With President Donald Trump yet to lay out with any detail what course he will chart on spectrum, experts warned Tuesday that the current administration faces the same issues as the last (see 2411140042). With various band studies underway, launched under Joe Biden, there are no obvious bands left to reallocate for exclusive licensed use, experts said at the RCR Wireless Wi-Fi Forum.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted an administrative stay late Tuesday afternoon that temporarily blocked a White House OMB memo, which called for a freeze on most federal grants and loans, from going into effect. The Trump administration memo already faced an array of legal challenges, including a planned lawsuit from a coalition of Democratic attorneys general from New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Broadband officials and industry advocates raised questions about the memo's constitutionality and the future of certain FCC programs, such as Lifeline. Others warned the freeze could have serious implications for NTIA's BEAD program.
AT&T CEO John Stankey said Monday the carrier will move aggressively to shutter more of its legacy copper network in coming months, filing applications at the FCC to stop selling legacy products in about 1,300 wire centers. That is about a quarter of AT&T’s footprint, officials said on a call discussing Q4 results. AT&T also announced that its growth is continuing, with 482,000 postpaid phone subscription net adds in the quarter and 307,000 AT&T Fiber adds.
New FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s decision to pull all items on circulation for a vote by commissioners wasn’t a surprise, industry officials said. Since taking office a week ago, President Donald Trump has pushed a deregulatory agenda and issued a regulatory freeze among a slew of executive orders on his first day (see 2501210070). Among the FCC items withdrawn was a controversial NPRM that former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated in March on banning bulk broadband billing in multi-tenant environments (see 2408010064).
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg told investors Friday that the carrier’s network is holding up reasonably well in the Los Angeles area as wildfires sweep through the region. Meanwhile, Verizon announced it added more than a billion postpaid mobile and broadband subscribers in Q4, its best numbers in more than a decade, though the carrier's move to AI dominated its investor presentation. There was little discussion on the call about Verizon's huge investment in 5G.
NTIA must take a tech-neutral approach in the BEAD program and "reverse policy choices that skew market-driven outcomes for technology selection," Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) told commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick. Louisiana was the first state to begin its BEAD process and receive final NTIA approval for its plan (see 2501140055). Landry wrote Lutnick a letter Wednesday encouraging that the agency provide more flexibility and streamline other approval processes.
Olivia Trusty, President Donald Trump’s intended nominee for the FCC seat former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel vacated last week, faces a uncertain confirmation timeline amid a glut of higher-profile nominees the Senate must process in the coming weeks. Trump said shortly before his return to office that he intended to pick Trusty for an FCC seat (see 2501160064) but as of Friday afternoon had not formally nominated her. It’s possible that the Senate Commerce Committee could hold a confirmation hearing for Trusty in February, but it's likelier to wait until the panel can pair her with a Trump NTIA administrator pick and other subcabinet nominees, some lobbyists told us.
The FCC received feedback from space and wireless interests in docket 24-687 on selection of a space launch frequency coordinator (SLFC) for the agency's space launch service, and in docket 13-115 regarding licensing and frequency coordination procedures and data requirements. Comments were due Wednesday in both. The space launch spectrum allocation order adopted in 2023 (see 2309210055) requires that launch operators seeking to use the 2025–2110 MHz or 2200–2290 MHz band complete a frequency coordination process with a third-party coordinator.
Few of the first tranche of rural digital opportunity fund program recipients authorized in 2021 are behind on their buildouts of broadband to unserved areas. The FCC has seen only a smattering of notifications in recent days from operators alerting it about falling short of the milestone of being 40% deployed as of the end of 2024 (see 2501160056). But broadband experts told us the rate of missed milestones could be higher when it comes to the second batch of RDOF carriers, authorized in 2022. That group has until the end of this year to meet its 40% buildout milestone.
An auction of AWS-3 licenses returned to the FCC by affiliates of Dish Network in 2023 is expected to start and possibly end this year, wireless industry experts said. In addition, the auction will offer unsold licenses from the initial Auction 97, the AWS-3 auction 10 years ago. The FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized the auction, allows 18 months for it to be held. It would be the FCC’s first auction of spectrum for full-power licensed use since 2022, with part of the proceeds going to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.