The Senate Commerce Committee’s surprise adoption Wednesday of an amendment to the Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act (S-2238) that would allocate $7 billion in stopgap funding for the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program likely imperils chamber passage of that measure, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Debate over the pro-ACP amendment and a proposal that attached $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program also signaled continued friction among panel members over the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207).
Charter Communications "is glad to have resolved these issues" around its reporting of network outages, the company emailed us Monday evening. Charter agreed to a $15 million penalty related to outage reporting (see 2407290043). Its February 2023 outage was due to a denial-of-service attack, according to the consent decree. Charter said the FCC consent decree identified no flaws in Charter's cybersecurity practices. The company said it "agreed with the FCC that we should continue doing what we’re already doing.” In the consent decree, the FCC Enforcement Bureau said Charter "established and shall continue to maintain and evolve its overall cybersecurity risk management program" in accordance with the voluntary cybersecurity framework in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cyber Security Framework as well as through other industry standards and best practices.
The FTC offered the FCC an update on its recent “Voice Cloning Challenge” and other work as commissioners consider a draft NPRM on consumer protections against AI-generated robocalls. The NPRM is set for a vote Aug. 7 (see 2407170055). “The four FTC Voice Cloning Challenge winning submissions demonstrate the potential for cutting edge technology to help mitigate risks of voice cloning in the marketplace,” an FTC filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-362 said: “They promote approaches that tap American innovation to help protect the public. The results of the Challenge also highlight that there is no single solution to this problem.”
The FCC "offers no plausible reason why Congress would have used classic disparate-treatment language to create a disparate-impact regime," a coalition of industry groups said in a reply brief to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday. The brief explained the Minnesota Telecom Alliance's challenge of the FCC's digital discrimination rules (docket 24-1179). The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, NCTA, Wireless Infrastructure Association National Multifamily Housing Council, ACA Connects, Wireless ISP Association and several state telecom associations also noted that the major questions doctrine "confirms" the commission lacks "the authority to regulate non-ISPs" (see 2407080012). In a separate brief, the Legal Defense Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, Communications Workers of America and the United Church of Christ Office of Communication said that the FCC would "fail to achieve Congress's mandate" of facilitating equal access without establishing a disparate-impact liability. Section 1754 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act "also furthers the FCC’s ability to ferret out intentional discrimination," the groups said.
Auto Innovators urged the FCC to act soon on a proposed order on cellular vehicle-to-everything use of the 5.9 GHz band that is in front of the commissioners (see 2407170042). The group represents the auto industry. Its representatives met with an aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. Its representatives “also encouraged the Commission to work with the automotive industry to identify additional spectrum to both support new C-V2X use cases and to ensure that there is adequate spectrum for next-generation V2X technologies, such as 5G-V2X,” a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-138 said.
Reps. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., and Mike Carey, R-Ohio, led filing of a House companion to the Secure and Affordable Broadband Extension Act (S-4317) Tuesday in a bid to give the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program $6 billion in stopgap funding for FY 2024. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., filed S-4317 in May after he unsuccessfully attempted to attach identical language to the FAA reauthorization package (see 2405090068). The measure would couple the stopgap ACP funding with changes to the program’s scope and eligibility rules. Affordable Broadband Campaign spokesperson Gigi Sohn praised Budzinski and Carey for filing S-4317’s House companion. In a statement, Sohn said, “There is no excuse not to move this legislation forward.” Also praising the lawmakers were the ACLU, Common Sense Media, Incompas, National Digital Inclusion Alliance, National Lifeline Association, New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge.
Carriers are working on implementing 988 georouting and the FCC needn't interfere with mandates and rules, telecom trade groups said in docket 18-336 comments this week. Commissioners in April adopted an NPRM proposing the georouting requirement (see 2404250054).
Satellite operators continue urging the FCC to phase-in any regulatory fee hike stemming from the Space Bureau's creation. Docket 24-86 reply comments this week also saw CTIA pushing back on broadcasters' arguments that favor charging regulatory fees for equipment authorizations. Previously, the space community and broadcasters raised concerns about regulatory fee shock in initial comments in the proceeding (see 2407160049).
Members of the congressional Universal Service Fund revamp working group are considering whether, and how much, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling will affect their rollout of a framework for overhauling the program. The court ruled last week that the FCC's USF contribution factor is unconstitutional (see 2407240043). Experts believe lawmakers will likely factor the ruling into the framework, but it could be moot should the U.S. Supreme Court reverse the decision on appeal (see 2407260044). Uncertainty about USF’s future will likely extend the working group’s already lengthy process, lobbyists told us.
Charter Communications has agreed it will pay $15 million for failing to notify public safety answering points about a trio of network outages in early 2023 that affected 911 service, the FCC Enforcement Bureau said Monday. The bureau said Charter also acknowledged it didn't meet other network outage reporting system (NORS) deadlines tied to numerous planned maintenance outages. In addition, it said Charter didn't notify more than 1,000 PSAPs about a Feb. 19 outage and didn't meet NORS reporting deadlines tied to that outage and to March 31 and April 26 outages. Charter didn't comment.