FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel considers fixed wireless access important to competition and 6G helping the wireless industry cope with growing data demands, she said in a recent interview with the San Francisco Examiner. “We’re going to see more activities in the [IoT], more monitoring of industrial equipment, opportunities for smarter cities and smarter services,” Rosenworcel said, adding that the business models are developing. 6G will help “when we get to a point where we’re capacity-constrained on 5G and need to start thinking about what new technologies can assist us with the new loads.” Fixed wireless “is providing some real competitive pressure on a lot of incumbent broadband providers today.” Asked if FWA is a “true alternative” to wired broadband, Rosenworcel said, “the numbers suggest it is” and “a lot of households are signing up.” She touched on some of her top priorities, including the importance of Congress renewing FCC auction authority. The FCC is trying to develop “a legal and social norm” for when AI is used in communications, she said: “You should expect to be told.” On the use of AI in political campaigns, she acknowledged that “there’s a whole world online that’s outside of our purview.” But “waiting for a law that’s perfect, that captures every platform and venue, is waiting too long,” she said. “When I look at the Communications Act, I see principles of competition, universal access, public safety and consumer protection,” Rosenworcel said: “Those values have stood the test of time. So how do we take this law and make sure it meets this moment?” Rosenworcel declined comment when asked whether she would stick around if Kamala Harris is elected president. “Let’s see how the election goes,” she said.

Cellular service in areas affected by Hurricane Helene worsened Tuesday, according to FCC outage reports, as communications companies and the FCC announced further relief efforts. Tuesday’s Disaster Information Reporting Service update showed 21.7% of cell sites down in the affected areas, an increase from the 9.1% reported Monday. Cable and wireline companies reported 796,999 subscribers without service, an improvement from the 886,139 Monday. The FCC voted Wednesday to temporarily waive some Lifeline program eligibility requirements to allow households receiving federal disaster assistance to also benefit from Lifeline assistance, said a release. "In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, our thoughts are with the communities that need to rebuild and the residents who have lost loved ones or are enduring the unbearable wait to hear from family members," said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in the release. The FCC Public Safety and Wireless Bureaus also announced Wednesday that regulatory filing deadline extensions would apply in the additional Hurricane areas, which include Tennessee, Virginia and parts of South Carolina. The extension -- which moves regulatory deadlines between Sept. 23 and Oct. 28 to Oct. 29 -- already applied to numerous counties in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The Wireline Bureau also partially waived telephone number aging rules to make it easier for customers affected by Helene to disconnect or restore their service. The waiver will allow service providers to temporarily disconnect the customers' telephone service to avoid billing issues and then reinstate the same numbers when service is reconnected, according to a public notice. SpaceX’s Starlink said on its website homepage Wednesday that it was making service free for the first month in areas affected by Helene. Spectrum said it committed $250,000 in cash contributions to hurricane relief efforts and opened nearly 90,000 out-of-home WiFi access points across affected states. The access points will be available to all users at no cost through Oct. 7, Spectrum said. The company is also offering $750,000 worth of public service announcements for free to charities assisting with hurricane relief. Sinclair Broadcast launched a fundraising partnership with the Salvation Army at sinclaircares.com and pledged to donate up to $50,000, Sinclair said.

GOP running mate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, railed against major tech companies’ content regulation during the Tuesday night vice presidential debate as he attempted to deflect questions about whether he would challenge the Nov. 5 presidential election results if he and former President Donald Trump lose to Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Vance said “big technology companies silencing their fellow citizens” and Harris “saying that rather than debate and persuade her fellow Americans, she'd like to censor people who engage in misinformation” are bigger issues. Harris “is engaged in censorship at an industrial scale,” he said: “She did it during Covid, she's done it over a number of other issues. And that, to me, is a much bigger threat to democracy than what [Trump] said when he said that protesters should peacefully protest” during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Vance alluded to Murthy v. Missouri, in which the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a preliminary injunction that barred dozens of White House officials and four federal agencies from coercing social media platforms to moderate their content. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision in June (see 2406260034). Walz said Jan. 6 “was not [about] Facebook ads” and Vance’s description of the 2021 attack is “revisionist history.” Social media platforms remove content when a user is “threatening to kill someone, threatening to do something, that's not censorship," Walz said. "Censorship is book banning. We've seen that.”

Senior Fellow Andrew Long blogged about the DirecTV/Dish Network deal for the Free State Foundation (see 2409300009).

