Hikvision USA asked the FCC to process all applications by the company and its subsidiaries or affiliates seeking equipment authorizations for all equipment not categorized as “telecommunication” or “video surveillance” gear. The China-based company is on the FCC’s covered list of organizations that pose a threat to U.S. security. Hikvision offered as an example the EZVIZ RH1 Smart Cordless Wet and Dry Vacuum Cleaner, manufactured by an affiliate: “While this vacuum cleaner is not currently authorized by the FCC or sold in the United States, it cannot be classified as either telecommunications equipment or video surveillance equipment.” The filing was posted Wednesday in docket 21-232.

CTIA mostly agrees with the FCC’s approach in the draft hearing-aid compatibility order teed up for a vote Oct. 17 (see 2409260047), but in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-388, it urged a few tweaks. “The Draft Order should set up a clearer path for the use of a revised volume control standard,” CTIA said: “As the Commission is aware, the HAC Task Force identified material problems in the codified testing standard for volume control, developed an interim solution, and recommended deferring long-term deployment benchmarks on volume control until a more permanent solution could be developed and approved by the FCC.” CTIA also urged "refinements and clarifications" to the proposed labeling rules. “Specifically, the new labeling rules should be implemented on the same timeline as the manufacturer deployment benchmark transition, rather than potentially before them,” the group said.

The FCC and the U.S. government on Wednesday asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court to hold in abeyance a challenge of the agency's Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing E-rate funding for Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2312200040), pending a U.S. Supreme Court decision in another case. That SCOTUS case, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, examines whether the Hobbs Act permits a “party aggrieved” by an agency’s “final order” to seek review in a federal court of appeals and “allows nonparties to obtain review of claims asserting that an agency order exceeds the agency’s statutory authority.” The appeal is of another case by the 5th Circuit. Maurine and Matthew Molak, concerned about unsupervised access of students to social media, brought the school bus case. Their son died by suicide at 16 after he was cyberbullied. The FCC disputed whether the Molaks had legal standing to appeal the order because they didn't participate in the FCC proceeding (see 2406040024). “The Supreme Court’s decision” in the NRC case “may invalidate petitioners’ sole basis for asserting that this Court can review their petition, and require this Court to grant respondents’ pending motion to dismiss,” the FCC said in the Wednesday filing: “To avoid a potentially needless expenditure of judicial and litigation resources, this Court should grant the requested abeyance.” The FCC noted the Molaks' argument that they had standing was predicated on the 5th Circuit’s holding in the case before SCOTUS: Should the high court conclude "that the Hobbs Act does not allow nonparties to obtain review of claims asserting that an agency order exceeds the agency’s statutory authority, petitioners will have no basis for seeking judicial review under the Hobbs Act, and this Court must grant the Commission’s pending motion to dismiss.” Oral argument in the school bus case is scheduled for Nov. 4 (see 2409260046). The Molaks, meanwhile, asked the FCC not to include Wi-Fi gear for off-premise or school bus use in its FY 2025 list of eligible services under the E-rate program. “Subsidizing off-premises use of Wi-Fi hotspots means facilitating unsupervised social media access by children and teenagers, which means enabling the very sort of destructive behavior that we all should strive to prevent,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 13-184.

Aspen Digital released Wednesday recommendations for implementing the Biden administration’s national spectrum strategy. The recommendations grew out of a workshop the group held in July, it said. The U.S. should “prioritize principled and forward-looking national spectrum policies,” the paper recommends. “Balance values and perspectives” and “continue to seek new Federal and non-Federal spectrum access opportunities by evaluating additional bands for reallocation and repurposing.” Aspen also called for coordination and harmonization of spectrum in the U.S. and abroad and greater transparency around federal and nonfederal spectrum use and needs, among other recommendations. “Retaining U.S. leadership in next-generation technology and services will require the U.S. Government to reinforce principled, forward-looking national spectrum priorities,” the paper said. The national spectrum strategy was released in November (see 2311130048).

A representative of Apple, Broadcom and Meta Platforms spoke with aides to all the FCC commissioners except Anna Gomez on a proposal that the FCC extend rules for very-low power operations in the 6 GHz band across the U-NII-6 and U-NII-8 bands, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295. The calls occurred before Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed that step last week (see 2410040055).

The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) warned that some commenters may not understand what’s at stake if the FCC agrees to a Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) proposal giving FirstNet, and AT&T, effective control of the 4.9 GHz band. “AT&T/PSSA want the FCC to allow FirstNet to use the 4.9 GHz band so that the band is effectively added to AT&T’s spectrum portfolio,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 07-100. They would also “prohibit new local public-safety licensees in the band and force existing public-safety licensees to surrender spectrum so that AT&T can use the 4.9 GHz band to serve not only public safety but also AT&T’s commercial customers,” CERCI charged. The BWI Business Partnership, meanwhile, withdrew September comments opposing FirstNet use of the band (see 2409120013). “After further investigation into this matter, we realized that we were operating on an incomplete set of facts regarding this regulatory proceeding and a mistaken assumption regarding the proposal,” the group said.

As Hurricane Milton approaches Florida, the FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday approved waivers for Federated Wireless and Google of rules that require environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbents in Florida in the citizens broadband radio service band from harmful interference. The waivers are similar to those the companies received during other recent storms (see 2409260035).

The Mobile Satellite Services Association has inked an agreement with GSMA that will see the two "explore cutting-edge approaches" to integrating direct-to-device and IoT services via mobile satellite service satellites, they said Tuesday. Their collaboration will revolve around 3rd Generation Partnership Project standards. “Our collaboration with MSSA is based on the shared objective of reaching new benchmarks for global connectivity," GSMA Chief Technology Officer Alex Sinclair said. "By combining our strengths, we are laying the foundation for a future where satellite and terrestrial networks are fully integrated to provide unparalleled service and coverage.”

The American Petroleum Institute supports rule changes for the citizens broadband radio service band to make it more usable by API members, the group said in comments on an August FCC NPRM (see 2408160031). “In many cases without the ability to build reliable wireless infrastructure, these company operations would lack the communications necessary to operate effectively,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-258: “In general, API members have seen benefits from the existing availability of CBRS spectrum and support the Commission’s endeavor to make the use more friendly to enterprise and small business usage.” The deadline for initial comments on the NPRM had been Monday, but the Wireless Bureau recently extended it to Nov. 6 (see 2409270026).

T-Mobile on Tuesday announced the launch of 5G On Demand, allowing faster launch of private 5G networks. The offering is “a complete, portable 5G private network and services solution that includes setup, teardown and network management,” the carrier said. “This new solution makes it easier and more efficient than ever to deploy 5G private networks virtually anywhere, providing all the necessary infrastructure to support data-intensive applications.” T-Mobile said the offering will be commercially available by the end of the year.