Today’s Regulatory Mix: FCC’s Rosenworcel Comments on Spectrum Strategy, FCC Deactivates DIRS for Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas

 

FCC’s Rosenworcel Comments on Spectrum Strategy 

Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel addressed the 2021 NTIA Spectrum Policy Symposium on “Modernizing U.S. Spectrum Strategy and Infrastructure for 21st Century Global Leadership. Spectrum policy, Rosenworcel acknowledged, has never been more important and outlined five key principles the FCC is focusing on to help guide America’s 5G future by: 

  • freeing up more spectrum—and especially mid-band spectrum—for 5G. “I believe our pivot to mid-band spectrum will be a game changer for 5G in the United States. It will foster more competition, wider coverage, and better performance—and up next is our auction next month of prime mid-band spectrum in the 3.45-3.55 GHz band. “ 
  • expanding the reach of fiber facilities. “Our wireless networks will only be as good as the wired connections that help make them work. I’m particularly pleased that building more broadband is at the heart of the legislative discussions we are having about infrastructure in this county.” 
  • diversifying the equipment in networks. “This is how we will return the United States to a position of strength and leadership in the market for 5G equipment. Open and interoperable equipment is the future, and we are taking action to ensure that Open RAN technology is being built here and now.“ 
  • building security and resiliency in supply chains. “We’re taking direct action to keep untrusted equipment and vendors out of our networks. We are working on a program to replace this equipment to the extent that it is present in our domestic networks today. And we are making adjustments to the FCC’s equipment authorization process to help prevent insecure equipment from ever reaching our shores and to encourage better security practices across the board.” 
  • fostering American leadership in setting the technology standards of the future. “I believe it is imperative that the United States government invest the resources necessary to lead in international standards development processes because when we do, we can lead the world. Greater participation in these efforts means more innovation at international scale and broader support for the democratizing possibilities of access to modern communications.” 

 

FCC Deactivates DIRS for Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas 

The FCC has deactivated its Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) for Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas. Communications providers do not need to provide any additional reporting in DIRS in connection with these events. For this reason, the Network Outage Reporting System reporting obligations under Part 4 of the Commission’s rules, which were suspended for providers reporting in DIRS while, are now again in effect. 

 

The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.