Biennial recertifications of incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) study area boundary data are due June 30, the FCC Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireline Bureau said Tuesday. ILECs and state commissions that have volunteered to file study area boundary data on ILECs operating in certain jurisdictions must review and certify that data every two years, according to the public notice.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau sought comment Tuesday on two petitions from ClearCaptions seeking waivers to rules for the IP-captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and the telecommunications relay service (TRS) fund. The company provides IP CTS that's supported by the fund. Comments are due June 19, replies July 7, in docket 03-123.
Verizon, which last year urged the FCC to impose broadband handset unlocking rules on wireless carriers, is now asking the commission to zero out the unlocking commitment it adopted as a condition of approving the company’s purchase of Tracfone.
NTIA joined the submarine cable industry in voicing concerns about parts of the FCC's proposed rewrite of its subsea cable rules. In docket 24-523 reply comments this week, NTIA, the subsea cable industry and allies called instead for using the proceeding to streamline existing rules. FCC Commissioners adopted the subsea cable NPRM unanimously in November (see 2411210006). Initial comments on the NPRM saw pushback from industry (see 2504150002).
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s announced plan to forgo notice-and-comment procedures when rescinding rules could run afoul of administrative law, some experts said. Carr said the agency may look to the Administrative Procedure Act's (APA) good-cause exception to notice-and-comment requirements in its efforts to remove no-longer-enforced rules (see 2505160064). An April White House memorandum said notice and comment aren't required when eliminating rules that it contends run counter to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions like Loper Bright. FCC Chief of Staff Scott Delacourt said the commission might employ declaratory rulings as a way of eliminating what Carr determines are invalid rules.
A few tweaks are likely for the “bad labs” order and Further NPRM set for a vote at Thursday's FCC meeting, industry officials active in the proceeding told us. The item is expected to receive unanimous approval. It would prohibit FCC recognition of a telecommunications certification body, lab or lab accreditation body owned by a company on the agency’s covered list and other government rosters of unsecure companies (see 2505010037).
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is defending cuts to the agency’s workforce and other actions in written testimony ahead of the House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee’s planned Wednesday hearing on commission oversight. Carr also urges Congress again to restore the FCC’s lapsed auction authority, as House GOP leaders aimed to pass, as soon as Wednesday night, their One Big Beautiful Bill Act budget reconciliation package with spectrum language included. The House Appropriations Financial Services hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2358-A Rayburn.
Host John Oliver on Sunday warned viewers of HBO’s Last Week Tonight that President Donald Trump poses a threat to press freedom and that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has been complicit in Trump’s efforts to silence some media outlets. The White House has attempted to “weaponize” the FCC, Oliver said.
Representatives of the National Consumer Law Center urged the FCC to take a limited approach in response to a petition by the Ecommerce Innovation Alliance and others asking the agency to issue a declaratory ruling that people who provide prior express written consent to receive text messages can't claim damages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for messages received outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. (see 2503030036). Representatives met with aides to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, said a filing posted Monday in docket 02-278. The center said the FCC could address the Edison Electric Institute's complaints (see 2504280016) “by issuing a waiver for communications seeking enrollment in demand response programs,” without making other changes.
A representative of Federal Technology Solutions Inc. (FTSI) met with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on the company’s pursuit of E-rate support after it missed a Universal Service Administrative Co. deadline. It was denied more than $320,000 in E-rate support from funding year 2019 “due to a minor error that caused FTSI to submit its invoices to USAC shortly after the applicable deadline,” said a filing posted Monday (docket 25-133). “This amount represents approximately 5 percent of FTSI’s annual revenue, and its loss has significantly harmed the company.”