SpaceX supports the draft item on the 12 GHz band teed up for an FCC commissioner vote May 18 (see 2304270077), the company said in meetings with staff for all four commissioners. Starlink launched in late 2020, and “already serves over a million-and-a-half people, both in the United States and around the world” using 12 GHz spectrum, SpaceX said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-443. “The draft correctly analyzed the technical data in the record,” the company said: “SpaceX thanked the offices for having already determined that any new uses in the band must protect next-generation satellite and satellite television users from harmful interference and noted how that carries through as the proceeding continues.” Because the draft Further NPRM “takes the unusual approach of not making any proposals, any stakeholders wishing to add new services in the band must include specific proposals, along with specific technical and service rules,” Space X said.

NAB claims that broadcasters are paying more than their fair share of FCC regulatory fees (see 2211280056) ignores that work done by noncore agency employees affects all regulatory payers, including broadcasters, NCTA said Friday in docket 22-301. NCTA said there's not an adequate record to back any FCC move to create a regulatory category for unlicensed spectrum users or broadband service providers. The filing recapped meetings NCTA had with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, and with Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director representatives. NAB didn't comment.

SpaceX's plans to offer mobile supplemental coverage from space (SCS) via its second-generation Starlink constellation (see 2302080001) proposes spectrum use not conforming to international frequency allocations, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory told the FCC Space Bureau last week in an opposition. The joint SpaceX/T-Mobile service would be "bathing [the National Radio Quiet Zone] at harmfully-interfering levels in the hopes of serving" T-Mobile phones not getting terrestrial signals in the zone, which covers parts of Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia, NRAO said. SCS "breaks radio astronomy’s historical operating model of spectrum access [and] should not be authorized until and unless a modus vivendi is reached," it said. SpaceX didn't comment Friday.

A California bill that would tax internet links based on search inquiries would create more problems than it would solve, said CCIA President Matt Schruers in a release Tuesday. Schruers testified on AB-866 -- called the California Journalism Preservation Act -- at a California Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. “Requiring a fee to send internet traffic from one site to another is not a sustainable business model for digital companies or news outlets,” said Schruers. “It is concerning to give whatever political party is in power the ability to decide which group should pay another as users roam online.” Last month, CCIA, NetChoice, the R Street Institute, Tech Freedom, the California Chamber of Commerce and others submitted a letter critical of the proposal. “The bill would start the Internet down a slippery slope,” said the letter. “Once California starts taxing links, there would be no end to California (and other states) taxing all kinds of links to other industries favored by legislatures.” The proposals in AB 866 would “entrench incumbent publishers and lead to greater media concentration, and could financially reward the spread of misinformation,” Schruers said Tuesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a petition (docket 22-451) in a maritime case (see 2305010058) could put the Chevron doctrine on “death watch,” Free State Foundation President Randolph May blogged Tuesday. “For over a decade, I have suggested that the Chevron doctrine is in tension with fundamental separation of powers principles,” May wrote: “Now, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider overruling Chevron ‘or at least clarify’ that agency interpretations are not entitled to deference in some instances of ‘statutory silence.’ With a Court majority that is more attuned -- and devoted to -- foundational separation of powers principles, the Supreme Court's coming reconsideration of Chevron is welcome.” Experts including May have noted the evolving major questions doctrine is replacing Chevron as a test for when the courts should give regulatory agencies deference (see 2302080064). “If Chevron is overturned or even narrowed meaningfully, one consequence is likely to be curbing the power of the administrative state,” May wrote. Doing so may also “force Congress to take more responsibility for writing laws that more specifically delimit agency actions -- that is, to write less ambiguous laws,” he said.

The FCC has been inconsistent in the scope of its analysis of broadband's benchmark speed and its rationale for updating or not updating that benchmark, GAO said Tuesday. "Without consistently communicating" the scope and rationale, "FCC's reporting lacks transparency," the agency said. More consistent reporting year to year "would provide stakeholders' better assurance that FCC's conclusions are not arbitrary," it said. Citing six reports issued between 2015 and 2021, GAO said five of the six reported on whether the 25/3 Mbps benchmark was enough for purposes such as video conferencing, though it didn't report on that in 2019. It said the agency's 2015 report considered future speed needs in its analysis, though no subsequent report did, although the agency had received public comments on the topic. The commission didn't comment Wednesday.

