The FCC Enforcement Bureau has reached a $1.1 million settlement with Charter Communications over the company's temporary deactivation of several emergency alert system devices for upgrades to comply with new EAS requirements, said an order and consent decree Thursday. Charter took the devices out of service to meet a December 2023 deadline for the upgrades and notified the FCC Public Safety Bureau that EAS devices at three dozen cable headends, covering 1 million Charter viewers, would go out of service for the Oct. 4, 2023, nationwide EAS test. Charter “believed in good faith” that it was in compliance because of FCC rules that give a 60-day period for replacing defective equipment, the order and consent decree said. The Public Safety Bureau maintained that Charter’s devices didn't fall under the defective equipment rules because they weren’t defective, the order and consent decree said. Along with the forfeiture, the decree requires that Charter create a compliance training program and file regular reports with the FCC for one year.
Quote Velocity reported on a series of meetings this week at the FCC raising concerns about the agency’s December 2023 robocall and robotext order, which clamps down on the lead generator loophole (see 2312130019). The company filed a petition seeking clarity last month. “We urged the Commission to clarify uncertainty arising” from the order “and its applicability to Quote Velocity’s business model,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-402. The order “expressly concludes that where a third-party agent is added to a live call with a customer (i.e., rather than a robocall or robotext)” the restriction “is not relevant to the transaction,” the filing said. But Quote Velocity said it’s fielding numerous questions about the order and its implications: “Quote Velocity is seeking clarification from the Commission given the company’s concern that, absent such a clarification, its business model will be threatened at the time the revised rules go into effect.” CEO Manny Zuccarelli met with staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks, Nathan Simington and Anna Gomez.
Faced with an increasingly vulnerable GPS system that rival global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are eclipsing, the U.S. must align positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) policy with where the commercial sector is headed, PNT experts said during an FCBA panel in Washington Thursday. The lack of a national backup to GPS “is quite shocking,” but no one solution will address all needs, said Ed Mortimer, NextNav vice president-government affairs. He said a variety of commercial solutions are near but they require a policy environment open to competition.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau on Wednesday announced UL Solutions will serve as lead administrator and a cybersecurity label administrator (CLA) in the agency’s voluntary cyber trust mark program. “As Lead Administrator, UL Solutions will be responsible for identifying or developing, and recommending to the Commission for approval, the IoT-specific standards and testing procedures for the program, among other recommendations, and for acting as liaison between the Commission and CLAs,” said a news release. The bureau plans to announce the selection of additional CLAs soon. Commissioners approved the program unanimously in March (see 2403140034). Founded as Underwriters Laboratories in 1894, UL Solutions is based in Northbrook, Illinois.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau has reached a $287,820 settlement with Frontier Communications over the company's submission of inaccurate information during the Broadband Data Collection challenge process, said an order and consent decree in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The carrier didn’t amend a submission to the FCC that accurately reflected a response to Frontier's broadband data submissions from the Wisconsin Public Service commission, said the consent decree. Along with the forfeiture, the decree requires Frontier to create a compliance training program and file regular reports with the FCC for two years.
NTIA expects to start awarding digital equity competitive grants starting in winter, Deputy Director-Digital Equity Michell Morton said in a webinar Wednesday. The agency has received more than $6.5 billion in applications, she said. NTIA and the Census Bureau have jointly created a set of data sources -- such as the Digital Equity Act Population Viewer and Access Broadband Dashboard -- to be used for digital equity programs, NTIA staffers said. The agency this year has awarded $53.7 million in digital equity planning grants to all states and territories, as well as more than $644 million in digital equity capacity grants. It’s in the process of announcing recipients, Morton said.
NOAA is making plans with NASA for what could result in a high accuracy and robustness service (HARS) that augments GPS, members of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board heard Wednesday. Board members also discussed a draft presidential transition issue paper urging the President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration to bolster reliable national PNT capabilities.
The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Tuesday on a Summit Ridge request to shutter operations of the 3.45 GHz relocation reimbursement clearinghouse by March 1 (see 2410240020). “We seek comment on this request and on any other issues relevant to the Clearinghouse wind down process,” the bureau said. Comments are due Dec. 18 in docket 19-348.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau on Tuesday sought comment on changes to the telecommunications relay services that accessibility advocacy groups proposed in an August white paper. Comments are due Jan. 17, replies Feb. 18, in docket 03-123. The paper cites the “compelling need for Federal and state policymakers to proactively adapt TRS obligations and programs to reflect the evolution of the country’s analog telecommunications networks to IP-based networks.” TDIAccess, the National Association for State Relay Administration, Gallaudet University and Telecommunications Access of Maryland submitted the paper. According to the paper, “the transition to IP-based networks has caused substantial changes to the use of and demand for analog TRS, rendering some analog TRS obsolete for many uses, while such services continue to be the solutions of choice for parts of the affected community,” the bureau said: The groups assert that “alternative services need to be made available because ‘the transition from traditional analog communication systems to more advanced digital and IP-based networks is accelerating.’”
Much of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr's agenda as the agency's incoming chair doesn't require an FCC majority to move forward, New Street Research's Blair Levin noted Monday. Part of that is because Carr can get Congress to act, and some is due to the delegated authority FCC bureaus have, Levin said. Carr's efforts to investigate tech companies and amplify the voice of conservatives on social media platforms don't require a formal FCC proceeding, he said. For example, Carr can tie up Skydance's proposed Paramount purchase, which would signal other networks that unfavorable news coverage could affect M&A approvals. In addition, Carr could have the FCC general counsel issue a policy statement about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that eliminates the expansive immunities courts have read into the statute, Levin said. And Carr doesn't need a majority to stop work on items with which he disagrees, such as bulk billing rules, Levin said. Outgoing Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel "never effectively used her bully pulpit [and thus] had the least consequential term as Chair in modern FCC history," he argued. She failed on such issues as losing spectrum auction authority and not getting an extension of the affordable connectivity program, Levin said. Mentioning Levin's note during a Practising Law Institute event Tuesday, Carr said Levin would need “a food taster” at that night's FCBA annual dinner. Levin's note is a reminder that “it's all downhill from here" for his upcoming stint as chairman, Carr said. “They like you on the way in, they definitely do not on the way out, and I don't expect that pattern to be broken any time soon,” he said. Rosenworcel Chief of Staff Narda Jones said during a different PLI panel that she hadn't read Levin's essay but that her boss was proud of the FCC’s work “to reach communities and stakeholders who haven't necessarily been the focus of the commission's work before.” She pointed to the ACP, formation of the Space Bureau, maternal health mapping, and the Missing and Endangered Persons alarm code as important achievements of the Rosenworcel FCC.