The FCC Enforcement Bureau said three China-based voice providers have deficiencies in their Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD) certifications, and allowing them to have access to those certifications could be a national security threat. The bureau gave China Telecom Global Ltd., China Unicom (Hong Kong) Operations Ltd. and China Mobile Hong Kong Co. Ltd. 14 days to explain why their inclusion in the RMD isn’t contrary to the public interest, according to orders issued Monday. The companies also must cure their RMD deficiencies or explain why they shouldn’t be removed from the database, the orders said. Removal of their certifications “would require all intermediate providers and voice service providers to cease accepting all calls” from the three companies that use North American Numbering Plan resources that pertain to the U.S. All three companies are tied to the Chinese government, the orders added. “The public interest is not served by allowing entities ‘subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government,’ that could ‘be forced to comply with Chinese government requests’ to maintain access to valuable Commission authorizations, such as an RMD certification.”

Funds for Learning filed at the FCC its “2025 E-rate Trends Report,” which concluded that E-rate “remains essential and dependable, with more than 97% of respondents describing it as vital to their mission.” In the report, posted Friday in docket 02-6, the group also found that E-rate applicants “continue to experience financial strain, citing rising bandwidth, equipment, and security costs.” Cybersecurity, redundancy and network protection are “critical needs that many institutions struggle to fund.”

Telnyx asked the FCC to strike from a draft robocall order any reference to a proposed $4.5 million robocall-related fine against the company (see 2503050026). The order is set for a vote at the Dec. 18 commission meeting (see 2511250078). The FCC should cut language “that falsely asserts or suggests that there has been a final adjudication concerning Telnyx, including that the Commission made any ‘finding’ against Telnyx or that Telnyx is a ‘bad actor,’” said a filing Wednesday in docket 13-97.

Comments are due Jan. 5, replies Feb. 3, on the FCC's caller ID NPRM, approved by commissioners unanimously in October (see 2510280024). The NPRM seeks comment on a number of issues, including whether to require terminating voice service providers to send verified caller name information to the called party when they transmit call authentication information and whether to require that originating voice service providers verify caller identity information, said a notice for Friday's Federal Register. It also seeks comment on requiring providers to use rich call data to transmit verified caller names on IP networks.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau sent a letter to SK Teleco demanding that the voice service provider, which is allegedly transmitting scam robocalls impersonating Walmart employees, “immediately cease-and-desist processing these calls.” The calls discuss a “preauthorized purchase of PlayStation 5 special edition with pulse 3D headset” ordered from the recipient’s Walmart account for $919.45, the bureau said this week. Call recipients who press 1 to cancel the order, as instructed, or who call back “are connected to live operators who request personally identifiable information, including social security numbers,” the bureau said. It’s “unlawful to place calls to cellphones containing artificial or prerecorded voice messages absent an emergency purpose or prior express consent,” said an FCC news release.

Connect America Fund Phase II auction carriers that fall short of a Dec. 31 milestone to serve 100% of required locations must notify the FCC within 10 days of that deadline, the Wireline Bureau said Tuesday. Providers then have a one-year “cure period” to serve remaining locations, the bureau said. They must report and certify in the high-cost universal broadband by March 1, 2027, “any further locations it has served during the cure period.”

The FCC Wireline Bureau, “on its own motion,” has extended the comment deadlines for the IP interconnection NPRM approved by commissioners in October (see 2510280024). Comments are now due Jan. 5, replies Feb. 4, in docket 25-304, said a notice this week. The NPRM proposes to sunset incumbent local exchange carriers' interconnection obligations on Dec. 31, 2028, and seeks comment on ways that the FCC can help a transition to all-IP interconnection for voice services.

NTIA conditioning any state receiving BEAD funds on not imposing rate regulation or net neutrality-like rules on a BEAD subgrantee or on not regulating AI is of "dubious legality," New Street Research's Blair Levin said Wednesday. He told us much the same earlier this week (see 2511250076). Levin said there have been numerous cases where courts have held that the president can't condition the grant of funds appropriated by Congress in ways that coerce the states. The major questions doctrine and its limit on executive power also could be a route to challenging the conditions, he said. States "would have a material chance of overturning" those executive actions. NTIA head Arielle Roth said last month that the agency was telling states they can't put rate regulation and state-level net neutrality rules on BEAD-funded projects (see 2510280051).

Congress should create a new USF-funded broadband affordability benefit program that includes data, voice and text services, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance wrote Monday. Citing comments that it submitted in September to the USF bicameral working group, NDIA said it shouldn't be a direct replication of the affordable connectivity program or Lifeline but instead should incorporate facets of both. The program should apply to mobile and/or home broadband and to all plans that ISPs offer, providing at least $40 a month minimum for non-tribal households and $110 a month for tribal households, the alliance said. The design of such a program should be specifically about affordability, "ensuring households whose primary barrier to broadband adoption is affordability can get and stay online."

The FCC on Tuesday reminded recipients of money through the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program that their quarterly updates are due to the commission Dec. 29. The status updates keep the Wireline Bureau apprised of recipients’ progress "toward meeting their obligations under the Rip-and-Replace Program.”