Receiver Principles, Satellite Spectrum Sharing Headline Busy FCC April Agenda

The FCC is taking next steps on receivers, proposing a policy statement with "high-level principles" rather than rules or standards, which some industry observers had expected (see 2301180046), at commissioners' April 20 open meeting, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Wednesday. The meeting is another busy one for the agency. The agenda includes a draft order on spectrum sharing rules among non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite service (FSS) systems, which has gotten little consensus among satellite operators (see 2204270015). Commissioners will also take on additional rules to get tough on Chinese carriers still operating in the U.S.

Commissioner Nathan Simington had been pressing the FCC to follow up on a 2022 notice of inquiry on receivers (see 2301170072). Rosenworcel called the receiver item “a next step toward more innovative spectrum management.” Building on the NOI and the work of the Technological Advisory Council, “the Commission will consider a Policy Statement that establishes high-level principles to guide our work on the role of receivers in spectrum management going forward, potentially enabling greater innovation in future wireless technologies,” she said.

“Improved receiver performance can promote more efficient spectrum use and enable valuable new services to be introduced that will benefit the American public," Rosenworcel said in a separate news release. She thanked Simington for "his leadership on this important issue.”

"The proposed principals would address how the Commission will approach future claims of harmful interference, responsibilities of both transmitters and receivers to mitigate interference, and the potential for future further regulatory requirements and actions related to ensuring coexistence among services in increasingly congested spectrum band," the FCC said.

The agency noted it already revoked the Communications Act Section 214 operating authorities of four Chinese state-owned providers. Under rules proposed by Rosenworcel, the FCC will “periodically reassess and consider renewing existing authorizations for foreign-owned companies to provide telecommunications services in the United States,” said a news release.

“These reviews will ensure that changing national security considerations are reflected in existing authorizations under Section 214,” the FCC said: “To stay ahead of evolving security threats, the new rules … would require foreign-owned license holders to undergo a periodic review and renewal process, which would involve close consultation with our national security colleagues in the Executive Branch.”

“Across the board, the FCC is taking clear and decisive action to address national security risks in our communications networks,” Rosenworcel said.

Rosenworcel said the NGSO FSS sharing item would clarify protection obligations between systems. She said the ultimate aim is "promot[ing] competition and innovation through good-faith coordination." In the proceeding, satellite operators disagreed about sunsetting interference protections given to systems approved in earlier processing rounds and use of band-splitting among systems approved in the same processing round (see 2203280029).

Commissioners will also vote to seek comment “on a number of proposals to improve Wireless Emergency Alerts, including enhanced support for multilingual alerting,” Rosenworcel said. WEA has been a continuing focus under Rosenworcel, who recently sent letters to the nation’s nine largest providers asking about alerts in languages beyond English and Spanish (see 2302140059).

Also on tap, various changes to FCC rules and the U.S. Table of Allocations reflecting changes made to the radio regulations and other actions taken at the 2015 and 2019 World Radiocommunication Conferences.

The FCC is "closing loopholes that enable arbitrage," Rosenworcel said. Some carriers have "exploited the commission’s system of intercarrier compensation" and "evaded" 2019 rules aimed at curbing access stimulation by "using IP-enabled services to drive up traffic and charges," she said. Commissioners will vote on rules that would "resolve ambiguities in our 2019 rules and prevent people from gaming the system," Rosenworcel said. The agency adopted a Further NPRM on the issue in July that sought comment on a series of proposals that included requiring that IP-enabled service providers report their ratio of terminating to originating traffic (see 2207140055).

A draft order on cleaning up Part 74 rules for low-power television and television translators appears to stem from a Further NPRM issued by the agency in July. In that item, the agency sought comment on cleaning up or amending analog elements of some rules that were applicable to LPTV stations and translators. It also asked for feedback on proposals for “updating coordinates used to determine predicted interference, clarifying how stations may identify their broadcasts over the air, requiring LPTV stations to transmit with a virtual channel that avoids conflicts with other stations.” It also asked about making clarifications on the use of the commission’s licensing and management system.