House GOP members and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) leaders attacked the Biden administration’s broadband policy at Thursday’s FCC oversight hearing.  

After two years without a fifth commissioner, FCC Democrats have started the process to reinstate Obama-era net neutrality rules. The 3-2 vote reinstated the policy that brings internet service providers under the jurisdiction of the FCC as telecommunications carriers. The FCC repealed net neutrality in 2017 under the Trump administration. 

“The Biden administration has chosen partisan ideology over smart policy,” Commissioner Brendan Carr (R) said. “Indeed, almost three years into this administration, a clear pattern has emerged. The Biden administration’s entire approach to the Internet — its broadband agenda, if you will — can be boiled down to one word: control.” 

House Republicans agreed, with Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) saying, “Burdensome and expansive regulations like these will only discourage broadband buildout at a time when Americans need it most.” 

Carr continued to attack the Biden administration, saying the regulation is not about consumer safety or efficiency, but about reinstating government control. 

“In other words, utility-style regulation of the Internet was never about improving your online experience — that was just the sheep’s clothing,” Carr said. “It was always about government control.” 

Other lawmakers agreed and said media marketplace legislation should be handled by Congress, not the FCC.  

“Changes to laws that govern the media marketplace need to be made by Congress, not by the FCC,” Energy and Commerce Chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said. 

Congress members clashed with the FCC’s Democratic chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, throughout the hearing. When Latta asked how the reinstatement of net neutrality rules could impact national security, Rosenworcel responded, “I would be happy to have [a] discussion with you about national security issues. You and I spoke about this already.” 

Before beginning his questioning, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) addressed Rosenworcel, saying, “One of the main functions of Congress is oversight. So, we’re here for oversight, not confrontation. I want to be educated; I don’t want to be confrontational.” 

Other commissioners and House members encouraged their colleagues to refocus their attention on important issues at hand, such as consumer safety, rather than partisan finger-pointing. 

“Device security is just one of many other policy priorities that the FCC should instead focus on in lieu of partisan goals that do not further the public interest,” Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington said. “I am hopeful that my colleagues will embrace more bipartisan, commonsense policies going forward.” 

Recently confirmed fifth Commissioner Anna Gomez (D) agreed, saying, “We must be vigilant about protecting consumers. From spam calls and scam texts, to protecting victims of domestic violence, to ensuring the internet remains open, consumers’ interests must lead our policymaking.”    

Source : The Hill

The post Republicans Rip Biden’s Broadband Policy at FCC Hearing appeared first on Policy Print.

The Policy Statement aims to address three main areas of concern: first, the increasingly noisy radiofrequency (RF) environment; second, a recognition of the shared responsibilities that both transmitters and receivers have in reducing the impact of harmful interference; third, the need for robust data on the operations of both transmitters and receivers when making spectrum management decisions.

Noisy RF Environment. While acknowledging the myriad of factors that contribute to a noisy RF environment and the resulting harmful interference, the FCC shied away from the expectation of 100% service guarantees. Instead, interference protection for particular servicers would vary, with some receiving higher levels of service reliability than others. Thus, the FCC does not appear inclined to adopt a uniform or absolute expectation of service availability, reasoning that doing so could undermine the efficient use of spectrum resources.

Shared Responsibilities Among Transmitters and Receivers. The FCC plans to proactively support “good neighbor” policies that are designed to promote coexistence among spectrum services. For transmitters, the FCC will continue to regulate emissions via its service rules to ensure out-of-band emissions are minimized to the greatest extent practical, including potential design features that would aid in interference mitigation. In a warning to receiver manufacturers, the FCC said operators and users should not assume that receivers designed for their original RF environment will be categorically protected. Instead, receiver designers were encouraged to mitigate undesired signals by technical and design improvements, such as digital filtering, antenna design, and dynamic frequency selection.

Potential Disclosure Requirements for Needed Data. Moving forward, the FCC will consider whether to require transmitters and receivers to disclose relevant information and system characteristics associated with particular services. With respect to transmitters, the relevant information could include data on spectrum mask, emission type, power level, and antenna gain/power/pattern. Receiver manufacturers might be expected to disclose details on filter masks, interference resiliency, receiver selectivity, intermodulation rejection, noise figure/factor, and signal-to-interference-noise (SINR) requirements.

Last, the FCC will explore in future rulemaking the possibility of employing interference limits policies in particular spectrum bands. Such an approach would require further study of the particular bands and services at issue, including technical considerations and the rights and protections that might attach to incumbents and new entrants.

Although not binding, the Policy Statement makes clear that the FCC will be disinclined to take action to protect receivers that are not designed with good engineering practices and with consideration of the spectral environment. We expect that the draft will be adopted at the FCC’s April 20 Open Meeting without substantive changes.

Source: Jdsupra

The post In Response to Receiver NOI, FCC Issues Draft Spectrum Management Principles appeared first on Policy Print.