USTelecom urged the FCC to continue designating its Industry Traceback Group (ITG) as the consortium to coordinate industry efforts on identifying illegal robocalls. The group noted in a letter Wednesday in docket 20-22 that the ITG "receives direction and support from a broad cross-section of the communications industry." The ITG "continues to meet the criteria established in the Traced Act for the registered consortium and the ITG’s track record demonstrates that it is and remains the best candidate for the role of the commission-designated registered consortium," USTelecom said.
Broadband access, equity and deployment program funding is flowing more slowly than expected and likely won’t start in mid-2025 as originally expected, Diana Eisner, USTelecom vice president-policy and advocacy, said during a Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy webcast Wednesday. Most of the money will start to flow in mid-2026 or later, she predicted. It could even be the second half of 2026, she said.
The House Agriculture Committee-passed farm bill includes a “critical” provision that would help streamline regulations slowing rural connectivity, USTelecom said Friday. The committee voted 33-21 Friday to approve the farm bill with four Democrats in support. The bill includes language from the Facilitating Optimal and Rapid Expansion and Siting of Telecommunications (Forest) Act. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., who introduced the legislation, successfully attached it as an amendment to the farm bill. The amendment would require that the U.S. Forest Service recognize previously approved permits with prior environmental and historical preservation approvals. “At a time when rural connectivity is more critical than ever, the Forest amendment in the Farm Bill trims back the regulatory underbrush that has been slowing it down,” said Brandon Heiner, USTelecom senior vice president-government affairs. “Speeding up the broadband permitting process on federal Forest Service lands is not only necessary, but long overdue.” If the House passes it, the farm bill would need to be reconciled with language from the Democratic-led Senate. Congress did not approve a farm bill in 2023.
The FCC’s updated data breach notification rule, adopted Dec. 13, released Dec. 21 and published in the Federal Register Feb. 12, is a “brazen effort to claim regulatory authority” that Congress declined to confer under the Communications Act, but also “specifically rejected” under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), said the consolidated opening brief Wednesday in the 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court of five petitioners that seek to invalidate the rule (see 2402210026).
Broadband providers, broadcasters, satellite companies and the FirstNet Authority urged the FCC not to expand outage reporting requirements. Meanwhile, groups such as Public Knowledge, Next Century Cities and The Utility Reform Network (TURN) said increased reporting rules are a matter of public safety. Comments were filed in docket 21-346 by Monday’s deadline.
A new bid by Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and other senators to attach stopgap funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and additional money for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to the FAA Reauthorization Act (see 2405070083) faces resistance from chamber leaders. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other leaders are skeptical about including nongermane language in the FAA package. A previous proposal to attach ACP money drew opposition during a Tuesday night “hotline” that Senate leaders ran to gauge lawmakers’ support for amendments in the package.
The Universal Service Administrative Co's. (USAC) role in administering the FCC's Universal Service Fund programs "is purely administrative," the FCC told the U.S. Supreme Court in response to Consumers' Research's challenge of how the commission determines quarterly contribution factors (see 2401100044). USAC "must comply with detailed regulations issued by the FCC" and "helps the FCC compute the amount of each quarterly payment" carriers must contribute, the agency said in an opposition brief filed in docket 23-456.
Vermont’s net neutrality law seems in good shape legally following two significant, late-April decisions by the FCC and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said experts on the statute. ISP groups must decide what to do with their 2018 lawsuit at U.S. District Court of Vermont now that the case can resume following the 2nd Circuit ruling.
The FTC should narrow the scope of its online impersonation rule, preventing unnecessary liability for broadband and wireless providers, NCTA, CTIA, USTelecom and the Consumer Technology Association told the agency in comments posted through Wednesday. Consumer advocates urged the agency to make the rule broad enough to stop companies from turning a blind eye to scams.
The Biden administration could impede U.S. competitiveness if it codifies new cloud service regulations that force the tech industry to monitor and share data about foreign customers with the government, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and IBM told the Commerce Department in comments due Monday. Telecom associations worried that definitions for cloud service companies might be too broad.