The broadband industry will shift attention to passing a national privacy law, after dropping a lawsuit against Maine, said telecom and cable associations Tuesday. Plaintiffs USTelecom, NCTA, CTIA and ACA Connects decided not to continue a nearly 2-year-old challenge of the state’s ISP privacy law. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) said the state law’s survival is important for protecting consumers. The case’s end should encourage more states to act, said consumer privacy advocates in interviews.
Industry continued to disagree whether the FCC should revisit its cost allocation framework for utility pole replacements or attachments, in reply comments posted Monday in docket 17-84 (see 2206280066). Central to the debate was whether pole owners directly benefit from pole replacements and how much information owners should be required to disclose to requesting attachers.
Maine intends to move for summary judgment on all remaining counts in telecom groups’ challenge of the state’s ISP privacy law, Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) said Wednesday at the U.S. District Court of Maine. Frey asked the court to set a prefiling conference no sooner than Sept. 19 in case 1:20-cv-00055. ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom challenged the Maine law.
ACA Connects says Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman is resigning, effective Aug. 31, “to pursue new interests” … New Mexico Public Regulation Commission names Ed Rilkoff, from Smartflower Solar tech company, director-Utility Division … Qualcomm hires Izzy Santa, ex-One Concern, as senior director-public affairs and Katie Patala, formerly Mercury Public Affairs, as director-public affairs … Saga Communications appoints board member Warren Lada interim CEO following Friday’s death of founder and CEO Ed Christian.
Industry disagreed whether the FCC should impose additional requirements on certain voice service providers to combat illegal robocalls (see 2207150053). Some agreed with a proposal to impose additional measures on intermediate providers, in comments posted Thursday in docket 17-97. Others sought flexibility as providers continue to implement Stir/Shaken caller ID authentication.
The FCC “reopened” for in-person meetings in June, but the agency hasn’t seen a wholesale return to them, and most meetings between staff and industry remain virtual, as they have been since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, based on a review of ex parte filings and interviews with lawyers and FCC officials. Some expect more in-person meetings starting after Labor Day, depending on what happens on COVID infection rates during August.
Industry groups asked the FCC to streamline its rules for its annual data collection of subscription rates and plans offered through the affordable connectivity program (ACP). Some said the FCC should rely on the forthcoming broadband consumer labels and raised privacy concerns if data is collected at the subscriber level in comments posted Tuesday in docket 21-450.
Industry disagreed whether the FCC should consider an Alternative Connect America Cost Model (ACAM) Broadband Coalition proposal to extend the program through increased deployment obligations in exchange for additional funding (see 2205190023). Some sought to expand eligibility to carriers receiving other high-cost USF support, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. Others said the FCC should defer new high-cost support until programs funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are completed.
Every state and territory applied for NTIA’s digital equity planning grant program, the agency announced Wednesday (see 2206160072). NTIA received letters of intent from "hundreds of tribal nations" to participate in the digital equity program. All states and territories also submitted a letter of intent for the $42.45 billion broadband, equity, access and deployment program by the July 18 deadline, NTIA said. Iowa and Florida were the last two states to sign on, per a tweet from NTIA Tuesday.
Broadcasters, MVPDs, ISPs and other entities argued over the state of competition in the broadband and video marketplaces and how to address it, in comments posted by Friday’s deadline in docket 22-203 for the agency’s biannual State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace report to Congress, due in Q4. Regulations premised on lack of competition “should be repealed,” said NCTA. The FCC “must consider the real-world consequences of imposing, in a highly competitive marketplace, a burdensome and outdated regulatory regime,” said NAB.