Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

The FCC’s draft notice of inquiry on understanding nonfederal spectrum use “through new data sources, technologies and methods” appears to be generating little official reaction from the wireless industry. Only one party filed comments on the draft in a new docket, 23-232 -- the Institute for the Wireless IoT at Northeastern University. No one reported meetings at the FCC about the draft. Some experts said it's unclear what the NOI will accomplish. Commissioners are expected to approve the item at their Thursday meeting, officials said.

DOJ and the FCC on Monday defended the commission’s order last year further clamping down on gear from Chinese companies, preventing the sale of yet-to-be authorized equipment in the U.S. (see 2211230065). Dahua USA and Hikvision USA challenged the order, which implements the 2021 Secure Equipment Act, questioning whether the FCC exceeded its legal authority (docket 23-1032). The case is in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Oral argument isn't scheduled.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture Thursday on Democratic FCC nominee Anna Gomez, teeing up likely floor votes leading to her confirmation during the first full week of September. That means movement on Gomez and the resulting shift to a 3-2 Democratic FCC majority will be slower than her supporters wanted but provides a clear timeline for the changeover to take place, officials and observers told us. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others filed a cloture petition on Gomez earlier this month in hopes Schumer would hold floor votes on the nominee before Congress left for the month-plus August recess (see 2307200071).

California faces higher-than-expected construction costs as it works to complete the state’s middle-mile network, said Mark Monroe, deputy director-California Technology Department (CDT) Broadband Middle-Mile Initiative, at a partly virtual California Broadband Council meeting Thursday. And many more miles of fiber will be needed than originally planned, he said. Other state broadband officials said it’s important to keep funding the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) as California makes gains enrolling households.

The House plans to vote as soon as Tuesday under suspension of the rules on the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act (HR-1338) and three other Commerce Committee-approved communications policy bills, said the office of Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. Notably absent from the agenda is the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565), which some lawmakers were pushing House leaders to bring up for a floor vote before Congress leaves on the month-plus August recess (see 2307200071). The House Rules Committee, meanwhile, will consider Wednesday whether to allow votes on three broadband-focused amendments to the FY 2024 Agriculture Department appropriations bill (HR-4368).

The FCC and the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) are partnering on a trial of georouting calls to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the commission said Thursday as commissioners approved 988 outage reporting requirements 4-0, as expected (see 2307130010). Commissioners also unanimously approved an order allowing 14 FM6 stations to broadcast analog signals as an ancillary service and an order giving tribal libraries and other E-rate participants greater access to funding.

AUSTIN -- New NARUC Telecom Committee Chair Tim Schram praised NTIA efforts making broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) allocations, in a Wednesday interview. Also, Schram and another Republican committee member, South Dakota Commissioner Chris Nelson, told us they’re glad the FCC may soon finally have all five seats filled.

NTIA is fully engaged in the development of a national spectrum strategy (see 2301090035) and intends to release it this year, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson told the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee Tuesday. “We’re deep into it,” he said, noting that NTIA is working closely with the White House and at the other federal agencies, including the FCC. “People are deeply engaged right now,” he said. The meeting was CSMAC's first to include an in-person option since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

AUSTIN – NARUC's Telecom Committee supported permanent annual funding for the affordable connectivity program (ACP) in a nearly unanimous vote at the association’s conference Tuesday. Congress will fear ending ACP if enough people sign up, Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council CEO Robert Branson told state commissioners on a diversity panel Monday. Panelists said it’s important for digital equity efforts to keep the program that’s meant to help low-income communities afford broadband.

AUSTIN – State commissioners softened a draft resolution meant to discipline telecom providers still using network equipment that might pose a national security risk. At NARUC’s conference here Tuesday, the Telecom Committee unanimously supported a measure that would recommend lower scoring for grant applications by providers with equipment on the FCC’s covered list.