Representatives of the American Library Association met with FCC staffers on the group’s push for streamlined E-rate rules. The group said it discussed its proposals in the “Delete” and E-rate streamlining proceedings. The Trump administration “has made streamlining procurement a key priority and exceptions to competitive bidding for low-cost purchases are widely accepted and understood [as] part of responsible and cost-effective procurement,” said a filing Thursday in docket 02-6.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court’s recent decision upholding the FCC’s 2024 data breach notification rules (see 2508130068) will likely prove significant for regulated companies, lawyers at Davis Wright wrote in a blog post Thursday. “The most immediate implication is the introduction of yet another requirement to notify individuals and authorities of data breaches and other cybersecurity incidents.” As the dissent by Judge Richard Griffin noted, carriers are already “subject to multiple cyber incident reporting requirements at the federal level,” they said.
Global HF Net urged the FCC to approve a waiver allowing greater use of its public-coast station system by land-based parties. As the scope and size of emergencies has expanded “and the need for public safety-related communications has grown, the use of the HF system has become an increasingly important tool in the public safety communications tool-belt,” said a filing Thursday in docket 25-255. Other companies hope to use the spectrum for non-disaster communications, Global HF Net said.
The FCC is placing recent numbering resource utilization and forecast reports, as well as carrier-specific local number portability data from other providers, in the record as it examines AT&T’s proposed purchase of lower 700 MHz and 3.45 GHz licenses from UScellular, said a notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. The $1 billion deal was announced in November (see 2411070026). The “data may assist the Commission in assessing the competitive effects of the transaction” and is subject to a protective order, the notice said.
The FCC asked for comment by Sept. 12 on an application by Clear Rate Communications for authorization to obtain North American Numbering Plan phone numbers directly from the numbering administrator. The company is an interconnected VoIP provider that “intends to initially request numbers in Michigan,” said a notice last week in docket 25-128.
Comments are due Sept. 12, replies Sept. 19, on Vero Broadband’s proposed purchase of BendTel, a locally owned and operated telecom provider in central Oregon. Comments should be filed in docket 25-188, said a Friday notice from the FCC Wireline Bureau. Vero, a fiber-to-the-premises provider, announced plans to buy BendTel in June. The purchase “complements Vero's ongoing organic expansion in Central Oregon and establishes a key foothold in one of the fastest-growing markets in the Pacific Northwest,” the company said at the time.
The House Appropriations Committee said Thursday night that it plans to vote Wednesday on the Financial Services Subcommittee’s FY 2026 funding bill, which proposes to maintain the FCC’s annual funding at $390.2 million (see 2507210064). Financial Services advanced the measure in June with a set of riders that would bar the agency from using money to enforce certain policies that originated during the Biden administration and have been in Republicans’ crosshairs, including its 2024 digital discrimination order (see 2507220057). The markup session will begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn.
The FCC will hold a workshop Sept. 11 for tribes and native Hawaiian organizations during the Coalition of Large Tribes quarterly meeting in Prior Lake, Minnesota, the agency announced Friday. Among the topics to be discussed are proposed changes to the commission’s National Environmental Policy Act rules (see 2508150050), which have raised tribal concerns. FCC staff will also offer updates on proposed pole attachment changes and “technology transitions,” the notice said. The meeting is scheduled from 1:15-4 p.m. at the Mystic Lake Center. Afterward, staff will be available for in-person consultations.
Comments are due Sept. 25, replies Oct. 10, on the FCC’s NPRM on reexamining the emergency alert system and wireless emergency alerts, said a public notice Friday in docket 25-224. The NPRM was unanimously approved at the agency’s August open meeting (see 2508070037).
New Environmental Health Trust (EHT) President Joe Sandri said he wants to popularize the idea that, similar to how cars are marketed based on their safety, wireless services and devices can be sold based on their safety in terms of RF exposure. Sandri was a longtime telecom executive who headed FiberTower, which was bought by AT&T, and IDT Spectrum, which Verizon ultimately absorbed. “I know a lot … from the perspective of an industry player,” he said. He was picked for the top job at EHT in August.