FCC members OK'd a change proposed by Chairman Ajit Pai a year ago (see 1909060030) transitioning universal licensing system (ULS) filings from paper to electronic. The change got broad support from industry (see 1911150057). “We received a limited number of comments, the vast majority of which supported the Commission’s efforts,” said Thursday's order. The change includes all radio services authorized in parts 13, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27, 30, 74, 80, 87, 90, 95, 96, 97 and 101 of commission rules and is effective in six months. “We finalize our transition to electronic interactions for licenses in the Wireless Radio Services -- a transition that began more than two decades ago,” the order said: “We decrease the costs for consumers and the Commission, enhance transparency of and access to data, significantly improve administrative efficiency, and save a substantial amount of paper annually.”

Cable and wireline subscribers out of service in areas affected by Hurricane Sally jumped from 1,096 Tuesday to 88,362, said Wednesday’s disaster information reporting system FCC report. Out-of-service cellsites climbed from 0.5% to 6.9%, and two AM and two FM radio stations are off-air. No TV stations or public safety answering points were down.

The FCC said 157 of the more than 400 applications by tribal entities to use 2.5 GHz during the tribal window were accepted for filing. Petitions to deny are due Oct. 15, oppositions Oct. 26 and replies to the oppositions Nov. 2. “That an application has been accepted for filing means that the application is, upon initial review, complete and contains sufficient information to be accepted for processing and further review, including a required period on which public comment on the application is sought,” said a Tuesday notice. FCC Democrats and tribal and other groups said the FCC should have kept the window open beyond Sept. 2 due to COVID-19 (see 2007310066). “This FCC has taken aggressive action to address the digital divide on Tribal lands, and the 2.5 GHz Tribal Priority Window has been perhaps the most significant,” said Chairman Ajit Pai.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated an NPRM proposing to require disclosures at the time of broadcast when TV and radio stations are paid “directly or indirectly” to air content by a foreign entity, said a release Tuesday. Disclosure would also be required if programming were “provided to the station free of charge by such an entity as an inducement to broadcast the material,“ the release said. “With some station content coming from the likes of China and Russia, it is time to update our rules and shed more sunlight on these practices,” Pai said. Current rules don’t specify how foreign government sponsorship should be disclosed to the public, but the proposed rules would provide standardized language identifying the country involved, the release said. The text wasn’t released. House Democrats urge Pai to act against what they called Russian propaganda broadcast in the U.S. before the 2020 election (see 2002130060). “Americans are currently in the process of deciding who they will elect to lead our country, and it’s critical that they are not unknowingly influenced by foreign propaganda,” said a February letter to Pai from Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and others.

USTelecom and Incompas have an unbundled dark fiber transport compromise, following their LEC line access pact proposed to the FCC (see 2008060044), they said in docket 19-308 Tuesday. They urged the FCC to adopt the two concurrently and "bring finality and certainty to issues that have long bedeviled parties and policymakers alike." Since requesting carriers are impaired without unbundled access to dark fiber transport to any Tier 34 wire center more than half a mile from alternative fiber, the compromise would have the FCC find non-impairment and use its authority to forbear from the obligation to provide unbundled dark fiber transport to wire centers within a half mile of alternative fiber where unbundled transport currently isn't required. They said competitive LECs will still have unbundled access to all dark fiber transport arrangements ordered before the order's effective date for eight years, during which the incumbent LEC won't increase rates for access to unbundled dark fiber.

The FCC activated the disaster information reporting system for counties in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi in anticipation of Hurricane Sally, said a public notice Monday. Reports from communications providers in the affected areas are due Tuesday morning. Sally is expected to make landfall Tuesday along the Gulf Coast as a Category 2 storm.

