The House Communications Subcommittee plans a Sept. 10 hearing on NTIA’s implementation of the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, setting up what could be a contentious start to Congress’ return next week from its month-plus August recess. The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and five other groups, meanwhile, included BEAD among case studies in a Wednesday paper urging ISPs and local governments to strengthen their collaboration to aid the permitting process for connectivity projects.

Some IP-captioned telephone service (IP CTS) providers welcomed an accessibility coalition's petition asking the FCC to require that all IP CTS providers using automated speech recognition (ASR) as the sole means of transcribing speech also provide users the option of requesting a communications assistant (CA) at the start or any point during an IP CTS call (see 2408010057). The coalition also sought quality metrics for the service and asked that the commission not certify new IP CTS providers until its petition is addressed.

Wireless carriers stressed the importance of spectrum to 6G in response to a May request for comment on the state of 6G development (see 2405230010). Comments were due Aug. 21. NTIA posted them this week. Some groups released their comments when they filed them (see 2408220043).

China is ahead of the U.S. on many fronts in its plans to emerge as the world leader in 5G, and eventually 6G, experts warned Wednesday during a webcast by the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. The group released a paper urging that the U.S. reassert leadership in wireless technology.

The FCC will vote this month on providing spectrum for satellite broadband and accessibility in videoconferencing, according to a note from Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Wednesday. The Sept. 26 open meeting will also include items on expanding robocall protections and allowing increased power for digital FM stations, along with seven enforcement items, the note said. The agency typically doesn’t provide information about enforcement items on the agenda until those items have been voted on.

CTIA presented a 109-page argument against California regulating wireless service quality. Comments were posted through Tuesday at the California Public Utilities Commission. The commission is weighing a staff proposal that moves away from the CPUC’s light-touch approach to wireless and interconnected VoIP. While industry widely panned the plan and hinted at lawsuits, public advocates said expanding regulation of newer voice services is a must.

The ultimate makeup of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that hears the review of the FCC’s net neutrality order may not make much difference, some legal experts told us, in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. They doubted that the panel (docket 24-7000) will delve deeply into case law, instead simply deciding that going forward it's Congress, not the FCC, that must address any case that raises "major questions." Oral argument is scheduled for Oct. 31.

The White House Office of the National Cyber Director released guidance Tuesday, dubbing it a "roadmap," addressing "key vulnerabilities" in border gateway protocol (BGP) security. ONCD urged "every network operator use a risk-based approach to address BGP vulnerabilities" through the adoption of resource public key infrastructure (RPKI), which includes route origin authorization and origination, calling it a "mature, ready-to-implement approach to mitigate BGP’s vulnerabilities."

Expect the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a major interpretation on Section 230 as lower courts continue to make conflicting rulings about social media platforms’ free speech rights, legal experts told us in interviews.

After more than a year of meetings, the NAB-led, FCC-involved ATSC 3.0 task force, the Future of TV Initiative, hasn’t reached consensus on controversial topics, we're told. Its members include broadcasters, cable interests, and consumer and public interest groups. Its first meeting was in June 2023, and it was expected to issue a final report in the fall, yet members told us that it's likely merely to reiterate many of the positions stakeholders held going into the effort. It's also unlikely to provide a firm timeline for the sunset of ATSC 1.0. Just before the initiative's launch, ATSC President Madeleine Noland said the goal was for the diverse group to “chart a path forward together,” and NAB told us the goal was to make concrete recommendations to the FCC by June 2024.