USTelecom noted that the FCC is looking to get rid of outdated rules through its “Delete” proceeding (see 2504140046) and shouldn’t now layer on new pole attachment rules. USTelecom representatives met with Wireline Bureau staff on the issue, according to a filing posted Monday (docket 17-84). “At a time when the Commission is looking to cut burdensome and counterproductive regulations from its rulebooks, it should avoid imposing prescriptive make-ready rules that fail to account for the operational realities of broadband deployment,” USTelecom said.
CTIA offered the FCC a list of programs for streamlining through the commission’s “Delete” proceeding in comments posted Monday in docket 25-133. In addition, USTelecom recommended “eliminating, streamlining, or reforming” some 3,000 rules in the "Code of Federal Regulations." The comments provide commission staff with thousands of suggestions to wade through as they evaluate changes the telecom industry suggested. As of late Monday, the commission has received nearly 900 comments in the proceeding (see 2504140063 and 2504140037).
Comments in Chairman Brendan Carr's “Delete, Delete, Delete” docket (25-133) continue to roll in to the FCC. As of late Friday, the due date, nearly 600 comments have been filed. Also on Friday, USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter compared the docket to “spring cleaning.”
Letting ISPs retire copper lines and move to next-generation technologies is critical to broadband deployment, industry experts said during a USTelecom forum Thursday. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has said repeatedly that the agency wants to make it easier for ISPs to modernize their networks (see 2504030011). Other executives warned that uncertainty in the BEAD program could be slowing broadband deployment.
The last seven months of 2024 saw 5,770 reports of theft or intentional vandalism targeting communications infrastructure nationwide -- 27 a day -- said NCTA, CTIA, USTelecom and NTCA in a white paper Wednesday. It was an update of a November 2024 report in which the groups also called for updated state laws and harsher penalties (see 2411190058). The latest version said 10 states accounted for 93% of such reports during that seven-month span, with 51% occurring in California and Texas. Cuts into copper or fiber cables made up the single biggest category of reports, with 1,915, while there were an additional 1,300 reports of aerial damage, it said. As of this month, 20 states have pending legislation aimed at the issue. It said Kentucky became the first state in the 2025 legislative session to increase penalties for such tampering, with a bill signed into law in March by Gov. Andy Beshear (D) that designates communications equipment as critical infrastructure and imposes felony penalties for damage or tampering. "A wave of vandalism and theft threatens vital communications networks and other critical infrastructure," NCTA said.
While FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has indicated that the agency envisions more steps to retire copper networks, beyond a series of orders issued in March, we're told it's unclear what big regulatory burdens remain. The agency last month called its steps "initial" and promised additional action (see 2503200056). Carr used similar language at last week's FCC meeting (see 2503270042). His office didn't comment further.
USTelecom warned that changes to pole attachment rules could harm broadband deployment under the BEAD program. In a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-84, USTelecom cited recent filings by ACA Connects (see 2503110021), electric utilities and others. USTelecom members “are working to deploy broadband as quickly as possible and support Commission efforts to speed such deployments, including those funded through BEAD and other government programs,” the group said. “However, departing from the negotiated timelines required under the Commission’s current rules and adopting one-size-fits-all make-ready timelines for large make-ready orders will not speed deployment in BEAD or otherwise.”
The FCC Enforcement Bureau on Thursday asked voice service providers and USTelecom’s Industry Traceback Group to file information by May 1 on “private-led efforts to trace back the origin of suspected unlawful robocalls necessary for the Commission’s annual report.” The reporting period for the request is all of 2024. “Unlawful prerecorded or artificial voice message calls -- robocalls -- plague the American public,” the bureau said in a notice in docket 20-195. “Spoofed caller ID makes it more difficult to identify the source of the call.”
The Senate voted 74-25 Tuesday to confirm Michael Kratsios as White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director, as expected (see 2503170057). Earlier Tuesday, the chamber invoked cloture on Kratsios by a similarly lopsided 73-25 margin. Eight Senate Commerce Committee Democrats, including ranking member Maria Cantwell of Washington, were among the 21 caucus members who backed Kratsios. Cantwell and the other seven panel Democrats who supported Kratsios on the floor, including Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, voted to advance him during a panel meeting earlier this month (see 2503120069). CTIA and USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter hailed Kratsios' confirmation.
The FCC’s Wireline Bureau released a series of orders on delegated authority Thursday with the goal of making it easier for carriers to move away from legacy copper networks, said a news release and a number of filings. Outdated agency rules “have forced providers to pour resources into maintaining aging and expensive copper line networks instead of investing in the modern, high-speed infrastructure that Americans want and deserve," said Chairman Brendan Carr in the release.