Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and other GOP leaders are optimistic, but not yet certain, that they have the votes on their side of the aisle to pass a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (S.J.Res. 7) to undo the FCC's July 2024 order allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services. Chamber Democrats are vowing to fight S.J.Res. 7 if leaders bring up the measure for a vote, which lobbyists said could happen as soon as next week. Supporters and opponents of the E-rate expansion are eyeing a handful of Republicans they believe are reluctant to rescind the FCC’s order.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the FCC was right that Gray Television violated the agency's top-four rule with the broadcast chain's purchase in 2020 of another broadcaster’s CBS network affiliation in the Anchorage market, but the court on Friday vacated the $518,000 forfeiture penalty. In a docket 22-14274 opinion, the appellate court also remanded the proceeding back to the agency. Judges William Pryor, Andrew Brasher and Adalberto Jordan said the forfeiture penalty was wrongly based in part on an egregiousness finding that Gray wasn't given an opportunity to address. They said the forfeiture penalty was also arbitrary and capricious because the FCC didn't adequately explain its consideration of Gray’s good faith. In a concurring opinion joined by Pryor, Brasher said the FCC's Note 11 rule, barring affiliation swaps, may exceed the agency's authority. "Had this issue been properly raised, I very likely would have voted to vacate the forfeiture order in its entirety," they said.
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition supports waiving the April 1 funding request filing deadline for the rural Healthcare Connect Fund, it told the FCC Wireline Bureau in an ex parte meeting Monday, according to a filing posted Wednesday in docket 02-60. The waiver request was originally made by the Colorado Hospital Association and intended to allow the Universal Service Administrative Co. time to give the system the ability to handle the filings. “Various factors have delayed the standard application processing time over the course of this funding year,” said SHLB, detailing processing issues and delays caused by the application portal. The proposed 90-day extension is “justified” given the diversity in applicant types “and variations in applicant experience and expertise in filing.”
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will meet March 19 at FCC headquarters, the FCC said Wednesday. The meeting, which starts at 1 p.m., is the group's first during the current administration. It last met in December (see 2412180041).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau gave UL Solutions an additional 60 days to complete its initial work as lead administrator in the agency’s voluntary cyber trust mark program (see 2503040062). The extension gives UL until May 3, said an order in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The request “is limited to only 60 days and will allow UL the additional time needed to ensure the recommendations are thoroughly considered and discussed among stakeholders,” the bureau said. “We find this reasonable given the highly technical and complex issues being considered, the industry coordination involved, and the benefit to the Commission from receiving complete and thorough recommendations.”
The Wireless ISP Association reported Wednesday on a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr about non-spectrum issues. The commission should “ensure that additional data collection and reporting burdens are not imposed on smaller providers” and “permanently eliminate the requirement that a licensed professional engineer” certify broadband data collection submissions, WISPA said in a filing in 10-90 and other dockets. WISPs urged the FCC not to adopt proposals in a Further NPRM on broadband consumer labels. “Existing requirements are sufficient to allow consumers to compare broadband options,” and proposals in the notice “would impose unnecessary burdens on broadband providers,” it said. The group also said all broadband providers “should have access to utility poles and public rights-of-way [at] neutral and non-discriminatory rates and terms on par with telecommunications and cable services.”
The FCC received additional comments urging the agency to take its time finalizing rules for the Alaska Connect Fund (ACF) and provide flexibility where possible. The comments were posted Wednesday in docket 23-328. WTA agreed with comments "that it would be premature for the Commission to try to design a subsidy program for the Alaska Connect Fund in light of all ... the presently unknown conditions that will affect deployment." The broadband maps that are needed to better understand where support should flow also haven't been finalized, WTA said.
AT&T CEO John Stankey is optimistic that the FCC under new Chairman Brendan Carr will make more spectrum available for full-power, licensed use, though the business leader sounded a note of caution about the round of tariffs that President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday.
Telnyx is pushing back on the FCC's proposed $4.5 million fine for allegedly not doing enough to verify the identity of a supposed robocall scammer (see 2502040065). A source familiar with the issue said CEO David Casem met with agency staffers this week. In a statement emailed to us Wednesday, Casem said the FCC enforcement action "must have snuck past the new FCC leadership, but sunlight is the best disinfectant." The statement continued: "We are optimistic that as more people understand how a Biden-era 'regulation by enforcement' approach managed to sneak through the cracks, the agency will reverse course." In a letter last week to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Telnyx said it "consistently used industry best practices to deter often sophisticated bad actors who seek to engage in illegal calls" and often went beyond what was required. It said the agency's decision to punish it "for properly and quickly responding to a sophisticated bad actor’s brief, single-instance evasion of Telnyx’s controls" is unprecedented. The notice of apparent liability doesn't jibe with FCC statements that it doesn't expect perfection or that telecom service providers' measures must be 100% effective, the company said. "Enforcement of the rule to now require perfection is the sort of 'unfair surprise'" to which the White House has voiced opposition as a regulatory approach.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.