The 2024 election is over and Republicans are poised in January to take over Washington, D.C.—in the White House, on the Hill, at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and at other agencies (the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)) impacting Telecommunications, Media & Technology (TMT) companies and their investors. This report provides a high-level overview of what the TMT industry can expect from Republican control.
Leadership
At the FCC. Trump has announced that he will elevate current senior Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr to the Chairman’s seat. Commissioner Carr has been a dynamic force at the FCC for years, and is particularly focused on deregulation, competition, infrastructure development and national security. Commissioner Carr will, of course, change direction from current Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on a number of issues, including net neutrality, digital equity and market competition. But his agenda and focus also will be different and could include helping the federal government rationalize spending of all the broadband funding that has been allocated, advancing rules for content moderation online and leveling the playing field for communications providers that offer the same services, but over different platforms. How quickly he can embark on his agenda will depend on how quickly Congress can confirm another Republican commissioner to the FCC. During Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s leadership at the FCC, it took over two and a half years before there were five commissioners seated at the FCC, and she had a Democratic majority. Until the additional Republican commissioner is confirmed, the Agency will be evenly split, with two Democrats and two Republicans, making it difficult to move ahead with most major reforms. Getting a third Republican commissioner confirmed by a Republican Senate should occur relatively quickly, but the Senate calendar is crowded, and other nominations will likely take priority. Sen. Roger Wicker, former Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has endorsed his longtime staffer, Olivia Trusty, for the open position. Other names that have been floated include Senate Commerce Committee Policy Director Arielle Roth and former FCC General Counsel Tom Johnson. Additionally, Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington’s term has expired, though he is able to remain in his position until January 3, 2026. This will require either renomination of Simington or nomination of another Republican for the seat.
On the Hill. With Republicans taking control of the Senate, Sen. Ted Cruz will take the reins as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. Cruz’s top priorities are expected to include advancing legislation to free up spectrum for commercial use, such as the Spectrum Pipeline Act, renewing the FCC’s auction authority, and reforming the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Cruz just sent a letter to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson warning that Congress will be reviewing the BEAD Program early next year, “with specific attention to NTIA’s extreme technology bias in defining ‘priority broadband projects’ and ‘reliable broadband service’; imposition of statutorily-prohibited rate regulation; unionized workforce and DEI labor requirements; climate change assessments; excessive per-location costs; and other central planning mandates.” Advancing privacy legislation may also be a priority for Sen. Cruz.
In the House of Representatives, current Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers is retiring. The top three candidates to replace her are Congressmen Brett Guthrie, Bob Latta and Richard Hudson. Congressman Latta is the current chair of the Communications subcommittee and is therefore particularly attuned to issues impacting the TMT industry—to date, he has been mostly focused on deregulation and BEAD Program oversight.
At NTIA. Expect to see changes in leadership and possible downsizing at NTIA. Given President-elect Trump’s desire to have control over agency decisions, including the FCC, and in view of the fact that NTIA is an executive agency and not independent like the FCC, we anticipate that NTIA may become an even more important player on communications issues. We expect new leadership at NTIA will be focused on revisiting the agency’s broadband programs (especially BEAD), rescinding or modifying the National Spectrum Strategy and generally pushing more spectrum out.
At the FTC. Lina Khan, Chair of the FTC, will almost certainly be ousted under President-elect Trump.
FAA. It is possible the new Trump administration will move to rein in the FAA’s authority, tamping down on “overzealous” regulations governing the agency’s oversight of commercial space. Republicans have been critical of the FAA’s licensing and permitting processes.
Existential Questions for the FCC and a Shift Towards Deregulation
Trump indicates that he would like to exercise more control over the FCC and questions the constitutionality of independent agencies, generally. He has expressed a desire to end the independence of agencies such as the FCC and FTC. This could be accomplished by making their regulations subject to White House review, perhaps by updating Executive Order 12866 to remove the exemption for independent agencies as suggested in the Project 2025 report.
