Reclassifying broadband as a Title II service would give the FCC more authority to do national security and public safety oversight, said a commission fact sheet released Thursday. "Currently, no federal agency can effectively monitor or address broadband outages that threaten jobs, education, and public safety," the release said, and "while the FCC has acted on a bipartisan basis to secure our communications networks against companies controlled by hostile foreign governments, the lack of specific authority over broadband leaves open a national security loophole." The proposal would allow the agency to require providers to report and fix internet outages as it does for voice services, ensure the FCC can "deny companies controlled by hostile foreign governments access to our broadband networks," and support ongoing efforts to enhance the resiliency of broadband networks. A USTelecom spokesperson said extending Title II to "critical issues involving national security and cybersecurity is proof positive that this is a major question that must be dealt with by Congress.” Former Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, meanwhile, sees the draft NPRM, released last week, as “mostly old rhetoric.” The commission “is just going through the motions via a retread of stale arguments and disproven claims, parts seem almost lazy and unthoughtful,” O’Rielly emailed: “I am somewhat surprised by the bizarre add of [Section] 214, which brings a world of unnecessary messiness, and privacy/security, [over] which the agency has no authority left. It may be just an NPRM but biting off those issues and others while not fully closing the door to rate regulation are substantive and tactical mistakes. Overall, the text doesn't fill in the intellectual missing pieces.”

Industry officials urged policymakers to consider the impact of the costs of make-ready work, pole attachments and replacements on broadband deployment projects funded by federal investments, including NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program. Panelists during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday (see 2309080027) also raised concerns about whether any potential revisions and pending FCC proceedings on the issue could affect deployment efforts. Pole attachments are infrastructure that "often gets overlooked ,but it's crucial in connecting us," said Crown Castle Managing Counsel David Van Fleet Bloys. The FCC should allocate costs "fairly" between pole owners and attachers when a pole must be replaced, he said, noting the commission sought comments on the issue last year (see 2206280066). "There's a very real sense amongst utilities that we need to get ready to be able to process pole attachments on a timely basis" with the forthcoming funding through NTIA's broadband, equity, access, and deployment program, said Brett Kilbourne, Utilities Technology Council senior vice president-general counsel. Utility companies replace poles voluntarily, Kilbourne said, "but there are costs associated with that" and "folks want to try and place that burden on utilities" when the current practice works well. Pole attachments involve a "complex process," he said, and efforts to regulate it could ultimately create more delays.

The Technology Policy Institute (TPI) created a generative AI chatbot, ChatBEAD, as a tool for helping implement the broadband equity, access and deployment program, it said Monday. Users can query ChatBEAD and get answers to questions about NTIA instructions and state BEAD plans, TPI said, noting ChatBEAD provides links and page numbers for all of its sources so users can check them. "A key part of ensuring that BEAD is successful is making the program as transparent as possible," TPI President Scott Wallsten said. "We believe this tool will help make the program more coherently accessible to everyone."

The Federal Emergency Management Association and the FCC will test the emergency alert system and wireless emergency alerts at 2:20 p.m. EDT Wednesday (see 2308180037), the agencies said in a reminder release and background press call Tuesday. During the call, senior FCC and FEMA officials said they don’t expect audio issues with the test's broadcast portion. They also said the WEA test is expected to reach hundreds of millions of phones. “The purpose of the test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level,” said the release. The WEA test will be received by all WEA-compatible phones that are switched on and in range of a cell tower during the 30 minutes the test is active, said the FEMA official. The message will display in English or Spanish depending on the phone’s menu settings, and be accompanied by unique tones, the FEMA official said. Users who are concerned the tones could reveal the location of a concealed cellphone, such as domestic abuse victims, can avoid the message by keeping their phones off while the message is active, the FEMA official said. The EAS message will be delivered through the internet-based common alerting protocol system rather than solely through the broadcast-based “daisy-chain” of several previous EAS tests, and thus should have improved audio quality, FEMA and FCC officials said. Both messages clearly say they're tests, and that no action is necessary, the release said. On the press call, the senior FEMA official pushed back on rumors around the test, saying it won’t knock phones and smart TVs off the internet. On the X platform, formerly Twitter, posts claimed the test will be used to turn the vaccinated into zombies, or is planned to coincide with a Russian nuclear test. The nationwide tests use the same technology and systems as the more familiar and local tests, and the idea that they're in some way separate may contribute to misunderstandings around the tests, said the FEMA official. He said it's not clear if the test would have continued if the test date had fallen during an ongoing federal shutdown, as appeared likely last week.

