The FCC will devote an additional $42.19 million to fund all eligible rural healthcare program services for the current funding year, said an order commissioners adopted Friday for docket 02-60. It permits Universal Service Administrative Co. to carry forward unused funds from prior years. It waives a cap on multiyear commitments and upfront payments that would result in unnecessary reductions in support for rural healthcare providers and patients. Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order last month (see 2002210052). Pai tweeted earlier Friday that he wanted a vote so the additional funding could go to help healthcare providers address the spread of the coronavirus. After OK, he tweeted, "we finally got the votes!" This "is a critically important step that the FCC took today, particularly in light of the coronavirus pandemic," Pai said. "COVID-19 presents serious challenges to healthcare providers, and they need every tool in the toolbox at their disposal, particularly the enhanced connectivity that enables them to provide vital healthcare services to the American public. Today's order ensures that rural Americans will have access to the healthcare services they need." A commissioner's aide said there wasn't controversy among commissioners over the order's adoption.
President Donald Trump said during a Friday news conference his proclamation declaring the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic a national emergency temporarily waives parts of the Medicare, Medicaid and state children's health insurance programs and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy rule in a way that will enable more widespread use of telehealth. He called telehealth “a fairly new and incredible thing that’s happened in the not so distant past. I tell you, what they’ve done with telehealth is incredible.” There have been numerous calls for better access to telehealth resources as the virus outbreak has grown (see 2003120002). Trump also announced that a Google affiliate is working with the White House and other private sector companies on a website to aid Americans in finding tests to screen for coronavirus. Alphabet's Verily is overseeing plans for the website, which Trump said was to be ready by Sunday. The site will direct Americans to drive-through testing sites in parking lots at retailers like Target and Walmart, said White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Debbie Birx. “It’s going to be very quickly done -- unlike websites of the past -- to determine if a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location,” Trump said. “Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now. They’ve made tremendous progress. Our overriding goal is to stop the spread of the virus and to help all Americans who have been impacted by this.” Verily confirmed it's "developing a tool to help triage individuals for COVID-19 testing. We are in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time."
The FCC is scheduled to move to its new headquarters in late June, officials told us. The agency wouldn’t comment on the details of the move to the new building, Sentinel Square III at 45 L St. NE. Officials told us the new offices will be more “open concept” than in the current building. Real estate industry officials say that’s in line with other federal agencies that have relocated (see 1701120044). During the move, agency staff will telework from home for a week while the offices are packed up and relocated, FCC officials said. It’s not clear how the move plan interacts with the agency’s current pandemic response, which also involves telework (see 2003120063).
The FCC said Thursday its March 26 forum on 5G virtualized radio access networks was “postponed until further notice out of an abundance of caution.” This and other agencies have been making changes due to the coronavirus (see 2003120063).
President Donald Trump signed the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998) Thursday, as expected (see 2003040056). The law, which the Senate passed in February (see 2002270070), allocates $1 billion to help U.S. communications providers remove from their networks Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security (see 1912160052). The White House tied Trump’s signing of HR-4998 to a broader commitment “to safeguard America’s vital communications networks and securing technology.” Trump “is committed to the development of reliable 5G and ensuring the United States remains the global leader in technology and innovation,” the White House said. The administration “is working with allies and partners” on telecom security principles “that will foster reliable 5G networks” and “is working to ensure America’s private sector has access to spectrum, including critical mid-band spectrum, to fuel the growth of our wireless industry.” Trump is “committed to ensure” that rural Americans “have access to safe and reliable high-speed broadband,” the White House said. Trump told reporters before a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar he believes if countries like Ireland use equipment from Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei, “there's a real problem with intelligence and intelligence security. And we'll see what happens. We'll be discussing that point also.” HR-4998’s enactment drew praise from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, U.S. lawmakers and communications sector officials. “Securing our networks from malicious foreign interference is critical to America’s wireless future, especially as some communications providers rely on equipment from companies like Huawei that pose an immense threat,” said HR-4998 lead sponsors House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J.; ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore.; House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif.; and Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky. Now “we can take steps to protect our communications networks from bad actors, while helping small and rural providers remove and replace suspect network equipment.” The law “lays the foundation to help U.S. firms strip out vulnerable equipment and replace it,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss. "I hope Congress will build on this success and move forward quickly to appropriate the necessary funding to reimburse carriers for replacing any network equipment or services found to be a national security threat," Pai said. "This funding is essential to successfully transition communications networks—especially those of small and rural carriers—to infrastructure provided by more trusted vendors." Telecommunications Industry Association CEO David Stehlin called HR-4998 “an important step forward in the United States’ efforts to safeguard the integrity of our communications networks by supporting efforts to replace at-risk equipment with equipment from trusted suppliers.” The Rural Wireless Association said that “now we must push ahead in Congress to quickly appropriate the authorized funding." Mavenir considers HR-4998 “an important step,” said CEO Pardeep Kohli. Trump is "providing another policy tool to prevent China and others from interfering in our communications networks," said 5G Action Now Chairman Mike Rogers. He praised "banning the use of federal funds to buy equipment from Huawei, ZTE, and other companies deemed to be national security threats, while providing funds to allow small businesses to remove this equipment."
Many vertical acquisitions are good for competition or at least neutral, but the wrong vertical one "can create and entrench monopolists" and that risk is higher in digital markets where vertically integrated platforms have access to data needed by potential rivals, said DOJ antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim Wednesday at a vertical mergers guidelines workshop, per prepared remarks. He said if important data is available only to a downstream service due to an acquisition, that might increase the ability to raise rivals' downstream costs. He said the AT&T/Time Warner decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was "a significant development" in making clear that Section 7 of the Clayton Act governs an anti-competitive acquisition. He called that important because Section 7 looks to possible future effects and lets DOJ act before a problem arises.