At the FCC, Commissioner Carr has indicated that he plans to undertake a complete regulatory overhaul of the agency by conducting a “serious top-to-bottom” review of the FCC’s regulations and taking steps to “rescind any that are overly cumbersome or outdated.” Commissioner Carr has suggested that “rapidly evolving market conditions,” in the connectivity sector “counsel in favor of eliminating many of the heavy-handed FCC regulations that were adopted in an era when every technology operated in a silo,” such as the FCC’s media ownership rules and universal service requirements. Going forward, Commissioner Carr has stated that that the FCC “should focus its efforts on creating a market-friendly regulatory environment that fosters innovation and competition from a wide range of actors, including cable-based, broadband-based, and satellite-based Internet providers.”
Commissioner Carr’s statements suggest a potential move toward a “layered” communications public policy model that recognizes convergence and seeks to provide parity in how communications carriers are regulated. This approach could be similar to the one proposed by Richard Whitt in 2004. Mr. Whitt’s proposed model would move the FCC away from its current “siloed” approach—in which each communications medium (satellite, cable, telephone service) is treated as its own market, governed by separate rules and regulated by a separate bureau within the Commission—to a more comprehensive regulatory framework founded on horizontal network layers. It is unclear whether Commissioner Carr will go in this direction as Chairman, but his statements echo a similar approach in terms of leveling the playing field for different types of communications providers.
Enforcement
Commissioner Carr has advocated for Enforcement Bureau reform at the FCC, suggesting that the FCC should “trim its sails” on enforcement to avoid drawing legal challenges to the agency’s constitutionality: “The more we push the boundaries of our own existing enforcement authority, we’re [going to] hasten the day when very significant constitutional challenges to the entire scheme will be brought forward.” Commissioner Carr has accused the Enforcement Bureau under Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s leadership of “overreach” in several cases, including orders issued against major wireless carriers over certain commercial practices related to the use of customer location data, which imposed nearly $200 million in forfeitures earlier this year. Those forfeitures are currently being challenged in federal court by the carriers, who have raised questions about the constitutionality of the FCC’s enforcement framework more generally. Commissioner Carr’s past statements suggest that he will likely be less aggressive on monetary enforcement, at least until the FCC’s jurisdiction is clarified by the courts.
Spectrum
Congress is expected to continue its attempts to renew the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, which expired in March 2023. The Republican-controlled Senate Commerce Committee will likely look to move S.3909, the Spectrum Pipeline Act, introduced by Senators Cruz, John Thune and Marsha Blackburn, which was referred to the Senate Commerce Committee but did not advance. Note, however, that Senate Republicans with closer ties to the Pentagon have indicated potential opposition to the bill. At the FCC, Commissioner Carr has been vocally supportive of this bill, which would require NTIA to identify 2,500 MHz of spectrum for reallocation in the next five years (half of which must be identified within two years), and would require the FCC to (a) auction 1,250 MHz in the next six years for 5G (with 600 MHz to be auctioned within three years) and (b) allocate 125 MHz for unlicensed use (with the remaining 1,125 MHz to be auctioned by the FCC for licensed or unlicensed use within eight years).
Republicans have also been critical of the National Spectrum Strategy, which was released in the fall of 2023, and particularly of the fact that it did not identify specific frequency bands for reallocation to commercial use. The National Spectrum Strategy directed agencies to undertake technical studies to determine the feasibility of reallocation or sharing of a handful of bands. We expect the Trump administration to either rescind the National Spectrum Strategy in order to specify bands for reallocation, or to short-circuit the study processes to fast-track the identification and reallocation of spectrum for commercial use. Commissioner Carr has similarly stressed the need to “refill America’s spectrum pipeline,” suggesting that the FCC and the new Trump administration should work together to develop a new “national spectrum strategy that both identifies the specific airwaves that the FCC can free for commercial wireless services and sets an aggressive timeline for agency action.” Commissioner Carr recently floated the possibility of an “incentive auction 2.0” to repurpose some amount of the 600 MHz broadcast spectrum. Commissioner Carr and wireless industry stakeholders have also proposed a number of other spectrum bands as potential candidates for reallocation:
- 1300-1350 MHz
- 5470-5725 MHz (U-NII-2C)
- 1-3.45 GHz
- 98-4.2 GHz (possibly as a condition to approval of the proposed merger between SES and Intelsat)
- 4-4.94 GHz
- 125-8.4 GHz
- mmWave
- Spectrum above 95 GHz
Content Moderation
Congress and/or the FCC may also look at reforms to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. President-elect Trump and Commissioner Carr have both expressed support for the FCC taking action to limit the scope of Section 230 and the liability protections enjoyed by online platforms and website operators under the statute. In particular, Commissioner Carr has suggested that the FCC’s Section 230 reforms should track the positions outlined in a July 2020 Petition for Rulemaking filed at the FCC by NTIA near the end of the Trump administration, which proposed extensive limitations on the ability of online platforms to take advantage of the protections of Section 230. More recently, Carr sent a letter to certain “Big Tech” CEOs seeking information about their companies’ use of a certain third-party fact checking organization. Carr’s letter indicates that he has concerns that these Big Tech companies’ use of the service may violate Section 230’s “good faith requirement. In 2022, Trump released a campaign video suggesting, among other things, that companies should only qualify for such protections if they satisfy “high standards of neutrality, transparency, fairness, and non-discrimination” in making content moderation decisions, and that users over 18 should be permitted to opt out of all content moderation on digital platforms. Commissioner Carr has also proposed that the FCC impose transparency rules such as those applicable to broadband providers—including required disclosures about practices that would shape Internet traffic, like blocking, prioritizing or discriminating against content—to Big Tech online platforms.
