First 2.5 GHz Band Licenses Granted

Last week, the FCC granted the first batch of flexible-use, county-based overlay wireless licenses in the 2.5 GHz band auction (“Auction 108”) (Vol. XIX, Issue 36).  The Commission granted 51 of the 68 total long-form applications it received from winning bidders in Auction 108.  Fifteen of the applicants obtained small business bidding credits and 23 obtained rural service provider bidding credits.  Auction 108 raised a total of $419,133,261 in net bids and $427,789,670 in gross bids, with 63 bidders winning a total of 7,872 licenses.

911 Location-Based Routing Proposed Rules

The FCC will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at its Open Meeting on December 21st that would require wireless carriers and covered text providers to implement location-based routing for wireless 911 calls (Vol. XIX, Issue 21).  Specifically, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would require providers to deploy technology that supports location-based routing on their IP-based networks and use it to route 911 calls and texts when caller location information is accurate and timely.  It would also require covered providers to deliver routing information in IP format upon request of 911 authorities. 

NTIA Awards Five More Internet for All Grants

Last week, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”) announced the award of five more grants under the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (“BEAD”) Program and the Digital Equity Act program (Vol. XIX, Issue 48).  The BEAD Program provides grants to fund planning, infrastructure deployments, and other adoption programs to expand high-speed Internet access.  The Digital Equity Act provides grants to equip people and communities with the required skills, technology, and capacity to promote digital equity and inclusion.  The five states that were awarded grants are Utah ($5,676,684.53), Mississippi ($5,875,585.61), South Dakota ($3,131,269.95), Florida ($7,407,200.56), and Hawaii ($5,570,883.00).

Emergency Alert Systems NPRM Pleading Cycle

The FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing rules to bolster the operational readiness and security of the Emergency Alert System (“EAS”) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (“WEA”) was published in the Federal Register on November 23 (Vol XIX, Issue 45).  The Commission proposes requiring EAS participants to report incidents of unauthorized access to their EAS equipment to the FCC within 72 hours and EAS participants and the providers that deliver WEA to annually certify they have a cybersecurity risk management plan and implements sufficient security measures.  Comments and reply comments are due by December 23, 2022, and January 23, 2023, respectively. 

Casey Lide, Thomas B. Magee, Tracy P. Marshall, Kathleen Slattery Thompson, Sean A. Stokes, and Wesley K. Wright also contributed to this article.