U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya is recommending granting the federal government's request to drop its suit against Dish Network and designated entities (DEs) Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless (see 2403040052). In a 38-page report and recommendation submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (docket 15-cv-728), Upadhyaya said that even if Vermont National Telephone arguments against dismissal are credible, they don't outweigh the reasonable arguments the government put forward about why the litigation should be dropped. The U.S. and relator VTel sued, alleging fraud by Dish and the DEs in the FCC's 2015 AWS-3 auction. The U.S. now argues that there's not enough evidence to support VTel's claims, it's unclear VTel can provide damages since Dish and the DEs never received any bidding credits in the auction, and continuing the 10-year-old suit would be a drain on government resources.
The FCC on Thursday suspended the comment deadlines on a petition by Talton seeking a waiver of the commission’s rules capping the rates for audio and video for incarcerated people provided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We find good cause to suspend the deadlines to file comments and reply comments addressing Talton’s Petition pending Commission review of the merits of Talton’s request for confidential treatment,” the Wireline Bureau said (docket 23-62).
The FCC is granting some official travel requests, Commissioner Nathan Simington’s office told us Thursday. A pause on official travel led to Simington’s last-minute cancellation of plans to speak at the NAB Show 2025 in Las Vegas earlier this month. Commissioner Anna Gomez paid her own way to attend (see 2504080036). Simington is set to go to Boston to speak Saturday at the Harvard Business School Infrastructure Summit. His staff said the FCC chairman’s office approved the trip, and they were told FCC employees could now travel to events. Gomez’s office told us Thursday that it was unaware travel was again being approved and that she had also self-funded a visit to Philadelphia last week (see 2504160046). FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz traveled to Colorado Springs to speak at the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium the same day Gomez spoke at the NAB event, but it wasn’t clear if the FCC paid for his trip (see 2504100038). The agency didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Google has willfully acquired and maintained monopoly power over online ads in violation of antitrust measures, ruled a U.S. District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia on Thursday.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned the FCC's $57 million fine imposed on AT&T, agreeing with the wireless carrier that the agency's in-house adjudication was unconstitutional. In its docket 24-60223 decision Thursday, the three-judge 5th Circuit panel said its analysis is governed by the U.S. Supreme Court's Jarkesy decision. And the court pointed to Jarkesy as it said the FCC was incorrect that its enforcement proceeding against AT&T falls under the "public rights" exception that lets Congress assign some matters to an agency instead of an Article III court. Common law suits presumptively concern "private rights" and must be adjudicated by Article III courts, they said. The judges said an in-house FCC proceeding "amputates the carrier’s ability to challenge the legality of the forfeiture order." "No one denies the Commission’s authority to enforce laws requiring telecommunications companies like AT&T to protect sensitive customer data," the judges said. "But the Commission must do so consistent with our Constitution’s guarantees of an Article III decisionmaker and a jury trial." Hearing the case were Judges Catrina Haynes, Stuart Duncan and Cory Wilson, with Duncan penning the decision. T-Mobile and Verizon are similarly challenging fines brought against them in the same April 2024 enforcement action accusing the three wireless carriers of failing to safeguard data on customers' real-time locations.
The Trump administration’s growing list of executive orders targeting law firms may have only limited implications for the FCC, industry lawyers told us. Nonetheless, observers said they see the growing list of targeted firms as an unprecedented assault aimed at chilling opposition to the administration.
Hannah Lepow departs as legal adviser to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and will join NBC Universal … Joel Thayer, ex-Digital Progress Institute, joins the office of FTC Commissioner Mark Meador as chief of staff ... Changes at Eutelsat America and OneWeb Technologies: General Counsel Joe Uglialoro adds COO title; Chris Hetmanski named chief technology officer, replacing Rodrigo Gomez, now with Amazon's Project Kuiper … Wireless broadband firm Inseego appoints Ryan Sullivan, formerly Sorenson Communications, as senior vice president-carrier product management ... Senan Mele, formerly Horizon Next, joins BIA as vice-president-forecasting and data analysis, replacing Nicole Ovadia, who is leaving to pursue station ownership.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez condemned the agency’s investigations of PBS and NPR stations Wednesday in a release detailing her visit to public media broadcaster WHYY in Philadelphia last week. WHYY has PBS and NPR affiliate stations. “Baseless attacks on public media threaten to create a new kind of news desert -- one where communities can’t access the local critical information they need,” Gomez said. “The FCC must prioritize protecting and expanding the public’s access to timely, accurate news, free from political interference.” Regulators' decisions “have real consequences for communities that rely on local news stations for critical information,” she said. The release said the visit is part of Gomez's effort to engage with local broadcasters. “Through these visits, Commissioner Gomez is also drawing attention to how unfounded attacks on public media can disrupt the distribution of local news and emergency information,” it said. The FCC didn’t comment.
Telnyx, which is facing a proposed $4.5 million notice of apparent liability (NAL) from the FCC (see 2503050026), has been reinstated to the Industry Traceback Group (ITG). Telnyx said Tuesday that the FCC recommended the reinstatement. Telnyx's logo on Tuesday was included among those companies on the ITG website's list of "supporting partners." Telnyx CEO David Casem said, “We have been clear from the beginning that [Telnyx] is a victim of Biden-era regulation by enforcement that violates multiple executive orders from President [Donald] Trump and that we are completely innocent in this matter.” Casem added, “The FCC’s actions facilitating our reinstatement with the ITG are a welcomed first step in the process of clearing our name for good and show the Commission's commitment to righting this wrong. We remain confident that the facts of this case are on our side, and we will not rest until the NAL against us is fully resolved.” The FCC and ITG didn't comment.
The FCC on Wednesday suspended seven individuals convicted of E-rate fraud from participating in the program and started a proceeding to permanently bar them from the program. All pleaded guilty last year to defrauding the E-rate program in connection with funds provided to private religious schools in Rockland County, New York.