President-elect Trump and Commissioner Carr have also suggested that the FCC may investigate and take action against broadcasters—potentially up to and including license revocation—who, in the Administration’s view, do not live up to their public interest obligations. For example, President-elect Trump has already suggested that various broadcast networks should lose their FCC licenses (or, more precisely, those held by their owned and operated stations) for various actions of which he disapproves. Commissioner Carr has voiced support for President-elect Trump’s call to strip licenses from major broadcast networks in retaliation for their coverage choices, stating that “we need to keep every single remedy on the table,” and that “one of the remedies the FCC has, ultimately, would be license revocation, if we find that it’s egregious.”
Broadband Funding
Targeting Overbuilds and Improving Coordination Among Agencies. Under Commissioner Carr, expect to see a new approach to broadband funding that is focused on encouraging coordination of broadband funds among agencies and eliminating the government-funded overbuilding of existing networks. Commissioner Carr has noted that although hundreds of billions of infrastructure dollars have been appropriated by Congress and budgeted by agencies in recent years, federal broadband efforts are “fragmented and overlapping, with more than 100 programs administered by 15 agencies,” which he says risks “overbuilding as well as wasteful duplication.” To combat this, Commissioner Carr has voiced support for the adoption of a new strategy designed to facilitate coordination between the various agencies responsible for awarding broadband funds.
BEAD. Expect a review of the handling of the BEAD Program under the new Trump administration. Republicans have questioned the effectiveness of the $42.5 billion program and purported delays in the deployment of funding to states. Republicans have also criticized the BEAD Program’s focus on fiber-optic cable deployment over other broadband technologies, claiming it overlaps with existing federal subsidy programs and is ripe for waste, fraud and abuse. Commissioner Carr has slammed certain aspects of the BEAD Program, including “diversity, equity and inclusion requirements, climate-change rules, price controls, preferences for union labor, and schemes that favor government-run networks.” Former Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker predicts that the second Trump administration “will be in a much better position to remove these extraneous constraints,” which he noted were put in place by NTIA “without statutory authorization.” Sen. Cruz similarly indicated that “substantial changes are on the horizon” for the program, and that Republicans will “consider every option” to address the BEAD Program’s shortcomings, including the elimination of “unlawful and onerous bureaucratic obstacles imposed by the Biden-Harris NTIA,” once they take over the majority in Congress. In light of the expected review and revision of the BEAD Program, on November 21, Sen. Cruz sent a letter to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson requesting that NTIA “pause unlawful, extraneous BEAD activities and avoid locking states into in any final actions.” Experts are split on whether such a review will speed the process of rolling out BEAD Program funds by clearing bureaucratic red tape, or further delay the rollout by meddling with a complex project that is already in progress. Republicans have also been highly critical of the FCC’s broadband maps, which are used to determine which areas should be eligible for broadband funding, including through the BEAD Program.
Affordable Connectivity Program. Congress will also need to look at the future of the FCC’s now-expired Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which helped low-income Americans purchase Internet access. One option that has been discussed is to fold it into the Universal Service Fund (USF) program or Congress could fund it separately, although Senate Commerce Committee leadership has voiced opposition to appropriating any new funding to the program. There is bipartisan support for ACP, but Republicans have sought reforms before agreeing to additional funding, including new eligibility requirements, cutting the monthly funding amount and new verification requirements.
