Representatives of i-wireless and other small carriers spoke with staff for FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel asking for action on the request expanding eligible telecom carrier designations granted in 2012, especially given the freeze in affordable connectivity program enrollments. Without Wireline Bureau approval, “i-wireless is unable to offer Lifeline to eligible low-income Americans in significant portions of Florida, North Carolina and other states where its ETC designation has been granted by the Commission,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-450: With affordable connectivity program “enrollments frozen and consumers needing to find affordable alternatives during the ACP wind-down period, we respectfully urged the Office of the Chairwoman to direct the Bureau to expeditiously complete its review.” Assist Wireless also spoke with Rosenworcel aides on the ETC petition. The Wireline Bureau “has restricted provider participation and impeded competition in the Lifeline program for a dozen years by failing to act on Assist Wireless’s Lifeline compliance plan and federal ETC petition,” Assist said. American Broadband reported a similar meeting. The bureau “has restricted provider participation and impeded competition in the Lifeline program for a dozen years by failing to act on American Broadband’s federal ETC petition (among others),” the provider said. Boomerang Wireless also reported on an ETC call with aides to the chairwoman.
The FCC unanimously approved its entire open meeting agenda Thursday, including an order making it easier for consumers to revoke consent for being robocalled, an order revising wireless mic rules (see 2402150037), an NPRM on a licensing framework for in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing missions, and an NPRM seeking comment on using prerecorded script templates aimed at facilitating multilingual emergency alerts. “In the United States, over 26 million people have limited or no ability to speak English,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel at the open meeting. “That means we have to get creative and identify new ways to reach everyone in a disaster.”
The full FCC proposed a $40,000 forfeiture for an alleged pirate radio broadcaster in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, said a notice of apparent liability released Wednesday. Brigido Danerys Gonzalez, using the DJ name “Super Dany,” allegedly broadcast an unauthorized station named La Bakana since at least May 2022, the NAL said. Enforcement Bureau agents found Gonzalez by tracing the station's signal to two buildings in Hazleton and interviewing a grocery store owner who paid Gonzalez to advertise on the station. Gonzalez didn’t comment.
Witnesses set to testify during a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday (see 2402090072) want lawmakers to consider longer-term initiatives for curbing China’s risk to U.S. communications networks. The push for Congress to allocate an additional $3.08 billion for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2401240001) will likely receive attention during the hearing, as it has in other recent panels, lobbyists said. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
The proposed $150,000 fine for Mission Broadcasting's alleged retransmission consent negotiation violations (see 2401120069) is unreasonably large, and the violation finding is wrong, Mission said Tuesday. In a docket 22-443 response to the FCC Media Bureau's notice of apparent liability, Mission said the NAL focuses on Nexstar-proposed language for inclusion in an agreement to settle litigation with Comcast, not for a retrans consent agreement. It said the proposed forfeiture is in excess of the bureau's delegated authority and should be $7,500 at most. In addition, Nexstar said the NAL "is procedurally improper, prejudicial, and unsupported by the facts or the law." It added that the NAL claims it doesn't address allegations against Nexstar, but Comcast's allegations concerned Nexstar's conduct as Mission's negotiating representative for WPIX New York. Nexstar said the bureau "impermissibly prejudges" allegations against it that supposedly remain under investigation. Treating the settlement proposal that was quickly rejected as a continuing violation over a period of days is unreasonable and not factually supported, Nexstar said.
The full FCC unanimously denied an appeal from the Albuquerque Board of Education seeking the reversal of a 2023 Media Bureau decision denying the reinstatement of a canceled AM station and FM translator in Los Alamos, New Mexico, said an order Tuesday. Filings from the board were procedurally defective and the board lacks standing in the matter, the Media Bureau ruled, and the commissioners agreed. The licenses for the stations were voluntarily surrendered to the FCC by owner Gillian Sutton and canceled in May 2023, leaving the area with no local AM service. The board asked the agency to reinstate the licenses and assign them to the board on a temporary basis, but it did so in a petition filed two months late. The agency previously ruled third parties without attributable interest in a surrendered station lack standing to seek reinstatement. The item was set for Thursday's commissioners' open meeting, and a deletion notice was released Tuesday.
The FCC sought comment Tuesday on long-form applications from Quick Current to buy 2.5 GHz licenses in Iowa and Nebraska. Petitions to deny the applications are due no later than Feb. 23, oppositions March 1 and replies to oppositions March 8, said a notice from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. Under the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act, enacted in December, the FCC can issue licenses won in the 2022 auction despite the expiration in March of its general spectrum auction authority (see 2312200061).
The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comments by March 15, replies by April 1, on a proposal to use data from the broadband serviceable location fabric to "update and verify compliance with certain high-cost program support recipients’ deployment obligations," said a notice for Wednesday's Federal Register. Comments are due in docket 10-90.
TV and smartphone price tags saw big drops between January 2023 and last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index unadjusted data released Tuesday. TV prices fell 9.7% year over year, while smartphones were down 13.2%. Computers, peripherals and smart home assistant prices fell 2.1%. Wireless phone service costs declined 3.1%, while residential phone service rose 4.5% year over year. Cable, satellite and livestreaming TV service costs were up 5.7%. The price of internet service increased 3.8%. Video purchase/subscription/rental rose 2.9%. BLS said January prices for all items were up 3.1% year over year before seasonal adjustment.
The FTC’s proposed rules for moderating fake online reviews are overly broad and carry liability risks that will result in platforms censoring legitimate reviews on sites like Google, Facebook and Yelp, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said Tuesday.