The FCC is eyeing undertaking its first major comprehensive review of its submarine cable rules in 23 years, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel noted Wednesday as she announced the agency's Nov. 21 meeting agenda. Also on the agenda are additional robocall steps and a permanent process for authorizing geotargeted FM radio broadcasts, she said. While the technology, economics and security challenges involving submarine cables have changed notably since 2001, "FCC oversight has not," she said. That year saw the agency adopt procedures for streamlining the processing of landing licenses. The Stir/Shaken caller ID authentication framework is one of the FCC's most effective tools for mitigating deceptive robocalls, Rosenworcel said. With third parties used for Stir/Shaken implementation, Rosenworcel noted there have been "concerns about improperly authenticated calls and diminished accountability." The FCC will "vote to establish clear rules of the road for the use of third parties in the caller ID authentication process," she said. Industry groups urged the commission to allow third-party caller ID authentication last year (see 2307060045). In April, the FCC unanimously approved an order creating a temporary authorization process for broadcasters to use FM boosters to offer geotargeted ads. Along with that order, the agency sought comment on a more permanent process, which seems the focus of the November order. Geobroadcast Solutions, the primary company offering geotargeted FM tech to broadcasters, has pushed for the permanent authorization process to loosen restrictions on broadcasters offering geotargeting. GBS has called for the FCC to raise the number of commonly owned booster stations allowed to originate content and to increase the amount of time per hour the geotargeted content can be broadcast. The current limit is three minutes per hour. NAB and NPR have called for the FCC to closely monitor geotargeted radio users and impose additional interference protections. Two entities, Press Communications and REC Networks, have petitioned the agency to reconsider the original radio geotargeting order. The November agenda also has an unspecified enforcement item scheduled.

The FCC “is not in the business of regulating content, full stop,” said Commissioner Anna Gomez Tuesday in a speech on the dangers of disinformation at The Media Institute’s Free Speech Gala. “Mis- and disinformation cloud our view of reality and inhibit our ability to discern the truth,” said Gomez, adding that “regulatory options are limited” in combating the problem. Modern technology and the decentralization of news have made it easier for false stories to spread further, Gomez said. She noted the response to hurricanes Helene and Milton as a recent example of the harms of disinformation. “Unworthy news sources” spread rumors that “dissuaded survivors from seeking help, and weakened morale among our first responders.” Gomez said “preserving local media” is a possible antidote to misinformation, because it offers “community specific information in an easy-to-access, reliable format.” As the U.S. “contends with a growing frequency in weather-related disasters, it is imperative that we make preserving local media a priority.” During the event, The Media Institute honored former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley with a lifetime achievement award. In addition, it presented former America’s Public Television Stations CEO Patrick Butler with the American Horizon Award. Cahill Gordon Senior Counsel Floyd Abrams, who represented The New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case, received the Institute’s Free Speech award.

The FCC could potentially use merger conditions as a replacement for regulations the courts knocked down after the overturning of Chevron deference, said Jeffrey Westling, American Action Forum director-technology and innovation policy. In a blog post Wednesday, he wrote, “If the agency fails to defend its signature rules in court, it could follow the lead of the Biden Administration’s FTC and DOJ and use merger review as a venue for regulation through condition setting.” Westling pointed to device unlocking rules as an example: the agency is considering requiring broadband providers to unlock devices within a certain time frame, but some providers -- including T-Mobile -- are already subject to such requirements because of merger conditions. These conditions let the agency “go around existing rulemaking procedures,” are often negotiated in haste, and aren’t subject to judicial review, Westling said. The agency is reviewing a number of large telecom deals, including DirecTV/Dish, Verizon/Frontier and T-Mobile/USCellular, Westling noted. “How the FCC reviews these transactions can give additional insight into how the agency may approach its merger review process after the overturning of the Chevron doctrine.” If the agency begins using conditions to block acquisitions, then Congress should act to reign in the agency, or even take away the FCC’s merger review authority. Though transactions would still be subject to FTC or DOJ review, those agencies lack the FCC's expansive authority to impose conditions that aren’t related to competition, Westling said.

The FTC "click-to-cancel" rule and California's automatic renewal law amendments give the FTC and private plaintiffs new leverage in challenging advertising claims for any company selling products on an auto-renewal or continuous service basis, say Venable lawyers. Shahin Rothermel, Ari Rothman and Claudia Lewis blogged Tuesday that the additional leverage has "potentially business-ending implications" as the two provide new rights of action where companies could face millions of dollars in liability for allegedly false or misleading claims about products or services. However, multiple challenges of the FTC rule (see 2410240001) could delay its implementation date of 180 days after publication in the Federal Register, they said.