Infrastructure
Under Commissioner Carr, expect to see a renewed focus on streamlining the rules for fiber and other wired infrastructure deployment. Commissioner Carr has pointed out that between 2016 and 2019, the FCC was able to accelerate infrastructure builds for new wireless cell sites—the building blocks for 5G—by reforming permitting rules, putting in place guardrails to address outlier fees and delays imposed at the state and local levels on small-cell projects and making other updates to modernize the permitting process. Commissioner Carr has proposed that the FCC now “explore similar action for the deployment of other wired infrastructure,” which we read as pertaining to fiber-optic cable, such as by imposing limits on the fees that local and state governments can charge for reviewing those wireline applications, and time restrictions on the government’s decision-making process.
Universal Service Fund
The constitutionality of the USF funding mechanism is currently being litigated, and its future has long been the subject of debate in Congress. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit found the funding mechanism unconstitutional, a holding that is in conflict with decisions from the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 6th and 11th Circuits upholding the constitutionality of the program. The Supreme Court has accepted the case and will hear arguments in the coming months. Should the Supreme Court find the funding mechanism unconstitutional, Congress will need to step in to keep the program funded. Former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai supports Congress appropriating the dollars to fund USF in order to escape the current situation in which the USF obtains “more and more money from a declining base of contributors.” There has been a bipartisan working group in Congress focused on reforming the program, but those efforts have yet to produce legislation. The most straightforward fix may be for Congress to move the funding to the regular appropriations process and fund it annually. However, defenders of the current program have argued that this will create uncertainty and make it difficult for carriers who depend on the funding to operate. Republicans have advocated for reforming the program and giving Congress more oversight, which would come with direct funding.
Additionally, Commissioner Carr has voiced support for expanding the contribution pool beyond traditional telecom providers and including online platforms. Commissioner Carr has noted that while Big Tech derives “tremendous value from the federal government’s universal service investments – using those federally supported networks to deliver their products and realize significant profits – these large corporations have avoided paying a fair share into the program.” By requiring traditional telephone customers to contribute to a fund that is “increasingly used to support broadband networks,” Commissioner Carr has argued that the FCC’s current approach is “the regulatory equivalent of taxing horseshoes to pay for highways,” suggesting that Congress should require Big Tech companies “to start contributing an appropriate amount.” Commissioner Carr has conceded that an act of Congress would be necessary to accomplish this, as the FCC presently has no jurisdiction to do so on its own.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Under Republican administrations, the FCC has historically taken a more permissive approach to approving mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions involving companies that hold FCC licenses and other authorizations. This pattern will likely continue under the new Trump administration, with quicker approvals for transactions and fewer conditions imposed by the FCC. This may be tempered by the new Team Telecom paradigm that recently took effect, however, which could lengthen the approval process for applications involving reportable foreign ownership. Under the new Team Telecom framework, applications that involve International Section 214 authority to provide international telecommunications service or submarine landing licenses are now referred to the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States (CFIUS) Telecommunications Services Sector if an applicant has 10% or greater direct or indirect foreign investment. Applications to exceed the FCC’s statutory foreign ownership benchmarks, which are codified at Section 310 of the Communications Act, are also referred to the CFIUS. Applicants must complete a standardized set of questions when filing an application, and a 120-day review period commences once CFIUS determines that the applicant’s responses are complete, during which time FCC action is deferred. This timeline may be extended by an additional 90 days at the CFIUS’s discretion. In one recent example, the Department of Justice (DOJ) requested that the FCC defer action on T-Mobile’s proposal to acquire parts of US Cellular until CFIUS can complete a review of the proposed transaction, citing potential national security and law enforcement concerns related to T-Mobile’s significant foreign ownership. This DOJ request is generally at odds with how the FCC has treated T-Mobile’s 100% foreign ownership in the past.
Commissioner Carr has also indicated that he may end or relax some of CFIUS’s limits on media ownership, including by reducing ownership caps. The existing media ownership caps prohibit any single company from owning stations that would collectively reach more than 39% of U.S. households, or from owning more than one of the four largest stations in any single market. Notably, Congress requires the FCC to reconsider its ownership rules every four years as part of the Quadrennial Review—the 2022 review remains ongoing, and the next one is scheduled to begin in 2026.
