Oklahoma is "holding off" on its subgrant selection process for the BEAD and tribal broadband connectivity program following NTIA's rescoping of BEAD, the state's Broadband Office said during a governing board meeting Tuesday (see 2503060047). The office will soon release a second request for information (RFI) for network expansion territories as it awaits NTIA's next move concerning programmatic changes.
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Members of the FirstNet Authority board said during a meeting Wednesday that the AT&T-run network was very active in recent months. For example, FirstNet was at the Super Bowl, which raised unique security concerns because of the attendance of President Donald Trump, members said.
The FCC on Tuesday sought comment on the competitive bidding procedures for the upcoming AWS-3 auction. The notice comes with an AWS-3 NPRM, approved 4-0 last month (see 2502270042), still pending. It proposes an ascending clock auction format where bidding in the opening phase would be for specific licenses, without a separate assignment phase, similar to the 2.5 GHz auction three years ago.
NTCA told the FCC that initial comments agree on the need for “a flexible approach to implementation” of the Alaska Connect Fund (ACF), which “accommodates the individualized circumstances faced by operators in a state that the Commission itself has long recognized as presenting unique challenges” for ISPs. Commissioners approved the ACF in November (see 2411050002), along with a Further NPRM on mobile and fixed wireless issues. “The record also supports deferring consideration of several questions raised by the FNPRM until related mapping and other issues are resolved, and avoiding as well Tribal consent rules that may disturb existing, successful engagement practices,” NTCA said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-328.
The FCC posted Friday its notice of inquiry concerning the upper C band and the NPRM asking questions in preparation for an AWS-3 auction, both of which commissioners approved 4-0 on Thursday (see 2502270042). As indicated during the meeting, the NPRM now contains a section on a possible tribal priority window that wasn’t proposed in the draft.
The FCC on Thursday approved a pair of spectrum auction notices 4-0 at the first commission meeting under Chairman Brendan Carr. In one change of note, the FCC agreed to a tribal priority window in the AWS-3 NPRM and to mention it in the upper C-band notice of inquiry. A few changes were expected (see 2502260029).
A notice of inquiry on the upper C-band and an NPRM on a proposed AWS-3 auction saw calls for changes from the drafts that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr circulated. However, industry officials said they expected only limited tweaks, with a vote scheduled at Thursday's open meeting.
Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation, urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to make a tribal priority window part of future FCC auctions of AWS and upper C-band spectrum. “The success of the 2.5 GHz Rural Tribal Priority Window has demonstrated the transformational impact of policies that provide direct spectrum access to Tribal Nations,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 13-185. The 2.5 GHz window, established under Republican Chairman Ajit Pai’s “leadership in 2020, was an unprecedented federal policy that enabled over 300 federally recognized tribes to obtain spectrum in rural areas,” Nygren said. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance asked the FCC to add questions on tribal windows to the C-band notice of inquiry and AWS-3 NPRM before commissioners, both set for votes Thursday (see 2502060062). “One of the great challenges in addressing the lack of modern communications technologies that Tribal Nations and the Commission face together in their joint efforts to address their broadband challenges is the lack of access to spectrum and spectrum licensing opportunities,” said a filing posted Friday. The 2.5 GHz window “dramatically increased the number of Tribal Nations holding spectrum licenses from 18 to at least 319.”
More states are considering measures that protect the privacy of reproductive health data in the wake of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, privacy experts said in recent interviews.
Public Knowledge urged the FCC to include a tribal priority window (TPW) in the AWS-3 and upper C-band proposals before commissioners vote Feb. 27 (see 2502060062). The 2.5 GHz TPW “increased the number of Tribes holding licenses from 18 to 319. Tribes have used these licenses, and additional funding provided by a number of grants, to construct point-to-point networks that are helping Tribes to close the digital divide,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 25-59. Tribes need more spectrum “just as every wireless provider needs additional spectrum, to meet the ever-increasing demand for broadband capacity as more and more of our daily activities move to the real world from the virtual world,” said the group, whose representative met with aides to all four FCC commissioners.