The FCC Public Safety Bureau deactivated the disaster information reporting system for Hurricane Zeta, said a public notice Sunday.

Stakeholders seek an FCC NPRM on the future of the 12 GHz band, in a filing posted Monday in RM-11768. Signing were the Competitive Carriers Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Incompas, Public Knowledge and Open Technology Institute at New America. Industry officials said a December NPRM is possible. At most, launch a notice of inquiry, OneWeb asked in calls with aides to Carr and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The FCC didn't comment. Some have “expressed concerns about whether sharing in the 12 GHz Band is possible” (see 2010260023), the groups said. “These are precisely some of the questions that need to be reviewed in the context of an NPRM -- one that can be crafted in a neutral manner to ask all the pertinent questions concerning the operation of terrestrial 5G service in the 12 GHz Band.” The 12.2-12.7 GHz portion of the band is “5G ready,” the letter said. This coalition “has a long record of supporting competition and innovation,” emailed Angie Kronenberg, Incompas general counsel: “The FCC should take a neutral approach to the NPRM as it considers the availability of 500 megahertz of spectrum in the 12 GHz band. From INCOMPAS’ perspective, this is absolutely needed so that the FCC can fully consider the issues and enable more spectrum that can be used to promote more competition for 5G service.” PK spoke last week with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks. “The request for rulemaking is not intended to undermine protections for incumbent satellite uses, including satellite broadband use, but is instead meant to build a record on whether it is feasible to adopt a sharing framework that could expand the availability of spectrum for both fixed and mobile broadband deployments, to expand more flexible and intensive terrestrial use of the band,” the group said. “Given the persistent need for more spectrum, the commission should look at all opportunities to maximize spectrum use,” said CCA President Steve Berry. "The 12 GHz band, which lacks existing government interests, could present a potential opportunity, and CCA encourages the FCC to take a fresh look to see if this spectrum band can support wireless services. ... Opening a proceeding creates an opportunity for all to put evidence on the record so that the FCC can make an informed decision.”

The FCC must consider the effect of allowing electronic newsgathering (ENG) operations by very-low-power (VLP) unlicensed deviceuse in the 6 GHz band, NAB said in a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. The FCC is expected to consider revised rules for the band in December (see 2010190040). “This is not merely a theoretical concern,” NAB said: Broadcasters covering the "spontaneous vigil" in front of the Supreme Court the night Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died "were directly in the crowd itself, with little or no physical distance between their equipment and mourners. Had members of the crowd been carrying VLP devices, those devices could easily have caused interference to these ENG operations.”

The FCC Wireline Bureau dismissed seven petitions Friday, all filed in late 2011, seeking reconsideration of parts of the USF/intercarrier compensation transformation order (see 1110280088). USTelecom, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, MetroPCS, the National Exchange Carrier Association, NTCH and others filed the petitions. “No entities had filed comments or ex parte submissions regarding any of the … petitions for several years,” said an order in docket 10-90. The bureau said it sought comment in January and there were no objections.

There are 602,700 cable and wireline subscribers out of service in the area affected by Hurricane Zeta, said Friday’s report from the disaster information reporting service. It included information from South Carolina and Florida, but the agency deactivated the service for those states and portions of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina the same day. The service remained active for some counties in the latter five states. Friday’s report lists two public safety answering points as out of service and 3.9% of cellsites down. No TV stations were out of service, but six FM and four AM stations were down.

NAB, while mentioning concerns about a petition for an adjustment to FM booster rules, did support it (see 2010280062).

The DOD proposed in a new spectrum strategy Thursday that the Pentagon use “dynamic and bidirectional sharing for facilitating access to commercial spectrum.” The document’s release follows DOD’s September request for information on dynamic spectrum sharing on the 3.45-3.55 GHz band (see 2009210056), a proposal some critics see as a backdoor to 5G nationalization. “This strategy seeks to align [spectrum] resources, capabilities, and activities across” DOD “to support our core national security objectives while remaining mindful of the importance of U.S. economic prosperity,” said Defense Secretary Mark Esper in an introduction to the report. The “traditional model of static frequency allocation is not sufficient and a new model is needed to address the growing demand” for access to “increasingly congested and constrained” spectrum, DOD said. The department believes bidirectional sharing "could help facilitate access to commercial spectrum while addressing the cybersecurity risk of an information sharing infrastructure outside of the [DOD] Information Enterprise, and pursuing machine-to-machine technologies that enable cognitive cohabitation in the spectrum. International and domestic spectrum policy and regulations must continue to evolve to enable spectrum sharing to keep pace with rapidly changing technologies and increased mission requirements.” The strategy calls for DOD to plot an implementation plan within 180 days. The Pentagon has already begun writing that plan and is on target to release it in March, a DOD official said during a call with reporters. DOD understands U.S. “near-peer competitors” like China “are out there operating across all of the spectrum space including commercial, so they don't discern commercial or federal or anything like that, they're just operating across the spectrum space,” an official told reporters. “We have to be able to access and maneuver in any spectrum to be able to defeat our enemies and deny them access in the same way.” That's “going to require us to get access to commercial spectrum in the U.S., as a first step, to be able to train and exercise and do the things we need to do to … fight as we do in war,” the Pentagon official said. “We understand that the industry guys don't like that,” but “we really have to take a whole-of-nation approach to this.” The U.S. “can no longer look at spectrum as a … single win for a single entity,” the official said. “We're really trying to beat our adversaries to 5G or the next G after that. We really have to get to faster decisions as a first step.” The U.S. is consulting with intelligence allies and its NATO partners about the sharing ideas proposed in the strategy, an official said. Some of those ideas are new and untested. DOD said it will continue to work with the FCC and Commerce Department “to shape favorable outcomes.”

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied (in Pacer) the FTC’s request for an en banc rehearing in its antitrust case against Qualcomm (see 2009250068). A brief order was filed Wednesday by Judges Consuelo Callahan, Johnnie Rawlinson and Stephen Murphy. “The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc and no judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear,” the denial said. The agency declined comment. “That not one judge on the Ninth Circuit thought it necessary to consider the merits of the FTC’s petition or to even ask for a response from Qualcomm validates the strength and clarity of the panel’s thorough analysis and conclusions,” said Qualcomm Executive Vice President Donald Rosenberg in a statement.

The Technological Advisory Council will hold its year-end meeting, traditionally the most important of the year, Dec. 1 at 10 a.m. EST via conference call, the FCC said Tuesday. TAC will hear presentations from its four working groups.

NARUC will consider urging state legislatures to authorize commissions to reduce intrastate inmate calling service (ICS) rates to cost-based prices. State utility regulators also proposed Tuesday to vote at their meeting Nov. 5-6 and 9-11 on a resolution on providing state access to the FCC's network outage reporting system (NORS). NARUC President Brandon Presley made good on a July promise to sponsor an ICS resolution, after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai urged action (see 2007240045). The FCC and NARUC urged governors last month to act (see 2009220051). Legislatures are best positioned "to address this issue by allocating additional authority to their State Commissions to investigate and assure cost-based fees,” says NARUC’s draft resolution. The NORS proposal echoes a 2015 recommendation that the FCC grant state agencies access to its NORS database in response to a California Public Utilities Commission 2009 petition (see 1502180058). “Granting States secure access to NORS data is consistent with a history of the FCC sharing confidential information with State commissions when a vital need is shown and the information is properly safeguarded,” says this year’s draft resolution. Republican FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and Democratic former member Mignon Clyburn (D) are on a Nov. 10 panel about the 2020 election’s impact on commission and broadband policy, NARUC announced Tuesday (see agenda).