FCC Commissioner Carr Taking to the Pen Ahead of FCC Airwaves Vote

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr is reviewing national nonprofit license holders of airwaves reserved for educational purposes, ahead of a planned July 10 FCC vote on opening them for 5G. Commissioner Carr fired off the first of what an aide said will likely be several letters to license holders. In it, he took Voqal, a nonprofit focused on funding educational wireless services, to task, saying that “review of your organization’s publicly available material raises questions about your compliance with the Commission’s rules” and asking about donations made to political and advocacy causes. The scrutiny puts Commissioner Carr in the middle of a debate over whether the airwaves are being insufficiently used for their intended purposes. A Voqal spokesperson said the group “look[s] forward to getting the Commissioner the information he has requested.”