China and National Security
Expect to see new entities added to the FCC’s “Covered List” of communications equipment and services deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States (U.S.) under a Republican-led FCC. Commissioner Carr has been particularly vocal on this issue, urging that the FCC “must do a better job of ensuring that its Covered List stays up to date and accounts for changes in corporate names and forms,” and suggesting that the new administration “should create a more regular and timely process for reviewing entities with ties to the CCP’s surveillance state.” Expect FCC staff to take a more proactive role in investigating companies for ties to prohibited companies, and working with other agencies focused on national security to add them to the Covered List. While the FCC has so far only banned Covered List companies from obtaining FCC authorizations, Commissioner Carr has proposed revoking the existing authorizations of Covered List companies. Additionally, Commissioner Carr could be expected to prohibit U.S. providers from interconnecting with Covered List companies, in order to prevent those companies from continuing to offer service on a private, unregulated basis.
On the Hill, Republicans may move to “streamline” the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS Act) by eliminating what Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson calls “costly regulations and Green New Deal Requirements.” Republicans, including President-elect Trump, have been critical of the CHIPS Act, which allocated $39 billion for grants aimed at strengthening semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.
Consumer Protection
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit heard oral arguments on a challenge to the FCC’s net neutrality rules, which reclassified broadband Internet access services under Title II of the Communications Act, on October 31. The court has already issued a stay of the rules’ effectiveness pending its decision on the merits, citing the “major question” doctrine. The rules, originally adopted under Obama-era FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, later repealed by Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Pai, and readopted under current FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel, if upheld by the court or remanded to the agency for further action, will almost certainly be repealed under Commissioner Carr.
The FCC’s digital discrimination rules adopted under Chairwoman Rosenworcel are also being challenged in the 8th Circuit. Industry has argued that the FCC overstepped its authority by defining “digital discrimination” to include deployment decisions that have a disparate impact regardless of intent, rather than limiting its rules to instances of intentional discrimination. Republican commissioners dissented from the final rules, arguing that they went far beyond what Congress had authorized in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Commissioner Carr’s dissent contrasted the statutory text requiring the FCC to “facilitate equal access to broadband” with the FCC’s “unfunded build mandates” and “punitive liability rules.” We therefore expect a Republican-led FCC to revisit these rules should they survive the court challenge.
Other consumer protection initiatives undertaken by the current Democratic FCC, including proposals to require rebates to cable and satellite TV subscribers for blackouts, limit “bulk billing” arrangements for cable and broadband service in multi-tenant environments, impose limitations on the use of artificial intelligence in telephone and text message marketing and political advertising and investigate the appropriateness of wireless data caps, are likely to be rescinded under new Republican leadership.
Satellite & Space
Under Commissioner Carr’s leadership, the FCC will likely focus on expediting the review and approval process for applications to launch new satellites. Commissioner Carr has noted that new low-earth orbit satellites technologies have “the potential to significantly accelerate efforts to end the digital divide and disrupt the federal regulatory and subsidy regime that applies to communications networks,” and has argued that the FCC should “expedite its work to support this new technology by acting more quickly in its review and approval process.”
Earlier this year, the FCC unanimously voted to adopt a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing a new framework for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) activities, which, if adopted, would introduce new rules governing the in-space inspection, life extension, repair, refueling and alteration of spacecraft after initial launch; transport of spacecraft from one orbit to another; debris collection and removal; on-orbit construction of new space systems using pre-manufactured components; and the transformation of raw or recycled materials into components, products or infrastructure in space. Given his vote in favor of the NPRM and repeated statements on the importance of fostering U.S. leadership in commercial space, Commissioner Carr will likely move forward with the ISAM proceeding as Chairman.
Artificial Intelligence
The new Trump administration will likely take a deregulatory approach to artificial intelligence (AI). President-elect Trump has pledged to repeal President Biden’s AI executive order, which imposed new reporting requirements on developers of advanced AI models and laid the groundwork for future rules. Scaled-back regulation could be paired with slashed research funding for AI.
