The FCC waived the budget control mechanism for rural cost-based Connect America Fund broadband loop support and high-cost loop support recipients until June 2023, said an order Tuesday in docket 10-90. "Absent a waiver, the projected budget control reduction factor would exceed 14%," the order said. The order "makes eminent sense," said Commissioner Brendan Carr: "Now is not the time to cut back on the support for these rural providers." Other commissioners didn't release a statement. Several groups sought an extension of the waiver, including NTCA, USTelecom and WTA (see 2204110062). WTA "strongly supports the FCC's actions to spare small broadband providers serving rural areas the worst effects of the [budget control mechanism] for another year," said Senior Vice President-Government and Industry Affairs Derrick Owens.

The California Public Utilities Commission would break the law if it extended landline service-quality rules to VoIP, broadband or wireless, the telecom industry warned in comments filed Monday on a rulemaking sought by consumer advocates to update telecom service-quality standards and enforcement (see 2203170072). AT&T suggested the commission instead slash regulations for plain old telephone services (POTS). Consumer, small business and workers’ union advocates supported extending the rules.

FCC commissioners and industry groups stressed the need for USF changes during Free State Foundation’s annual policy conference Friday. Panelists also urged close coordination among agencies throughout the implementation of broadband programs funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Open internet supporters cheered ISPs dropping their challenge of California’s net neutrality law. National telecom associations indicated Wednesday they won’t appeal to the Supreme Court after the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to rehear their case (see 2204200061). Whether states may regulate broadband might still not be settled. Some opponents of state net neutrality laws said to watch out for the 2nd Circuit to perhaps differ on federal preemption questions.

USTelecom told FCC Wireline Bureau staff it backs NTCA's request for the FCC to extend its waiver of the budget control mechanism for rural cost-based Connect America Fund broadband loop support and high-cost loop support recipients, said an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 10-90 (see 2204110062). The group said it anticipates universal service support for "several hundred small rural companies and cooperatives over the next twelve-month period will be reduced significantly" once the Universal Service Administrative Co. completes its "recalculation of the impact estimate on the high cost budget."

House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and subpanel Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., filed a companion version of the Robocall Trace Back Enhancement Act (S-3335) Wednesday. The measure, filed in the Senate in December, would protect the Traced Act’s USTelecom-led Industry Traceback Group by providing immunity from lawsuits for “receiving, sharing and publishing” certain “covered” trace-back information, including information on “suspected fraudulent, abusive or unlawful robocalls” (see 2112080059). Reps. John Curtis, R-Utah, and Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., are also co-sponsors of the House bill. “We made significant strides in Congress to protect consumers from scams and fraud with” the 2019 Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act, Latta said. “But as time passes, bad actors are constantly morphing their tactics in an effort to continue with their illegal scams. I am proud that with the Robocall Trace Back Enhancement Act, we can build upon our work to stop bad actors in their tracks and protect the American people from their schemes.” Latta and other lawmakers are eyeing whether a new robocall legislative package is possible this year (see 2204210025).

Federal and state lawmakers are looking for new ways to tighten robocall restrictions amid an evolving landscape, but experts told us it’s still challenging for governments to keep ahead of bad actors. Some on Capitol Hill are hoping to quickly enact a new anti-robocall package this year, despite a rapidly closing legislative window. State legislators are acting in case federal legislation stalls. Robocall opponents must “press on every front,” said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (D) in an interview: He believes stopping bad actors requires state and federal collaboration, and should include industry and other countries.

Spoofing remains a particularly acute problem for U.S. residents already besieged by run-of-the-mill robocalls, with close to one in four robocall complaints to the FCC involving some form of spoofing, per our analysis of those complaints. The agency often says robocalls are the biggest source of public complaints it receives. Via a Freedom of Information Act request, we obtained and then reviewed the 446 complaints the agency received on one day, July 1. Per data from the agency's Consumer Complaints Center, it received just shy of 161,000 robocall complaints last year.

USTelecom, AT&T, Lumen, Verizon, Consolidated and Windstream told FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff that consumer broadband labels should be "tailored to meet their purpose," said an ex parte posted Thursday in docket 22-2. The ISPs had "concerns" about calls to include a label on monthly bills, saying it "would be burdensome and costly to providers without any real benefit to consumers." They also repeated calls to avoid "esoteric metrics that are meaningless to the average consumer" and said the FCC should "educate consumers on what speeds support their planned activities" (see 2203250053).

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, Netflix, Huawei and Apple reported the largest percentage increases in Q1 lobbying spending among telecom and tech sector entities, based on filings Wednesday. Disney, IBM and T-Mobile reported the biggest percentage spending decreases for the quarter. Facebook parent company Meta, Amazon and CTIA were the top sector spenders for Q1. Most entities boosted their spending or stayed level compared with the same period in 2021.