President Joe Biden on Thursday denounced Republican plans to eliminate protections for civil servants and limit the power of independent agencies like the FCC, as well as Donald Trump's threat that Comcast's "Treason" will be "thoroughly scrutinized" if he's re-elected president. “What do they intend to do once they erode the constitutional order of checks and balances and separation of powers? Limit the independence of federal agencies and put them under the thumb of a president?” Biden said in Tempe, Arizona, at the dedication ceremony of a library named in memory of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Biden condemned former President Donald Trump’s Schedule F order, which would have made it easier to fire staffers while increasing the number of political appointees in civil service jobs. “These civil servants had to pledge loyalty to the President, not the Constitution. [Trump's order] did not require that they had any protections, and the President would be able to wholesale fire them if he wanted,” Biden said. Biden rescinded Schedule F before it took effect, and the Office of Personnel Management is considering a draft rule that would protect federal worker due process rights against future versions of Schedule F. Trump has pledged to bring independent agencies such as the FCC under direct presidential authority if reelected (see 2304280002). Biden also highlighted a recent social media post by Trump saying Comcast should be investigated for “Country Threatening Treason.” “When I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage,” Trump posted Sept. 24. “Why should NBC, or any other of the corrupt & dishonest media companies, be entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA, FREE?” Accusing a major news network of treason because of unfavorable coverage shows that “the MAGA movement,” which Biden called “the controlling element of the House Republican Party,” hasn’t given up, Biden said. “I don’t know what the hell I’d say about Fox if that becomes the rule,” Biden said. “I’m joking, but think about it.” As president, Trump repeatedly invoked the FCC and tagged then-Chairman Ajit Pai in tweets against media companies, and several times said NBC should lose its “license” (see 1809040051). Pai said then the FCC doesn’t have authority to revoke the license of a broadcast station over its content. The Media and Democracy Project’s petition asking the FCC to revoke the license of WTXF-TV Philadelphia (see 2307060065) shouldn’t be compared to Trump’s posts, said MAP supporter Preston Padden. “Trump’s partisan rant against MSNBC easily is distinguishable from the bi-partisan factual case against Fox’s knowing/repeated presentation of false news,” Padden emailed.

DOD submitted its study of the 3.1 GHz band to the Commerce Department, both said Thursday. The deadline was Saturday for the study that looks at one of the top mid-bands targeted by the wireless industry for reallocation for 5G (see 2308150066). “Spectrum is foundational to our economic prosperity and global technological leadership, from high-speed wireless internet access, to connected vehicles and smart manufacturing, to the next generation of space-based innovation,” said DOD Chief Information Officer John Sherman and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson in a joint statement: “Spectrum is also vital to our most sensitive and important Federal missions, including military radar operations for homeland security, the training of our war fighters before they deploy overseas, and our ability to develop new and advanced military capabilities.” The White House is "actively coordinating interagency discussion on spectrum policy to ensure all options are considered to achieve the nation’s economic and national security needs," the statement said. Congress required the Emerging Mid-Band Radar Spectrum Sharing Feasibility Assessment, or EMBRSS study, as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs.

