Matt Daneman

The heads of the biggest publicly traded U.S. telecom, media and tech (TMT) companies averaged 44% increases in their compensation packages between 2020 and 2021, per our analysis of their FY 2022 proxy filings with the SEC. The average compensation package for those CEOs totaled $7.1 million; the median employee at those companies in FY 2021 had a compensation package averaging $102,838, according to our calculations.

Multistate broadband internet access service (BIAS) providers are facing challenges navigating the federal and state grant processes for the growing array of digital divide grant and subsidy programs, though some foresee that forest getting easier to navigate. We were told the complexity of applications could put a chill on the number of providers applying. Sizable attention will be paid to how detailed the NTIA guidance is on the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program established by the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), they said.

Citing guidance from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, multiple states told us they won't widely promote use of 988 as a way to access the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline even after the July 16 deadline for 988 to go live nationwide. At least some anticipate widespread campaigns in the second half of 2023. Lifeline administrator Vibrant Emotional Health didn't comment.

The U.S. federal spectrum governance system needs revamping, GPS advocates were told at Wednesday's Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board meeting in Annapolis, Maryland. Bradford Parkinson, board vice chairman and frequent critic of the FCC's Ligado approval (see 1801170028), said interference testing shows the company's planned L-band terrestrial rollout will cause harmful GPS interference and the board needs to urge the FCC to swap out Ligado's spectrum or "just say no" to Ligado's deployment plans. The agency didn't comment.

The Transportation Department's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, known as AST, is ramping up staffing and will have middle managers increasingly focused on the day-to-day tasks to allow quicker decision-making, AST acting Administrator Kelvin Coleman told the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee Tuesday. AST has 110 staffers now and is authorized for 126, he said. The FY 2023 presidential budget request would give it more funding to further add staff, he said. AST staff said its adoption in April of a "complete enough" application process for space launches will be followed this fall by testing of the application portal. Coleman said the "complete enough" approach was aimed at speeding approvals, and streamlining AST's pre-application consultation process. Under "complete enough," AST does a quantitative analysis of an application's contents; if the material in the application is sufficient, the evaluation starts, he said. The FAA is moving toward an electronic system for launches that is akin to the electronic filing of flight plans, said acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen. He said the agency is reviewing software and vendors of electronic licensing portals, aiming for beta testing by year's end. Asked about concerns about the FAA over-regulating nascent commercial activity, Nolen said its primary focus on safety “doesn't mean we can't be innovative.” The U.S. is looking at its Article VI obligations under the Outer Space Treaty, about national responsibility for their national activities in outer space, as going from a focus on authorizations to more of a focus on supervision, with that being the route to space sustainability, said Diane Howard, National Space Council commercial space policy director. She said there's a need for a standardized process to track novel and nontraditional space missions, and a whole-of-government approach.

Fewer Americans are moving, creating broadband woes for big cable, said three cable providers in their quarterly earnings reports. Charter Communications and Alitice cited fewer people moving as a big challenge for adding subscribers. Comcast also pointed last week to fewer people moving as an issue with its slowing broadband growth (see 2204280004).

Comcast is facing growing broadband competition, particularly from fixed wireless and fiber providers, though its churn is at record lows, Comcast Cable CEO David Watson said Thursday, announcing Q1 results. He said its response includes various broadband tiers of service and its increasing convergence of its broadband and mobile services packaging and marketing. The company will do field trials of its first 5G radios as a means for offloading traffic in high-load areas in Q2, he said. Comcast stock closed at $41.70, down 6.2%, in response to what analysts said were soft results.

The cable industry is alerting operators that the FCC may move the goalposts of what defines broadband to 100 Mbps download, 20 upload, but operators and advocacy groups think that target is well within cable ISPs' capabilities already. Some see a move to 100/20 providing cover when better FCC broadband maps show less broadband availability than maps now show.

With "astounding" amounts of money being allocated for subsidization of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, a big challenge for agencies and providers is ensuring the funding isn't wasted, NCTA President Michael Powell said at a Media Institute talk (password required) Tuesday. He said there's a sizable implantation risk stemming from federal oversight centering on Commerce and the NTIA rather than the FCC, and oversight expertise is a challenge both for Commerce and the industry. Compounding that is the funding being focused on state grants rather than federal programs, he said.

Spoofing remains a particularly acute problem for U.S. residents already besieged by run-of-the-mill robocalls, with close to one in four robocall complaints to the FCC involving some form of spoofing, per our analysis of those complaints. The agency often says robocalls are the biggest source of public complaints it receives. Via a Freedom of Information Act request, we obtained and then reviewed the 446 complaints the agency received on one day, July 1. Per data from the agency's Consumer Complaints Center, it received just shy of 161,000 robocall complaints last year.