Connecticut, North Dakota and Delaware are among the top performing states for the percentage of households receiving at least 100/20 Mbps fixed broadband service, Ookla said Tuesday. At least 60% of Speedtest users in those states and six other states receive 100/20 Mbps service or better. Conversely, fewer than 40% of Ookla's Speedtest users in Alaska, Montana and Wyoming are receiving 100/20 Mbps service, it said. It called that unsurprising, as those states are the least densely populated. Ookla said New Mexico, Arizona and Minnesota saw the biggest improvement in the percentage of residents getting 100/20 Mbps service between the first half of 2023 and the first half of 2024. It said Washington, Alaska, Illinois and Oregon have the biggest percentage difference between urban and rural residents receiving 100/20 Mbps fixed service. Ookla said its data came from Speedtest use in the first half of 2024.

The FCC narrowed the scope of outage reporting for Hurricane Helene, said a public notice late Monday. The PN removes numerous counties in Georgia and all counties in Florida but Hamilton County from the affected area. The disaster information reporting system and the mandatory disaster response initiative are also still active for 46 counties in Georgia and portions of Tennessee, Virginia and both Carolinas.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed a controversial AI bill (SB-1047) that would have required large AI developers and those providing computing power to train AI models to implement protections preventing critical harms. “By focusing only on the most expensive and large-scale models, SB 1047 establishes a regulatory framework that could give the public a false sense of security about controlling this fast-moving technology,” wrote Newsom in his veto message Sunday. “Smaller, specialized models may emerge as equally or even more dangerous than the models targeted by SB 1047 -- at the potential expense of curtailing the very innovation that fuels advancement in favor of the public good.” The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Scott Wiener (D), responded on X: “This veto is a setback for everyone who believes in oversight of massive corporations that are making critical decisions that affect the safety and welfare of the public and the future of the planet.” Voluntary commitments aren’t enforceable, added Wiener. The bill, which was opposed by tech associations including CTA, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and the Software & Information Industry Association, could have had some indirect effects on the telecom industry (see 2409060039). Newsom signed several other bills on AI (see 2409190056). CCIA State Policy Director Khara Boender applauded Newsom "for vetoing this heavy-handed and misguided AI legislation that would have far-reaching effects, likely to impact the broader tech ecosystem, including startups."

Consumers' Research asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the FCC's Universal Service Fund contribution factor for Q4 of FY 2024 (see 2409130054). In a filing posted Thursday (docket 24-60494), the group repeated its claim that USF contributions are illegal taxes that the Universal Service Administrative Co. collects and "should be rejected."

The FCC will take on two consumer issues at the commissioners' Oct. 17 open meeting: the georouting of calls to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and rules requiring all wireless handsets to be hearing-aid compatible, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Wednesday. The meeting is the last before the Nov. 5 elections. Drafts will be posted on Thursday. A draft order would require all U.S. wireless carriers to implement georouting within 30 days of the effective date of the rule for nationwide providers and 24 months after the effective date for smaller ones, said a news release. Telecom trade groups have asserted carriers are voluntarily implementing 988 georouting and the agency doesn't need to mandate it (see 2407300050). The release refers to two carriers, which the FCC confirms are Verizon and T-Mobile. “Last week, our country’s largest wireless carriers began phasing out the old system of routing 988 calls, which was based on the area code and prefix of your phone number, regardless of your actual location,” Rosenworcel said: “They are replacing it with a system that uses so-called ‘georouting’ technology to make sure wireless 988 callers are connected with counselors in their local community.” Some 80% of calls to the 988 Lifeline "are done through wireless phones, and many people have phone numbers with different area codes from where they live, work or visit,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, T-Mobile president-technology. “Georouting ensures that those seeking help will reach the available crisis center nearest their location for support. It’s about making sure help is there when and where it’s needed most.” The FCC sought comment in a December NPRM (see 2312130019) on how to implement a 100% HAC standard. While the wireless industry largely supported recommendations in the NPRM, groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing urged tweaks (see 2402270066). “We’re making smartphones more accessible to consumers with hearing loss,” Rosenworcel said. “After a reasonable phase-in period, the 48 million Americans with hearing loss will be able to choose among that same mobile phone models that are available to all consumers,” she said. Commissioners will also consider an adjudicatory matter from the Media Bureau. Such items are released at the meeting after they are approved.

Former President Donald Trump appeared again to threaten ABC's “license.” In an interview on Fox News after a campaign rally on Saturday, the Republican presidential nominee was asked about his ABC News debate earlier in the month with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats' presidential nominee. Trump said the moderators were unfairly biased against him and that ABC should be investigated. “And, you know, they have to get a license from the federal government,” Trump added. Programming networks aren’t licensed by the FCC; individual broadcast stations are. Previously, Trump called for ABC to lose its “license” immediately after the debate with Harris and issued similar threats against NBC, CNN and other outlets earlier in his campaign and as a sitting president. In letters to Congress last week (see 2409190063), FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the agency “does not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.” ABC didn't comment.