The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency could serve as a one-stop “clearinghouse” for industry stakeholders to report cyber incidents, Paul Eisler, USTelecom's vice president-cybersecurity and innovation, said Thursday. Eisler discussed CISA’s proposed cyber incident reporting rules during a USTelecom webinar. He noted the telecom sector reports cyber incidents to a long list of agencies, including the FCC, FTC, DOJ, SEC and state government entities. Having cyber officials fill out “five different” reports for one incident distracts them from fending off future attacks, he said. There needs to be “concrete, tangible” steps to address solutions after an incident, he said. USTelecom, NCTA and Microsoft filed comments in CISA’s latest round of public comments on the proposed regulations (see 2407030059).
Republican FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington appears likely to win renomination regardless of which party takes the White House in November, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. Some observers believe it's unlikely Democrats will use Simington's 2025 confirmation process to strike back against any FCC structural changes Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr may propose if former President Donald Trump wins and nominates him as chairman, as expected (see 2407120002). Carr’s reconfirmation last year (see 2310020043) means his term doesn’t expire until 2028, so he wouldn't face a new round of Senate scrutiny.
States hope they can increase federal engagement on telecom no matter who is president in 2025, current and former state utility commissioners said in interviews. In a possible second Donald Trump presidency, “the states and localities are really going to be where broadband policy is made,” predicted Gigi Sohn, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society senior fellow. Some said there is a lot of uncertainty about how a Trump administration might change rules for state grants under NTIA’s $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program.
Donald Trump recently has distanced himself from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 manifesto (see 2407050015), but its authors are his close policy advisors. Accordingly, his election would likely mean chaos for the federal bureaucracy, including agencies like the FCC, FTC and the NTIA, experts said. As many as 50,000 federal employees could lose their jobs if a Trump administration cleans house, experts told us. Project 2025 includes a chapter on the FCC that Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote. Carr is considered the favorite to become FCC chair if Trump wins (see 2407120002).
Expect a Donald Trump White House and FCC to focus on deregulation and undoing the agency's net neutrality and digital discrimination rules, telecom policy experts and FCC watchers tell us. Brendan Carr, one of the two GOP minority commissioners, remains the seeming front-runner to head the agency if Trump wins the White House in November (see 2407120002). Despite repeated comments from Trump as a candidate and president calling for FCC action against companies such as CNN and MSNBC over their news content, many FCC watchers on both sides of the aisle told us they don’t expect the agency to actually act against cable networks or broadcast licenses under a second Trump administration.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is widely seen as the favorite to become FCC chair in a second Donald Trump presidency, and former FCC staffers and communications industry officials told us they expect a Carr-led FCC would prioritize policies he wrote about in the telecom chapter of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. For example, the chapter lays out plans for rolling back Section 230 protections for tech companies, deregulating broadband infrastructure and restricting Chinese companies.
Cox Media Group promotes Brad Smith to CFO ... Benchmark Space Systems, space mobility integrator, appoints Chuck Bush, previously Champlain College visiting professor, as CFO ... Aldo Pietropaolo, ex-SGNL, joins identity service company Strata Identity as field chief technology officer ... NetSecurity appoints Mike Hayes, ex-Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, as senior vice president-strategy and business development, and Olivia Lassiter, ex-Northwestern Mutual, as sales executive-private sector ... Passwordless authentication company Secret Double Octopus appoints Astrix Security’s Timothy Youngblood to board.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project should launch standards for fixed wireless access, a T-Mobile executive said Wednesday during a Mobile World Live webinar on 5G-advanced, which is the next step in 5G evolution. Egil Gronstad, T-Mobile senior director-technology development and strategy, said he’s disappointed with 3GPP and industry. “We haven’t really done anything in the 3GPP specs to specifically address” fixed wireless.
Peter Chandler, previously TechNet, joins Internet Works as executive director ... Telecommunications technology company Titanium Platform promotes Bruno Lacoste from COO to CEO ... Data center operator Start Campus moves interim CEO Robert Dunn to permanent spot and promotes Luis Rodrigues to COO ... Daryush Laqab, ex-Nvidia, joins software engineering company Ascendion as chief AI officer ... Com Laude appoints consultant Ben Crawford, ex-CentralNic Group, as CEO, succeeding Glenn Hayward, departing as part of transition after company was sold to PX3 Partners ... Cybersecurity company Stairwell appoints Joe DeBlasio, ex-Transmit Security, as vice president-global sales and customer success ... SurgePays names AT&T’s Joseph Gomez as vice president-mobile virtual network operations ...Anterix nominates Scott Lang, ex-Turvo, Heard Capital’s William Heard, and Owl Creek’s Mark Fleischhauer to stand for election to board ... Information management company OpenText appoints Accenture’s Annette Rippert to board ... Sidus Space appoints Jeffrey Shuman, ex-L3Harris, to board.
Restrictions on cellphones in Virginia public schools are "essential ... to promote a healthier and more focused educational environment," Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said Tuesday in an executive order. It directs the state's secretaries of state and health and human resources, health commissioner, superintendent of public instruction and Department of Education to solicit public input for draft guidance on cellphone-free K-12 public schools. The state agencies also will issue model implementation plans giving school divisions options, such as pouches or dedicated cellphone lockers. Final state guidance on restricting or eliminating cellphone use during instructional time is due by Sept. 16, with school divisions adopting policies and procedures by Jan. 1, according to the EO.