U.S. critical infrastructure operators should deploy American-built drones that follow secure-by-design principles and understand that Chinese drones carry significant national security risks, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI said Wednesday in new guidance. “Cybersecurity Guidance: Chinese-Manufactured Unmanned Aircraft Systems” seeks to raise awareness about “threats posed by Chinese-manufactured UAS and to provide critical infrastructure and state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) partners with recommended cybersecurity safeguards.” The agencies said Chinese laws provides its government with "expanded legal grounds for accessing and controlling data held by firms in China. The use of Chinese-manufactured UAS in critical infrastructure operations risks exposing sensitive information” to Chinese authorities. David Mussington, CISA executive assistant director-infrastructure security, noted critical infrastructure sectors like communications, energy and chemicals are “increasingly relying on UAS for various missions that ultimately reduce operating costs and improve staff safety.” Mussington cited the threat of “China’s aggressive cyber operations to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from organizations.”
Smith Bagley Chairman Kevin Frawley and others from the provider discussed the rules for a proposed 5G auction with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-32. Auction mechanisms “must treat remote Tribal lands as a special case to ensure that these highest-cost areas are not excluded from receiving support as a result of an auction process,” the company said. Smith Bagley said it has nearly 100,000 subscribers, many of whom didn’t previously have a phone. It estimated that about 400 of its towers must be upgraded and another 400 constructed to cover its tribal lands with 5G at 35/3 Mbps speeds.
Telecommunications Law Professionals adds Lawler Metzger’s Emily Daniels and Andrew Fois as a member and an associate, respectively, and also adds Kellogg Hansen’s Ryan Walsh as an associate ... Sinclair hires former NAB Deputy General Counsel Patrick McFadden as senior vice president-global public policy and communications (see 2401080070) ... Lumen Technologies promotes Ashley Haynes-Gaspar to executive vice president-chief revenue officer ... Twilio promotes Khozema Shipchandler to CEO and adds him to its board, succeeding co-founder Jeff Lawson, leaving as CEO and as a board member; Jeff Epstein, lead independent director since 2017, appointed board chair.
Sinclair hires former NAB Deputy General Counsel Patrick McFadden as senior vice president-global public policy and communications ... Comcast’s Central Division, headquartered in Atlanta, hires former FedEx Chief People Officer Chris Winton, also ex-Tesla, as senior vice president-human resources ... Lumen Technologies promotes Ashley Haynes-Gaspar to executive vice president-chief revenue officer ... Scholastic taps Amazon’s Haji Glover as executive vice president-chief financial officer, effective Jan. 22, succeeding current CFO Ken Cleary, moving to president-international ... Twilio promotes Khozema Shipchandler to CEO and adds him to its board, succeeding co-founder Jeff Lawson, leaving as CEO and as a board member; Jeff Epstein, lead independent director since 2017, appointed board chair ... Millennium Broadband Solutions taps Red Hat’s Jim Anetsberger as its first chief revenue officer ... RingCentral adds former Twitter CFO Ned Segal to its board ... Telecommunications Law Professionals adds Lawler Metzger’s Emily Daniels and Andrew Fois as a member and an associate, respectively, and also adds Kellogg Hansen’s Ryan Walsh as an associate ... Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband announces new board members: Tracy Doaks, president-CEO, MCNC; Adam Geisler, president-chief operating officer, Tribal Ready; Luis Wong, CEO, California K-12 High Speed Network; D’Andre Weaver, chief digital equity officer, Digital Promise; and Charlotte Bewersdorff, vice president-community engagement, Merit Network.
The Treasury Department this week published a final rule that will put in place safeguards around sensitive information submitted to the agency as part of its new beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements, which are designed to help the government prevent sanctioned parties and others from hiding money or property in the U.S. The rule adopts a range of changes from the proposed version released last year, including one that Treasury said will allow financial institutions to access information from a newly created BOI database for a broader set of reasons, including to help them conduct certain sanctions due diligence.
The National Tribal Telecommunications Association (NTTA) raised concerns about tribal broadband issues in separate meetings with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington. The group also met with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff. NTTA emphasized the need for "additional steps to address the tribal digital divide" and "sustainability funding" to ensure services remain available once they are built, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. The group also urged the FCC to ensure providers obtain "affirmative tribal consent from the tribal government" if they want to deploy networks on tribal lands.
