The 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Wednesday scheduled oral argument for April 27 on Verizon’s challenge of a $46.9 million penalty from the FCC for not adequately protecting subscribers’ real-time location information. Commissioners approved the fine on a 3-2 vote last year, along with fines against AT&T and T-Mobile (see 2404290044). All the carriers are challenging the penalties. In February, the 5th Circuit heard oral argument in AT&T’s challenge of a $57 million fine (see 2502030050). The government defended the order in the 5th Circuit even though current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington had dissented.
The Wireless Infrastructure Association on Wednesday praised the CTIA's choice of former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai as the group’s president and CEO, effective April 1 (see 2503120036). He was picked following an executive search by Korn Ferry International. Pai is “an effective leader with the right mix of government and industry experience to help propel the wireless industry forward,” said Patrick Halley, WIA president and CEO. “WIA looks forward to working with him and the CTIA team to ensure every consumer and enterprise in America benefits from the power of wireless connectivity.” Pai “brings a wealth of knowledge and perspective from his years of public and private sector experience,” said Rhonda Johnson, AT&T executive vice president-regulatory relations.
Comments are due April 14 on FCC-proposed changes to its submarine cable rules, said a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. Replies in the docket 24-523 proceeding are due May 12. The subsea cable NPRM was adopted unanimously by the FCC commissioners in November (see 2411210006) and proposes rules changes that address national security and law enforcement threats to cables, including a three-year periodic reporting requirement for submarine cable landing licenses.
The FCC’s notice of apparent liability against Telnyx is an abuse of power and should be rescinded, said Free State Foundation’s Seth Cooper in a blog post Wednesday. The Feb. 4 Telnyx NAL (see 2503050026) amounts to “regulation by enforcement,” where an agency imposes new requirements on regulatees in enforcement proceedings instead of through a rulemaking, Cooper wrote. Regulation by enforcement “deprives regulated entities of the ability to know and follow the law, so it is contrary to the requirement of fair notice and the prohibition of unfair surprise that are recognized in Supreme Court's Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause jurisprudence.”
The current FCC is likely to support calls by USTelecom and its members for policies that allow carriers to more easily retire copper facilities in their networks (see 2501270047), New Street’s Blair Levin said Wednesday. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr “has always been in favor of assisting [incumbent local exchange carriers] in this transition,” he said in a note to investors.
Law firm Perkins Coie sued the U.S. government over a White House executive order aimed at the firm, and the lawsuit names the FCC and Chairman Brendan Carr as defendants, along with a host of agencies and agency leaders. A federal judge reportedly temporarily blocked the executive order in a ruling Wednesday. No order was yet visible in the docket Wednesday evening. The order, which accuses Perkins Coie of “undermining democratic elections” and committing racial discrimination through its diversity policies, limits the firm’s attorneys from accessing federal buildings and requires federal contractors to disclose relationships with it, among other things. It targets the firm over its past representation of former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and its work with George Soros. “The Order is an affront to the Constitution and our adversarial system of justice,” said the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Its plain purpose is to bully those who advocate points of view that the President perceives as adverse to the views of his Administration.”
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz is promising modernization of the bureau's licensing, as well as making spectrum available for more intensive space uses. Speaking Wednesday at Satellite 2025, Schwarz said he sees space policy through the lens of economic growth, and the bureau's "main job ... is to facilitate and accelerate all the investments in your industry." Slow processing of applications and overly burdensome rules "are creating unnecessary regulatory drag." Schwarz -- who noted that he lives on a farm in the Washington region served by satellite-delivered broadband -- said regulatory drag can compound over time, resulting in significant effects on the economy and the types of services the space industry offers.
The Donald Trump administration’s attack on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs is misguided and won’t be sustained long term, consultant Deborah Lathen said Wednesday at a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Other speakers said it could take years to convince people about the importance of broadband in areas that are just being connected while confusion reigns on the future of the BEAD program.
The FCC is seeking suggestions on which of its rules should be eliminated in a docket (25-133) called “In re: Delete, Delete, Delete,” the agency announced in a news release and public notice Wednesday. “The FCC is committed to ending all of the rules and regulations that are no longer necessary. And we welcome the public’s participation and feedback throughout this process,” Chairman Brendan Carr said in the release. “For too long, administrative agencies have added new regulatory requirements in excess of their authority or kept lawful regulations in place long after their shelf life had expired.”