Telecom and banking groups urged that the FCC adopt proposed modifications to its letter of credit (LOC) rules for Universal Service Fund support recipients. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 10-90 (see 2407030062). The commission proposed modifying LOC rules for its high-cost programs and Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support recipients.
The FCC’s draft order that would create an additional alert code for missing and endangered adults will gain unanimous approval during Wednesday’s open meeting, agency officials told us. The item received widespread support from alerting officials, industry trade associations and indigenous groups. The final order is expected to have changed little from the draft version, an FCC official said. While the new alert code will be used for any missing person older than 17 with special needs and circumstances or who is endangered, abducted or kidnapped, it's aimed at addressing the rising problem of missing and murdered indigenous people, the FCC has said. Speaking at an indigenous women’s event Wednesday, Rosenworcel said the item will gain approval and credited Native groups for the proposal. “The action the FCC is taking next week is in direct response to a call sent out by Native communities after enduring a crisis of the missing for far too long,” she said. The code will be “a really powerful tool," said Loris Taylor, president of Native Public Media (NPM) and an advocate of the new code.
Nearly $1 billion in Digital Equity Act funding is now available, NTIA announced Wednesday. The agency's notice of funding opportunity kicked off the competitive grant program (see 2403290039). Meanwhile, in a Tuesday letter, numerous state and national broadband industry associations alerted Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo that low-cost requirements in the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program could discourage participation in it.
The FCC Wireless Bureau said it added “an enhancement” to the universal licensing system by adding tribal-specific “entity types” to some ULS forms. “This enhancement will improve identification of how and where Tribal Nations are directly accessing licensed wireless spectrum, and use of the new entity types will exempt applications filed by Tribal Nations and Tribally controlled business entities from related FCC Application Fees,” a notice in Friday’s Daily Digest said.
The global outage of Microsoft systems caused by a software update from cybersecurity company Crowdstrike grounded airplanes globally and affected some broadcasters and 911 systems but spared others, reports from multiple companies and state agencies said.
FCC commissioners will vote at their Aug. 7 open meeting on an NPRM that delves more deeply into consumer protections against AI-generated robocalls, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday. In addition, commissioners will vote on an emergency alert system code for missing and endangered persons and procedural updates to the robocall database. Commissioners will also vote on an adjudicatory matter from the Media Bureau and an Enforcement Bureau item.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau removed K20 Wireless and its CEO, Krandon Wenger, from the commission's list of providers participating in the affordable connectivity program. In addition, it barred them from participating in any successor program. On Tuesday, the bureau denied K20 and Wenger's request to stay its removal order following a May order claiming they "engaged in serious, willful misconduct in violation of multiple ACP rules." In an investigation, the bureau found K20 "changed the non-tribal residential addresses associated with subscribers to false addresses on tribal lands when it transferred the subscribers to its ACP service." Providers receive a greater subsidy when tribal households are offered the benefit. A proposed $8 million fine was not imposed in the removal order (see 2405100032).
Open network architecture is a flourishing trend beyond 5G and open radio access networks, speakers said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. The wholesale model has worked for the middle mile and in wireless, Incompas President Angie Kronenberg said: “It’s exciting to see the discussion now happening about last-mile connectivity and fiber.”
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).