The FCC demanded a response from Luminys within 10 days to its determination that the company was selling equipment from Dahua, which is on the FCC’s “covered list” of providers of unsecure gear. Luminys faces revocation of equipment authorizations the FCC previously approved. Luminys Systems describes itself as the U.S.-based subsidiary of Foxlink, a Taiwan-based company, the agency said Thursday. Foxlink announced its acquisition of Dahua Technology USA last month from a Chinese company, Zhejiang Dahua Technology, the notice said. “By Luminys’s own public statements, Luminys is marketing products that were produced by Dahua, does not expect that these products will be manufactured through Foxlink’s own supply chains until March 2025, and does not expect to stop selling Dahua-manufactured products entirely until December 2025,” the FCC said: “That Luminys had not sought equipment authorization from the Commission prior to Foxlink’s acquisition of Dahua Technology USA also supports the tentative conclusion that the ultimate source of the equipment is Dahua Technology Company, an entity identified on the Covered List.” The “show cause” order, by the acting chiefs of the Public Safety Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology, was posted in Friday’s Daily Digest.
Frontier notified the FCC of changes in its business as the agency considers Verizon’s proposed buy of the company in a $20 billion all-cash deal announced in September (see 2409050010). Assets of Frontier Florida were transferred to Frontier Tampa Bay, the company said in a filing posted Friday in docket 24-445. Frontier called the change an “internal reorganization” that won’t “result in a major change to the transaction.”
The Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations is seeking comment on whether jurisdictional separations of telecom costs and revenue for rate-of-return incumbent local exchange carriers are still needed, said a public notice Friday. The notice also seeks comment on whether the rules should be reformed “when the industry is naturally transitioning away from legacy technologies and cost-based ratemaking” and whether there should be a permanent freeze of the separations rules "while considering the future course” of them. The FCC referred the issue to the Joint Board in a November order extending the current temporary freeze for up to six years (see 2411130043). Comments will be due 30 days after the item is published in the Federal Register.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told us last week that he voted against advancing the Kids Off Social Media Act (S-278) out of the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this month (see 2502050052) because he wanted to put a “place marker” down to ensure there’s a broader discussion about the FCC’s E-rate program. S-278 would expand the Children’s Internet Protection Act, an FCC-enforced statute aimed at protecting children’s data in schools and preventing access to harmful online content. “I just wanted to put down my place marker because I am very concerned about E-rate,” Markey said, adding that he has concerns about the Trump administration’s approach to the subsidy program and wants to discuss the “totality” of it.
The U.S. solicitor general’s announcement that DOJ plans to stop defending removal protections for multimember commissions at independent agencies could include the FCC even though the agency wasn’t mentioned in the letter, Free State Foundation President Randolph May wrote in a blog post Friday. In the letter (see 2502130063), acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris said DOJ will ask the Supreme Court to overturn the 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor v. FTC that protects independent commissioners from presidential removal. May wrote that the FCC’s structure is “very much like” the agencies named in the letter -- the FTC, National Labor Relations Board and Consumer Product Safety Commission. “If the SG's view of the president's removal power regarding the three identified agencies is correct, it may be difficult to distinguish the FCC,” he said. However, unlike those agencies, the FCC’s governing statute -- the Communications Act -- doesn’t contain a “for-cause” limitation on presidential removal of commissioners, May wrote. The SG’s letter relied heavily on SCOTUS' 2019 Seila Law v. CFPB decision, in which the high court ruled that limiting the ability of the president to remove commissioners only for cause was unconstitutional. The Communications Act’s lack of “for-cause” restrictions “could possibly make all the difference” on whether a future SCOTUS ruling on Humphrey’s Executor allows for easier White House removal of commissioners, May said.
Securus and Pay Tel accused the FCC of acting outside the bounds of what was allowed under the Martha Wright-Reed (MWR) Act of 2022 in its July order reducing call rates for people in prisons while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039). The two providers of incarcerated people’s communication services (IPCS) filed preliminary briefs Thursday, as did state and law enforcement challengers and groups representing prisoners and their families. The case is before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, though various parties are still asking that it be moved to the 5th Circuit (see 2501280053).
The FCC said Friday that it no longer contends that Maurine and Matthew Molak of Texas are barred from challenging the FCC’s declaratory ruling authorizing E-rate funding for Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2312200040) based on their lack of participation in the FCC proceeding that led to the action. The FCC filed a notice at the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court, which heard oral argument on the case Nov. 4 (see 2411040061).
Ligado's opposition to a DOJ interlocutory appeal of a decision in the satellite operator's lawsuit against the U.S. government (see 2501310004) is fundamentally flawed, DOJ said Wednesday. In a reply filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (docket 1:23-cv-01797), it said Ligado wrongly downplays the interlocutory appeal as merely disagreeing with the court's November decision regarding a DOJ motion to dismiss. Ligado is incorrect when it argues there is no remedy at the FCC to address its claim that its L-band spectrum rights were taken without compensation, DOJ said. It said the agency could always set aside conditions on Ligado's license.
Startup Starfish Space is eyeing a January 2026 launch for its Otter 24A in-space servicing vehicle, it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application filed Wednesday. Starfish said the mission would involve inspecting and docking with an Intelsat satellite in the "graveyard orbit" for retired non-geostationary orbit satellites, as well as providing life-extension services for Intelsat-17.
General radio operators asked the FCC to change its rules to allow internet linking of general mobile radio service repeaters (see 2502120027).