FCC commissioners voted 3-2 Thursday, over dissents by Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, to approve the agency's Telecom Act Section 706 report to Congress. The report concluded that broadband isn't deployed in a "reasonable and timely fashion," with about 24 million Americans lacking access to speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps. The two Republicans also dissented at the commissioners' open meeting on a proposed requirement that cable and satellite TV multichannel programming distributors display prominently the aggregate cost of video programming in ads and customer bills.
Twenty industry and business groups, including CTIA, USTelecom and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, seek expedited briefing and oral argument on their consolidated petitions for review challenging the lawfulness of the FCC’s Nov. 20 digital discrimination order (see 2402290002), said their motion Wednesday (docket 24-1183) in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The FCC’s March 7 response opposing Essential Network Technologies and MetComm.net's Feb. 26 emergency motion to expedite consideration of the companies' E-rate program appeal “confirms that the motion should be granted,” according to the petitioners’ reply Wednesday (docket 24-1027) at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
FCC commissioners approved 5-0 a voluntary cyber trust mark program based on National Institute of Standards and Technology criteria during their open meeting Thursday. As expected, commissioners noted changes in the item since a draft circulated three weeks ago (see 2403130047). Also, as expected, the FCC will ask additional questions in a further notice about software and hardware from countries of national security concern and whether data from U.S. citizens will be stored abroad. The FCC was under pressure to make changes.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us she's considering a clean FCC reauthorization bill that could pay for some of congressional leaders’ telecom priorities but wouldn’t necessarily mandate that the commission begin sales of specific frequencies. Senate Commerce plans a March 21 hearing on that and other spectrum policy issues, Cantwell told us Thursday ahead of a formal panel announcement. Cantwell's proposal would be in line with her pursuit of a slimmed-down measure (see 2403110066) drawing some elements of the stalled House Commerce Committee-cleared Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565).
Prepare for more California privacy activity in coming months, California Privacy Protection Agency Senior Privacy Counsel Lisa Kim said Wednesday. Kim previewed CPPA enforcement, rulemaking and legislative work at a virtual FCBA privacy symposium Wednesday. A growing patchwork of state privacy laws makes it difficult for businesses to create a good consumer experience for making privacy choices, said corporate privacy practitioners during a later panel.
The House voted 352-65 Wednesday to approve legislation that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if Chinese parent company ByteDance doesn’t divest the app in six months (see 2403120062).
Industry officials expect changes in the cyber trust mark rules, set for a vote Thursday, though the extent is still evolving, said lawyers in the proceeding. One wildcard is whether the FCC will attach a further notice, asking questions about issues including the country of origin of security updates under the program. The item is expected to be approved 5-0, with Commissioner Nathan Simington getting some edits to reflect his initial concerns, officials said.
Proposed conclusions in the draft of the FCC's annual report to Congress about the state of broadband deployment and competition raised eyebrows among industry groups, with some calling for the commission to consider additional data. The FCC also defended proposing higher broadband speed goals in the draft report. Commissioners will consider the item, required by Section 706 of the Telecom Act, Thursday during their open meeting (see 2402220059).
Quantum computing is coming and providers should get ready now, experts said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday. Quantum is “the technology arms race of our time and he who cracks the quantum computer” and quantum communications “is going to rule the world,” said Ryan Lafler, president and chief technology officer at tech company Quantum Corridor.