Treasury’s final rule on broadband projects’ eligibility for the $350 billion in state and local funding from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act backtracks from earlier proposed restrictions that would have allowed it only in areas without 25/3 Mbps (see 2105100060), the department and telecom lawyers said. The earlier proposed rules got mixed reaction (see 2107160063). The “final rule expands eligible areas for investment by requiring recipients to invest in projects designed to provide service to households and businesses with an identified need for additional broadband infrastructure investment, which would include but not be limited to a lack of broadband service reliably delivering certain speeds,” Treasury said in the final rule submitted to the Federal Register. Potential acceptable “examples of need include lack of access to a connection that reliably meets or exceeds symmetrical 100 Mbps download and upload speeds, lack of affordable access to broadband service, or lack of reliable broadband service.” Treasury added a requirement that recipients participate in the FCC affordable connectivity program or provide access to comparably affordable service (see 2201050043). The final rule “continues to encourage recipients to prioritize support for broadband networks owned, operated by, or affiliated with local governments, nonprofits, and cooperatives.” It maintains language requiring projects to be capable of 100 Mbps symmetrical and 100/20 Mbps where symmetrical isn’t practical due to topography The rule takes effect April 1.

President Joe Biden intended to formally renominate three major telecom and tech picks Monday night: FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya and NTIA administrator nominee Alan Davidson, as expected (see 2112210066), a White House official told us. Their nominations expired at the end of the 117th Congress’ 2021 session. An administration spokesperson didn’t comment. Bedoya (see 2112010043) and Sohn faced strong GOP opposition late last year. Some Senate Commerce Committee Democrats also voiced misgivings about Sohn, causing the panel to postpone a vote on the nominee. Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, one of the two Commerce Democrats who was seen as a holdout on Sohn at the end of 2021, had a “productive conversation” with the nominee Dec. 17 about Rosen’s concerns (see 2112150069), a spokesperson emailed. Rosen raised qualms about Sohn’s position on IP and media ownership diversity and her involvement with shuttered sports rebroadcaster Locast as a board member for its operator Sports Fans Coalition. The office of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, the other Commerce Democratic holdout, didn’t comment. Broadcast advocate Preston Padden backed Sohn in a Sunday InsideSources opinion piece. “I strongly disagree with Gigi on some issues,” Padden said. “We have fought vigorously on many industry panels over more than 35 years. But I never found Gigi to be disagreeable.” Established “market entities deserve a voice in public policy debates,” but “there is a public interest need for the FCC also to have a strong and effective voice for competition and disruptive new market entrants,” he said. The Senate will likely be able to easily confirm Davidson, but the nominee will have to face a floor vote, given expectations Sen Rick Scott, R-Fla., will renew his hold on all Commerce Department nominees (see 2111180081), lobbyists told us. A hold prevents the Senate from moving a nominee via unanimous consent. Senate Commerce advanced Davidson last month, with Scott and two other Republicans being recorded as no votes. Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune of South Dakota, who was one of the GOP no votes, “still has several concerns with” moving forward on Davidson, a spokesperson emailed.

Completed surveys after the August nationwide wireless emergency alert test (see 2108110067) showed the test message was received by about 90% opting into the test with a compatible device, said an FCC Public Safety Bureau report released Thursday. The test “successfully demonstrated that the nationwide WEA system would largely perform as designed if needed for a national emergency” but showed the need to address some deficiencies, the report said: “Over 10% of mobile devices failed to receive the test message intended for them. Thirty-two percent of respondents completing the survey report receiving a duplicate test message.” Most received an alert within two minutes of transmission, the report said. The bureau said “AT&T and Verizon offer a WEA service that is similarly reliable,” and T-Mobile’s appears to be “reliable,” but there isn’t enough data to make a “statistically significant finding.” The bureau found major differences between wireless generations. Some 66.7% of those with 3G devices didn’t receive a message, compared with 8.4% with 4G and 9.3% with 5G phones. Results were similar among manufacturers and operating systems. The bureau said it will “continue to examine the reliability of older WEA-capable mobile devices that are not technically capable of receiving a State/Local WEA Test Alert and WEA’s end-to-end latency for non-nationwide activations.” The bureau also plans to work with FEMA to “evaluate the accuracy and latency of WEA geo-targeting,” address “the challenges of opting in to receive State/Local WEA Test Alerts and “promote an evenly distributed sample of survey respondents.” The bureau also plans to examine why 10.2% of devices didn’t receive the nationwide test while others got a duplicate message, and which smaller carriers aren’t participating in the program and encourage them to do so, the report said.

The FCC extended by 14 days the deadline for filing for funding under the FCC’s program for removing Huawei and ZTE gear from carrier networks. The new deadline is Jan. 28 at 11:59 p.m. EST. The Rural Wireless Association and NTCA sought the extension, saying the Jan. 14 deadline didn’t “provide enough time to sufficiently complete gathering and uploading the data required by the FCC Form 5640.” They sought an extension until Feb. 14. A 30-day extension “could unduly delay the implementation of the Reimbursement Program and also the removal, replacement and disposal of covered equipment and services that pose a national security risk,” said a Wednesday Wireline Bureau order, in docket 18-89: “Instead, we conclude that an extension of 14 days appropriately balances providing interested parties adequate time to prepare their … filings with allowing the Reimbursement Program to advance expeditiously.”