The FCC will coordinate with the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) on privacy efforts, the federal agency said Tuesday. The FCC’s privacy and data protection task force signed a memorandum of understanding with the CPPA, which is charged with rulemaking and enforcement related to California privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act. Under the pact, the two agencies will “share close and common legal interests in working cooperatively to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute or otherwise take enforcement action in relation to privacy, data protection, or cybersecurity issues.” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said, “Coordinated state and federal partnerships like this are essential to our privacy work.” CPPA Executive Director Ashkan Soltani said the partnership will “help increase trust and security in the digital marketplace.” CPPA Enforcement Head Michael Macko added, “collaboration is key to vigorous enforcement.” Also Tuesday, the CPPA released an agenda for its Nov. 8 board meeting. The agency may vote to advance draft rules, including on automated decision-making technology, risk assessments, and cybersecurity audits, to a formal rulemaking, it said. The board also has plans for considering possible changes to data broker registration requirements.

A day following a major Frontier Communications shareholder voicing opposition to Verizon's bid for the company (see 2410230054), Frontier is trying to convince others of the merits of the $20 billion offer. The Verizon offer exceeded most analysts' price targets for Frontier prior to the deal, Frontier said Friday in a shareholder presentation filed with the SEC. The Frontier board unanimously concluded the Verizon deal is in the best interest of shareholders, it said.

Wording in the FCC's broadband data caps notice of inquiry (see 2410150069) makes it "pretty clear the agency is really itching to ban data caps and, in turn, to regulate usage-based pricing," International Center for Law & Economics Senior Scholar Eric Fruits blogged Wednesday. Rather than ban or significantly restrict data caps and usage-based pricing, the agency should prioritize a regulatory approach "that encourages innovation and investment, while safeguarding consumer interests," Fruits wrote. That approach would optimally use existing antitrust and consumer protection rules to foster pricing transparency, he argued.

AT&T has no plans for FirstNet to use the 4.9 GHz band quickly because significant infrastructure work on the nationwide public safety broadband network is needed first, AT&T CEO John Starkey said Wednesday as the company announced Q3 results. The FCC on Tuesday approved FirstNet use of the band (see 2410220027). Starkey said AT&T is starting to see pay off from repositioning its business wireline operations to focus on connectivity; however, success is not happening quickly enough to fully offset revenue decline in the legacy business wireline voice and data units. Q3 revenue was $30.2 billion, off slightly from $30.4 billion in Q3 2023, in part due to business wireline service revenue declining. Chief Financial Officer Pascal Desroches said the company is "encouraged" by early results of its Internet Air fixed wireless broadband service that launched in August, as it finished Q3 with close to 500,00 Air subscribers. He said AT&T added 135,000 Air subscribers in the quarter. The quarter ended with 9 million fiber subscribers, up from 8 million in Q3 2023, and 72.3 million postpaid phone subscribers, up from 70.8 million year over year. Desroches said AT&T's fiber network passes more than 28 million homes and businesses. It hopes to top 30 million by the end of next year. In a call with analysts, Starkey said it was "entirely possible" AT&T would, at some point, use its fiber network to be an open access provider.

The FCC deactivated the disaster information reporting system and mandatory disaster response initiative for Hurricane Helene Saturday, said a public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. Reporting for Hurricane Milton was deactivated last week (see 2410150075).

A bipartisan group of 51 attorneys general warned iDentidad Telecom Friday that they could take enforcement action should the company continue transmitting illegal robocalls. The FCC sent iDentidad a cease-and-desist letter the same day. iDentidad should immediately stop transmitting illegal traffic, said the AGs' Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force in a letter. It warned of possible violations of state consumer protection laws and the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule, Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Truth in Caller ID Act. The FCC and FTC sent similar warnings in November (see 2401300066). Call traffic data from USTelecom’s Industry Traceback Group “shows that it issued at least 190 traceback notices to iDentidad since 2021 … for calls it originated, accepted, and/or transmitted onto and across the U.S. telephone network,” including more than 60 after the FCC and FTC warnings, wrote North Carolina Special Deputy AG Tracy Nayer in the task force letter: The notices “cited recurrent high-volume illegal and/or suspicious robocalling campaigns concerning, in part, IRS/SSA government imposters, tax relief, financial impersonation, private entity imposters, Chinese-language delivery and impersonations, and utilities disconnect scams, with iDentidad serving as the gateway provider for almost 90% of this call traffic.” Also, the company reported receiving illegal or suspicious robocalls directly from foreign service providers not listed in the FCC robocall mitigation database, said Nayer. The FCC Enforcement Bureau warned iDentidad that failure to comply “may result in downstream voice service providers permanently blocking all of Identidad’s traffic.” Also, the commission notified all U.S.-based voice providers that they are permitted to block robocalls transmitted from iDentidad if the company fails to mitigate the traffic. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said, “Federal and state cooperation is critical for protecting consumers. We cannot allow scammers to target families with fake ‘transaction alerts’ from credit card companies and money transfer services.” Separately, North Carolina AG Josh Stein (D) sued Club Exploria in state court for allegedly spamming more than 1 million people without consent. “Club Exploria broke the law to bombard North Carolinians with robocalls,” said Stein Friday.