Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Many small and mid-sized broadband and voice providers quickly signed up for the Keep Americans Connected pledge extension (see 2005140063). Now, some said in interviews, expenses associated with KAC could start to become serious if it goes beyond its current June 30 span. Some don't expect the FCC pledge to get another extension.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is circulating an NPRM to “take the next statutorily required step to implement” the 2012 spectrum law's mandate for public safety to move off the 470-512 MHz T band by 2021. Pai on Friday also repeated his call for Congress to repeal the rule. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., again urged Congress to undo the T-band mandate. The House was expected Friday night to have voted on the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act (HR-6800), which includes language from the Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act (HR-451) to undo the statute (see 2005130059).

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., led an expected letter (see 2005130038) Friday with 31 other senators urging the FCC to “immediately stay and reconsider” its approval of Ligado’s L-band plan. Inhofe and other Armed Services members blasted the FCC during a hearing earlier this month for backing Ligado (see 2005060065). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is contemplating a separate hearing (see 2005080043). The order “does not adequately protect adjacent band operations,” including for GPS and satellite communications “from harmful interference that would impact countless commercial and military activities,” the lawmakers wrote Chairman Ajit Pai and other commissioners. “The hurried nature of the circulation and consideration” of the order “was not conducive to addressing the many technical concerns raised by affected stakeholders.” The FCC’s “accelerated timeline” for approving the order, which came two business days after it was formally announced, “was not adequate,” the senators said. “We are concerned that the FCC has discounted testing and assessments conducted” by other federal agencies in opposition to Ligado’s plan and that the commission “did not provide a technical forum to resolve the significant disconnects between this testing and Ligado’s privately funded testing.” The order’s “process for remediation and mitigation of interference to GPS users” remains “unclear and wholly inadequate to a technology of this importance to the American way of life,” the lawmakers said. Other signers include Senate Armed Services ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Five other Senate Commerce members also signed: Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.; Deb Fischer, R-Neb.; Gary Peters, D-Mich.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. " Any allegation that the [FCC] moved too quickly in making a decision on this matter is preposterous," a spokesperson emailed. "There were multiple rounds of public comment on the Ligado application, which has been pending for many years. Federal agencies were provided with the Commission's draft decision back in October 2019." The FCC "imposed stringent conditions on Ligado to ensure that its operations would not interfere with GPS, including dramatically lower power limits and a substantial guard band between the spectrum where it can operate and the spectrum allocated to GPS," the spokesperson said. "The bottom line remains that the FCC made a unanimous, bipartisan decision based on sound engineering principles, and we stand by that decision."

Senate Commerce Committee members signaled interest in including further emergency broadband funding in the next COVID-19 package. Some senators urged their colleagues to think beyond the crisis. The Wednesday hearing featured few references to House Democrats' Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act (HR-6800), which contains substantial broadband funding. The bill also includes language to make broadcasters and other local outlets eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program. Both issues drew increasing support since the March enactment of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (see 2004300058). The House is expected to vote on HR-6800 as soon as Friday.

Some telecom companies taking part in the FCC Keep Americans Connected pledge are warning of mounting KAC costs -- hundreds of millions of dollars so far -- from not disconnecting subscribers for unpaid bills during the pandemic. Analysts said in interviews this month they don't expect expenses to be material -- for now. Chairman Ajit Pai asked telecom providers to extend their pledges through June (see 2004300044).

Recent T-Mobile spats with the California Public Utilities Commission might portend litigation over state wireless authority, said law experts in interviews last week. A potential federal case on whether California is preempted under Section 332 of the Communications Act would likely affect other states' roles in big transactions and other issues, they said.

The FCC’s planned move to new headquarters at Sentinel Square III near Union Station in Washington has been delayed for an unknown period by COVID-19, and employees said in interviews they're more concerned about when and how they will be required to return to work than what building they will be doing it in. “Employees want to make sure that if and when they are called upon to return to the existing office either to resume duties on site or to pack up their workspaces, that health and safety precautions are taken,” said National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon in a statement to us.

The FCC adopted a new seal, before its planned move to new headquarters near Union Station in Washington said a public notice Thursday. The seal, depicting an eagle positioned behind a shield decorated with a satellite, microwave and broadcast dishes and a cellular tower facing strung communications wires, was chosen through an agencywide contest that began in November. The winning design, by Umasankar Arumugam, was voted on in December and announced internally in January, an agency spokesperson told us. Arumugam’s LinkedIn profile lists him as a director for IT company NCI Information Systems, which mentions analytic work for the FCC on its website. Arumugam didn’t comment. The seal has four stars as a call-back to FCC predecessor the Federal Radio Commission and 18 stars representing the agency's bureaus and offices, the PN said. Because of the move and need to create new seals for the new building regardless, the overall cost “was minimized as much as can be,” a spokesperson said. The FCC said it will begin officially using the new seal after the move, which is delayed by COVID-19 concerns (see 2004130057). The U.S. Institute of Heraldry, which provides heraldic services to federal agencies and the military, didn’t comment. American College of Heraldry Executive Director David Wooten said the seal leans “toward the logo end of the spectrum.” The "logic behind the FCC’s new seal is certainly clear, though it would not necessarily qualify as heraldry,” Wooten said.

With COVID-19 disproportionately affecting minority and disadvantaged communities, the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment's working groups adjusted their focus to grapple with the pandemic, according to work plans presented Tuesday at the group’s teleconferenced first meeting under its new charter. Along with reacting to the virus, the committee’s working groups laid out plans for workshops and events aimed at increasing diversity among communications companies. “When the country catches a cold, the most vulnerable catch the flu,” said Brookings Institution Fellow Nicol Turner-Lee and Diversity in Tech WG chair.

The FCC is seeking to better assess emergency communications reliability by adding data fields to the network outage reporting and 911 reliability certification systems, the Public Safety Bureau said. On an FCBA CLE webinar, also Monday, T-Mobile officials raised some related cautions. North Carolina, meanwhile, hasn’t faced major challenges with emergency-call delivery amid the coronavirus but can't “let our guard down,” the state’s 911 Board Executive Director Pokey Harris said in a Thursday interview.