The FCC received about 4,000 more consumer complaints about calls made from automated telephone equipment or with prerecorded voice in 2021 (through November 30) than in 2020, according to informal data presented in an agency report to Congress on robocalls released Wednesday. The report was required by the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act. The report recommends “continuing to advance the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication technology across the voice network and explore new ways to leverage this technology to protect Americans from unlawful calls.” Complaints about automated systems went up to 42,637 in 2021 from 38,657 in 2020, but the numbers for other forms of robocall showed small drops year over year: sales calls to residential numbers dipped from 92,043 to 91,624, about faxes from 27,937 to 27,002, and about spoofing from 53,736 to 53,320. A single complaint may address several sorts of violations and be counted in the report multiple times, the agency said. The report counts complaints going back to 2016, showing the FCC has received 365,867 informal consumer complaints about automated telephone equipment since then. All the categories had decreases from 2019, when the agency had 58,797 complaints about automated calls and 70,866 complaints about spoofed caller IDs. The report cited spam text messages and robocalls that originate in foreign countries as rising and difficult areas for the agency to tackle. Illegal robocalls that originate abroad “present one of the most vexing challenges facing the Commission,” the report said. In 2020, the FCC had 14,000 consumer communications -- “an almost 146% increase” over the prior year -- that were complaints about unwanted texts, the report said. “Thus far in 2021, the Commission has received over 9,800 consumer complaints about unwanted texts.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will be remote for all January oral arguments amid the surge in COVID-19's omicron variant, COVID-19 surge, said the court Monday. All scheduled arguments will be held telephonically, it said. The court announced revised protocols last week requiring proof of a negative PCR COVID-19 test administered within the previous 72 hours of the oral argument, regardless of vaccination status. The Supreme Court earlier this month said it would hear January and February oral arguments in person, but courtroom access would be limited to the justices, essential court personnel, counsel in the scheduled cases and some journalists.

President Joe Biden signed Monday the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the White House said. The compromise S-1605, which Congress passed earlier this month (see 2112170029), gives DOD authority to seek compensation from Ligado for any damage to the department's GPS systems caused by the company's planned L-band operations. The measure jettisoned several tech and telecom provisions included in other NDAA versions earlier in the year, including language from the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services Act (HR-2351).

CTIA, the Aerospace Industries Association and Airlines for America are sharing data and working together to find a way to allow use of the C band for 5G, they said Wednesday. “We are pleased that after productive discussions we will be working together to share the available data from all parties to identify the specific areas of concern for aviation,” the groups said: “The best technical experts from across both industries will be working collectively to identify a path forward, in coordination with the FAA and FCC.” Verizon and AT&T have been deploying gear but agreed not to turn it on until Jan. 5, a month later than originally planned (see 2111040042). Aviation interests noted concerns, in calls with commissioner aides (see 2112210063). “The wireless industry remains on track to launch 5G in the C-band on Jan. 5,” CTIA said. CTIA also reported on a call with staff from the Office of Engineering and Technology, Wireless and International bureaus. “C-Band 5G operations commencing in January will co-exist safely with aircraft and altimeters,” said a filing in docket 18-122. “The aviation industry’s public, unredacted data … does not support its sweeping pronouncements about coexistence concerns.” The FCC and FAA didn’t comment.

Aviation and aerospace representatives spoke with aides to all four FCC commissioners on wireless industry use of the C band for 5G. “Further delay and cooperation from the telecom industry are both essential to develop mutually agreeable temporary mitigations on cellular operations in order to maintain public safety,” they said, in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-122. The groups urged consideration of a safety proposal the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) filed Dec. 6. “The telecom industry’s proposed mitigations cannot adequately protect public safety, and we have yet to receive any feedback about our proposal or a willingness to consider it,” they said. “Absent further mitigations, and with the implementation of the FAA’s recent Airworthiness Directives (ADs), the aviation industry is anticipating impacts on 345,000 passenger flights, 32 million passengers, and 5,400 cargo flights in the form of delayed flights, diversions, or cancellations.” On the calls were AIA, Airlines for America, the Air Line Pilots Association, Aviation Spectrum Resources, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Helicopter Association, Honeywell International and Lockheed Martin.

The Land Mobile Communications Council complained of problems with the FCC’s universal licensing system (ULS), in a letter released Monday. “Lately, the ULS has experienced a high level of 502/504 gateway errors, and users continue to experience slow or non-existent service,” the group said: “It is an essential tool necessary to conduct spectrum analysis and to assist applicants to secure FCC licenses in compliance with FCC Rules.” The FCC also doesn’t offer updated information on outages and downtime, the coalition said. It asked the agency to communicate better with FCC-certified frequency advisory committees, which are “one of the largest blocks of licensees in the ULS.” The FCC didn’t comment.