Today’s Regulatory Mix: FCC Seeks Comments on Satellite Registration Fee Petition, Updated Gulf Coast Communications Services Report

FCC Seeks Comments on Satellite Registration Fee Petition 

The FCC issued a Public Notice soliciting comments on a petition for reconsideration.  The petition, filed by Telesat Canada, Space Exploration Holdings LLC, Kepler Communications. Inc. and WorldVu Satellites Limited, filing as the NGSO Satellite Coalition, asks the FCC to reconsider an updated regulatory fee regime that established new fee subcategories for “less complex” non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) systems and all other NGSO systems in May. Oppositions are due 15 days after Federal Register publication and replies 10 days after that. 

 

Updated Gulf Coast Communications Services Report 

The FCC issued a report updating the status of communications services in geographic areas impacted by Hurricane Ida as of September1, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. EDT. This report incorporates network outage data submitted by communications providers to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). The following counties are in the current geographic area that is part of DIRS (the “disaster area”) in the report.  

Alabama: Baldwin, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe, Washington.  

Louisiana: Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Point Coupee, St, Martin, St, Mary, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Vermillion, Washington, West Baton Rouge, West Feliciana.  

Mississippi: Adams, Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clay, Coahoma, Copiah, DeSoto, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lamar, Lee, Leflore, Lincoln, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Panola, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Sharkey, Stone, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union, Walthall, Warren, Washington, Webster, Wilkinson, Yalobusha, Yazoo. 

Cellular and 911 services are steadily being restored throughout the disaster area.  In Louisiana, 911 services were being impacted as follows:  

  • Assumption Parish 911 LA is reported as down.  
  • St. Mary’s Parish has been re-routed to other telephone lines with no location information.  
  • St. Johns Parish Sheriff’s Office has been re-routed to another PSAP with location information.  
  • Terrebonne Parish Comm is operational without location information. 

 

Have a safe and enjoyable Labor Day Holiday!

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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.