FCC Document-Filing System Had IT Issues That Delayed Filings' Release
At times over about the past week, the FCC's primary document filing and public access system didn't always appear fully operational. At some points last week, the electronic comment filing system wouldn't allow some filings to be searched for and/or accessed. Through early this week, pleadings that would have normally been publicly accessible on a particular day because they were filed in time for that didn't appear until a subsequent day.
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By Tuesday morning, ECFS appeared to be working OK, based on our own use of the system and experiences of some communications lawyers we canvassed. Some lawyers said ECFS was working OK for them the entire time, while others confirmed it now appears operating normally.
"The Commission’s IT team has resolved this issue and we are looking into ways to prevent this going forward," emailed a spokesperson Tuesday. He declined further comment.
Some law firms experienced slowness using various FCC systems for licensing and filings in recent days, they reported. Others didn't notice many problems. Some at Mintz “noticed a delay in seeing Friday filings appear on ECFS," emailed Communications Practice Chair Tara Corvo. Usually, such filings "show up by mid-day but didn’t until about 5 p.m. yesterday,” she added. Her colleagues didn't have “issues searching” ECFS this or last week, she noted.
Apparent IT problems meant some filings made Thursday may not have been publicly available until as late as Monday evening. That appeared to have affected filings by companies including beIN Sports (here), Charter Communications (here), Fusion Connect (here) and T-Mobile (here), state telecom interests like the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable (see here and 2001140050) and NARUC (here), and others including the 5G Automotive Association (here). The documents covered issues including a carriage dispute, cable regulation, the C band and other spectrum.
NARUC General Counsel Brad Ramsay noticed his filing wasn't posted when he checked Monday. That's "even though I filed last Thursday." However, he got an e-confirmation from the system saying the document was received. "There were no noticeable changes" in how the system worked, he emailed.
Charter and T-Mobile declined to comment. Others whose filings had posting delays didn't comment.