DOD on Wednesday released a redacted version of the Emerging Mid-Band Radar Spectrum Sharing Feasibility Assessment (EMBRSS), which DOD and NTIA forwarded to Congress in September (see 2309280087). The report examines military systems located in lower 3 GHz spectrum, with an eye on potential sharing but not on clearing as sought by CTIA and carriers.

Lumen’s CenturyLink pushed back sharply this week on an administrative law judge’s recommendation that the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission force the carrier to rehab its copper network to address reportedly widespread service quality problems. The recommendation “fails to accurately reflect either the record or applicable Minnesota law,” the carrier said in an exception received Tuesday by the PUC in docket C-20-432. However, Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Erin Conti urged commissioners to adopt the “thorough, well-reasoned” ALJ report.

NTIA appears to be putting the finishing touches on its Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, with a meeting expected as early as June, industry officials told us. But NTIA reportedly hasn’t notified members that they have been selected to participate.

A school bus is neither a classroom nor a library and that “makes short work of this case under basic principles of administrative law,” the opening brief said Tuesday (docket 23-60641) in support of a 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals petition to defeat the FCC’s Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing E-rate funding for Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2312200040).

Expect lots of satellite operators in the direct-to-device space using myriad approaches, from reusing terrestrial spectrum, using satellite spectrum or something else altogether, satellite company executives said Tuesday during a SpaceNews webinar. Multiple satellite operators beat the drum for the FCC's supplemental coverage from space (SCS) framework adopted in March (see 2403140050). Other large regulators will follow suit and put forward SCS frameworks, Lynk Global Chief Operating Officer Margo Deckard said. AST SpaceMobile's CEO said something similar to Wall Street this week (see 2404020007).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit gave Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua a partial victory Tuesday, ruling that the FCC’s definition of critical infrastructure is “overly broad.” However, the three-judge panel rejected arguments that video cameras and video-surveillance equipment the companies manufacture shouldn’t have been placed on the agency’s “covered list” of unsecure gear.

Industry encouraged the FCC to reconsider a proposal that mandates using broadband serviceable location fabric data to verify compliance with deployment obligations in high-cost USF programs (see 2402130058). Some welcomed using the fabric data later, warning that premature use could disrupt deployment obligations for support recipients of ongoing programs. WTA welcomed the proposal. Reply comments were posted Tuesday in docket 10-90.

The FTC’s proposal that regulates tactics social media companies use to maximize engagement with young users will draw legal challenges if codified, former agency officials and industry representatives said Tuesday during the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Public Policy and Legal Summit.

The FCC’s administrative hearing process increasingly results in huge discovery requests that can be expensive for entities with matters before the agency’s administrative law judge and faces an uncertain future due to a host of recent administrative law cases, panelists said during a Federal Communications Bar Association virtual event Tuesday. Discovery is the most time-consuming part of the process, said FCC ALJ Jane Halprin. In addition, the expense of pursuing a lengthy case before the ALJ is sometimes more than many licensees can stomach, said Smithwick and Belendiuk attorney Arthur Belendiuk during a separate panel. “Even if you win, you might lose,” he said.

The 5G Fund order that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated March 20 raised long-standing concerns that the agency releases drafts for "meeting" items but not for those voted electronically, regardless of their relative importance. For those items, industry groups and companies must schedule meetings with commissioner staff and the bureaus and offices to ask about details.