AT&T is collaborating with the FCC and other regulators in the wake of the recent widespread wireless network outage (see 2402220058), AT&T Chief Operating Officer Jeff McElfresh said during a Morgan Stanley financial conference Monday. McElfresh also confirmed that the loss of affordable connectivity program (ACP) funding won’t be a major financial hit for the carrier, while AT&T is poised to gain connections through the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program.
Numerous ISPs believe the affordable connectivity program's demise would give them a chance to snag subscribers from competitors. In earnings calls with analysts this quarter, many cable companies and telcos also told Wall Street they don't expect to take major hits to their subscriber base if the program ends (see 2311160076). The FCC said Monday that ACP funding will run out before the end of May (see 2403040077).
Former FCC Chairman Charles Ferris served on Cablevision's board (see 2402280032).
Australia's Fleet Space is seeking to amend its pending U.S. market access petition (see 2208080019), reducing satellites and changing the focus of the constellation's mission. In an FCC Space Bureau application last week, Fleet Space said the constellation would focus on subsurface earth monitoring instead of industrial IoT connectivity, and that it would be comprised of three satellites instead of four. The company said it anticipated launching in October on a SpaceX mission.
Electronic Privacy Information Center representatives spoke with aides to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks on the group’s concerns about the cyber mark program, teed up for a March 14 commissioner vote (see 2402220059). EPIC discussed “potential standards for the Trust Mark that could improve security and privacy protections for consumers,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-239. Representatives of the ioXt Alliance, which is focused on IoT security and privacy, met with an aide to Commissioner Anna Gomez. They discussed “the Program’s scope, potential pathways for third-party certification and self-attestation, development of the IoT registry, and the need for robust consumer education and awareness building to promote use of the Mark.”
The FCC approved six-month extensions of a mandate to rip and replace Huawei and ZTE equipment from telecom networks under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program for various carriers, in a notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. The Wireline Bureau has been handling extension requests on a carrier-by-carrier basis. Advantage Cellular’s deadline to remove, replace and dispose of covered equipment and services was extended from March 10 to Sept. 10. NE Colorado Cellular got two different dates for parts of its network -- March 9 to Sept. 9 and from April 6 to Oct. 6. Other extensions granted include: Panhandle, from April 18 to Oct. 1; Stealth Communications, from March 29 to Sept. 29; and United Wireless, April 21 to Oct. 21. “The Bureau strongly encourages recipients that intend to file a petition for an extension to do so as promptly as possible after determining that their circumstances meet the standard for an extension established in the statute and the Commission’s implementing rules, and well in advance of the recipient’s deadline, so the Bureau is able to fully consider and grant or deny the petition before the recipient’s term expires,” the notice said.
Incompas urged the FCC to "reinstate its oversight authority over" broadband internet access service providers’ interconnection agreements (see 2402080082). "Net neutrality is competition policy as it brings more choices and opportunities for consumers and small businesses," the group said in a filing posted Friday in docket 23-320 on separate meetings with aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez. Incompas also warned the commission against taking a "regulatory drift into areas of internet regulation," noting that content delivery networks and virtual private networks are "areas in which the FCC has not traditionally had a role."
President Joe Biden should recommend the FCC establish minimum cybersecurity standards for wireless carriers to protect Americans' cellphone data from surveillance by China, Russia and other countries, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote the White House Thursday. Wyden detailed how foreign entities have allegedly exploited flaws in “obscure technologies” like diameter and signaling system 7, which wireless companies use for texting and roaming purposes around the world. The FCC should “require companies buying access to SS7 and Diameter by leasing Global Titles to comply with registration and know your customer requirements,” he said. Global titles are unique addresses carriers use to route signaling messages. Wyden also urged OMB to “establish minimum cybersecurity standards for wireless services purchased by federal agencies.” The White House didn’t comment.
President Joe Biden signed off Friday on a continuing resolution (HR-7463) that extended federal appropriations for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies, DOJ’s Antitrust Division and the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service through March 8. The measure also extends appropriations for the FCC and FTC through March 22. The Senate approved the CR 77-13 Thursday night, averting a partial government shutdown that would have otherwise closed RUS late Friday. The House passed it earlier Thursday (see 2402290076).
TV broadcast executives were dismissive of the planned ESPN/Warner Bros. Discovery/Fox sports streaming venture (see 240207000), largely confident about 2024 political advertising and predicted a looming shakeup on broadcaster compensation from streaming services during Q4 earnings calls for Nexstar, Gray, Sinclair, Tegna and E.W. Scripps. “I can’t see why analysts or investors would see this as a killer app,” Scripps CEO Adam Symson said of the joint venture. Said Nexstar Chief Operating Officer Michael Baird, “We have more questions than answers about this proposed product, including assurance that it will actually launch.”