911 and 988 can help those suffering from mental health crises during the holidays, said FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Zenji Nakazawa and Wireline Bureau Chief Joseph Calascione wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “A quick call or message to someone who may be alone or struggling can make a real difference,” they said. “When someone needs more than a friendly voice, help is close at hand through two essential three-digit numbers: 911 and 988.” If holiday pressures “are taking a toll on your mental health -- or you are concerned about someone else -- support is just as accessible through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which offers 24/7 confidential help,” Nakazawa and Calascione added. “No one expects to rely on 911 or 988 during the holidays. But these resources are here."

The FCC clarified Monday that the USF contribution factor for Q1 will be 37.6%, down from 38.1% in Q4. But it's higher than the earlier projection of 30.9% (see 2511100035), analyst Billy Jack Gregg noted in an email Tuesday. That increase came after the Universal Service Administrative Co. revised its estimates for the high-cost and low-income fund by a total of $219.2 million, Gregg said. Neither USAC nor the FCC has explained the reasons for the higher demand projections, he added.

Congress intended for the FCC to retain authority to relax the national TV-ownership cap as market conditions change, said Wiley Rein's Thomas Johnson, a former general counsel at the agency, in an ex parte letter posted in docket 17-318 Tuesday. The FCC “should not be duped” by “false-flag arguments” that the best reading of the text of the statute is that the FCC doesn’t have authority over the cap. Congress repeatedly used phrases allowing the FCC to modify its rules “because it was not mandating that these ownership limits be set in stone,” Johnson wrote. “Rather, these were one-time adjustments that Congress intended the FCC would continually revisit over time -- and indeed, that the FCC would modify or repeal these rules over time as the media marketplace became more competitive.” The national cap “places an anticompetitive thumb on the scale in favor of Big Tech. Relaxing or eliminating it would remove this artificial constraint on broadcasters’ ability to compete with today’s dominant media conglomerates.”

Consumers should be on the lookout for phone and text message scams during the holidays, said the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in an alert Monday. Avoid calls or texts from unknown parties, avoid mysterious links and keep an eye out for requests for payment by gift card, the alert said. The bureau also warned about holiday charity scams using phone calls or texts to solicit donations and about package delivery scams claiming that a consumer owes a tariff on an item. “Watch out for text notices saying your purchase is ‘stuck in customs’ or your order will not be delivered until a tariff is paid.” Consumers should check directly with the retailer if they suspect something is wrong, the agency added.

The FCC needs to do more to verify spending program participation and eligibility requirements, said an Office of Inspector General report on the agency’s top management and performance challenges for FY 2026. The report prioritized protecting FCC programs from abuse, safeguarding national security and strengthening cybersecurity as the top three challenges. The FCC’s “widespread reliance on unvalidated, self-certified eligibility criteria for participation in and seeking reimbursement from FCC programs is a significant vulnerability” that leads to abuse of FCC programs, the report said. “A systemic failure to verify program requirements through reliable source records encourages bad actors to do business with the Commission and allows unscrupulous program participants and their partners -- telecommunications providers, sales agents, consultants, and vendors -- to easily commit fraud against FCC programs,” the report said. The agency should incorporate “common sense verification measures before program funds are disbursed,” the OIG report said. FCC rules don’t currently apply federal regulations for suspending or debarring fraudulent entities to its subsidy programs, the report said. “Thus, as highlighted in all our Semiannual Reports to Congress for the last eight years, FCC should implement regulations necessary for the suspension and debarment guidelines to be applicable to its subsidy programs and other nonprocurement transactions, such as grants or loans, to protect itself and the entire government from fraud and misconduct,” the report said.

President Donald Trump jokingly questioned Wednesday how 6G will be an upgrade over previous wireless technologies during a roundtable with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and tech companies. “So you’re into 6G now?” Trump asked Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon. “I was a leader on 5G, getting that done [during his first administration], and now they’re up to 6. What does that do, give you a little bit deeper view into somebody’s skin? See how perfect it is? I like the cameras [in the old days]. Now they cover every little” detail. Trump suggested that wireless companies would soon enough begin to develop an additional 7G iteration “before 6[G] gets old.”

The FCC on Wednesday released its schedule of open meetings for 2026. The first one is set for Jan. 29.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr condemned Free Press as a “radical group” in a post Monday on X after the organization issued a report on President Donald Trump’s “war on free speech,” which called Carr a “sycophant” willing to act against Trump’s critics. The report “analyzes how President Trump and his political enablers have worked to undermine and chill the most basic freedoms protected under the First Amendment,” Free Press said.

Countries all over the globe are competing to advance in the fields of technology, and the U.S. needs to be engaged internationally and to be constantly working to win that race, said FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty in remarks Tuesday at the International Institute of Communications' North America Digital Communications & Media Forum. Trusty’s speech focused on what she learned by speaking with communications regulators from around the world while recently representing the U.S. at the World Telecommunication Development Conference. “These conversations reinforced for me that the work we do at the FCC has implications far beyond our borders, and that staying engaged internationally is not optional, it is essential,” she said. “These global lessons are a wake-up call: U.S. leadership in communications policy is not guaranteed. Initiatives like Delete, Delete, Delete show we are taking steps to modernize our rules and procedures, but we must continue to act with intention to remain the global benchmark.”

The House plans to vote this week on a compromise version of the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, released Sunday night. The compromise bill omits Senate-passed language from its earlier version (S-2296) that would have given the DOD and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman authority to essentially veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands (see 2510160057). The House’s NDAA version (HR-3838) didn't include similar language. The compromise NDAA, filed as an amendment to shell bill S-1071, also omits language to preempt states’ AI laws amid GOP divisions on that issue (see 2512030038).