The FCC is unlikely to complete its review of all Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I long-form applications by year-end, industry experts and agency officials said in recent interviews (see 2103080042). Some said money may not start going out the door until the end of 2022.
Republicans are unlikely at this point to actively aid or diminish the chances of a possible 2-1 GOP-dominated FCC (see 2110080046), with acting Chairman Geoffrey Starks at the helm, come January, Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., said in an interview. Such a scenario appears to be a growing possibility given the evenly divided Senate and a White House that hasn’t nominated anyone to the FCC almost nine months into Joe Biden's presidency. Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s term expired in June 2020, meaning she would have to leave Jan. 3 absent Senate reconfirmation.
Unless President Joe Biden makes nominations soon and the Senate acts (see 2110080043), in just three months the once nearly unthinkable could happen -- a 2-1 majority-GOP FCC with Geoffrey Starks the acting chairman and sole Democrat. Industry observers said if that happens it will probably mean a continuation of the current FCC under acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Starks will set the agenda but can seek votes only on items where there's Republican buy-in. Contentious issues like rewriting net neutrality rules would be pushed to a time when Democrats have a majority. Rosenworcel and Starks didn't comment.
The astronomy universe said countries licensing or doing regulatory assessments of satellite constellations should require constellation operators to coordinate with astronomy interests, and their environmental governance and regulation include the night sky and space. Those were among working group recommendations coming Thursday out of the Dark and Quiet Skies for Science and Society, organized by the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and Spain. A report on the conference is to go to the U.N.'s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in February.
Undaunted by legal issues flagged by Frontier Communications, the California Public Utilities Commission greenlit a proposed program to enforce conditions in its order clearing the telco’s bankruptcy reorganization. Commissioners unanimously adopted the draft resolution T-17734 as part of its consent agenda at a virtual Thursday meeting. In another CPUC proceeding, telcos asked what disaster recovery rules have to do with the agency’s broadband rulemaking.
Emergency communications have improved since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, including the launch of FirstNet, but problems persist, said Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), chair of the House Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Subcommittee, during a virtual hearing Thursday. The Homeland Security Committee panel heard from first responders who warned of funding shortfalls and that many areas are falling further behind as technology advances.
A Thursday Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing showed there is bipartisan support for a “strong telehealth initiative” that the Commerce and Health committees could together advance to the Senate floor this year, said subpanel Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., in an interview. Lawmakers noted interest in advancing the Temporary Reciprocity to Ensure Access to Treatment Act (HR-708/S-168) and Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act (HR-2903/S-1512), among other telehealth measures. Lujan and others also used the hearing as a venue to promote the need for further broadband money and air grievances about President Joe Biden’s delay in announcing nominees to the FCC and NTIA.
Dish Network is serious about building a 5G network, said Executive Vice President Network Development Dave Mayo at the Wireless Infrastructure conference Wednesday, streamed from Orlando. A T-Mobile veteran, Mayo said since he joined in June 2020, Dish has put in place the building blocks for a cloud-native, open radio access network. The company faces a June deadline to cover 20% of the U.S. population, 70% a year later.
FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has been “very aggressive” working with other countries to reach agreements on robocall enforcement, and the Enforcement Bureau is paying more attention to accessibility issues, a virtual FCBA CLE heard Wednesday. Such agreements “come up routinely,” when the agency meets with foreign regulators, said her aide David Strickland. “A lot of these robocalls are coming from overseas.”
Tower companies view 5G as just getting started, with years of big spending by carriers ahead, panelists told the Wireless Infrastructure Association conference Wednesday, streamed from Orlando. CEOs said their work didn’t slow during the pandemic.