Consumers should be on the lookout for phone and text message scams during the holidays, said the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in an alert Monday. Avoid calls or texts from unknown parties, avoid mysterious links and keep an eye out for requests for payment by gift card, the alert said. The bureau also warned about holiday charity scams using phone calls or texts to solicit donations and about package delivery scams claiming that a consumer owes a tariff on an item. “Watch out for text notices saying your purchase is ‘stuck in customs’ or your order will not be delivered until a tariff is paid.” Consumers should check directly with the retailer if they suspect something is wrong, the agency added.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday signaled a willingness to uphold President Donald Trump’s firing of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a decision that liberal justices said could totally upend existing structures at independent agencies like the FTC and the FCC (see 2511280002).
The FCC appears unlikely to move forward quickly on changing its rules for legacy business data services (BDS), as proposed in an NPRM that commissioners approved ahead of their August meeting (see 2508050056), industry officials said. Unlike other reform proposals that are getting enthusiastic endorsement, at least from industry -- including faster copper retirements (see 2509300039) and streamlined wireline siting rules (see 2511170028) -- the BDS changes are seeing little support.
U.S. Supreme Court justices in oral argument Monday repeatedly challenged and tested Cox Communications' claim that it bears no liability for online piracy by its broadband subscribers. Cox is challenging a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld a lower court's contributory copyright infringement finding against the ISP (see 2408160034). The docket is 24-171.
FCC General Counsel Adam Candeub faced some tough questions as he defended the agency's order establishing a regime that's designed to promote use of the 4.9 GHz band by giving the FirstNet Authority access to the spectrum (see 2509160005). A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument Monday.
ORLANDO -- BEAD-related fiber deployments will face sizable data center competition for fiber-optic cabling, and the BEAD camp is likely to lose out, supply chain experts predicted this week at the Broadband Nation Expo.
USTelecom and other commenters warned the FCC against abruptly detariffing legacy business data services (BDS), as is proposed in an NPRM that commissioners approved ahead of their August meeting (see 2508050056). Unlike most deregulatory proposals from the FCC, industry groups mostly aren’t on board with the BDS changes. Comments were posted Tuesday and Wednesday in docket 21-17.
ORLANDO -- This year has already seen multiple blockbuster mergers and acquisitions in telecom, and the relatively modest levels of BEAD-related consolidation should start to heat up in 2026, said Jonathan Adelstein, TWN Communications' chief strategy and external affairs officer, at the annual Broadband Nation Expo on Monday. Pointing to such activity as Verizon/Frontier, AT&T/Lumen and regional deals, the former Wireless Infrastructure Association CEO said mobile network operators are interested in fiber. The state of BEAD had been unclear going into 2025, but now the rules seem set, and BEAD activity is picking up, he added.
The FCC signed an agreement Thursday to continue to work with regulators from traditional U.S. allies to strengthen cooperation “in response to evolving threats and challenges in the telecommunications sector." Regulators from the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand also signed the agreement. Industry experts told us that the pact shows that despite tariff fights and other disagreements with the nations under President Donald Trump, cooperation on security continues.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the USF in Consumers’ Research v. FCC could prove critical as justices hear argument Wednesday on President Donald Trump’s legal authority to impose tariffs, said Adam White, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, in a blog post Monday. The case turns on how justices view presidential authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, White wrote. “If justices see the Trump tariffs as mainly a matter of foreign policy, and if they see IEEPA’s ‘regulate’ provision as ambiguous, then perhaps they will give substantial deference to the president’s interpretation.”