988 Outage Reporting Pleading Cycle

Last week, the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to implement reporting and notice requirements for service outages potentially affecting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (“988 Lifeline”) was published in the Federal Register (Vol. XX, Issue 5).  The Commission proposes requiring, among other things, service providers to report outages to the FCC, HHS’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (“SAMHSA”), the Department of Veteran Affairs, and the 988 Lifeline administrator.  Comments and reply comments are due by May 8, 2023, and June 6, 2023, respectively. 

$40 Million in Reconnect Funding

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) announced that it is making available $40 million in round four funding under its ReConnect Program (Vol. XX, Issue 8).  The Program administers loans and grants to broadband service providers to construct, improve, or acquire facilities needed to provide broadband service to rural areas without connectivity.  This funding commitment will go to people living and working in rural areas in New Mexico.  The grants will go to The Western New Mexico Telephone Company Inc. ($23.8 million), E.N.M.R. Telephone Cooperative ($2.6 million), and the Penasco Valley Telephone Cooperative ($13.9 million).  

Space Bureau Launches Tuesday

The FCC announced that it will officially launch its new Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs with a public event at its Washington D.C. headquarters on April 11 (Vol. XX, Issue 3). The Space Bureau will conduct rulemakings and authorize satellite and earth station systems for space-based services, while the Office of International Affairs will be responsible for the Commission’s policies regarding international telecommunications facilities and services as well as submarine cables.  The kickoff event will take place at 3:00 p.m. EST and be live-streamed on the Commission’s website.

900 MHz Applications Granted

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau issued a Public Notice last week granting one 900 MHz broadband segment license application (Vol. XX, Issue 12).  The FCC realigned the 900 MHz band in May 2020 to make available six megahertz of low-band spectrum for the development of critical wireless broadband technologies and services, while reserving four megahertz of spectrum for continued narrowband operations.  The application is from PDV Spectrum Holding Company, LLC for Chester County, PA. 

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