At the FCC, Commissioner Carr will likely scale back actions intended to regulate AI. Commissioner Carr was critical of Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s efforts to regulate the use of AI in political ads, which he characterized as “part and parcel of a broader effort to control political speech.” The Rosenworcel-led FCC adopted an NPRM in that proceeding over Commissioner Carr’s dissent. Once Commissioner Carr takes over as Chairman, it is unlikely that the FCC will move to an order in that proceeding.
Future Outlook for Open Proceedings at the FCC
- Ban on Bulk-Billed Broadband in Multi-Tenant Environments (GN Docket No. 17-142): In March 2024, the FCC circulated a proposal that would restrict bulk billing arrangements for service providers in multi-tenant environments (MTEs) in order to provide more choice to tenants. The press release indicated that the proposal would ban bulk billing arrangements in such buildings and/or provide tenants with the ability to opt out, as well as “seek comment on other practices that may limit consumer choice in multi-unit buildings.” Commissioner Carr spoke out against this proposal, which he said “makes no sense and would hit families like a new broadband tax.” Given Commissioner Carr’s opposition, this item will likely be pulled from circulation under his leadership at the FCC.
- Strengthening Customer Service in the Communications Industry (CG Docket No. 24-472): In October, the FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) seeking information about customer service practices across a variety of communications companies, which was aimed at assessing whether customers “have appropriate access to the customer service resources they require to interact with their service provider in a manner that allows them to efficiently resolve issues, avoid unnecessary charges and make informed choices regarding the services they obtain from these service providers.” The NOI was adopted over Commissioner Carr’s dissent, which questioned the FCC’s authority to regulate customer service standards for the industry. Once the comment cycle concludes on the NOI, the FCC will likely abandon this effort under Commissioner Carr’s leadership.
- Establishing a 5G Fund for Rural America (GN Docket No. 20-32): In August, the FCC adopted new rules to advance a $9 billion initiative to bring voice and 5G services to rural areas unlikely to see unsubsidized deployment, along with a further notice of proposed rulemaking (FNPRM). Although the 5G fund was a Carr priority years ago, he was the sole dissenting vote on the item this year, arguing that the FCC should wait to see where the BEAD Program funding is allocated, since that information will help determine where and how 5G fund bids should be made. Under Commissioner Carr’s leadership, the FCC will likely not issue a further order in response to the FNPRM.
- Data Caps in Consumer Broadband Plans (WC Docket No. 23-199): In October, the FCC voted to adopt a new Notice of Inquiry (NOI) seeking information about the use of data caps by broadband Internet access service providers for both fixed and mobile broadband Internet service, as well as the impact of the use of data caps on consumers and competition. Initial comments were due on November 14, and reply comments are due on December 2. The NOI was adopted over a dissent from Commissioner Carr, who characterized it as an attempt to impose the type of rate regulation the FCC specifically promised to forbear from in the 2024 Net Neutrality Order. Once the comment cycle concludes, the FCC will likely not move forward with any further items in this docket.
- Priority Application Review for Broadcast Stations That Provide Local Journalism (MB Docket No. 24-14): In January, the FCC voted to adopt an NPRM that would prioritize license application review for broadcasters that provide locally originated programming. Commissioner Carr dissented to the adoption of the item because of its discussion of the 2017 repeal of the main studio rule. It is unlikely that the FCC will advance this proposal under Commissioner Carr’s leadership.
- Promoting Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Through Handset Unlocking Requirements and Policies (WT Docket No. 24-186): In July, the FCC voted to adopt an NPRM proposing new rules that would require all carriers to unlock a handset 60 days after it is activated, unless it was purchased through fraud. Commissioner Carr voted in favor of the NPRM, but did not issue a statement. It is unclear whether advancing such an effort will be a priority for the agency under his leadership.
- WTB and OET Seek Comment on NextNav Petition for Rulemaking (WT Docket No. 24-240): Earlier this year, NextNav filed a petition for rulemaking requesting that the FCC initiate a proceeding to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz Band and adopt new rules to enable the deployment of a 5G terrestrial positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) network that “complements and backs up” the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). The FCC released a public notice soliciting comments on this proposal in September, which was met with an influx of comments from trade associations and commercial industry groups who opposed the plan. Even NTIA filed comments against the NextNav plan. However, NextNav’s CEO suggested, on a recent earnings call, that the incoming Trump administration, and specifically Commissioner Carr, may support advancing the proposal.
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