Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia are joining a push urging the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hold an en banc rehearing regarding the court's decision on a 2023 FCC robocall and robotext order (see 2501240068). "The FCC’s one-to-one consent rule at issue in this appeal is a critical nationwide enforcement tool" against illegal robocalls, the states said in an amicus brief Monday (docket 24-10277), backing the National Consumer Law Center's proposed petition for rehearing en banc. The 11th Circuit panel’s decision "invalidating this commonsense rule threatens Amici States’ interest in protecting consumers, families, and businesses from the deluge of invasive robocalls," they said. The one-to-one consent rule "provides a critical federal complement to state-level efforts to combat robocalls by creating a nationwide limitation on certain harvesting of consumer contact information." The states signing the amicus brief were: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
EchoStar's deployed 5G sites are updated to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 17 standard, as it committed to as part of its 2024 construction milestone request, the company told the FCC Tuesday (docket 22-212). It said it had to meet the 3GPP upgrade commitment by June 14.
T-Mobile provided additional answers to the FCC in response to questions posed in December about the carrier's buy of wireless assets from UScellular (see 2412270031). The companies announced in May an agreement where T-Mobile would purchase “substantially all” of the smaller carrier’s wireless operations, including some of its spectrum, in a deal valued at about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt (see 2405280047).
Geoffrey Starks became an FCC Commissioner in 2019 (see 2503180009).
The departure of Commissioner Geoffrey Starks from the FCC (see 2503180067) probably won’t have a major effect on companies that the FCC regulates, New Street’s Blair Levin said in a research note Tuesday. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr doesn’t “need a majority to do what he wants to do,” Levin said. “Partly this is due to defining the job differently than past chairs, emphasizing the power of the bully pulpit to cause Congress and others to act more than relying on formal FCC decisions,” he said: “Given his agenda, the bureaus can, under his direction, do many of the things he wants without a full Commission vote.”
Experts warned Tuesday against a move to hold the next World Radiocommunication Conference in China. During a Technology Policy Institute spectrum webinar, they said holding the 2027 conference there could effectively limit U.S. participation as the world discusses the harmonization of 6G and satellite spectrum.
Ligado defended its proposal to reallocate the 1675-1680 MHz band for 5G, as it urged previously in 2019 (see 1905090041). The company filed reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 19-116. The FCC in January sought to refresh the record on the future of the band for shared use between federal incumbents and nonfederal fixed or mobile operations. Other parties continue to raise questions, as they did in the initial comment round (see 2503030045).
The FCC will likely take an "all or nothing" approach toward its proposed $4.5 million fine against Telnyx, rather than settle with the firm somewhere in between, Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawyers told us. The notice of apparent liability issued last month (see 2503050026) faces strong pushback from Telnyx and parts of the voice service provider industry (see 2503110023). The NAL also netted Free State Foundation criticism (see 2503120071). Many said the Telnyx fine fight shows the need for FCC clarity about the "know your customer" (KYC) process.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks’ announcement Tuesday that he plans to resign from the commission in the spring (see 2503180009) is already prompting speculation about potential successors, despite there not being an obvious front-runner. Some officials voiced renewed concerns about whether President Donald Trump will use the upcoming vacancy as an opportunity to erode FCC norms, either by not filling Starks’ role or picking a Democratic nominee who hews more closely to the administration’s telecom policy priorities.
Departures at NTIA: BEAD Director Evan Feinman and Jennifer Manner, senior adviser-space and satellite policy ... Morgan Lewis names Loyaan Egal, ex-FCC official, as partner-telecommunications, media and technology practice ... AI and cloud firm CoreWeave appoints Meg Whitman, ex-CEO of eBay and Hewlett Packard, as independent board member, chair-nominating and corporate governance committee, and member-audit committee ... MediaJustice names Jacinta Gonzalez, formerly Mijente, head of programs, a new post.