Twenty-six governors are urging federal lawmakers to ensure additional funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program. "Preserving the ACP will allow us to build upon the progress we’ve made in expanding connectivity rather than falling behind in a mission we cannot afford to lose," the bipartisan group said in a letter Tuesday to House and Senate Majority and Minority leaders. Agency officials also called on Congress to provide additional funding during a Connect20 Summit Tuesday hosted by Network:On, National Digital Inclusion Alliance and Broadband Breakfast. "If you're going to have a goal of affordable, reliable high-speed internet for every American, you have to make a serious commitment to the affordable piece," said Capital Projects Fund Director Joseph Wender, "and that serious commitment is the ACP." Wender cautioned that "we are approaching a cliff where it will run out of money at some point early next year" and there could be "cascading effects" should the program be forced to sunset. ACP "has been a really critical way for all of our agencies to make sure that once we help support the infrastructure costs, that it's affordable for consumers," said Rural Utilities Service Assistant Administrator-Telecom Program Laurel Leverrier. The program has especially benefited rural areas where "the economics aren't there for a lot of rural providers," Leverrier said, and it's "a really critical piece for our rural communities." NTIA is "fully invested" in ensuring that ACP "remains an active program," said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary-Deputy Administrator Sarah Morris, "both to connect these households and also for the ongoing success of our BEAD program."

The FCC announced a proceeding Monday proposing to establish a schools and libraries cybersecurity pilot program that would allow the commission to "obtain valuable data concerning the cybersecurity and advanced firewall services that would best help K12 schools and libraries address the growing cyber threats and attacks against their broadband networks and data," said an NPRM. Comments are due 30 days after Federal Register publication, 60 days for replies, in docket 23-234. “This pilot program is an important pathway for hardening our defenses against sophisticated cyberattacks on schools and ransomware attacks that harm our students and get in the way of their learning,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel: “Protecting our students is a critically important task and one that touches on the mission of several federal agencies." The proposed pilot program calls for an investment of up to $200 million over three years funded by the Universal Service Fund, per a news release. It would be separate from the E-rate program to "ensure gains in enhanced cybersecurity don’t come at a cost of undermining E-rate’s success." The pilot program would also provide funding to eligible K-12 schools and libraries to "defray the qualifying costs of receiving the cybersecurity and advanced firewall services needed to protect their E-rate-funded broadband networks and data from the growing number of school and library-focused cyber events."

The FCC violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it amended its rules to incorporate four new equipment testing standards, and did so without the proper notice and comment protocol, alleged iFixit, Public Resource and Make Community in a petition for review Wednesday (23-1311) at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The FCC didn’t publish the proposed rules in the Federal Register, and they weren’t otherwise “reasonably available for use in commenting on them,” said the petition. The petitioners aren’t asking the court to vacate the rules, only to remand them to the FCC for a new and proper NPRM, it said. The amendments were published as a final order in the Sept. 29 FR and took effect Oct. 30. An FCC spokesperson declined to comment Thursday.

Pointing to growing U.S. concerns about increased cybersecurity risks and threats, the FCC's Enforcement Bureau is adding to its cybersecurity and privacy resources, bureau Chief Loyaan Egal said Thursday at a Media Institute lunch. The bureau has "more than doubled" staff handling these types of cases, with a number of hires having privacy and data projection experience, he said. By early next year, the bureau will have four senior officials with significant DOJ and interagency experience in national security, data protection and cybersecurity, he said. The $150,000 FCC fine against Dish Network for improper disposal of a satellite (see 2310020049) "made clear that the U.S. government is serious about enforcing the rules governing satellite orbital operations" and orbital debris, he said. The FCC's investigation into and nearly $300 million fine against perpetrators of scam auto warranty robocalls (see 2212210054) resulted in a 99% decline in those types of calls, he said. Asked about the challenge of collecting fines bought by the bureau, Egal said DOJ has "a ton of priorities." He added, "But we believe this is a priority." Egal said access to Bank Secrecy Act information, as Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has urged (see 2306080043), would allow for expanded FCC investigations related to finances of bad actors and let the agency rebut arguments about inability to pay.

