Members of the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance cast the FCC’s recent order allowing FirstNet to use unassigned parts of the 4.9 GHz band as a win for public safety agencies. Industry experts said the order is unlikely to be reversed in the Donald Trump administration since it was approved with the support of FCC Republicans Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington. Opponents have threatened litigation (see 2410220027).

The broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program will likely survive despite speculation the next Congress will seek to claw back money from the $42.5 billion initiative (see 2410210043), state broadband officials said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Some also speculated that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s role in President-elect Donald Trump's administration will mean a shift in BEAD away from a focus on fiber over other ways of reaching consumers (see 2411080033).

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.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The NARUC Telecom Committee on Monday cleared draft resolutions on phone number conservation, the Universal Service Fund and utility coordination on broadband deployment. A USF panel that day described how reform could happen with Republicans controlling the FCC and Congress next year. Also, the affordable connectivity program (ACP) could return in 2025 despite Washington’s partisan climate, said Sanford Williams, deputy chief of staff for FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, during a collocated National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) meeting. State utility regulators are holding their annual meeting here this week.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- An executive from a phone number warehouse defended his company’s practices Tuesday during the NARUC conference. However, the executive, NumberBarn Chief Technology Officer Brian Scott, seemed to heighten concerns for state officials and telecom attorneys who attended the panel. North American Numbering Council Chair Karen Charles, also a Massachusetts commissioner, said she planned to mention warehouse issues at a future NANC meeting.

The move to open radio access networks is accelerating, and may prove inevitable, experts said Tuesday during an Informatech 5G transport and networking strategies webinar. But carriers have options, speakers said. Meanwhile, Ericsson posted a progress report on moving to ORAN.

The Bureau of Industry and Security and DOJ are investigating U.S. mobile phone parts producer Lumentum for potentially violating U.S. export controls on shipments to Huawei, according to corporate filings.

The FCC received 2,734 applications from schools, libraries and consortia seeking $3.7 billion from its $200 million cybersecurity pilot program, the FCC said Friday. It is reviewing the applications, but the program may not survive the start of the second Trump administration, industry officials warned.

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).

Broadcast executives during Q3 earnings calls were hopeful for ownership deregulation and progress on ATSC 3.0 from a Republican-controlled FCC, but FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr -- the perceived front-runner to chair the agency -- said Thursday that scrutinizing broadcasters is among his priorities. “We're very excited about the upcoming regulatory environment,” said Sinclair Broadcast CEO Chris Ripley during Sinclair’s call Wednesday. “It feels like a cloud over the industry is lifting ... and ... some much-needed modernization of the regulations will be forthcoming.” In a news release Thursday, Carr said when the transition to the next administration is complete “the FCC will have an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth while advancing our national security interests and supporting law enforcement.”