Jared Carlson is leaving his role as a deputy chief of the FCC Office of International Affairs to work for the National Security Council, replacing Matthew Pearl as director-emerging technologies, industry officials said. Pearl recently left the White House post (see 2408140044). Carlson is an industry veteran who spent more than 15 years at Ericsson and previously worked at Sprint Nextel. He joined the FCC last year. The FCC declined comment and the NSC didn’t comment Monday.
There's "an intentional and coordinated effort to silence" some political speech by "many in power -- whether in government or media," FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote in a post on X on Sunday. He said these people "view free speech as a threat" and label views they don't like as "misinformation." He wrote: “The censors are not worried in these cases that people will be misled by the words they’ve chosen to read -- they’re worried that those words will be effective ... They want to impose their world view on others. Their goal is to lobotomize free thinking and pour in the cement of official orthodoxy.” Carr reposted a supporting comment by X and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who wrote, “Free speech is the bedrock of democracy.” Musk recently closed X’s offices in Brazil due to an investigation over charges of X sharing disinformation. Officials in the U.K. have blamed Musk for inciting anti-immigrant rioting there.
Democratic National Convention delegates were expected to vote Monday night on the Democratic National Committee’s 2024 platform, which includes a pledge that promises the party will “keep fighting to reinstate” the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program. The draft program repeatedly references President Joe Biden and his now-ended reelection bid because the DNC Platform Committee adopted it July 16, before the incumbent stepped aside in favor of new nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, the committee said when it released the document Sunday night. “23 million households received free or monthly discounts” via ACP, “saving $30 to $75 per month on high-speed broadband through the largest internet affordability program in history,” the Democrats’ proposed platform said: The program lapsed “because Republicans refused to act.” ACP's supporters are tempering their expectations that Congress will act to restore the subsidy this year despite the Senate Commerce Committee successfully advancing a surprise amendment July 31 to the Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act (S-2238) that would allocate $7 billion to the program for FY 2024 (see 2408090041). The DNC platform references the Biden administration’s implementation of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which included $65 billion for connectivity. “We’re bringing affordable, reliable, high-speed internet to every American household,” the platform said. “But a full 45 million of us still live in areas where there is no high-speed internet. Democrats are closing that divide.” Democrats are also “determined to strengthen data privacy,” through passage of a revamped “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” and an update of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act “to protect personal electronic information and safeguard location information.” The document notes Democrats' continued push to “fundamentally reform” Communications Decency Act Section 230 and “ensure that platforms take responsibility for the content they share.” It also mentions Democrats’ interest in “promoting interoperability between tech services and platforms, allowing users to control and transfer their data, and preventing large platforms from giving their own products and services an unfair advantage in the marketplace.”
ASPEN -- Finding a way to restore the affordable connectivity program (ACP) is a high priority for the end of 2024 and social media-related advertising revenue could provide potential solutions, FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez said Monday.
The FCC Wireline Bureau Friday published its annual list of the hundreds of counties with conditional forbearance from the obligation to offer Lifeline-supported voice service. The forbearance applies only to the Lifeline voice obligation of eligible telecommunications carriers receiving high-cost and Lifeline support and not to Lifeline-only ETCs, the notice said. A 2016 Lifeline order established conditional forbearance from Lifeline voice obligations where specific competitive conditions are met (see 1807230027). For a county to be eligible, at least 51% of Lifeline subscribers must have broadband internet access.
Tropical Storm Ernesto left 7.1% of Puerto Rican and U.S. Virgin Island cellsites out of service, an improvement from Thursday’s 12.9%, the FCC said in Friday's disaster information reporting system report (see 2408130047). Cable and wireline companies reported 226,861 subscribers without service, down from 290,424 Thursday. No TV or radio stations were reported down. Ernesto has become a category 2 hurricane and is headed to Bermuda.
Comments are due to the FCC Sept. 5, replies Sept. 16, on satellite operations' possible expanded use of the 18 GHz band. According to a Space and Wireless bureaus, Office of International Affairs, and Office of Engineering and Technology public notice Friday (docket 24-248), the comments are meant to inform a report that the national spectrum strategy mandated and is due in May. The PN said expanded satellite use of the band would be consistent with the U.S.' position at the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference, which backed added inter-satellite link allocations to the band. It said fixed satellite service downlinks are authorized now in the band, while nonfederal fixed service is authorized in the 18.1-18.3 GHz segment.
Verizon is looking to build grassroots support for its position on the 4.9 GHz band, opposing control of the spectrum by the FirstNet Authority and Verizon rival AT&T, as the fight over 4.9 GHz heats up (see 2408130035), with near daily filings for and against FirstNet use of the band.
FCC commissioners unanimously approved an NPRM on further changes to rules for the citizens broadband radio service band that Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated two months ago. The Biden administration has focused on sharing models based on CBRS as part of its assessment of the future of spectrum. The agency posted the NPRM on Friday. Comment deadlines will come in a Federal Register notice.
California appropriators last week halted multiple telecom-related bills meant to help vulnerable communities. Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D) blamed the broadband industry after the Senate Appropriations Committee held back her bill that would have banned digital discrimination as the FCC defines it (AB-2239). However, that committee and its Assembly counterpart advanced several other telecom and privacy bills to final floor votes.