The FCC has 90 days to either complete the 2018 quadrennial review or show cause why the NAB’s petition for mandamus shouldn’t be granted, said an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Thursday evening. The order doesn’t grant NAB’s petition for mandamus but defers it until the 90-day period. Broadcast industry officials told us the court’s urging the agency to soon complete the 2018 QR is the result they wanted. The FCC didn’t immediately comment, but the agency had argued that its delay in completing the QR was justified.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., led a letter with Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and 25 other Senate Democratic caucus members Monday urging the FCC to "expeditiously reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service under" Communications Act Title II to undergird a potential rewrite of net neutrality rules. Lawmakers in both parties are eyeing the FCC's regulatory trajectory on net neutrality and other matters as Commissioner-designate Anna Gomez takes office, which would bring the commission to a 3-2 Democratic majority (see 2309200001). A renewed push for Title II reclassification, a Democratic priority since the FCC undid its 2015 net neutrality rules, would allow the commission to "effectively protect consumers from harmful practices online, promote affordable access to the internet, enhance public safety, increase marketplace competition, and take other important steps to benefit our nation’s digital future," Markey and the other senators wrote Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The FCC's rescission of the 2015 Title II reclassification "threw out most of the Commission’s ability to enforce the consumer protection, competition, public safety, and universal service principles at the heart of the" Communications Act. "Repeated court rulings have made clear that reclassifying broadband as a telecommunications service is the only way the FCC can use its legal authority to reinstate net neutrality," the senators said: Reclassification "is a requisite step in the FCC’s efforts to serve the American people and conduct proper oversight of broadband." Title II opponents, including Commissioner Brendan Carr, have recently amplified their warnings that the Supreme Court's establishment of the major questions doctrine in its 2022 West Virginia v. EPA ruling (see 2206300066) would render reclassification unconstitutional absent congressional action.

The Internet Innovation Alliance will be "shutting its digital doors," after launching 19 years ago, the group said Friday. IIA said its "work is done, and our mission will soon be (just about) complete" because of NTIA's broadband, equity, access, and deployment program. "We are so thankful for having had the chance to help shape the policies that have guided the growth and development of our dynamic internet ecosystem," the group said. A spokesperson said the group will officially shut down operations this weekend. "The last steps toward closing the digital divide are extending the affordable connectivity program and continuing efforts to increase broadband adoption," the spokesperson said, and "policymakers on both sides of the aisle now realize that broadband is a necessity. … IIA accomplished its mission, and its work is done."

Two years after AT&T filed it at the FCC, the commission sought comment Friday on a petition asking for a rulemaking on mid-band spectrum screen covering 2.5-6 GHz (see 2109010069). Comments are due Oct. 23, replies Nov. 8, in docket 23-319. The Wireless Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics “first seek comment on AT&T’s request that the Commission initiate a rulemaking proceeding,” the notice said: “We then seek comment more broadly on whether we should recommend that the Commission, in the context of initiating a rulemaking, propose other changes to its mobile spectrum holdings rules and policies.” Among other questions asked is whether the spectrum range highlighted by AT&T is broad enough and whether the commission should undertake a “case-by-case review of long-form license applications rather than adopt ex ante limits.” The notice asks “whether and how we should recommend to the Commission that it propose additional amendments to its mobile spectrum holdings rules and policies, in light of evolutions in technology and market dynamics.” It asks about changes to FCC rules or policies to promote competition and ensure “there is sufficient spectrum available for multiple existing mobile service providers as well as potential entrants.” Should the FCC update the spectrum included in that screen, “or adjust the approximate one-third trigger for the spectrum screen that the Commission currently applies?” the notice asks: “How should the Commission address spectrum aggregation as new bands become available? ... We seek comment on whether the Commission should consider spectrum weighting and, if so, what specific weighted factors should be considered.” AT&T urged the FCC to consider a screen similar to those already established for high- and low-band spectrum. “We believe that such a tool would assist the Commission in identifying spectrum aggregations that may cause competitive harm by allowing a licensee to hold so much mid-band spectrum in a given market that it becomes impossible for others to compete effectively,” AT&T said then. Last year, AT&T asked the FCC not to award T-Mobile 2.5 GHz licenses it won in an auction based on its rival’s mid-band holdings (see 2211210085).