Industry groups and carriers welcomed a draft FCC Further NPRM that would propose ways to clarify commission rules on access stimulation. Some sought minor edits to the draft (see 2206230069). The item would seek comments on revisions to a 2019 order on access arbitrage to clarify "perceived ambiguities ... that some providers are exploiting," according to the draft. It would target carriers that may be evading the rules by including IP enabled services (IPES) into the call flow.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Wednesday they’re against passing the Senate’s chips package.
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.
Advocates of a proposal to use the 12 GHz band for 5G told us they expect SpaceX to launch a late campaign opposing the change and think the FCC is still on a path to authorizing operations in coming months. Leaders of the 5G for 12 GHz Coalition say all signs are that the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology is fully engaged in working through the engineering and whether the band can be used for 5G without causing harmful interference to incumbents. OneWeb also raised concerns (see 2207120058).
The House Commerce Committee unanimously advanced the Spectrum Innovation Act legislative package (HR-7624) and three other telecom bills Wednesday, as expected (see 2207120079). The House was expected to begin votes Wednesday night on amendments to the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-7900). The House Rules Committee agreed 9-4 Tuesday to allow floor votes on more than three dozen telecom and tech amendments to HR-7900 (see 2207070064).
U.K. data protection law revisions shouldn't cause friction with either the U.S. or EU, speakers said at an Atlantic Council Europe Center webinar Tuesday. Despite recent political changes in Britain, revising the country's privacy law remains a priority, said Jenny Hall, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport deputy director. The government wants to champion cooperation with its international partners by improving on the EU general data protection regulation (GDPR), she said.
Maryland limits on how a company communicates prices to customers through a digital ad tax law sounds like restricting speech, a federal judge said at a virtual argument Tuesday. After hearing arguments on remaining constitutional issues in U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others’ lawsuit against Maryland’s digital ad tax law (case 1:21-cv-00410-DKC), U.S. District Court in Baltimore Judge Lydia Griggsby said she disagreed the law regulates only conduct.
Industry experts raised concerns about the amount of work states have to do to participate in NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment program (see 2201190057), during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Tuesday. “We are operating still … with a lot of uncertainty,” said Kelley Drye 's Tom Cohen, FBA counsel, since NTIA “tossed in a lot of issues” in its notice of funding opportunity (see 2205130054).
Public safety groups urged the FCC to push for more use of location-based routing (LBR) to 911 call centers, in response to a June public notice, approved by commissioners 4-0 (see 2206080040). T-Mobile said how industry addresses the issue should be voluntary without the imposition of new FCC rules. AT&T and T-Mobile said implementation has to be done carefully and takes time.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously vacated the FCC’s requirement that broadcasters check federal databases to determine if entities leasing time on their stations are agents of foreign governments, said a seven-page opinion Tuesday. The court ruled against the agency because the language of the sponsorship ID statute limits the due diligence required of broadcasters to their employees and sponsors. “The FCC’s verification requirement ignores the limits that the statute places on broadcasters’ narrow duty of inquiry,” said the opinion from Judge Justin Walker. “That is not the law that Congress wrote.” “The FCC overreached,” said Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council Senior Adviser David Honig. MMTC, NAB and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters were the petitioners in the case.