Don’t cut a free broadband requirement from California Advanced Services Fund public housing account (PHA) rules, The Utility Reform Network (TURN) urged this week. The California Public Utilities Commission posted comments and replies this week on a staff proposal in docket R.20-08-021. TURN reacted to a suggestion by the California Emergency Technology Fund (CETF) to consider removing the proposal's requirement to provide five years free.
The FirstNet Authority verified that AT&T’s initial buildout of the public safety network’s infrastructure on its band 14 spectrum is “fully complete” and the authority has “a big year ahead of us” in 2024, Board Chair Richard Carrizzo said during the group’s quarterly meeting Wednesday. The FCC renewed FirstNet's license for the band in May for a term “not to exceed 10 years” from Nov. 15, 2022 (see 2305260057).
California’s largest tribe rejected multiple AT&T recommendations for the state’s participation in the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. The California Public Utilities Commission received reply comments Thursday on volumes one and two of draft BEAD initial proposals (docket R.23-02-016). The Yurok Tribe disagreed with AT&T that project area units should be as geographically small as possible. "AT&T says that requiring minimum geographic units to be equivalent to a contiguous tribal land area could ‘eliminate synergies and increase costs,’ but that’s precisely the logic that has led to a patchwork of service on tribal lands, and the chronic underinvestment of incumbent providers in remote, rural tribal locations,” the tribe said. In addition, Yurok disagreed with AT&T that applicants should have prior experience with technology they plan to deploy. "This suggestion would, quite obviously, completely disqualify a number of new providers seeking to bring quality service to areas long ignored by incumbent providers from eligibility." And the tribe disagreed with the carrier to score more points to larger projects. "Doing so would reward incumbent providers at the cost of new providers, as incumbent providers are better positioned to develop larger projects that serve more locations.” AT&T made the suggestions in its opening comments (see 2311280053). The San Diego Association of Governments urged the CPUC to better prioritize equity. "The current scoring rubric allocates only 10 points out of 100 for projects targeting low-income and disadvantaged communities,” the San Diego group said. While CPUC must comply with NTIA rules, “we contend that this limited point allocation may not serve as a sufficient incentive for ISPs to invest in areas of utmost need.” USTelecom replied, "California should rely on ACP participation and a comparability test to meet BEAD’s affordability requirements and affordability should not be scored on a sliding scale.” If the state adopts low-cost and middle-income affordability plans, “providers should be able to adjust prices to capture inflation, cost of living increases and other costs outside of the providers control such as taxes,” said USTelecom: And don’t prioritize open access. The CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office urged the CPUC to reject recommendations to modify "affordability requirements in ways that would prioritize private interests over the public interest.”
The FCC received only three comments as of Friday in response to its August notice asking about spectrum access in tribal and native Hawaiian areas. Comments were due Thursday in docket 23-265 (see 2308040039). During a recent webinar, FCC officials expressed hope for comments that would help in other proceedings (see 2311160057). The United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET) urged the FCC to create a tribal window, similar to that before the 2.5 GHz auction (see 2009030012), for other bands. “Since the late 1990s, the federal government has attempted to subsidize telecommunications deployment in Indian Country, but these efforts have not kept pace with ever-changing and advancing technologies, especially in the areas of spectrum management and use,” USET said. USET cited the $22.4 billion 3.45 GHz auction as an example of the challenges tribes face: “The extremely high price point for obtaining spectrum licenses creates an insurmountable barrier to entry for Tribal Nations, especially since federal funds or credit offsets are non-existent or do not adequately provide the financial support required to participate in these auctions.” The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe said tribes need spectrum in areas where local providers have failed to offer service. “This failure is largely due to the lack of a rate of investment as tribal lands generally are less populated and have large numbers of low-income households steering local internet service providers away from tribal communities,” the tribe said. Make the renewal process easier for tribes through “an automatic renewal process for received/granted FCC licenses,” the Makah Indian Tribe said. “Tribes have historically faced a high employee turnover rate that has caused issues in license renewals in which the granted FCC license has lapsed due to the current process guidelines,” the tribe said.