CTA representatives met with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff on the agency’s proposed cyber trust mark program for smart devices (see 2311130034). CTA updated the agency on “the progress in its working groups” working “to help operationalize” National Institute of Standards and Technology guidance and on a registry of devices “that have achieved the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark as contemplated” in an FCC NPRM, said the filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-239.
CTIA defended the FCC’s disaster information reporting system as working, as the agency looks at mandatory reporting rules, set for a vote Jan. 25 (see 2401040064). “Based on information provided by wireless providers, DIRS reports provide a daily snapshot of the status of network services, including the number of cell site outages, the cause of such outages (i.e., due to damage, loss of transport, or loss of power), and the number of cell sites operating on backup power,” CTIA said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-346 (see 2401040064). While cellsite outage reporting doesn’t account for overlapping coverage “that increasingly maintains coverage even where a site is down, overall DIRS reports provide critical information regarding each disaster event, including efforts to overcome power or transport issues to restore service to impacted areas,” CTIA said.
The FCC should treat as confidential some of the information submitted by providers as part of proposed reporting requirements in a draft location-based routing (LBR) order set for a commissioner vote Jan. 25 (see 2401040064), CTIA said. The FCC “has established a presumption of confidentiality from disclosure of detailed network information such as that required” by the draft order, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-64. The commission “should allow providers to submit their certifications of compliance in the public docket … while separately allowing providers to submit the required network information and live call data directly to Commission staff consistent with existing reporting and confidentiality procedures,” CTIA said.
The California Office of Emergency Services opposed a proposal by the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance urging the FCC to effectively give control of the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet for its national public safety network (see 2401020050). Awarding the license to FirstNet “will promote commercial influence over the band by AT&T and creates potential for interference with existing and planned uses by the state and local public safety community,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 07-100: Such action “would undermine the Commission’s goal for the band.”
The FCC's North American Numbering Council will meet March 1 at 10 a.m. and June 25 at 2 p.m. at FCC headquarters, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 23-1. The group will vote on a report at the March meeting from the Toll Free: Future Utilization of Numbers working group regarding toll-free numbering resources. In June, the group will vote on an additional report from the T-FUN working group, as well as the Call Authentication Trust Anchor working group concerning regulatory treatment of international cellular roaming traffic and the IoT Numbering Usage working group on the use of North American numbering plan numbers for the routing and addressing of IoT communications. It will also consider a report from the Numbering Administration Oversight working group on the numbering administration performance review, as well as the North American Numbering Plan Fund size projections and contribution factor.
Commerce Department and DOD officials will brief House Commerce Committee members Thursday on the findings of a Pentagon study about how commercial 5G use of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band would affect incumbent military systems, as expected (see 2312280044), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, told us Wednesday. Panel Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and others were pressing for more details about the DOD report as they determine whether its findings justify ruling out an auction of the frequency (see 2311290001). House Commerce advanced its Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) in May with language mandating an auction with an eye to using revenue to pay for other telecom projects (see 2305240069). Rodgers pressed Diane Rinaldo, Open RAN Policy Coalition executive director, during a Wednesday House Communications hearing (see 2401170078) on how the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority, which House Commerce wants to restore via HR-3565, would bolster U.S. development of open radio access networks (ORANs). “If you want more ORAN, you need more spectrum,” said Rinaldo, a former acting NTIA administrator. “My members need consistency. They need an understanding of how their business is going to roll out the next couple of years. Coming to a standstill hurts us all and hurts future innovation.”
Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that NBC and CNN are “crooked, they’re dishonest and, frankly, they should have their licenses or whatever they have taken away” because the networks didn’t carry his victory speech after the Iowa caucuses for the 2024 Republican presidential election. The networks covered the speeches of other Republican presidential hopefuls from Iowa. The FCC didn’t comment, but the agency doesn’t issue licenses to cable channels or networks. “I was surprised that those networks didn’t carry Trump’s victory speech, but their right to choose to carry it or not is within their editorial discretion protected by the First Amendment,” said Free State Foundation President Randolph May. A station repeatedly refusing to carry a candidate’s speeches while treating other candidates differently could raise an issue of whether the FCC’s reasonable access rules were violated, May said. "The FCC is an independent agency for a reason. It never could and never should bow to such ridiculous threats from a would-be executive,” said Matt Wood, Free Press vice president-policy. “Of course, even his saber-rattling here is dangerous, and designed to chill freedom of the press and editorial discretion.” Last year, Trump promised NBCU’s parent Comcast would be scrutinized for “treason” if he becomes president again (see 2309290042). Trump made similar comments against media companies many times during his presidency. Trump’s FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said then that the agency lacks the authority to rescind broadcast licenses based on their content (see 1809040051). Comcast, CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery, NAB, NCTA and all five FCC commissioners didn’t comment Wednesday.
The retransmission consent blackout rebate NPRM that FCC commissioners adopted 3-2 along party lines last week (see 2401100026) asks numerous questions about agency authority and implementation but has few tentative conclusions about how such a rebate regime might work. The approved NPRM was released Wednesday.
Twenty-six attorneys general urged the FCC to use its AI notice of inquiry to clarify that AI-generated calls mimicking human voices are considered “an artificial voice” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Reply comments on a November notice of inquiry (see 2311160028) were due Tuesday and posted Wednesday in docket 23-362. In initial comments, CTIA and USTelecom urged that the FCC allow flexibility in how providers use AI (see 2312200039).
NTIA’s administration of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (Wireless Innovation Fund) drew criticism from some House Communications Subcommittee Republicans during a Thursday hearing over concerns the agency was slow to use it to aid development of U.S. open radio access networks (see 2401160068). Subpanel Democrats conversely eyed whether Congress should allocate additional funding to the NTIA initiative for ORAN use. Members of both parties sought to tie future ORAN development to the push to give the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program an additional $3.08 billion to close a funding shortfall that could hurt the goal of removing suspect gear from U.S. networks (see 2311070050).