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The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., unanimously upheld Federal Communications Commission rules adopted last year that requires larger phone companies, such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, to strike roaming deals with smaller operators on their wireless data networks.

Verizon Communications had challenged the FCC rule, which was adopted last year. But today, the three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejected Verizon's argument that the FCC had overstepped its authority by adopting such a rule.

The court unanimously found that the FCC was well within its jurisdiction … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission plans to hold a series of hearings over the next few months to discuss ways to avoid losing communications during and after disasters such as superstorm Sandy.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski today said the agency would look at the challenges facing communications networks and offer recommendations for improving the resiliency of these networks. The first set of hearings will begin in early 2013 in New York City, one of the areas hardest hit by the storm. Additional hearings will follow in other parts of the country.

"This unprecedented storm has revealed new challenges that will … Read more

The FCC's chairman has given his thumbs-up to Dish Network's desire to enter the wireless market. But Dish is none too happy with the restrictions proposed.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said yesterday he would approve Dish's request to build its own 4G wireless network, the Washington Post reported. The federal agency, which opposed the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile last year, wants to see more competition in the wireless industry.

"If approved, these actions will promote competition, investment, and innovation, and advance commission efforts to unleash spectrum for mobile broadband to help meet … Read more

AT&T has agreed to pay $700,000 to the federal government to resolve complaints that that the company switched certain consumers to its mandatory monthly wireless data plans even though it had promised they could retain their existing pay-as-you-go data plans, the FCC announced Tuesday.

AT&T has agreed to refund excess charges paid by these "grandfathered subscriber," which could be as much as $25 to $30 a month, depending on data use, the Federal Communications Commission said in a press release. AT&T began transferring customers to to its monthly data plans in … Read more

Cellphone service in superstorm Sandy's path is likely to get worse before it gets better, the Federal Communications Commission said today.

"This was and still is a devastating storm with a serious impact on our nation's communications infrastructure," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said during a conference call with press this afternoon. "The storm is not over. And our assumption is that communications outages could get worse before they get better, particularly for mobile networks because of the flooding and loss of power."

Genachowski said that as of 10 a.m. ET today, 25 percent … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission has paved the way for AT&T to finally use spectrum for its 4G LTE network that had been sidelined for 15 years because it caused interference with satellite radio services.

At its open meeting today, which was Webcast for the public, the FCC approved a compromise proposal that had been submitted by AT&T and Sirius XM Radio earlier this year that protects the satellite radio service by instituting unused guard bands of spectrum that are right next to the spectrum that Sirius uses.

All five of the commissioners on the FCC supported … Read more

The free ride is over for people who have been getting access to basic cable TV stations by simply plugging their TVs into the wall.

Late last week, the Federal Communications Commission gave cable operators permission to encrypt basic cable TV service, which includes broadcast TV, in an effort to allow people to sign up for and disconnect cable service remotely and help cable operators reduce theft of basic services. Cable operators already encrypt the more expensive channel packages.

The FCC had prohibited encryption of basic service, because doing so required consumers to rent a set-top box. The idea was … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission has begun the long process of reclaiming broadcast TV spectrum for wireless use.

The five commissioners unanimously approved a proposal intended to free up spectrum now held by broadcasters and auction it to wireless broadband providers. (See the FCC press release embedded at the end of this article.) CNET followed the hearing via the FCC's public webcast.

The complicated process, which is the first of its kind, will have three components.

First there is the reverse auction, in which TV broadcasters will voluntarily sell their spectrum back to the government. Then there's a "… Read more

As the Federal Communications Commission establishes the rules for its upcoming incentive spectrum auction, competitive carriers say they do not want to see a repeat of what happened with the 700MHz spectrum auction in 2008.

"The 700MHz auction was a disaster," Patrick Riordan, CEO of the rural Wisconsin carrier Cellcom, said at the Competitive Carrier Association's annual conference this week. "The FCC needs to get this one right. We all need spectrum too much. It has to be a level playing field."

On Friday the FCC will open comment on a proposal for how the … Read more