Alaskan carrier GCI urged the FCC to provide more guidance to allow providers to comment on the Alaska Connect Fund eligible-areas map and performance plan template (see 2511190039). Comments were due Thursday in docket 23-328. The FCC's public notice “raises critical questions that necessitate corrections and further clarifications regarding key parameters before providers can fully offer input.”
The FCC barred Q Link Wireless from participating in the agency's Lifeline or any other USF program, according to a letter posted in Friday’s Daily Digest. In July, Q Link Wireless CEO Issa Asad was sentenced to 60 months in prison after pleading guilty to fraud tied to the Lifeline program (see 2507280019). Asad and the company also pleaded guilty to money laundering through the COVID-19-era Paycheck Protection Program.
Hikvision USA has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review an FCC order seeking to close potential loopholes in the agency's equipment authorization process (see 2510280024). The company criticized the order after it was approved in October.
Global Caption, which provides captioned telephone service to jails and prisons, urged the FCC to impose “stricter constraints” on registrations to provide IP captioned telephone service in correctional facilities. Site-based enterprise registrations would “provide an additional backstop against waste, fraud, and abuse, in that the individual sites will be better suited to ensure that their users need to utilize IP CTS,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 22-408.
The FCC Wireline Bureau sought comment Friday on Interactive’s proposed purchase of customers, network gear and other assets from TelNet. TelNet plans to no longer provide telecom services if the deal is completed. “Applicants state that customers of TelNet will have access to new services offered by Interactive and the proposed transaction will strengthen the competitive position of Interactive by expanding its customer base,” the bureau said. Comments are due Dec. 19, replies Dec. 26, in docket 25-189.
The U.S. Supreme Court should resolve a circuit split over whether the FCC properly handed down fines against AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile for violating FCC data rules, AT&T said Friday in a filing at the court. Verizon challenged at SCOTUS a September decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upholding a $46.9 million fine (see 2511170035). In August, the D.C. Circuit upheld a similar fine against T-Mobile (see 2508150044), while the 5th Circuit earlier rejected one imposed on AT&T (see 2504180001).
The FCC appears unlikely to move forward quickly on changing its rules for legacy business data services (BDS), as proposed in an NPRM that commissioners approved ahead of their August meeting (see 2508050056), industry officials said. Unlike other reform proposals that are getting enthusiastic endorsement, at least from industry -- including faster copper retirements (see 2509300039) and streamlined wireline siting rules (see 2511170028) -- the BDS changes are seeing little support.
Charter, Cox and a number of groups supportive of the MVPDs’ $34.5 billion merger blasted a petition to deny the deal in replies filed in FCC docket 25-233 last week. The petition (see 2511190049) from Public Knowledge, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and the Center for Accessible Technology used old data and ignored the competitive landscape for MVPDs, said filings from the Free State Foundation, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Center for American Rights, the League of Latin American Citizens and others. The petition’s “portrayal of Charter and Cox as dominant Internet access ‘gatekeepers’ simply does not match today’s marketplace realities,” said a joint filing from the companies.
Netflix announced Friday an agreement to buy Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion after the latter company spins off Discovery Global, but the deal could face regulatory hurdles at the FTC or DOJ, and the combination has been criticized by lawmakers of both parties.
Comments are due Jan. 20 on a space modernization NPRM approved by FCC commissioners 3-0 in October (see 2510280024), said a notice for Friday’s Federal Register. Replies are due 30 days later in docket 25-69. To achieve its goals “and to be the nation of choice for space excellence,” the U.S. must “have a modern, efficient space licensing system that enables innovation and exploration,” the notice said.