The FTC should deny a petition for a right-to-repair rulemaking because the proposal would chill innovation and undermine market-based solutions, tech and telecom groups told the agency in comments due Friday (see 2401040020). U.S. Public Interest Research Group and iFixit filed a petition in November for an FTC rulemaking seeking rules making independent repair easier and more widely available.

In-person meetings at the FCC are increasing, but the majority are virtual, as they have been since the COVID-19 pandemic began nearly four years ago. The number of in-person ex parte meetings appear roughly the same as a year ago, based on a review of filings and industry interviews. Beginning last March, more staff began working in the office on more days of the week (see 2303030047). One tendency, industry officials say, is that more meetings with commissioner advisers are now at FCC headquarters. But meetings with the offices and bureaus are mostly virtual because staffers have differing in-office schedules. Virtual meetings seem the best way of ensuring everyone who needs to attend a meeting can.

FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington thinks the agency should provide consumers with more of an explanation about why they should buy secure smartphones and other devices, he said during a Silicon Flatirons’ conference on global fractures in tech policy. The two-day conference ended Monday.

Existing law needs updating to protect artists and individuals from fake AI-generated content, House Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Friday during a hearing in Los Angeles.

David Zumwalt, who became president of the Wireless ISP Association in June 2022, told us during an exclusive Communications Daily Q&A that the NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment program shouldn’t be used to inject artificial competition into markets that WISPA members already serve. WISPA has fought to have BEAD fund projects that rely partly on using unlicensed spectrum (see 2302090063).

A state bill forcing privatization of a municipal broadband network in Frankfort, Kentucky, could debut shortly, Frankfort Plant Board (FPB) officials said in interviews. FPB is fighting the legislation, which is expected to be written by state Sen. Gex Williams (R). The bill, if and when it's introduced, would be part of a trend of industry attacks on muni broadband, said Gigi Sohn, American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) executive director. Some argue private investment is superior to public broadband, while others believe certain conditions prevent making a true comparison between municipal and private networks. Still others think a municipal network is appropriate only in areas where private companies opt out.

Fixed wireless competition is proving more tenacious than expected for Charter Communications. In a call with analysts Friday as it announced its Q4 2023 results, Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said fiber overbuilds also remain a competitive challenge. Charter stock closed at $319.21, down 16.5%, as the company announced it lost 61,000 residential broadband subscribers in the quarter.

A senior research analyst from Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology cautioned Thursday that in some locations the cost of replacing Chinese hardware in information technology networks with more expensive alternatives outweighs the benefits. Jack Corrigan told the China Economic and Security Review Commission at a Thursday hearing that procurement bans should be targeted at "high-risk sectors, networks and use cases."

The lower 3 GHz band, a top target for wireless carriers for reallocation for full-power licensed use, remains critical to DOD as well, DOD Chief Information Officer John Sherman said Thursday at NTIA's spectrum policy symposium. The band is one of five targeted for study in the national spectrum strategy (see 2311130048).

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel confirmed to congressional leaders Thursday that the Wireline Bureau will move forward with freezing new affordable connectivity program enrollments Feb. 8 amid the continued push to provide the program stopgap funding to keep it running once its original $14.2 billion allocation runs out in April (see 2401250075). Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., is beginning to cite a recent FCC Office of Inspector General report on its audit of ACP’s 2022 performance (see 2401300090) as vindicating Republicans’ misgivings about the program, which some lobbyists believe may complicate those funding efforts.