FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez hasn’t expressed an opinion on edge providers contributing to the Universal Service Fund (see 2408190056). She has expressed interest in the work of the bicameral, bipartisan USF working group, which includes the concept of assessing digital advertising services and enterprise-oriented data services, such as cloud services.
FCC staffers give the agency and their jobs generally high marks, according to the Office of Personnel Management's 2023 federal employee viewpoint survey data released Wednesday by the FCC. Among employees surveyed, 92% said people in their work unit contribute positively to the agency's performance, 75% said they recommend the agency as a good place to work, and 68% said senior leaders maintain high standards of honesty and integrity. Areas where results were more lukewarm include questions about whether information is openly shared in the organization (56% of respondents agreed), the approval process in the organization allows timely delivery of my work (54%), and senior leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce (55%). The OPM data came from anonymous surveying of 519 agency employees for a month in 2023.
Lingo Telecom will pay a $1 million fine and implement a "historic compliance plan" under a settlement with the FCC following an investigation of spoofed generative AI robocalls. Lingo transmitted spoofed robocalls using AI-generated voice cloning technology that spread disinformation during the New Hampshire presidential primary election, the investigation found. Political consultant Steve Kramer directed the operation (see 2406260041). Lingo will also be required to apply an A-level attestation, the highest level of trust attributed to phone numbers, for calls where it's providing the caller ID number to the calling party. Kramer faces a proposed $6 million fine. “Every one of us deserves to know that the voice on the line is exactly who they claim to be,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel: “If AI is being used, that should be made clear to any consumer, citizen, and voter who encounters it. The FCC will act when trust in our communications networks is on the line.”
Communications Litigation Today is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
The wireless industry urged the FCC to approve positions that promote 5G and 6G, and international mobile telecommunications (IMT) at the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027. Comments were due Tuesday in docket 24-30 on the FCC’s WRC Advisory Committee's (WAC) early policy positions (see 2408060019). Numerous satellite interests focused attention on: agenda item 1.7, additional mid-band spectrum and the X band being made available for IMT.
Phasing in regulatory fees tied to creation of the FCC's Space Bureau will mitigate some of the "rate shock" that could affect satellite operators, particularly smaller organizations, Iridium representatives told the office of Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, according to a filing posted Tuesday in docket 24-85. Iridium also lobbied that the agency adopt an alternative methodology that would base fees for satellite constellations on "units" of individual geostationary satellites and groupings of non-geostationaries, with both operating and authorized satellite systems paying regulatory fees. Iridium said that its units approach recognizes the extent to which larger systems impose greater costs on the bureau. Iridium has advocated similarly with several of the regular commissioners' offices.
The FCC Wireline Bureau Tuesday posted updated responses to questions on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program as well as a new user guide. “We encourage Reimbursement Program recipients to regularly consult the Reimbursement Program webpage for updates,” the bureau said. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has urged Congress to close the more than $3 billion shortfall in the rip and replace program, which pays for replacing Huawei and ZTE communications gear and services from mostly wireless networks (see 2405020071).
Viaero Wireless told the FCC on Tuesday that absent further funding from Congress it will suspend a program for removing Huawei gear from its network. Viaero said it installed Huawei radio access network gear at nearly 900 cellsites “over the course of many years.” It must replace “all this RAN equipment, as well as other Huawei gear used for backhaul (microwave) and core switching.” Viaero is “exhausting its own financial resources to fund parts of the project, including payments to third-party vendors, well in advance of receiving reimbursement from the FCC,” a filing in docket 18-89 said. Based on recent assessments of the scope of work ahead and the company’s financial resources, “by the end of 2024, Viaero will be required to suspend work on this project if additional funding from Congress is not provided,” the filing said. Congress is considering, but has not yet approved, legislation providing an additional $3.08 billion for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2408090041).
Representatives of EchoStar, Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute at New America met with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in support of a 60-day mandatory unlocking requirement on handsets. They also urged the FCC to clear use of the lower 12 GHz band for fixed wireless and address a revised spectrum screen, a filing Tuesday in docket 24-186 and other dockets said. “Nothing stands in the Commission’s way to unleashing 500 MHz of spectrum in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band for fixed 5G broadband services,” they said: “The Commission’s current spectrum policies have not imposed or enforced effective limits on spectrum aggregation.” Representatives of the three groups have been making the rounds at the FCC (see 2408090037).
Any incoming presidential administration must “be ready to implement a reindustrialization plan" and change financial rules to resurrect American manufacturing and compete with China, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington wrote in China is Winning, Now What?, an essay in the fall issue of the journal American Affairs. The essay doesn’t mention the FCC, and it only touches on tech policy. Instead, it focuses on China’s superior manufacturing capacity and on the global dependency on Chinese products. “It would have been unthinkable for Cold War America to source key components in logistics and telecommunications from the Warsaw Pact,” Simington wrote. “And yet, our long history of peaceful relations with the PRC [People’s Republic of China] has led us to sleepwalk into exactly this unacceptable state of dependency.” Simington noted that the rise of electric vehicles has positioned China as a global competitor to the U.S. auto industry and said a collapse of American carmakers would deeply injure America. Should China become the dominant international automaker, it could “normalize the presence of hundreds of millions of vehicles packed with sensors, radios, and firmware on every road in the world,” Simington added. “The intelligence benefits alone are incalculable, but control of such markets will in addition weaken countries that the PRC routinely calls its geopolitical adversaries.” To address the matter, the U.S. should “use tariffs and waivers as precision tools for strategic products and industries” but it must also “address larger questions of tax, accounting, and finance rules that have contributed to an anti-industry investment environment,” Simington wrote. Federal spending should be reallocated “to promote world peace through American strength.” He added, “The social costs of failure, here and abroad, will blight the lives of generations yet unborn.”