The U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission urged the federal government Wednesday to make major changes to its cybersecurity approach, including creating a Senate-confirmed national cyber director and a Bureau of Cyber Statistics. CSC urged the government to establish a special fund for cyberattack response and recovery efforts and said Congress should create stand-alone House and Senate cybersecurity committees, which has been sought for years (see 1403270046). “For over 20 years, nation-states and non-state actors have used cyberspace to subvert American power,” the commission reported. “Despite numerous criminal indictments, economic sanctions, and the development of robust cyber and non-cyber military capabilities, the attacks against the United States have continued.” CSC didn’t seek a unified federal cybersecurity agency, saying the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the State Department, Election Assistance Commission and other federal agencies with cyber responsibilities should partly restructure. “We want working at CISA to become so appealing to young professionals interested in national service that it competes with the NSA, the FBI, Google, and Facebook for top-level talent (and wins)," the CSC said. It recommended the Commerce Department to establish a National Cybersecurity Certification and Labeling Authority and State to have an assistant secretary focused on cybersecurity issues. CSC Commissioner and House Armed Services Emerging Threats Subcommittee Chairman Jim Langevin, D-R.I., said "our strategy of layered cyber deterrence will provide solid guidance for transformational reforms.” House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Cybersecurity Subcommittee ranking member John Katko, R-N.Y., hailed the report. It represents “thoughtful and actionable ideas,” Rogers said. The "serious, forward-leaning recommendations" can help ensure critical infrastructure can "better defend against advanced cyber threats," said BSA|The Software Alliance Senior Director-Policy Tommy Ross. "Not everyone will like every recommendation the Commission produced, but our hope is that the report will create a sense of urgency for Congress to take meaningful, bipartisan action.”
The Senate approved Tuesday the House-passed version of the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act (S-1822) by unanimous consent. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and seven other committee Republicans are meanwhile calling for the FCC to distribute money from its proposed 5G Fund based on accurate broadband coverage data. The FCC has been considering what to ask in its coming NPRM to set up the new $9 billion USF program, which replaces Mobility Fund Phase II (see 2002130020). Senate passage of the House-altered S-1822 sends the measure on to President Donald Trump, who’s expected to sign it. The House last week amended S-1822 to included language from its House-passed companion (HR-4229), which was expanded into a larger broadband mapping legislative package (see 2003030064). S-1822 now also includes language from the House-passed Mapping Accuracy Promotes Services Act (HR-4227), which would bar companies from knowingly giving the FCC inaccurate broadband coverage data. “Flawed broadband maps are a huge problem for rural and underserved communities, including many in Mississippi,” Wicker said. “I expect the FCC and other federal agencies to use these new maps when awarding funding.” Unless "appropriately targeted," the 5G Fund "risks deepening the digital divide,” Wicker and the other senators wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a letter released Tuesday. The other GOP senators signing were: Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune of South Dakota; Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; Roy Blunt of Missouri; Deb Fischer of Nebraska; Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; Jerry Moran of Kansas; and Todd Young of Indiana. The senators noted they had repeatedly criticized MF-II. Wicker was on the verge of seeking an amendment to FY 2019 federal spending legislation that would force the FCC to revisit its MF-II maps before the FCC decided to investigate if top wireless carriers submitted incorrect coverage maps in violation of program rules (see 1812100056). “Although this program appears to focus on forward looking technologies that preserve and expand service in areas that otherwise may not be economical to serve, our concerns remain with regards to reliable underlying coverage data that is used to determine funding eligibility,” the senators said. The agency didn’t comment.
USTelecom proposed an FCC robocall mitigation framework (see 2002240049) incorporating voice traffic not yet covered by current mitigation strategies, such as enterprise and TDM traffic, and a way to act against voice service providers with deficient robocall mitigation programs. A newer robocall law recognizes that the secure telephone identity revisited standards and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens "call authentication framework is a set of protocols developed for IP voice traffic," USTelecom said in filing posted Monday on docket 17-59. "Equivalent protocols for non-IP voice traffic do not presently exist. Likewise, the authentication of enterprise calls remains a subject of ongoing development work." Incompas and members Bandwidth, BT, Microsoft and TelNet met Wednesday with staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, asking them to publicly identify what they consider reasonable factors for opt-out call-blocking measures. "Call blocking in a highly complex communications environment carries a high risk of unintended consequences, including the possibility that lawful traffic may be inadvertently intercepted," Incompas filed. It wants more guidance to help prevent false positives. Commissioners will vote at their March 31 meeting on mandating Stir/Shaken (see 2003090050).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai noted International Association of Firefighters support for vertical location accuracy rules commissioners approved in November (see 1911220034), promising to do more, in remarks to the group Monday. “We know that our z-axis metric should improve as technology evolves,” Pai said. “We’ll look at tightening the z-axis metric over time. Ultimately, we’ll look at requiring wireless carriers to report the caller’s specific floor level. You can be sure that we will never stop aiming to improve the system to make it easier for you to do your job.” Pai told the firefighters he hopes Congress acts soon to repeal a mandate that the FCC auction the T band, which is used in some areas for public safety communications. The regulator has concluded a T-band auction “wouldn’t be feasible,” Pai said. Such a bill gets a markup Tuesday.