A Republican- or Democratic-controlled FCC will continue to focus on issues like the digital divide and 5G deployment, but expect differences in approaches and priorities, said Kelley Drye USF lawyers John Heitmann and Steve Augustino at the Incompas Show Monday. On FCC direction next year, Heitmann said rhetoric about digital divide issues will continue, though the GOP prioritizes infrastructure issues, while Democrats prioritize affordability and accessibility via Lifeline. Augustino said more attention likely will be on broadband infrastructure spending, though Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign has been making it more of an emphasis than President Donald Trump's. Augustino said the Republican approach to 5G focused heavily on deployment, particularly via preemption of state and local government regulation, but Democrats are less likely to focus so heavily on preemption. He said Democrats have called more for revamping FCC broadband mapping, while the GOP-led agency focused more on making do with current mapping until Congress provides the resources for a deep dive. Under a Democratic-controlled FCC, expect "a re-reclassification" of broadband, perhaps accompanied by privacy regulations, Heitmann said. Expect the agency to continue to focus heavily on robocalls and supply chain security issues, the two said. With it widely expected that Ajit Pai leaves the chairmanship soon, Augustino said Commissioner Brendan Carr seems to have the inside track to replace him in a Republican FCC, while the Democrats have a history of going with dark horse outsiders. Heitmann said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel or former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn seem to be the likeliest Democratic choices, and while Carr might be odds-on likeliest for Republicans, other candidates, such as a variety of Senate Commerce Committee staffers, could be in the mix. Heitmann said the next chairman isn't likely to roll back transparency initiatives Pai instituted, such as releasing draft items before commissioner meetings. "It's an irreversible trend," and a subsequent chairman would find it difficult to justify less openness, he said.

The FCC changed its rules for administrative hearings to streamline the process and facilitate more hearings being conducted on entirely paper, said an order Monday. “Trial-type hearings are costly and impose significant burdens and delays on both applicants and the agency that may not be necessary.” The rules will allow the presiding officer -- which under the revised rules could be an administrative law judge, the commission or a commissioner -- to designate matters for hearing on a written record whenever a dispute can be solved that way. “Alternatively, the Commission will order a hearing with live testimony and/or cross-examination when it is appropriate,” the order said. Parties can request live hearings, but the decision is up to the presiding officer. The FCC will determine in each hearing designation order whether a case will be overseen by an ALJ or the commission. Having the FCC preside could ameliorate case backlogs due to the agency's having only one ALJ, the order said. “We reject any claim that the independence and objectivity of the presiding officer can be assured only if an administrative law judge serves as the presiding officer.” Commissioners must recuse themselves from matters in which they aren’t impartial, and ALJ decisions are ultimately subject to FCC review, the order said. When the FCC is the presiding officer, it can delegate authority to a commission-appointed case manager to perform some presiding officer functions, including ruling on discovery options “and other interlocutory matters,” the order said. The new rules include a new, more lenient evidence standard for such hearings, based on the Administrative Procedure Act. The previous evidence rules had been based on the federal rules of evidence.

Wi-Fi 6 is becoming a “major influence” in the IoT that Silicon Labs is supporting, said General Manager Matt Johnson at the chip company's virtual conference last week (see 2009100068). The next-generation Wi-Fi technology was the impetus behind the company’s purchase of Redpine Signals’ connectivity business this year. Johnson touted power consumption and “always-on” Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi 6 brings to the IoT the ability to support "hundreds of nodes without affecting network performance,” Johnson told us. “It allows prioritization and management across all the devices with their unique and different needs, and it supports doing this with lower power, which is something Wi-Fi has not been traditionally good at.”

Dish Network got more time (see 2009110054) to meet the AWS-4, lower 700 MHz E block, AWS H block and 600 MHz license construction requirements that are part of its plans for a national 5G network. The FCC Wireless Bureau's order Friday said the license terms for AWS-4, lower 700 MHz E block and AWS H block licenses now run through June 14, 2023, and the company is obligated to provide 5G broadband service over them. It said by that 2023 buildout deadline, Dish must be offering 5G to at least 70% of the population in each economic area with respect to each AWS-4 and lower 700 MHz E block license, and to at least 75% of the population in each EA with respect to each AWS H Block license. It said the license term for Dish's 600 MHz licenses is unchanged from June 14, 2029, but the interim buildout deadline of June 14, 2023, is removed, and the final buildout deadline for it to offer 5G to at least 75% of the population in each partial economic area is moved up to June 14, 2025. There had been skepticism about Dish's ability to meet the old deadlines (see 1807100062), and the license modifications and construction deadline adjustments were proposed in October's T-Mobile/Sprint/Dish order (see 1911050016). The bureau said the waiver and extension grants and license modifications are conditioned on the company meeting the terms of the T-Mobile/Sprint/Dish order, including mandatory payments for not hitting deployment commitments. T-Mobile has since bought Dish. The new order dismissed as defective Rural Wireless Association and Communications Workers of America protests to the license proposals in the T-Mobile order. “RWA wishes Dish Godspeed in the deployment of its 5G network and hopes it will meet" buildout benchmarks "so there will be a 4th nationwide carrier on the scene by 2023,” emailed RWA Counsel Carri Bennet. “Our members look forward to working with Dish on ways to continue to serve rural Americans.” CWA didn't comment immediately, nor did Dish or T-Mobile.