The FCC Wireless Bureau Wednesday rejected a request by the North Shore Emergency Association (see 2401290030) to extend by two months the deadlines to comment on a request from Garmin International (see 2310060031) for a waiver of rules concerning certification of the hand-held general mobile radio service (GMRS) devices it manufactures. Comments remain due Feb. 12, replies Feb. 27 (see 2401120031). The group “has not shown that an extension is warranted,” the bureau said.
The FCC updated a notice on deadlines for responses to a CTIA petition seeking a 12-month extension (see 2401090026) to the FCC's current six-month deadline for carriers to implement rules protecting consumers from SIM swapping and port-out fraud. Intended for Thursday’s Federal Register, the notice adds a date for replies to oppositions -- Feb. 23. Oppositions are due Feb. 13 (see 2401260054).
Google asked the FCC for an emergency waiver of rules requiring environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbent users in the citizens broadband radio service band as storms sweep through parts of California. Operations in one dynamic protection area (DPA) lost commercial power while another “suffered physical damage” due to high winds, Google said. In another DPA, the power provider “is currently unable to provide an estimated time for restoration of commercial power,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-319.
Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen and others from the company met with all FCC commissioners, except Anna Gomez, for discussions focused mostly on spectrum, said a filing posted Wednesday in 20-443 and other dockets. The executives urged that the commission “unleash 500 MHz of spectrum in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band for fixed 5G broadband services,” Dish said: “Substantial evidence in the record shows that fixed 5G services can provide broadband to tens of millions of Americans, while fully protecting existing non-geostationary orbit Fixed-Satellite Service and Direct Broadcast Satellite customers.” In addition, the executives discussed the need for a modernized spectrum screen, a proposed 5G Fund and “the benefits of proposals to maximize the efficiency” of the citizens broadband radio service, among other issues.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., backed the FCC’s NPRM that would make voice-cloning technology in robocall scams illegal (see 2401310082), telling Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel it’s needed because the use of AI to “impersonate trusted voices threatens to expose ... even greater harm” to consumer confidence in U.S. telecom systems. The FCC issued a cease-and-desist letter and K4 order Tuesday against Texas-based Lingo Telecom over robocalls to voters before the New Hampshire primary last month with an AI-generated voice impersonating President Joe Biden (see 2402060087). “We commend you for moving forward with this proposed Declaratory Ruling to clarify that existing statute already prohibits robocalls using AI-generated voices to wireless customers,” Lujan and Kelly said in a letter to Rosenworcel released Wednesday. “This ruling is particularly important given the increasing ease of access to generative-AI tools. Such tools can be used to clone a person’s voice with high levels of accuracy, and there are alarming cases of this technology being used to harm vulnerable families across the country.” The proposed ruling “is aligned with Congressional intent for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act,” which should empower consumers “to provide consent on whether to receive AI generated calls,” the senators said: The FCC should also “exercise its lawful enforcement authority to stop the use of generative AI for fraudulent misrepresentation, particularly in critical sectors like public safety, election integrity, and consumer protection.”
Proposed revisions to Section 214 international authorization rules seem likely to result in increased scrutiny of foreign ownership by Team Telecom, said Jonathan Gafni, a foreign investment lawyer at Linklaters, during a Wednesday American Bar Association event. Team Telecom refers to the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector. “We expect to see more Team Telecom reviews,” Gafni said. The FCC proposed the changes in an NPRM last year (see 2304200039) that was met with industry concern (see 2310030070). While the "threshold of foreign ownership for carrier licensees and a couple of other types of licensees has traditionally been 25%," the FCC is "considering lowering that threshold to be more in line with" Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. "thresholds for looking at foreign investors," he said. "But another thing is that the FCC has actually asked that parties give a one-time disclosure of all their foreign ownership -- that carrier licensees provide a one-time disclosure -- because they hadn't looked at them for years. And so they have no idea how somebody who received a license 10 years ago may or may not have foreign ownership today, and whether that should be a concern.” Gavni expects "to see more Team Telecom reviews as these disclosures" are filed with the FCC, he said. In cases where the foreign ownership exceeds the new threshold, the agency could then make "referrals to the Team Telecom agencies for these national security and law enforcement reviews,” he said.
LTD Broadband asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the FCC’s rejection of its long-form application for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support, as expected (see 2311160039). LTD challenged the FCC’s Dec. 4 order denying LTD’s application for review of the Wireline Bureau’s decision to reject the company’s application. “LTD asks that the Court hold the Order unlawful and set it aside,” said the company’s petition, which was posted by the court Wednesday. The FCC didn't immediately comment.
The telecom industry pushed back on a Vermont state bill that could shake up state USF contribution and telecom taxation. At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing streamed Wednesday, a wireless industry lobbyist said a proposed shift to connections-based USF contribution mechanism unfairly shifted costs to wireless customers. A New England Connectivity and Telecommunications Association (NECTA) lobbyist, representing the region’s cable industry, condemned a possible $15 annual tax on each pole attachment owned by private communications providers. Community media representatives supported the proposed tax for supporting public, educational and governmental (PEG) channels.
Satellite operators continue having diverse views on using shot clocks to hasten earth station and satellite application reviews, according to docket 22-411 reply comments this week. In September, commissioners on a 4-0 vote adopted a Further NPRM on streamlining satellite and earth station applications (see 2309210055). There was a lack of consensus about shot clocks in initial comments last month (see 2401090051).
The FCC seeks the dismissal of the petition for review of Maurine and Matthew Molak to vacate the FCC’s Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing funding for Wi-Fi service and equipment on school buses under the commission’s E-rate program (see 2312200040), according to the commission’s motion Tuesday (docket 23-60641) at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.