The Coalition for IP Transition continues to raise issues unrelated to Verizon's proposed takeover of Frontier, Verizon said Friday in docket 24-445. Verizon and the coalition have been jousting over proposed interconnection conditions (see 2504080061). The carrier said the coalition wrongly asserts that Verizon policies violate Section 251 of the Communications Act, which governs interconnection. Verizon said it's following FCC guidance when it negotiates in good faith in response to requests for IP interconnection and enters commercial agreements to exchange traffic in IP format.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau wants letters of intent by May 23 from entities interested in leading the industry consortium for robocall traceback efforts, said a public notice in Friday's Daily Digest. USTelecom's Industry Traceback Group currently holds the position. Comments on submitted letters of intent are due by June 11, replies June 18, in docket 20-22.
Pointing to a late Connect America Fund Phase II quarterly certification now having been submitted, Aristotle Unified Communications is asking the FCC for a rules waiver that would restore its Arkansas CAF support. In a docket 10-90 filing posted Friday, Aristotle said that despite curing the tardiness, the Universal Service Administrative Co. continues to withhold its Arkansas support, impeding its ability to provide broadband and voice service to Arkansas CAF locations. It said the submission failure was a ministerial error.
The American Federation of Government Employees condemned reported White House plans to revive Schedule F reclassification of civil servants. President Trump’s administration is planning to resurrect Schedule F under a new name, Schedule Policy/Career, Axios reported Friday. The rule change would strip numerous federal employees from civil service protections against termination, making them easier to fire at will. “President Trump’s action to politicize the work of tens of thousands of career federal employees will erode the government’s merit-based hiring system and undermine the professional civil service that Americans rely on,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley in a release. “This is another in a series of deliberate moves by this administration to corrupt the federal government and replace qualified public servants with political cronies.”
Two top Senate Armed Services Committee Republicans are voicing differing reviews of DOD’s recent proposal to the wireless industry to make 420 MHz from current military-controlled frequencies available for FCC auction while maintaining the Pentagon’s grip on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band (see 2504040068). Other lawmakers are skeptical that the proposal would lead to real progress toward an elusive spectrum legislative deal. Lobbyists pointed to the DOD proposal as aiming to dispel perceptions of an intransigent Pentagon but said it falls far short of the sort of compromise that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would likely accept.
A federal appellate court's rejection of a $57 million FCC fine -- calling it unconstitutional -- could force the agency to revisit and overhaul its enforcement processes. The agency clearly has authority to enforce laws requiring telecommunications companies to protect sensitive customer data, but the FCC "must do so consistent with our Constitution’s guarantees of an Article III decisionmaker and a jury trial," a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week as it vacated the fine against AT&T that stemmed from handling of customer data. T-Mobile and Verizon are challenging similar fines levied in the same April 2024 enforcement action. In siding with AT&T, the court said it was guided by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 Jarkesy decision regarding whether federal regulatory agencies can bring in-house proceedings to enforce civil penalties.
Sherry Ross, ex-FCC, joins Lerman Senter as associate … Digital infrastructure provider DC Blox names Greg Carender, formerly AdaniConneX, as COO, replacing Mark Masi, moving to chief development officer ... TikTok's top U.S. lobbyist Michael Beckerman becomes global adviser ... Gray Media promotes Dana Neves to senior managing vice president.
Comcast news outlets' coverage of the controversial deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia could be news distortion that violates FCC rules, Chairman Brendan Carr wrote Wednesday night on X. "Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest," he said in his post, which was in response to a post by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung criticizing CNN and MSNBC coverage. "News distortion doesn’t cut it," Carr said. Comcast is "ignor[ing] ... facts of obvious public interest" regarding Abrego Garcia and his deportation. Comcast didn't comment Thursday. The FCC under Carr has a pending news distortion investigation against CBS about 60 Minutes' coverage of the 2024 presidential campaign (see 2502050063).
The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a notice of violation Thursday against Bestov Broadcasting for its station WIAC (AM) San Juan, Puerto Rico, for operating at reduced power and with an unauthorized setup. The station is authorized to operate with a directional antenna pattern using a two-tower array, but in June, EB field agents found the station operating with a single tower with a nondirectional pattern and reduced power. Bestov has 20 days to respond to the bureau, said the notice, which appeared in the Daily Digest.
Beyond dropping the proposed $4.5 million fine against Telnyx, the FCC should halt altogether its "effective measures" rule on blocking illegal calls, Free State Foundation President Randolph May wrote Thursday. The Telnyx notice of apparent liability (NAL) for allegedly violating the effective measures rule would ultimately create unspecified requirements that are at the same time more stringent than anything the FCC previously established in notice-and-comment rulemakings, May said. The proposed fine "smacks of 'regulation by enforcement' ... because regulated entities are deprived of the ability to know and follow the law." FSF previously called for rescinding the Telnyx NAL (see 2503120071).