Chinese companies appear likely to take the FCC to court with the commissioners approving, as expected, a draft order to further clamp down on gear from Chinese companies, preventing the sale of yet-to-be authorized equipment in the U.S. The order, circulated by FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel Oct. 5, bans FCC authorization of gear from companies including Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hikvision and Dahua Technology.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology appears to be taking a relatively conservative approach to interference mitigation in the 6 GHz band as it works through issues raised in an April 2020 Further NPRM (see 2004230059), industry officials told us. Apple and Apple/Qualcomm met with OET in recent days on the Monte Carlo simulations the tech companies are relying on to justify very-low power (VLP) operations in 6 GHz at the 14 dBm power levels proposed in the FNPRM.
Industry officials and broadband experts said the FCC will likely get many challenges to its broadband availability maps and broadband serviceable location fabric (see 2211100072). Most challenges will likely come from providers rather than consumers, we’re told.
An additional short-term extension of the FCC’s spectrum auction authority past Dec. 16 is looking increasingly likely amid congressional negotiations that have made some progress since late September but haven’t bridged gaps on policy issues like the structure of a proposed auction of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band, said lawmakers and others in interviews. Congress temporarily renewed the FCC’s authority in September as part of a continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations, in hopes an additional two months of talks would yield a broader deal on spectrum legislation (see 2209300058).
Businesses said proposed California privacy rules are too restrictive, but consumer privacy advocates said they’re too weak, in comments at the California Privacy Protection Agency. The CPPA received feedback Monday on revised draft rules to implement the 2020 California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), sequel to the 2018 California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The CPPA board approved the revised draft rules last month (see 2210310074). The CPRA takes effect Jan. 1.
CTIA and other commenters asked the FCC to adopt alternative construction and renewal requirements, proposed in a Further NPRM as part of the new enhanced competition incentive program (ECIP). Others disagreed with CTIA on what these alternative requirements should entail. Commissioners approved the program in July (see 2207140055) but asked questions about potential changes. Comments were due Monday, in docket 19-38, and posted Tuesday. The order was approved in response to provisions in the Mobile Now Act, enacted in 2018 (see 2203310036).
The FTC should take a light-touch regulatory approach to protecting children from social media advertising harms, NCTA commented Friday in support of industry self-regulation for kids influencers and child-directed ad endorsement.
The Commerce Department's Office of Space Commerce is the natural home for authorization and oversight of in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) missions, a parade of space interests told the National Space Council Monday. A similar NSpC listening session last week had numerous parties saying the lack of a single regulatory home for novel space missions is hurting the industry (see 2211140047).
FCC and NTIA officials defended the citizens broadband radio service band as potentially offering a model for future sharing, during an FCBA spectrum pipeline forum Monday. Last week, CTIA questioned whether CBRS, often cited as the potential sharing model of the future, is a suitable replacement for exclusive, licensed spectrum (see 2211140062). CBRS advocates have fired back.
An NAB request for the FCC to refresh the record on the state of the streaming industry could get some traction at the agency, but reviving the long-dormant proceeding on reclassifying streaming services as MVPDs and generating the same retransmission consent dollars that now come from cable companies would likely be a much heavier lift, said broadcasters and network executives. “You don’t need a commission vote to refresh the record,” said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, now a partner at Cooley, which represents broadcast affiliate groups and broadcasters such as Gray Television. The big four TV networks aren’t interested in refreshing the record and believe the current system of compensating affiliates for streaming rights works, a network executive told us.