The FCC Public Safety Bureau issued an order granting a two-week extension request from Public Knowledge and several other groups for comment deadlines for responses to the agency’s outage reporting Further NPRM (see 2404170053). Comments on the item are now due May 13, replies June 12. The groups requested the extension because of the proximity of the original April 29 deadline to the agency’s net neutrality vote Thursday and the Passover holiday. “We conclude that the totality of the circumstances warrants a limited 14-day extension of the comment and reply deadlines to facilitate the development of a comprehensive record in this proceeding,” said the order.
Section 60506 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “should have been as unremarkable as it was uncontroversial,” said a brief Monday (docket 24-1179) in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from 20 industry and business petitioners, including CTIA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in support of their 16 consolidated challenges to the FCC’s Nov. 20 digital discrimination order (see 240319004).
The Insurance Marketing Coalition asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court to reject the FCC’s opposition to the coalition’s motion to stay portions of the commission’s Dec. 18 order implementing rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to target and eliminate illegal robotexts, pending the disposition of the coalition’s appeal to vacate the order, the coalition’s reply said Monday (docket 24-10277).
Vermont National Telephone (VTEL) is challenging the DOJ's move to dismiss fraud litigation against Dish Network and designated entities (DE) Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless regarding 2015's AWS-3 auction (see 2403040052).
California state and local enforcers could seek injunctive relief for digital discrimination under modification to a bill by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D). The Assembly Judiciary Committee approved AB-2239 with the amendment at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday. The panel and the Senate Judiciary Committee also considered multiple bills on algorithms and social media.
The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing a May 1 vote on the to-be-filed Spectrum and National Security Act from panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., lobbyists told us. A general notice on the Senate Commerce markup session was online Wednesday night but the committee hadn’t formally announced its agenda. It wasn’t certain Wednesday night whether the Spectrum and National Security Act would actually be part of the meeting. The executive session will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. There are five other telecom and tech-focused bills on the docket: the Rural Broadband Protection Act (S-275), Network Equipment Transparency Act (S-690), Protecting Kids on Social Media Act (S-1291), Create AI Act (S-2714) and Future of AI Innovation Act (S-4178).
CTIA and its major members agreed that grants of special temporary authority (STA) are the best method of getting “inventory” spectrum into play, in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 24-72. Others continue to stress the benefits of dynamic sharing and other mechanisms (see 2404090045). The FCC sought comment in March as the agency marked the one-year anniversary of its general auction authority expiring.
The FCC set June 6 as the deadline for comments, replies by July 8, in docket 24-119 about the state of competition in the communications marketplace for the agency’s biannual State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace report to Congress (see 2207050062). The agency sought data, information, and statistics for 2022 and 2023, as well as "any notable trends and developments that have occurred during early 2024," said a public notice Monday.
Barbara van Schewick, director of Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society, met with aides to the FCC’s Democratic commissioners to counter CTIA arguments about the treatment of 5G slicing under draft net neutrality rules (see 2404170032), said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-320. “In recent filings, CTIA suggests that language [suggesting] that alleged non-BIAS data services that offer quality of service to applications, content, and services whose quality of service requirements can be met over [broadband internet access service] consistent with open internet protections would likely be found to evade the Open Internet protections is ‘a dramatic shift from the 2015 framework,’” van Schewick said: “I disagree with that characterization. As the draft order recognizes, the 2015 Order clearly stated multiple times that it would ‘take appropriate enforcement action’ if an alleged non-BIAS data service was found to evade the Open Internet protections.” She noted that her name was spelled “Shewick” several times in the draft and asked that it be corrected.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau affirmed its 2019 decision fining AT&T and AMG Technology Investment for appearing to violate the commission's rules on prohibited communications during the Connect America Fund phase II auction (see 1909060063). The bureau said in a forfeiture order Monday that AT&T must pay a $75,000 fine because it violated the prohibited communications rule and five-business day reporting deadline. A separate forfeiture order affirming AMG's $100,000 fine said the company was "an active participant in prohibited communications with AT&T surrounding AMG’s bids, bidding strategies, and bidding results."