The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the nomination of Nathan Simington to the FCC seat previously held by Michael O’Rielly. With the approval, Simington’s nomination now moves to the full Senate for approval.

Compliance Testing of Mesa, Arizona, completed the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) National Accreditation Board (ANAB) and DHS Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) assessment process to add Project 25 (P25) Compliance Assessment Program (CAP) Inter-RF Sub-System Interface (ISSI) and Console Sub-System Interface (ISSI) equipment testing to its ISO/IEC 17025:2017 scope of accreditation.

The radio interfaces that will be used in full-scale commercial deployment of fifth generation mobile communication networks have achieved global validation with the successful evaluation by ITU of three new technologies that conform with the International Mobile Telecommunications 2020 (IMT-2020) vision and stringent performance requirement.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced that he intends to leave the FCC on January 20, when President-Elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published airworthiness criteria for the proposed certification of 10 different unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), also known as drones, as special class aircraft. This is a crucial step to enabling more complex drone operations beyond what is allowed under the Part 107 small unmanned aircraft rule, including package delivery.

The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) denied a petition from ZTE asking for reconsideration of its designation as a company posing national security threat to U.S. communications networks and/or the supply chain.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill aimed at improving the cybersecurity of internet of things (IoT) devices. The bill was passed by the House in September and now moves to the president for approval.

The FCC released a memorandum by the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) and the Office of General Counsel formalizing the commission’s procedures for incorporating economic analysis into its decision-making.

RCA Communications Systems added North Mississippi 2Way Communications and Professional Technical Assistance to its network of authorized two-way radio dealers.

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA) filed comments in response to the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed revising the agency’s application fee schedule.