Broadcast groups demanded that the FCC acknowledge their industry’s increasing competition with tech companies and loosen regulations. Meanwhile, the Free State Foundation and Public Knowledge seek more spectrum, according to reply comments filed by Monday’s deadline in docket 24-119. The comments will inform the 2024 State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace report to Congress (see 2406070001)

Officials with the 12 GHz for 5G Coalition remain hopeful that FCC action in coming months will allow use of the lower 12 GHz band for fixed-wireless deployments, they said in interviews. In addition, should the FCC act soon, the band could still play a part in some state proposals under the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, the officials said. The coalition had hoped for action early in 2024 (see 2312270045).

California telecom service quality standards could expand to more types of providers and carry new penalties under a California Public Utilities Commission staff proposal released last week. Current enforcement for plain old telephone service (POTS) hasn’t improved service, CPUC staff found. “In addition, the light-touch approach for VoIP and wireless services has not yielded improved service quality for those customers.”

A California Senate panel scaled back what the California Public Utilities Commission could require from cable companies under a proposed update of the state’s 2006 video franchise law, known as the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act (DIVCA). At a hearing webcast Monday, the Senate Communications Committee voted 12-4 to approve the Assembly-passed AB-1826 with amendments. The Senate committee delayed receiving testimony on an Assembly-passed equity bill (AB-2239) that would ban digital discrimination as defined by the FCC (see 2405230012).

A representative of the Open Technology Institute (OTI) at New America discussed the future of the 12 and 42 GHz bands in a meeting with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, a filing posted Monday in docket 20-443 said. In the 12 GHz band, OTI supports a tribal set-aside and a “use it or share it” condition, the filing said. OTI noted that the FCC sought comment on the 42 GHz band last year (see 2310020041): Comments “demonstrate a general consensus that a sharing framework premised on open access, non-exclusive licensing by rule, and automated database coordination will best serve the public interest.”

The Government Accountability Office told House and Senate Commerce committee leaders Monday it recommends NTIA improve technical assistance to Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program recipients. GAO found NTIA’s “plans for providing technical assistance throughout the funding period do not include support for recipients that are unable to implement their financial sustainability plans. In addition, over half of TBCP recipients with infrastructure projects planned to use other federal funding to support their ongoing financial sustainability. But those sources have proven difficult for Tribes to obtain or have ended.” The office recommended NTIA “provide technical assistance to recipients that are unable to implement their financial sustainability plans.” The agency should “consolidate technical assistance resources for the TBCP environmental review process in a single location” given it didn’t already include most of those resources “in its one-stop hub,” GAO said. The office also recommended NTIA report to Congress on TBCP projects’ “financial stability needs.” The agency agreed with the recommendations, GAO said.

The EU sanctioned six people for undermining "the stability and political transition of Sudan," the Council of the European Union announced June 24. The sanctions come amid fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The council sanctioned Abdulrahman Juma Barakallah, an RSF general commanding troops in West Darfur, along with the RSF's financial adviser and a "prominent tribal leader." Related to the SAF, the council sanctioned the director general of sanctioned company Defense Industry System, Sudanese Air Force Commander El Tahir Mohamed El Awad El Amin and former Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Ahmed Karti Mohamed.

Tribal officials asked about outreach, funding and data privacy connected with the FCC’s proposed missing and endangered persons (MEP) alert code during a virtual tribal consultation and listening session Monday (see 2405240043). The agency's Office of Native Affairs and Policy conducted the event. Speakers were broadly supportive of the MEP code but expressed concern about some of the proposal's details. Funding should go from the FCC directly to native groups so they can implement the new code, Sally Fineday of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe said. Reycita Billie, the Navajo Nation Police Department's missing and murdered indigenous people liaison, said the agency should focus on communicating with the public about the new code. “Public education is very important to our community members,” she said. Many members of the public aren’t clear about their options when a loved one is missing, she said. The FCC should consider privacy and data sovereignty issues when any information is collected or shared in connection with the MEP code, a speaker from Washington state said. “How are we ensuring that tribes maintain control of it, that they have access to it, have the ability to edit, delete or share as tribes see fit?” he asked. Michelle Beaudin, a council member for the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe in Wisconsin, said the FCC should also create MEP wireless emergency alerts. “I believe there's so many more people that have their phones versus the TV or radio,” she said.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told us during an exclusive Communications Daily Q&A that evaluating assessments made on consumers' bills as part of funding the Universal Service Fund is her top issue amid calls for contribution reform (see 2404190043). Sworn in in September, Gomez also mentioned concerns about USF's future and the affordable connectivity program. She also urged ISPs to create their digital equity plans with "intentionality."

Cash-strapped California has many challenges ahead as it seeks to connect everyone to broadband, said state, local and industry officials Wednesday at the livestreamed California Broadband Summit. Assembly Communications Committee Chair Tasha Boerner (D) said she has several concerns with state broadband policy, including that the California Public Utilities Commission is taking too long to distribute last-mile grants.