Matt Daneman

Competition is a better guarantor of good customer service than FCC rules, multiple industry groups said as they pushed back against proposals floated in the FCC's customer service NOI. The NOI was adopted 3-2 in October along party lines (see 2410230036). In comments in docket 24-472, which were due Friday, some industry groups also argued that the agency lacks legal standing on customer service rules. "Careful consideration will confirm that the Commission lacks anything like the plenary authority" to adopt a single set of customer service rules, CTIA said. Disability advocacy organizations, meanwhile, made suggestions for customer service requirements.

Outgoing FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel received praise from the regular commissioners at Thursday's open meeting (see 2411210006) as she announced plans for stepping down Jan. 20, the date the next presidential administration takes power. Addressing reporters, incoming FCC Chairman Brendan Carr repeatedly named "tech censorship" and the "censorship cartel" as major priorities. "Smashing this [censorship cartel] is going to be a top issue," he said.

The FCC submarine cable NPRM now asks about ensuring cable licensees don't use equipment or services from entities on the agency’s covered list of organizations that pose a U.S. security threat. Commissioners at their open meeting Thursday unanimously approved the subsea cable NPRM, as expected (see 2411120001), as well as a robocall third-party authentication order. They also approved 5-0 an order creating a permanent process for authorizing content-originating FM boosters, which let broadcasters geotarget content within their broadcast reach for up to three minutes per hour (see 2411140053). The meeting saw the four regular commissioners praise Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who said Thursday she would step down Jan. 20, the date the next presidential administration takes power. Minority Commissioner Brendan Carr, who is slated to become chair (see 2411180059), discussed his agenda with media (see 2411210028).

Federal permitting problems could become notable impediments to BEAD deployment projects, Lukas Piertzak, NTIA senior broadband policy adviser, acknowledged Wednesday. Yet Piertzak also said a clawback of BEAD funding next year seems unlikely. BEAD, as well as NTIA's tribal connectivity and middle-mile programs, are perhaps insulated because of their bipartisan support not just from federal lawmakers but also governors and local officials, he added. Piertzak spoke during a panel discussion in T-Mobile's Washington office organized by ALLvanza, Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, LGBT Tech, and OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates.

In a post-Chevron deference era, the FCC's space regulatory work beyond its spectrum bailiwick could be on shaky ground, space law experts said Tuesday during an FCBA CLE. Multiple speakers predicted "friendly chaos" for space policy from the incoming Trump administration, with it likely being friendly to commercial space but change being a constant. The Chevron doctrine, under which courts generally defer to regulatory agencies' expertise, was overturned this year by the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision, which gives agency expertise lesser weight.

Facing a growing problem of telecom network vandalism and theft, industry groups are calling for updated state laws, including harsher criminal penalties, as deterrents. In a meeting Tuesday at Verizon facilities in Texas with law enforcement representatives, telecom industry officials repeatedly raised the specter of 911 and telehealth service disruptions.

The submarine cable rules rewrite NPRM on the FCC's Nov. 21 meeting agenda (see 2410310048) will likely see resistance from subsea cable operators, who question proposals on shorter license terms, subsea cable experts told us. However, one said a 5-0 approval of the draft NPRM is likely. It's less clear whether the next FCC will make draft rules from the NPRM a priority, the expert added.

Charter Communications' plans to buy Liberty Broadband should give it much more flexibility, rather than having to take into account what Liberty -- which is a blocking minority shareholder in Charter -- wants, Recon Analytics' Roger Entner told us in an email. Under the deal Charter announced Wednesday, it's buying Liberty Broadband's stake in Charter, while Liberty Broadband spins off GCI into an independent company.

A commercial in-space servicing industry -- long discussed -- is coming, but when remains a big question mark, Chris Blackerby, Astroscale chief operating officer, said Wednesday. Speaking at the annual Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS) conference in Arlington, Virginia, he said there's demand for such services in geostationary orbit but not to expect a market for in-space servicing in low earth orbit anytime soon. Blackerby said governments are the likely customers for in-space servicing in the near term, though eventually the bulk of the marketplace will be commercial operators contracting for services. Mark Quinn, head of insurance broker Willis Towers' space division, said some space insurers no longer provide coverage after a spate of huge claims during the past two years.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk could be a big beneficiary of Donald Trump's election, with some seeing his SpaceX reaping rewards from changes to NTIA's broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program and the next FCC offering a warmer reception to SpaceX requests. Yet government ethics experts believe Musk and his businesses could face a particularly big challenge if he becomes leader of a government efficiency effort, as Trump promised during the campaign. "He's like a walking potential conflict of interest," said Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).