Satellite and wireless operators and interests generally agree with a C-Band Relocation Payment Clearinghouse call for a deadline by which final C-band clearing claims should be submitted, and many are pushing for deadlines to speed up clearinghouse claims processing, according to comments Thursday in docket 18-122. Not all C-band clearinghouse expenses will be incurred by the proposed final submission date of Sept. 30, 2024, or the clearinghouses' targeted end date of June 30, 2025, Intelsat said. It said any final claim submission deadline must come with a process for foreseeable claims incurred after that deadline to be submitted and reimbursed. To simplify the clearinghouse process, Intelsat urged use of a sampling methodology for clearing costs and claims of less than $5,000 per antenna. SES said the average time for one of its claims to be reimbursed is 323 days, and it expects to submit nearly 1,000 more claims by a final claim submission deadline. Any final claim submission deadline won't promote an efficient close to the C-band reimbursement if the clearinghouse doesn't have similar deadlines by which it must process claims, SES said. It said 90 days to make a determination on a claim is "more than sufficient." Absent some way of improving the clearinghouse's claims processing timeline, the clearinghouse's proposed June 30 wind-down "may not be achievable," SES said. CTIA said the "slow reimbursement process and backlog of claims "does not serve anyone’s interests," and deadlines for submitting and processing claims and for closing out the clearinghouse process would give certitude and also help cap administrative costs. It urged a final close-out deadline of Dec. 31, 2024. Verizon suggested a Feb. 5 submission claim deadline for all costs incurred and paid as of the end of 2023 and a July 1 deadline for costs incurred and paid after 2023. It also urged 90-day claims processing deadlines for the clearinghouse and a Dec. 31, 2024, final closeout deadline. AT&T backed 90-day deadlines and a Dec. 31, 2024, end to all reimbursement-related activities. Pointing to clearinghouse administrative costs well exceeding what was estimated, it said the clearinghouse should be able to phase down its overhead as the number of claims declines.

NTCA and the Fiber Broadband Association unveiled an updated playbook Wednesday with guidance for state broadband offices as they work toward meeting NTIA's Dec. 27 deadline to submit initial proposals for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program (see 2203040049). To date, 51 states and territories have submitted volume one of their proposals and 43 have submitted volume two, per an NTIA dashboard. The playbook, written by telecom consulting research firm Cartesian, highlights four of the "most challenging BEAD proposal requirements," the groups said. It includes guidance on permitting, achieving digital opportunities, broadband mapping challenges, and cybersecurity and supply chain risk management. The playbook is "fundamental to every state’s funding implementation plans, so we want to ensure each state broadband office is able to address these policy elements confidently and correctly,” FBA CEO Gary Bolton said: "Our goal is to ensure that states can implement BEAD in ways that will have meaningful and lasting impacts.” NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said the playbook "contains critical guidance for state broadband offices as they craft their initial proposals and look to make a lasting impact on broadband access.” The BEAD program is "a historic opportunity to deliver broadband to unserved and underserved areas, and it is critical that we leverage these resources to build networks that will keep pace with consumer needs for decades to come," Bloomfield said.

Several groups met individually this week with FCC staff regarding the agency's draft rules on digital discrimination that will be considered during the commissioners' Nov. 15 open meeting, per filings posted Wednesday in docket 22-69. In a meeting with the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance sought clarification on how the FCC will address "present conditions" if retroactive liability won't apply to any final rules. NDIA also urged the adoption of a formal complaint process "to ensure consistency in how the commission handles digital discrimination complaints, regardless of staff or leadership changes." Verizon raised concerns in separate meetings with Wireline Bureau staff and an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington about the "expansive list" of factors in the definition of "other quality of service metrics" in the draft order. The FCC should "include language in the order stating that neither the scope of the order nor any of its other provisions or rules is intended to limit a provider’s ability to improve its customers’ experience," Verizon said. NCTA warned in separate meetings with a Simington aide and an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that the lists of covered entities and services "will make the draft order unworkable in practice." ACA Connects said in a letter that the draft order would "chill investment and innovation" if adopted in its current form. It asked the FCC to clarify that it will assess providers' technical and economic feasibility based on their "industry-standard, multi-year upgrade and build cycles." NTCA raised similar concerns, saying "disparate outcomes may emerge from technological and economic considerations." The Wireless ISP Association raised concerns about the use of "subjective terms" in the draft's definitions, saying the draft is "impermissibly broad." WISPA urged the FCC to "reverse course" by limiting provider's obligations to its own "similar circumstances" and "prior success" to prove technical or economic infeasibility rather than requiring it to obtain information from other covered entities.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology extended until Dec. 22 the deadline for comments on an implementation plan for a U.S. national standards strategy for critical and emerging technology (see 2305230061). The strategy is intended to support “existing private sector-led activities and plans … with a focus on critical and emerging technology,” said NIST in a Monday Federal Register notice. Comments had been due that day.

Harmonize FCC Part 25 rules governing satellites so that out-of-band-emission limits for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) earth stations in motion are consistent with emissions limits for terrestrial wireless, Verizon representatives told FCC Space Bureau Chief Julie Kearney, per a docket 18-315 filing Friday. That harmonization would promote regulatory parity and efficient spectrum sharing between ESIM and upper microwave flexible use service operators, the wireless carrier said. But absent that harmonization, Verizon said it was "amenable" to keeping the current 50 MHz guard band between UMFUS operations in the 27.5-28.35 GHz band from NGSO ESIM operations in the adjacent 28.35-28.6 GHz band.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr won't be backing a Dahua request that would let it sell its video surveillance equipment to nonsensitive central government sites such as police stations or to private buyers. "That is going to be a no from me," Carr posted Friday on X. In docket 21-232 last week, Dahua requested that commission restrictions on use of its equipment in government facilities be aligned with similar restrictions the U.K. government adopted in 2022 but that restrict use only at sensitive central government facilities.