Traditional telecommunications service providers can't rely on their physical infrastructure for competitive differentiation, as the growth of disruptive market entrants means "anyone can now launch a telecom company in a matter of days," management consultancy Arthur D. Little said Wednesday. Those new competitors include big cloud and streaming providers like Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft, as well as mobile virtual network operators, it said in a report. Traditional telecommunications service providers must differentiate at the product and service level, it added. The report predicted that traditional companies will pivot from what have been core products and services and focus on such business approaches as being a no-frills connectivity provider or an AI-enabled digital life assistant that's integrated with numerous applications and platforms. It said some traditional telecommunications service providers might also opt to become bundlers of connectivity content, entertainment, cloud and cybersecurity.

The FCC on Monday notified the Universal Service Administrative Co. that the Wireline Bureau approves the Rural Health Care program funding 2025 review procedures. That decision is “subject to further modifications and/or instruction from the Commission,” the bureau said in docket 02-60.

Cybersecurity company Sygnia identified a new network threat from China, which it calls Weaver Ant. “Nation-state threat actors like Weaver Ant are incredibly dangerous and persistent with the primary goal of infiltrating critical infrastructure and collecting as much information as they can before being discovered,” the company said Monday. “Multiple layers of web shells concealed malicious payloads, allowing the threat actor to move laterally within the network and remain evasive.”

Any 988 text georouting requirement of the FCC should be a generalized obligation that lets the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline administrator still work with industry to develop a solution compatible with the existing lifeline architecture, Mosaicx said. In a docket 18-336 filing Friday recapping meetings with aides to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioners Anna Gomez and Nathan Simington, Mosaicx said any generalized text georouting obligation also should keep the 988 lifeline's centralized routing structure. Mosaicx, which is building a text-to-988 georouting offering, said the agency should focus on supporting such purpose-built georouting solutions that achieve those objectives.

A February FCC order expanding the reach of the do-not-originate lists and strengthening call-blocking capabilities will take effect March 24, 2026, said a notice for Monday’s Federal Register. Commissioners approved the order 4-0 (see 2502270058).

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that calls and texts from Zipongo, which does business as Foodsmart, to consumer James Hulce weren't a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The calls offered free nutritional services through Hulce’s state and Medicaid-funded health care plan. In a decision written by Judge Amy St. Eve, the 7th Circuit, based in Chicago, upheld a decision by a district court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia are joining a push urging the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hold an en banc rehearing regarding the court's decision on a 2023 FCC robocall and robotext order (see 2501240068). "The FCC’s one-to-one consent rule at issue in this appeal is a critical nationwide enforcement tool" against illegal robocalls, the states said in an amicus brief Monday (docket 24-10277), backing the National Consumer Law Center's proposed petition for rehearing en banc. The 11th Circuit panel’s decision "invalidating this commonsense rule threatens Amici States’ interest in protecting consumers, families, and businesses from the deluge of invasive robocalls," they said. The one-to-one consent rule "provides a critical federal complement to state-level efforts to combat robocalls by creating a nationwide limitation on certain harvesting of consumer contact information." The states signing the amicus brief were: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The Pew Charitable Trusts is taking a wait-and-see approach on the future of BEAD (see 2503170045), said Kathryn de Wit, project director of its broadband access initiative. “If the goal is to get shovels in the ground more quickly, our research shows that pursuing practical and bipartisan administrative changes to BEAD -- like using existing permitting processes from other federal broadband programs … rather than completely overhauling the program -- would foster trust between states and ISPs and keep progress moving,” she said in an email late Monday. On accommodating satellite broadband, she noted that “alternative technologies, including fixed wireless and satellite, have always been part of the solution, and states have had the ability to include them in their BEAD planning processes.” Nevada has already completed its ISP selection process, and while it’s using fiber to serve more than 80% of its unserved locations, satellite will serve about 9%, she said.

While companies are making fewer customer calls, 86% of business executives “across a wide range of industries agree the phone” remains “the most important outbound channel for meeting customer service goals and increasing revenues,” Forrester Consulting said Monday. “Key pain points” in calling include “inaccurate customer contact data and the threat of call spoofing,” Forrester said. The executives reported that their companies are making 26% fewer calls than three years ago “while increasing use of other digital channels.” The report stressed the importance of branded calling: “Three in four decision-makers say accurate caller information displayed on outbound calls is important for improving customer engagement and increasing answer rates.” Protections against call spoofing were listed as important features by 67% of respondents.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and other groups are backing a National Consumer League petition (see 2502200004) for the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear a case on the FCC's one-to-one telemarketing consent rule. An 11th Circuit panel previously held that the FCC exceeded its authority with the rule. In a proposed amicus brief Friday (docket 24-10277), EPIC and others said the one-to-one consent rule is an effective anti-robocall tool that doesn't hurt business because it only restricts how Telephone Consumer Protection Act consents can be obtained and bars their resale. The groups said the panel's reasoning could undo long-standing consumer protections, such as written consent for telemarketing robocalls. Also behind the EPIC filing were Consumer Federation of America, Public Knowledge and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates.