Responsible Enterprises Against Consumer Harassment (REACH) countered the arguments made against its request for a stay of the FCC's one-to-one robotext consent rules (see 2501230037). Absent FCC action, the rules become effective Monday. “Contrary to the National Consumer and Privacy Groups’ contentions, the request for a stay aligns with both executive authority and the [Administrative Procedure Act’s] legal framework,” REACH said in a filing posted Friday in docket 02-278. “The request also ensures a fair and thorough review of the Rule, taking into consideration important issues that may affect small businesses, consumers, and broader market dynamics.”
The White House likely won't try clawing back BEAD money, wrote Jade Piros de Carvalho, Bonfire Infrastructure Group vice president-broadband advocacy and partnerships, on Friday. States and territories entered into signed agreements with NTIA when their initial proposals were approved. The agreements define the terms and conditions of federal grants, and they permit states to draw down funds, including immediate access to 2% of the money for administrative purposes, she said. While the Donald Trump administration in theory could seek to take back BEAD money, "breaching signed contracts with states probably won’t go over well with governors." She said that while there had been concerns that Trump's American Energy executive order would pause disbursement of BEAD funds, the administration made clear BEAD was not part of that executive order.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Thursday a new competitive grant program for digital literacy training and device access in underserved communities. The $15.5 million digital equity program will provide two-year capacity grants. Proposals are due by March 24. Hochul also touted the state's broadband affordability law taking effect, announcing that the state's ConnectAll initiative will invest $3 million to publicize the $15 broadband service offered to eligible households (see 2412130064).
Technology companies and others are already working on issues surrounding georouting texts to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and that process should play out before the FCC gets involved with deadlines and requirements, Media Institute Senior Fellow and former FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly wrote Wednesday. He said the idea that only FCC public safety mandates can get the work done "has been disproved time and time again," and there are numerous examples of the agency wrongly imposing mandates before the technology was ready. Given the "reasonable level of uncertainty as to when georouting for 988 texts could be technically operational and deployed," the commission should watch the process for now, he said. "Nothing is to be gained by setting arbitrary requirements and/or deadlines." Some communications industry interests have also argued that the agency should hold off on setting 988 text georouting requirements (see 2501100033).
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Friday denied requests for review by Dish Wireless, AT&T and Excess Telecom concerning Universal Service Administrative Co. decisions seeking to recover funds disbursed under the emergency broadband benefit program. On April 3, 2023, USAC sent letters to AT&T, Dish and Excess “notifying them of non-compliance with the EBB Program rules” and alleging that they failed to "ensure certain households were eligible for the Emergency Broadband Benefit pursuant to claimed enrollment at” a community eligibility provision school, the bureau said. “With respect to AT&T and DISH, we find that USAC properly determined that the Petitioners failed to demonstrate the households’ eligibility for the EBB Program,” the bureau said: “We find that Excess has failed to show that good cause exists to waive the deadline to submit an appeal to USAC, and therefore deny their request as well.”
Auto sector manufacturers and importers will have 425 days to cut from their supply chains Chinese software that enables automated driving systems or enables a vehicle to connect to the outside world at a frequency above 450 MHz, according to a final rule from the Bureau of Industry and Security set for Thursday's Federal Register and effective March 17. The agency issued a proposed rule in September (see 2409220001). Chinese hardware that enables out-of-car communication above 450 MHz will be banned beginning in the 2029 model year, or, for items that aren't associated with a model year, before Jan. 1, 2029. The final rule adds that later imports that would otherwise be banned, that are to repair completed connected vehicles model year 2029 or earlier, will also be allowed. Examples of these sorts of hardware are telematics control units, cellular modems and antennas that collect data from GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes, BMS and other units. The agency said the list of parts is not exhaustive but clarified the rule to say the hardware must "directly enable" the connected capabilities. Companies from adversary countries cannot design or manufacture these systems because the administration says they could imperil infrastructure and "enable mass collection of sensitive information, including geolocation data, audio and video recordings, and other pattern-of-life analysis."
Various consumer and public interest groups met with aides to FCC Commissioners Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks to urge that the FCC move forward on implementing a 2023 order closing the lead generator loophole (see 2312190032). “We explained that the new regulation is widely viewed by all parties to be a highly effective mechanism to cut down on the proliferation of unwanted telemarketing calls,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-278. In 2024, there were an average of 1.4 billion telemarketing calls every month in the U.S. “but these calls escalated in late 2024” to more than 1.8 billion, the filing said. The groups that met with the FCC aides included the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Knowledge, National Consumers League and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates also participated. The order becomes effective Jan. 27 but faces a challenge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2412180008).
The FCC on Wednesday approved Inland Cellular’s proposed acquisition of Commnet’s rural digital opportunity fund support obligations in parts of Washington and Montana. The Wireline Bureau noted it sought comment in July (see 2407030047) and none was filed.
The FCC released the 2024 Universal Service Monitoring Report, providing an overview of revenue in the U.S. telecom industry and associated contributions to universal service support. Released this week, the report shows a steep drop in some sources of revenue. Local exchange revenue was $12.3 billion in 2023, down from $30.5 billion in 2014. Local private line revenue declined from $31.2 billion to $19.1 billion during the same period. Total telecom revenue fell from $228.5 billion in 2014 to $116 billion in 2023. The tables are based on information filed with the commission in FCC Forms 499-A and 499-Q.
T-Mobile on Monday announced plans to buy digital-out-of-home ad company Vistar Media for $600 million. Vistar works with other companies to place ads on digital screens on billboards, at bus stops and the like. The company will become part of T-Mobile’s Advertising Solutions business. “As a top marketer, connectivity provider and one of the largest physical in-store retail media network operators, T-Mobile will help marketers and advertisers reach consumers with more addressable and measurable solutions,” T-Mobile said: “The timing is perfect for this transformation as digital screens still represent a small percentage of the overall [out-of-home] advertising market and are becoming more accessible.” T-Mobile said it hopes to close the buy in Q1.