The hearing proceeding on the TV and radio licenses of Antonio Guel and the Hispanic Christian Community Network will go forward with a paper hearing process rather than an in-person one, ruled FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin in an order Wednesday. The hearing proceeding is based in part on allegations that Guel pretended to sell his stations to relatives while actually retaining control of them and made misrepresentations to the agency (see 2408280048). Both Guel and the Enforcement Bureau support the paper process, the order said. A written process will “conserve the Commission’s resources in that it will not be necessary to engage the additional personnel needed to conduct a live hearing,” the order said. The affirmative case is due Feb. 21, response filings April 7 and final reply April 28, the order said.
Various consumer and public interest groups met with aides to FCC Commissioners Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks to urge that the FCC move forward on implementing a 2023 order closing the lead generator loophole (see 2312190032). “We explained that the new regulation is widely viewed by all parties to be a highly effective mechanism to cut down on the proliferation of unwanted telemarketing calls,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-278. In 2024, there were an average of 1.4 billion telemarketing calls every month in the U.S. “but these calls escalated in late 2024” to more than 1.8 billion, the filing said. The groups that met with the FCC aides included the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Knowledge, National Consumers League and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates also participated. The order becomes effective Jan. 27 but faces a challenge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2412180008).
The FCC on Wednesday approved Inland Cellular’s proposed acquisition of Commnet’s rural digital opportunity fund support obligations in parts of Washington and Montana. The Wireline Bureau noted it sought comment in July (see 2407030047) and none was filed.
The FCC released the 2024 Universal Service Monitoring Report, providing an overview of revenue in the U.S. telecom industry and associated contributions to universal service support. Released this week, the report shows a steep drop in some sources of revenue. Local exchange revenue was $12.3 billion in 2023, down from $30.5 billion in 2014. Local private line revenue declined from $31.2 billion to $19.1 billion during the same period. Total telecom revenue fell from $228.5 billion in 2014 to $116 billion in 2023. The tables are based on information filed with the commission in FCC Forms 499-A and 499-Q.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology on Wednesday approved C3Spectra to operate an automated frequency coordination (AFC) system in the 6 GHz band (see 2408130030). “This action benefits American consumers and businesses by enabling an additional AFC system to provide service to standard power and fixed client devices further expanding spectrum access for new applications and services,” said an order in docket 21-352.
UPM sought review this week in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of two orders by the FCC resolving complaints by the company against Digicel-Haiti for allegedly deactivating thousands of SIM cards UPM purchased through third-party contractors in Haiti and shipped to the U.S. to access a Digicel-Haiti discount roaming plan. UPM’s complaint at the FCC demonstrated that the Haitian wireless carrier “was providing foreign telecommunications services from the United States … and was therefore a telecommunications carrier within the Commission’s jurisdiction” and “certain Digicel-Haiti actions (cutting off UPM’s service) violated the Communications Act and longstanding Commission precedent,” UPM said. In two orders, the latest in December, the FCC found Digicel-Haiti didn’t fall under agency jurisdiction and that actions regarding UPM were lawful.
It is critical that more licensed spectrum becomes available for the wireless industry, Rhonda Johnson, AT&T executive vice president-federal regulatory relations, said Wednesday. “The U.S. has no supply of the licensed spectrum that fuels wireless services, and the FCC has no authority to auction the essential resource,” Johnson wrote in a blog post: “This spectrum drought has allowed other countries, including China, to surpass the U.S. in allocating key portions of spectrum.” Expanding AT&T’s network “requires expanding access to the licensed spectrum that powers it,” she said. AT&T arguably has been the most outspoken national wireless carrier in projecting positive things to come from Donald Trump's incoming administration (see 2412100069). Johnson also stressed the importance of regulators clearing a path for the provider to shutter inefficient copper networks (see 2405210059). “Outdated regulations force U.S. telecom companies to maintain inefficient copper networks, diverting investment from the resilient high-speed internet technologies of the future.”
Commnet Wireless, Mercury Wireless and Mediapolis Telephone Co. have defaulted on some rural digital opportunity fund (RDOF) census block groups in Idaho, Washington, Ohio and Iowa, which opens them to consider other funding programs, the FCC Wireline Bureau said Wednesday. It said the carriers would be subject to penalties, adding that it was referring the Commnet and Mercury defaults to the Enforcement Bureau. In docket 19-126, Plains Internet said it hadn't met its year-end 2024 milestone for the Kansas RDOF deployment. It said while it intended to have deployed service to 40% of three Kansas locations, it hadn't deployed at all. It said it wasn't relinquishing its RDOF obligation for the Kansas locations.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Wednesday he's retaining the chairmen of subcommittees with jurisdiction over the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other Commerce Department agencies, the DOJ Antitrust Division and CPB. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, will continue leading the Financial Services Subcommittee. Former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., will remain ranking member. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., will keep the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee. Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., is the subpanel's new ranking member. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., will retain his post as Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee chairman. Aderholt spearheaded bids in 2023 and 2024 to end CPB's advance appropriations (see 2407100060). House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut will continue as the subpanel's lead Democrat.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases are marked with an *.