The Armstrong Group agreed to pay $6.5 million for violating the FCC's rules on the USF high-cost program, DOJ announced Friday. The company admitted to "submitting improper costs in order to inflate the subsidies it received," a news release said. An investigation found that five incumbent local exchange carriers the Armstrong Group owns failed to comply with FCC rules between 2008 and 2023. A whistleblower will receive about $1.2 million "as his share of the recovery," DOJ said. “When providers like the Armstrong Group fail to follow federal law and FCC regulations, they jeopardize not only critical government programs but also consumers’ ability to access a modern lifeline," Eric Olshan, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said.
Former President Donald Trump’s selection of Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate puts a backer of additional funding for the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program on the presidential ticket of a party that has many members who criticized the initiative. Vance is lead Senate GOP co-sponsor of the ACP Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) and subsequent Secure and Affordable Broadband Extension Act (S-4317). Both propose giving the affordability program billions of dollars in stopgap funding for FY 2024 (see 2401100056). Vance also helped lead an unsuccessful bid to include $6 billion in ACP funding in May as part of the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act (see 2405090052). Vance, a freshman senator, opposed former-FCC nominee Gigi Sohn and Commissioner Anna Gomez during their confirmation processes last year (see 2307120073).
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, reacting to Saturday's assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, said Americans should “renounce the abuse of the vast reach of telecommunications to falsely describe political adversaries as threats to democracy, fascists, and by other false and hate-filled terms.” In a two-page statement Monday, Simington wrote that the FCC “has few or no powers to compel or limit political speech.” As such, he was making the request “not as an officer of the US government, but as a concerned citizen.” However, his remarks used the same letterhead as FCC news releases. They were released in the manner of official FCC commissioner statements. “It is no more than the truth to say that President Trump’s survival also saved the election’s legitimacy by preserving the political choices of tens of millions of Americans,” Simington wrote. "The image of President Trump, blood streaming down his face, on his feet and shaking his fist in regal defiance, became an instant classic of American history." FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr also reacted, posting on X that it's “past time for politicians that know better to stop fanning the false flames of fear.” Carr said he was “Praying for President Trump tonight and for any innocent loss of life in Butler, Pennsylvania.” The FCC's Democratic commissioners didn't release statements on the shooting.
CTA and other industry groups urged that the FCC look closely at concerns raised in initial comments about rules for implementing multilingual wireless emergency alerts (see 2406140051). Meanwhile, some state attorneys general oppose industry efforts at slowing the move to require multilingual alerts. Replies were posted through Monday in dockets 15-91 and 15-94 in response to a notice from the FCC Public Safety Bureau (see 2405130047). The notice proposed a 30-month deadline for implementing templates in English and 13 other languages, plus American Sign Language.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A California rulemaking on modernizing carrier of last resort rules could inspire similar proceedings elsewhere, state and industry officials signaled at the NARUC conference Monday. The California Public Utilities Commission last month opened a rulemaking that took a fresh look at COLR rules after rejecting regulatory relief for AT&T (see 2406200065).
Many space operators continue assailing the FCC's idea of a 100 object-years cap, reply comments in docket 18-313 show. However, SpaceX remains a staunch defender of object-years. The object-years approach -- capping at 100 the number of years failed satellites in a constellation could remain in orbit -- also came under fire last month in the agency's orbital debris docket record refresh (see 2406280009). In addition, there remains a schism over the idea of adopting aggregate, system-wide collision risk metrics.
Providers of incarcerated people's communications services criticized a draft FCC order proposing a reduction in the cap on rates providers may charge for audio or video communications. Most urged the commission to reconsider barring providers from recovering safety and security costs incurred for providing IPCS. Advocates welcomed the move and urged that the FCC continue examining other ways to increase access to communications services for incarcerated people. Commissioners will consider the item during their open meeting Thursday (see 2406270068). Comments were posted through Monday.
A draft order requiring that device-makers and MVPDs make closed-caption display settings easily accessible is expected to receive unanimous approval during FCC commissioners’ open meeting Thursday, agency officials told us. The final item is expected to change language from the draft version, resulting in the rules no longer applying to preinstalled apps. The order is based in part on a consensus proposal from NCTA and several consumer groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing. “We are in a very different place in terms of the consumer industry relationships now than we were decades ago," said Karen Peltz Strauss, a former FCC Consumer Bureau deputy chief who now represents the consumer groups in the proceeding. “There's a lot more communication, a lot more collaboration, coordination. We've seen a real seismic shift in being able to work with industry to get the access we need.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected Dish Network and International Dark-Sky Association (IDSA) arguments seeking a reversal of the FCC's OK of SpaceX's second-generation satellite constellation. In a 21-page opinion Friday (consolidated dockets 22-1337 and 23-1001), the three-judge panel said the FCC decision was "lawful and reasonably explained." Oral argument was in December (see [Ref;2312110031]). Pointing to Dish's challenge of the way SpaceX conducted its power flux-density limits testing, the judges said the commission's rules don't specify how an applicant must group its data. Moreover, Dish's evidence that a different grouping of the data shows SpaceX's system would exceed PFD limits "falls well short of a smoking gun that would require the FCC to disregard SpaceX’s self-certification," they said. Pointing to IDSA arguments that the FCC shouldn't have licensed the second-gen system without an environmental review, the court said the SpaceX license falls within the National Environmental Policy Act's categorical exclusion, so an environmental assessment is needed only if the FCC determines the license could have a significant environmental impact. The ruling said that the FCC "reasonably concluded" there wouldn't be any such impact. Deciding were Judges Neomi Rao, Michelle Childs and Douglas Ginsburg, with Rao penning the order. Nowhere does the decision cite or reference the Supreme Court's recent Loper Bright decision (see 2406280043), which ended the Chevron doctrine of courts largely deferring to federal agencies' expert decisions; nor does it cite Chevron.
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau sent warnings to 13 New York metropolitan-area landowners over pirate radio broadcasts from their properties, an agency news release and notices of violation released late Thursday said. The notices targeted landowners in New York City and Spring Valley, N.Y., as well as in New Jersey's Newark and Irvington, the release said. The notices warn landowners that each could face a fine of up to nearly $2.4 million for hosting an unauthorized radio broadcast.