump said “it shall be the policy of the executive branch to ensure Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch.” Then-President Bill Clinton's 1993 order that set up OIRA mostly exempted independent agencies but subjected them to some obligations.
Consumers’ Research is getting support from other right-of-center groups as it pushes a legal theory at the U.S. Supreme Court that poses a challenge to the USF's future. SCOTUS will hear FCC v. Consumers' Research on March 26, challenging the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 9-7 en banc decision invalidating how the USF program is funded (see 2501090045).
The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should overturn its three-judge panel’s decision against the FCC’s 2024 net neutrality order, said an en banc appeal that Public Knowledge, Free Press, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the Open Technology Institute jointly filed Tuesday. The 6th Circuit should grant en banc review because the January decision creates a circuit split with the 9th Circuit and the D.C. Circuit on whether broadband internet access service (BIAS) falls under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, the appeal said. The 6th Circuit panel “shoehorned its policy preferences into the law, in a slapdash and inconsistent opinion that, if left unchallenged, will eliminate the ability of future regulators to promote universal, affordable competitive broadband access,” Public Knowledge Legal Director John Bergmayer said in a statement.
As federal policymakers continue studying the lower 3 GHz band for possible reallocation for full-power, licensed use, the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) remains a critical focus, said Doug Brake, CTIA assistant vice president-policy communications, during a Technology Policy Institute webinar Tuesday. Advocates of licensed, unlicensed and satellite use said all need more spectrum as the Senate Commerce Committee prepares for Wednesday’s hearing on the topic (see 2502180058).
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us last week he is pessimistic about the chances that talks aimed at easing DOD supporters’ objections to repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and other military-controlled frequencies will lead to a deal in time to allow congressional leaders to include expansive spectrum legislative language in a budget reconciliation package. Other congressional leaders in the spectrum talks noted ongoing efforts to assuage DOD backers. Lobbyists expect the DOD factor to come up repeatedly during a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing on spectrum legislative issues (see 2502130041).
Broadcasters’ legal challenge of the FCC’s 2018 quadrennial review (QR) order is set for oral argument in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on March 19, said a filing in docket 24-1380 Friday. Petitioners Zimmer Radio, Nexstar, NAB, Beasley Media and Tri-State Communications have argued that the order violated the Communications Act because it didn’t roll back any broadcast ownership rules and ignored the increased competition faced by broadcasters. The FCC has previously argued in the case that the law doesn’t compel it to deregulate and that broadcasters haven’t shown that they face competition in local programming, but that could change under the agency’s new leadership. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr dissented from the QR order as a commissioner, calling its view of competition “ostrich-like.” Earlier this month, the agency kicked off oral argument over workforce diversity data collection by announcing it wouldn’t defend portions of the order (see 2502040061), which Carr also opposed as a commissioner.
AT&T announced Friday that its board of directors elected CEO John Stankey as chair. Stankey replaces former FCC Chairman William Kennard, who was elected lead independent director. “As AT&T embarks on its comprehensive, Board-approved three-year strategic and capital allocation plan, this change provides the right governance structure for the Board,” Kennard said. A board member since 2014, Kennard was named chair in January 2021. Stankey became CEO and president five years ago.
Viaero Wireless asked the FCC to extend the deadline for removing and replacing Huawei equipment in its network from April 6 to Oct. 6. It noted that the FCC still isn’t making available additional funding for its Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program approved by Congress in December (see 2412240036). “Viaero has exhausted substantial company resources to fund as much of the project as possible on its own, when only 39.5% of the funds were made available by Congress,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-89. Viaero’s vendor “was forced to reduce the number of tower crews available to work on this project, hampering progress,” it said. A lack of funding “also forced Viaero to cancel purchase orders for a substantial amount of equipment. Now that full funding is available, Viaero is working to place equipment orders, which may not be delivered until mid to late 2025.”
Policymakers and the FCC, once focused on universal coverage, now must make spectrum decisions around consumers' and industry's capacity and performance needs, CableLabs Vice President-Technology Policy Mark Walker wrote last week. The nation's "overwhelming reliance" on Wi-Fi for carrying consumer data traffic is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, he said. The wider-bandwidth Wi-Fi channels that are coming to support new applications need more contiguous unlicensed spectrum bands, he said. "Without more unlicensed spectrum, Wi-Fi performance will degrade as more devices, applications and users come online." He added that diminished performance will start in dense commercial and residential areas where there are high concentrations of devices and users.