The Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division recommended that T-Mobile drop an advertising slogan that says, “Holidays Are Coming in Hot: Families: Save 20%.” Verizon had complained to the NAD, which “determined that, despite T-Mobile having modified the savings claims to explicitly reference streaming services, one message that continues to be conveyed is that consumers who switch to T-Mobile from Verizon can save 20%, and that those savings are achieved through plan costs alone,” said a Monday release. T-Mobile plans to appeal the decision, the release said.
The legal counsel for Rural Alaska School Districts spoke with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on a pending request for waiver of FCC E-rate rules. The counsel discussed a Wireline Bureau declaratory ruling from last year, said a filing posted Monday in docket 02-6.
Requiring most broadcasters to gather and report equal employment opportunity data on workforce diversity is outside the FCC's legal authority, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday. The Texas Association of Broadcasters, National Religious Broadcasters and American Family Association challenged the FCC's 2024 EEO order (see 2405130041). The FCC has broad authority to act in the public interest but "cannot invoke public interest to expand the scope of its authority to act in ways Congress has not authorized it to act," Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod, Edith Jones and Carl Stewart said in a 19-page decision (docket 24-18) written by Elrod.
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Friday asked for comment on a petition filed by GCI to change how Alaska Plan final milestone commitments, which are due at the end of next year, are evaluated. Comments are due May 27, replies June 3, in docket 16-271. GCI wants to use revised methodology in its calculations, the bureau said. While the current model, developed in 2016, “was the best that could be done at the time it was adopted given the then-available data, incorporating the Fabric can further improve the Model’s approximation of where Alaskans are actually located,” GCI said in an April petition. “As such, a modified Model would provide a more accurate assessment of GCI’s compliance with its Alaska Plan mobile commitments,” GCI said.
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has ordered voice service provider Flowroute to immediately stop carrying spoofed jury duty scam calls on its network, said a news release and letter Friday. “The company faces a permanent block of all traffic on its network if it does not comply,” the release said. Flowroute allegedly transmitted spoofed calls to Cook County Illinois residents from someone impersonating an employee of the county sheriff’s office. “A law enforcement imposter told residents they had missed jury duty and must send money to the caller via a Coinstar kiosk at a local grocery store,” the release said. “Between July 23 and August 2, 2024, Flowroute originated 240 spoofed calls using the Cook County Sheriff’s Number,” the release said. The FCC’s traceback consortium, the Industry Traceback Group, tracked the calls to Flowroute, and Flowroute told the agency the calls came from “an entity named Llama Soft Pty. located in Sydney, Australia,” the release said. “The apparently illegal calls are the subject of the FCC’s ongoing investigation.”
HERSHEY, Pennsylvania -- As the FCC eliminates regulations, it will likely employ the good-cause exception to notice-and-comment rulemaking to do so quickly, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday.
The FCC on Friday announced commission approval of Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of Frontier, in an action by the Wireline Bureau (see 2505160024). The approval came immediately after Verizon filed a letter at the FCC agreeing to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a recurring focus of President Donald Trump. DEI defenders criticized the order. Industry officials told us one reason FCC Chairman Brendan Carr probably didn’t seek a commissioner vote was because of the DEI provisions and concerns about opposition from the two Democratic commissioners.
SpaceX -- which has petitioned the FCC for greater access to the 2 GHz band (see 2402230027) -- is now seeking agency approval to use parts of the band in its second-generation satellites. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Thursday, SpaceX said its previous request for 2 GHz access was rejected on the basis of EchoStar providing a 2 GHz mobile satellite service (MSS) in the U.S., yet EchoStar's plans "never happened." SpaceX said EchoStar is using at most 5% of the band clustered in a few densely populated areas. Moreover, it said, EchoStar management has told Wall Street it doesn't have plans to launch additional satellites in the near term. "Since EchoStar has no satellite operations in the 2 GHz band and no meaningful terrestrial network, the fundamental premise underlying the Commission’s expectation that it would dismiss new MSS applications no longer holds true," SpaceX said. "EchoStar has squatted on its spectrum rights for a decade with little to show for it."
The FCC announced Friday the approval of Verizon’s $20 billion buy of Frontier, in an action by the Wireline Bureau. The approval came after Verizon filed a letter at the FCC agreeing to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a top focus of the FCC under President Donald Trump. The FCC moved relatively quickly and the deal had only been pending since September (see 2409050010).
A pirate radio operator in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, has agreed to pay $11,000 to the FCC as part of a settlement with the agency, said an order and consent decree in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. In January 2024, the FCC approved a notice of apparent liability against Wilfrid Salomon, proposing a fine of $358,665. The agency said then that Salomon had been operating a pirate station for years and received multiple FCC warnings. After the NAL, Salomon gave the agency evidence of his inability to pay the proposed forfeiture amount, according to the consent decree. After determining that Salomon ceased broadcasting, the Enforcement Bureau said it agreed to the settlement. Under the consent decree, Salomon agreed not to commit future acts of pirate broadcasting or assist anyone else in doing so. If he violates the settlement, he will have to pay the remaining $347,665 proposed in the NAL, the consent decree said.