The FCC Wireline Bureau is seeking comment on whether it should make changes to its rules for granting extensions to providers unable to implement Stir/Shaken requirements, said a Thursday notice. The FCC currently allows only two “categorical implementation extensions based on undue hardship” for providers who can’t obtain the service provider code token necessary to participate in Stir/Shaken and for small voice providers that originate calls via satellite using North American Numbering Council numbers, it said. The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act instructs the commission “to annually ‘consider revising or extending’ any extension granted due to undue hardship, including whether an extension remains necessary,” the notice said. Comment deadlines will come in a Federal Register notice.

The cost for telemarketers to access phone numbers on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry will increase in FY 2026, which begins Oct. 1, the FTC said Wednesday. Telemarketers calling consumers in the U.S. are required to download the numbers on the registry to prevent them from calling them. The cost of accessing a single area code will be $82 in FY26, up from $80 currently, it said. The FTC said the maximum charge to any single entity for accessing all area codes nationwide will be $22,626, up from $22,038.

Skylo Technologies said Wednesday it had completed the first voice calls via its satellite technology. Its regulatory approvals in 36 countries using mobile satellite service spectrum "will speed the way for the rapid roll out of this service." Skylo will have capacity for tens of millions of calls per month in each region on its satellite network, it said. Currently, Skylo offers satellite SMS messaging and provides routing of satellite SOS messages sent via smartphone.

The FCC Wireline Bureau notified the Universal Service Administrative Co. on Wednesday that it has approved USAC’s FCC Form 471 program integrity assurance review procedures. The procedures are part of the schools and libraries cybersecurity pilot. The approval is subject to further modification and instruction from the bureau, said the notice in docket 23-234.

The FCC on Monday removed 1,203 additional voice providers from the Robocall Mitigation Database, following a recent order removing 185 (see 2508060041). The removals come after warnings were issued to 2,411 providers in December, ordering them to show why they shouldn’t be taken off the list (see 2412180015).

Ericsson said Friday it completed the sale of U.S.-based subsidiary iconectiv to Koch Equity Development for $1 billion. The deal was announced a year ago (see 2408190017). Iconectiv serves more than 5,000 customers across various sectors “as a leading provider in number portability solutions, and a provider of core network and operations management, numbering and data exchange services,” Ericsson said. The company picked up iconectiv in 2012 when it bought Telcordia.

Comments are due Sept. 22, replies Oct. 21, in docket 17-169 on the FCC’s NPRM seeking input on updates to its slamming and truth-in-billing rules, according to a Federal Register notice released Thursday (see 2507240055). The NPRM was unanimously approved at the July FCC meeting, but Commissioner Anna Gomez said then that any updates should preserve consumer protection measures. Chairman Brendan Carr said at the meeting that while the agency has heard concerns that the rules impose unnecessary burdens on companies, it has received zero complaints about slamming in 2025.

The FCC is seeking nominations by Oct. 20 for six positions on the Universal Service Administrative Co. board, said a Thursday notice from the Wireline Bureau. Those positions, which have three-year terms, are representatives for commercial mobile radio service providers, incumbent local exchange carriers, cable providers, state consumer advocates, and libraries and schools participating in the USF.

AI-generated robocalls are eroding trust in sales calls and will mean fewer jobs for human callers, Aidan Snee, CEO of marketing company Inside Sales Solutions, said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-62. “While innovation in communications is important,” synthetic voice calls “are already eroding public trust in the phone as a channel,” Snee said. “If consumers cannot distinguish between a legitimate human call and an AI robocall, they will increasingly ignore all calls -- harming not only consumers, but also the many businesses that rely on responsible outreach to drive growth,” he said.

The BEAD program "could still get very messy before it's done," wrote CCG Consulting President Doug Dawson in a Monday blog (see 2508140057). With Starlink objecting to Virginia's BEAD awards, Dawson said it's unclear whether NTIA will agree with Starlink that it should have received the $60 million it requested instead of $3.26 million the state awarded. Starlink and Project Kuiper won a combined 9.4% of BEAD locations in Virginia, while the overwhelming majority went to either fiber or cable TV. "We'll have to wait to see how NTIA reacts to the Starlink comments," Dawson said, noting the company said the $60 million would cover almost every eligible location in the state. NTIA "has the flexibility to agree with or ignore Starlink," he said, and the agency "could decide which fiber grants to undo, but it would more likely pass the issue back to the state."