Federal Agency

In an increasingly congested wireless spectrum, conflict is both inevitable but often resolvable. Between commercial applications (e.g., terrestrial and non-terrestrial wireless communications, navigation, and telemetry), scientific activities (e.g., radio astronomy, polar research, earth observation), and other vital spectrum-dependent uses (e.g., air traffic control), competition for spectrum access will only increase with new and emerging applications and technologies.

The Federal Communications Commission received 2,734 applications from schools, libraries, and consortia of schools and libraries to participate in the Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program, representing $3.7 billion in requests to fund cybersecurity projects during the three-year program. During the application filing window—which ran from September 17, 2024 through November 1, 2024—the Pilot Program attracted applications from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, including schools and libraries in both rural and urban communities.

On November 5, 2024, Donald J. Trump was elected to serve as the 47th President of the United States. The election will result in changes not just in the executive branch but in Congress as well. Even with results still coming in, we take a look at changes to the Congressional committees that oversee broadband policy, the Federal Communications Commission, and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Verizon asked a federal appellate court to nix the $47 million fine imposed by the Federal Communications Commission for sharing customers' location data. “The agency ignored the limits of its authority in these multiple ways, in an effort to show force against a large company that did nothing wrong,” Verizon argues in a written brief filed with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, announced that the organization has sent a letter to President-elect Donald J. Trump asking him to appoint Brendan T. Carr to be the next Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. “Commissioner Carr has been a great partner to the men and women in law enforcement,” Yoes said. “He is known as ‘Mr. 5G’ for his strong advocacy in accelerating the availability of this new technology.

Even before Donald Trump was re-elected, his best-known backer, Elon Musk, had come to him with a request for his presidential transition. He wanted Trump to hire some employees from Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, as top government officials — including at the Defense Department. That request, which would seed SpaceX employees into an agency that is one of its biggest customers, is a sign of the benefits that Mr.

I want to congratulate President Trump on his historic election victory. The American people have sent a clear and decisive message to Washington. It is time to change course. That is why I agree with congressional leadership that the FCC should immediately stop work on any partisan or controversial matter and focus on the transition.

With USCellular's agreement to sell AT&T $1.018 billion of spectrum, all three of the major mobile operators "have taken a chunk" of the rural carrier's assets. The agreement includes the sale of 1,250M MHz-Pops of 3.45 GHz and 331M MHz-Pops of 700 MHz B/C block licenses to AT&T. This spectrum will likely enable AT&T to layer in better coverage on its existing 5G footprint. The sale, once approved by regulators, will add additional spectrum to AT&T's existing bandwidth to improve overall coverage. The 700 MHz band is valuable for distance coverage.

It's very likely that the incoming Trump administration will smile on satellite Internet companies such as SpaceX's Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper. And that could have serious implications for fiber vendors like Calix and Corning, as well as fiber network operators like AT&T, Brightspeed, Altice, Windstream and others. The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program is designed to funnel $42.45 billion through US states for broadband networks in rural areas.

Presidential elections have real impacts arriving quickly. I think the following changed policies and strategies will happen fast, because the glidepath is both well-lit and pre-planned.