The FCC has issued a cease and desist letter and K4 order against Texas-based Lingo Telecom over robocalls to voters before the New Hampshire primary last month. The calls used voice-cloning tech and spoofed phone numbers to seem to be from President Joe Biden, urging recipients not to vote in the primary, said a news release. “What a bunch of malarkey. We know the value of voting Democratic when our votes count,” the calls allegedly said in Biden’s voice, spoofed to appear to come from a number connected with a Democratic super political action committee. “It’s important that you save your vote for the November election,” the deepfaked Biden voice said. Lingo “is alleged to have originated robocall traffic using AI-generated voice cloning to spread misinformation to voters,” said an FCC news release Tuesday. The cease and desist letter orders Lingo to stop supporting illegal robocall traffic on its networks and the K4 public notice “strongly encourages other providers to refrain from carrying suspicious traffic from Lingo,” the release said. The FCC is acting alongside the Office of the New Hampshire State Attorney General, which also sent a cease and desist Tuesday to another company involved with the calls, the Life Corporation. The Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force also sent a cease and desist letter to the Life Corporation. The New Hampshire letter targets Life over violations of voter suppression laws, the FCC release said. “Each of these parties have been warned about apparent illegal robocall violations in the past,” the FCC release said. “Consumers deserve to know that the person on the other end of the line is exactly who they claim to be,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in the release. “That’s why we’re working closely with State Attorneys General across the country to combat the use of voice cloning technology in robocalls being used to misinform voters and target unwitting victims of fraud.” Law enforcement and regulatory agencies “are working closely together to monitor and investigate any signs of AI being used maliciously to threaten our democratic process,” said New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella in the release. The action stems from an investigation launched last month by the New Hampshire AG, the FCC Enforcement Bureau, the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, and USTelecom’s Industry Traceback Group, the release said. Lingo didn’t comment, but the FCC’s letter says the company didn’t dispute the calls' illegality.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology is seeking comment by March 7 on a request by Axon Enterprise for a waiver of FCC rules to market three investigation and surveillance devices to law enforcement agencies. Replies are due March 22 in docket 24-40. “Axon states that to meet law enforcement’s need for continuous and reliable video feeds, the devices must use analog signal modulation” but need to operate at power levels higher than allowed for the 5725-5850 MHz band, OET said Tuesday. The devices, a drone, a ground vehicle and a pole-mounted camera, “are intended to provide law enforcement with real-time information in dangerous situations and to reduce safety risks,” OET said.
The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) urged the FCC to move forward to ensure “local public-safety control of the band, with local decision-making about how the 4.9 GHz band can best meet a jurisdiction’s current and future needs.” Giving FirstNet control of the band “would reduce ‘local control’ to merely allowing local public-safety officials to choose between quality-of-service levels offered by a national network provider, rather than having actual ownership and control of these critical networks,” CERCI said in a Tuesday filing in docket 07-100. The group provided details on state and local use of the band. Among the examples cited: the California Department of Transportation’s use for autonomous/connected vehicle communications and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s use for public safety communications in its subway and bus systems.
ATIS warned that proposed enhancements to the wireless emergency alert system could take years to implement. The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council issued a report last year about the enhancements (see 2303210069). Implementation of dedicated audio attention signals or vibrations for some emergencies, such as earthquakes, would require “36-54 months in total,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-91. ATIS said the timeline would require six months “for high-level design,” 18-24 months “for completion of specification work” and another 12-24 months “for development, testing (individual components), integration testing and deployment.” ATIS laid out similar timelines for other proposed enhancements.
Seven 6 GHz automated frequency coordination (AFC) systems have completed the testing and public trial phase of certification but are waiting for the FCC to release the AFC certification public notice, the Wireless Innovation Forum said Tuesday in a monthly update. The forum said it’s also still waiting for Federal Register publication of the FCC’s Further NPRM proposing a geofencing system for very-low-power (VLP) operation above 14 dBm equivalent isotropic radiated power in the 6 GHz band (see 2310190054). Revised VLP rules take effect March 8, the forum noted. “The WInnForum 6 GHz committee is continuing to work on additional items to support AFC certification and future operation as well as reviewing the FNPRM in consideration of possibly commenting,” it said: “The Data Task Group is looking at data requirements to support VLP geofencing. The AFC Test and Certification [Working Group] is working to ensure all test specs are current.”
Public and consumer interest groups asked the FCC to adopt handset unlocking requirements for T-Mobile as part of its proposed buy of Mint Mobile (see 2303150032), now before commissioners. T-Mobile officials expect approval of the deal this quarter (see 2401260071). “T-Mobile’s proposed acquisition of Mint and Ultra Mobile raises concerns about the impact of the loss of these maverick [mobile virtual network operators] on the wireless market, including that consumers may face unnecessary obstacles when switching wireless provider,” the groups said in a Monday filing in docket 23-171. They note the FCC imposed an unlocking requirement on Verizon as part of its buy of Tracfone in 2021. “Consumer advocates have long argued that mobile phones should come unlocked by default, allowing users to more easily make choices about the device and service they purchase, as they can for other products,” said the filing by the Open Technology Institute at New America, Consumer Reports, Public Knowledge and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.
NCIC Communications urged the FCC to act on its pending petition that partially waives rules requiring correctional facilities to deploy certain forms of advanced telecom relay services (see 2311220052). The company said in a meeting with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that "unique security, technical, and regulatory issues" continue to delay deployment of such services, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-62. In addition, the agency should expand its authority to include non-incarcerated people's communications services video visitation providers, NCIC argued.
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson urged leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees Monday night to “provide additional funding” for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program before its original $14.2 billion allocation runs out in April. Lawmakers are eyeing how to allocate as much as $7 billion in stopgap funding to keep ACP running through the end of this year (see 2401250075). FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel confirmed last week that the Wireline Bureau will freeze new ACP enrollments Thursday as part of winding down the program (see 2402010075). “As more cooperatives, and other internet service providers, work to build broadband networks in hard-to-reach rural and low-income areas, affordability will become increasingly critical to adoption of these essential services,” Matheson said in a letter to Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and their ranking members. “Should programs supporting affordability fail, it could jeopardize access to broadband services for millions of customers.” Ensuring “that there is a consistent, dependable, and effective low-income broadband program, such as the ACP, will allow rural providers to deliver the highest quality broadband service to their communities at an affordable price,” said Matheson, a former House Commerce member who represented Utah as a Democrat. Enacting the ACP Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565), which would infuse $7 billion into the program for FY24 (see 2401100056), “or similar legislation would provide important short-term clarity and certainty ... while Congress works to address questions around the future of the program and develop a permanent funding solution.”
Republican FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington “will seek reconfirmation” to a second term “and has been in touch with” the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., “about the process,” a Simington spokesperson told us Tuesday. Simington joined the FCC in December 2020 after a swift but partisan Senate confirmation as Democrats objected to Republicans fast-tracking his approval after Joe Biden beat Donald Trump (see 2012080067). Simington’s term technically expires June 30, but he can remain on the commission until Jan. 3, 2026, absent Senate confirmation of another nominee.
Expect continuing friction at the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference and the WRC-31 between geostationary and non-geostationary orbit satellite operators over interference protections, River Advisors CEO Katherine Gizinski said. She and other panelists Tuesday at the SmallSat Symposium in Silicon Valley said those equivalent power flux density (EPFD) protection items were a hot-button issue at WRC-23. The FCC has seen constellation operators post-WRC-27 joust over EPFD limits (see 2401300032). Several panelists also discussed the changing availability of financing that helped launch numerous space startups in the past nine years.