Final Briefs Submitted in Rivada Mercury FirstNet Lawsuit

Last week, the Department of Justice and AT&T submitted their final briefs in the lawsuit brought by Rivada Mercury challenging the FirstNet procurement process.  In November, Rivada Mercury filed its protest for “wrongful exclusion” from the procurement process.  Now that briefs have been submitted, Judge Elaine Kaplan will either set a date for oral argument or require further written submissions.  The lawsuit delayed the FirstNet contract award until at least March 1. Judge Kaplan’s procedural decisions may delay further the expected award of the FirstNet contract to AT&T.  

EWA Seeks Guidance on T-Band

In an ex parte filing, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA) asked the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau to provide information on the “future of industrial, business, and commercial licensees operating on 470-512 MHz T-Band spectrum.”   The 2012 Spectrum Act restricts the ability of the FCC to issue new licenses in the T-Band.  EWA is pressing for a response from the Bureau because this law does not address non-public safety systems currently licensed in this band. 

Stay Lifted in MCLM Case

In an order released last week, Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel lifted the stay in the Maritime Communications/Land Mobile (MCLM) hearing proceeding that has been in place since 2015.  This is related to an Order released by the Commission late last year that granted an assignment application filed by MCLM and a group of its creditors, Choctaw, under the FCC’s Second Thursday precedent. The lifting of the stay coupled with the Second Thursday Order should allow the FCC to complete the hearing proceeding against MCLM and remove uncertainty surrounding the company’s AMTS spectrum in the 217/219 MHz band, ultimately enabling critical infrastructure industry (CII) companies to potentially acquire this spectrum on the secondary market.

NIST Cybersecurity Framework Proposed Update

As we previously reported, NIST released a draft update of its Cybersecurity Framework on January 10.  Although voluntary, this Framework is becoming an important benchmark for evaluating companies’ cybersecurity preparedness. NIST has set April 10, 2017 as the closing date for public comment on the draft.