End-to-end wireless emergency alert testing in September (see 2208300046) showed problems with geofencing and in other areas, according to a new report by the FCC Public Safety Bureau. Carriers reported individual results last year (see 2210030042). Tests showed geofencing, designed to make sure the right devices get alerts, works about one third of the time, the FCC said. The agency also found only about half of those participating in the tests had a device that supports geofencing. Only 1.1% still had phones offering “only basic WEA functions.” Alerts are also being received outside target areas, the FCC said. Target areas were designed to be 0.5 square miles in urban areas, 1.5 square miles in non-urban areas, but “the median delivery distance outside of the allowable presentation area was 3.13 miles.” About 10% of participating subscribers received warnings more than 11.76 miles from the allowable presentation area, the report said. The FCC doesn’t have any current speed requirements, but it found about half of respondents received a test alert within two minutes of when it was received by FEMA, 25% within one minute -- at the high end some reported times of longer than 90 minutes. AT&T was the fastest in transmitting alerts, with a 0.4025 seconds median interval between receipt and transmission of alert, compared with 0.806 seconds for Verizon and 0.7095 seconds for T-Mobile. “These findings indicate that localized WEA alerts transit wireless networks significantly faster than nationwide WEA activations,” the FCC said. The FCC said the test results will be placed in the record as the agency considers requiring providers to report on WEA performance, one of the topics of a Further NPRM approved by commissioners last week (see 2304240041). The report was published in Tuesday’s Daily Digest.

The U.S. faces a shrinking percentage of students graduating with electrical engineering (EE) degrees, despite the importance of the engineering specialty to the telecom industry and the U.S. economy, ITIF said in a report released Monday. From 1997 to 2020, EE bachelor’s and master’s degrees conferred rose just 37.5%, while degrees in all other fields rose 81.1%, the report said. EE degrees granted to U.S. citizens increased 18.2%, compared to 110% for temporary residents. The group notes that the Chips and Science Act “will create tens of thousands of jobs in the coming years” requiring EE degrees. “Policymakers should provide incentives for colleges and universities to keep expanding EE enrollment for U.S. citizens and permanent residents while increasing retention rates,” ITIF recommended: “Many jobs in EE relate to military or other national security application areas that require the holder to be a U.S. citizen” and “many foreign students who obtain EE degrees here return to their home nation, boosting their domestic industry, not America’s.”

The FCC Monday approved long-awaited waivers allowing proponents of cellular-vehicle-to-everything use of the 5.9 GHz band to start to deploy, acting on a request filed in late 2021 (see 2112140070). The joint waiver request had reportedly been largely cleared by the FCC earlier this year but was awaiting NTIA review (see 2302020031). The joint request was filed by Audi of America, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, the departments of transportation in Utah and Virginia, Aaeon Technology, Harman International Industries, Panasonic North America and other companies. In 2020, the FCC approved use of the top 30 MHz of the band for C-V2X (see 2011180043). The band had formally been set aside for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) systems. “The underlying purpose of the Commission’s rules governing ITS [intelligent transportation system] operations would not be served by denying the Joint Waiver Request and thereby delaying or precluding C-V2X operations in the upper 30 megahertz of the 5.9 GHz band,” the Wireless Bureau said: “To deny the Joint Waiver Request and insist on application of the current DSRC-based rules would be contrary to the public interest as it would further entrench the DSRC technology the Commission determined needs to be replaced and preclude rapid deployment of the technology the Commission has identified as best suited to promote the most efficient and effective use of the spectrum.” NTIA had sought conditions for approval, and the waiver applicants agreed to adhere to the restrictions, the bureau said. Among them, devices are limited to equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of 33 dBm and on-board units are restricted to an EIRP of 27 dBm at ± 5 degrees in elevation from the horizontal plane. “This is a big deal,” emailed Hilary Cain, vice president-technology, innovation, & mobility policy at the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. “These waivers were a missing piece of the regulatory puzzle needed for automakers to deploy V2X -- a game-changing wireless safety technology enabling vehicles to see around corners, talk to other vehicles and communicate -- in real-time -- with pedestrians, bicyclists, traffic lights and infrastructure,” she said.

Licensees and authorized telecom providers with reportable foreign ownership, investment or control need to file "prompt, accurate, and complete information," the FCC Enforcement Bureau said in Friday's Daily Digest. "When it comes to assessing U.S. national security and law enforcement interests, we will be vigilant in ensuring that companies comply with these important disclosure requirements," Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal said. The commissioners last week unanimously approved a framework for requiring companies to renew their Section 214 authorizations to provide international telecommunications services to and from the U.S. (see 2304200039).