Protesters called on the FCC to hold a vote on the Standard/Tegna deal Thursday morning at a demonstration outside FCC headquarters, prompting the agency to remind open meeting attendees of the agency’s rules. Though Standard General Managing Partner Soohyung Kim has said he believes three commissioners can force a vote on the deal, one of those commissioners seen as supportive of the transaction said Thursday he doesn’t believe that is possible. “There is no mechanism in FCC rules for non-chair commissioners, no matter how many of them are in support of a particular position, to force a vote on anything,” Commissioner Brendan Carr said in a news conference.
Earnings season got off to a rocky start for the wireless industry Thursday as AT&T’s stock price tumbled more than 10% after free cash flow (FCF) came in below analyst expectations. AT&T was the first of the major carriers to report. AT&T also reported 424,000 postpaid phone net adds, marking 11 straight quarters with more than 400,000 adds. It reported 272,000 AT&T Fiber net adds. The stock closed at $17.65, down 10.4% for the day.
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune of South Dakota, Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and nine other panel Republicans pressed NTIA Thursday to “revise or issue a new” notice of funding opportunity for the $42.5 billion broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program “to address” a range of GOP concerns. They want the agency to respond by May 4 (see 2304200001). Many of the BEAD NOFO concerns Senate Commerce Republicans raised in its Thursday letter to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson echoed what they cited during a June hearing (see 2206090072).
Despite considerable lobbying from some satellite operators for a different time frame, the FCC stuck with a 10-year sunset for interference protections in its order and NPRM passed 4-0 Thursday regarding spectrum sharing procedures among non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite systems (FSS) approved in different processing rounds. The commissioners at their open meeting also unanimously adopted a framework for requiring companies to renew their Section 214 authorizations to provide international telecommunications services to and from the U.S. and an order expanding its access stimulation rules to traffic that terminates through IP enabled service providers, as well as receiver standard and wireless emergency alert items (see 2304200040).
The FCC approved 4-0 Thursday “high-level principles” for spectrum management, focused on receivers. Industry observers say the effects could be limited (see 2304050046). Commissioners at the open meeting also approved a Further NPRM looking at more requirements for wireless emergency alerts, as expected (see 2304190027), which has proven more controversial.
Carriers got part of what they asked for in response to an FCC Further NPRM proposing to extend USF support to eligible mobile and fixed carriers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, approved by commissioners 4-0 in October (see 2210270046). The FCC on Wednesday approved a transitional support period of up to 24 months for mobile services. For fixed services, the agency extended the phase-down of frozen support at its current monthly amount until Dec. 31, 2025.
Consumers should have a “one-stop shop” where they can ask data brokers to delete their information, House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said during a House Oversight Subcommittee hearing Wednesday (see 2304130057).
Carriers are still weighing how much of their operations can be moved to a public cloud, experts said Wednesday during a TelecomTV virtual summit. Proponents said more use of a public cloud can help carriers cut costs and improve network efficiency.
An FCC Further NPRM examining numerous enhancements for wireless emergency alerts is expected to be approved with limited tweaks at the commissioners' open meeting Thursday (see 2303300070), agency and industry officials said. Other wireless items, including receiver principles, are expected to be approved with minimal changes.
Industry welcomed a draft FCC order that would modify access stimulation rules to close a loophole exploited by extending the rules to include IP-enabled service providers (IPES). Commissioners will consider the item during their open meeting Thursday (see 2303300070). Some sought clarifying language to ensure no additional loopholes may arise.