The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, in an order Friday, randomly picked the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as the venue in which to consolidate 10 multicircuit petitions for review filed in six appellate courts challenging the FCC’s Nov. 20 digital divide order (see 2402070058), the agency told those courts in notifications Monday, under Panel Rule 25.6. The FCC notified the panel of those 10 petitions Wednesday (see 2402070058). Virtually all the petitioners -- mostly state broadband and television associations, but also the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are challenging the order on grounds that it gives the FCC unprecedented authority to regulate the broadband internet economy.
Pennsylvania’s biggest incumbent, Verizon, launched an all-out attack on state USF in comments Friday, urging that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission eliminate the fund. The carrier said the USF is archaic. In addition, AT&T joined Verizon in urging the PUC to reduce regulations, such as carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations. However, rural LECs argued that they will continue needing state USF support for as long as Pennsylvania heavily regulates them.
The FCC's space regulatory regime is arguably due for a massive overhaul, space policy experts said Monday at a pair of Tech Policy Institute space events. SpaceX Vice President-Satellite Policy David Goldman said a coming wave of state-backed mega-constellation competitors will have resources that U.S. operators lack, and the U.S. must consider redoing its rules in response to that environment. FCC Space Bureau Chief Technologist Whitney Lohmeyer didn't address the idea directly. Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science, said the Space Bureau might lack the technical expertise to tackle issues like orbital debris.
NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson and FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez used speaking slots at the State of the Net conference Monday to press Congress to allocate additional money for the commission’s affordable connectivity program. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, also at the conference, urged that the commission investigate Apple’s purported blocking of cross-platform messaging service Beeper Mini “to see if it complies” with the agency’s Part 14 accessibility rules under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act.
The FCC should urgently clarify the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference's intention about updating rules for equivalent power flux density limits, SpaceX said Friday in docket 16-185. That clarification would eliminate delaying updates "critical to connecting more people as soon as possible," it said. In addition, it said SES/O3b is mischaracterizing the text of the WRC-23 minutes in saying the ITU conference decided no regulatory action on EPFD limits can occur at WRC-27 (see 2401300032). Administrations clearly have the ability at WRC-27 of supporting EPFD rule changes after receiving ITU Radiocommunication Sector results of studying possible EPFD limit changes, it said.
With the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference finished, Viasat told the FCC in docket 22-273 Friday that it has no objection to further FCC action on possible non-geostationary orbit operations in the 17 GHz band. The company had urged the commission to avoid acting on the band prior to WRC-23, as the ITU was evaluating the feasibility of NGSO fixed satellite service in the 17.3-17.7 GHz band segment in ITU Region 2 (see 2301250024).
The FCC on Friday posted a Disability Advisory Committee report, approved last month and written by the Audio Description File Transmittal to IP Video Programming Working Group (see 2401300051). Members of the WG discussed the report in detail at last month's DAC meeting. The report said it’s “not intended to be an exhaustive discussion of issues related to the distribution of already-described programming, but instead provides a high-level overview of the current ecosystem and highlights technical, human, and organizational process challenges and opportunities to address them.” The report was posted in docket 12-107.
The cable industry and local franchise authorities are at odds over the mixed-use rule, with both sides presenting conflicting takes in FCC lobbying last week. LFA arguments that the mixed-use rule doesn't follow the law and should be repealed (see 2401080032) are incorrect, NCTA said Thursday in docket 05-311. It said the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the FCC rule, "finding that the statutory interpretation embodied in the rule is compelled by the plain and unambiguous language." NCTA said the LFAs' argument that only the cost of an LFA's use of an institutional network -- and not the cost of the network's construction -- counts toward the 5% cap on cable franchise fees also runs contrary to the 6th Circuit decision. LFAs including Los Angeles County, Dallas and Boston in the docket recapped a meeting with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office when they urged that the agency remand its 2019 LFA order that was subject of the 6th Circuit decision so that FCC rules don't "continue to misrepresent the state of the law, leading to confusion and opportunities for obfuscation."
The FCC Enforcement Bureau Friday reminded carriers and interconnected VoIP providers of their obligation to file an annual certification documenting compliance with the customer proprietary network information rules by March 1. “Failure to file a timely and complete certification calls into question whether a company has complied with the rules requiring it to protect the privacy and security of its customers’ sensitive Information,” the bureau said:
The FCC’s data breach notification rules, approved by commissioners 3-2 in December (see 2312130019), are effective March 13, said a notice for Monday’s Federal Register. Commissioners made several changes to the proposed rules before adoption (see 2312220054). “The Commission’s breach notification rule provides an important protection against improper use or disclosure of customer data, helping to ensure that carriers are held accountable and providing customers with the tools to protect themselves in the event that their data is compromised,” the notice said.