House Democrats rang alarm bells Wednesday over the Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) Subcommittee’s proposal reducing FY 2025 allocations for NTIA and other Commerce Department agencies. The subpanel advanced its FY25 bill on a voice vote Wednesday after Republicans defended the proposed cuts, including a significant slashing of annual funding for the DOJ Antitrust Division. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo fielded repeated questions during a House Innovation Subcommittee hearing Wednesday about Republicans’ claims that NTIA’s requirement that broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program participants offer a low-cost connectivity option constitutes rate regulation.
FCC commissioners will vote July 18 on a notice seeking comment on uniform, industrywide handset unlocking requirements, as expected (see 2406250049), FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced Wednesday in her Note from the FCC. Commissioners will also vote on a controversial proposal allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services, a plan to cut the cost of correctional institution phone rates and rules to improve video programming accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing. Next-generation 911 rounds out the agenda.
The Q1 2024 inflation adjustment figure for cable operators using Form 1240 is 3.05%, said the FCC Media Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics in Tuesday's Daily Digest. In the year-ago quarter, it was 4.14%.
The FCC should grant the renewal of Fox station WTXF Philadelphia’s license “without further delay,” Fox said in a letter posted Tuesday (docket 23-292) (see 2406130060). The renewal process stalled in June 2023, when the Media and Democracy Project filed a petition against it over Fox’s dissemination of misinformation about the 2020 election. “With each month that passes and each filing entered into this docket, it becomes even more evident that the record in this proceeding is complete,” Fox said. “MAD has not introduced any additional points that could salvage its petition” in the 10 months since the FCC opened a docket on the matter, Fox argued. The FCC “should weigh the evidence in the record, apply the law fairly, and grant Fox 29 Philadelphia’s license renewal application,” the petitioner added.
AI is contributing to the decline of web traffic and the “degradation” of journalism, former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Monday in a Brookings column. He noted how generative AI tools have been built using data from websites. He cited research from The Atlantic showing AI-powered searches deliver answers on about 75% of queries, which eliminates the need to navigate to websites for answers. Accordingly, Gartner estimates search engine web traffic will decline 25% by 2026, he said. AI could provide an “almost boundless expansion” of information and knowledge, but the technology shouldn't be used to degrade the "free flow of ideas and journalism that is essential for democracy to function.” A Public Knowledge policy expert, an independent lawyer and a local news publisher executive on Monday spoke against legislative proposals that would force Big Tech companies to pay link fees for news content they host (see 2406240056).
Verizon agreed to pay a fine of just more than $1 million and implement a compliance plan following a December 2022 outage that affected 911 voice-over-LTE calls in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The outage lasted one hour and 44 minutes and prevented "hundreds of 911 calls" from being completed through Verizon Wireless’ network, the FCC said Tuesday. Verizon experienced a similar outage in October 2022, the agency said. Verizon agreed to a consent decree with the Enforcement Bureau. “When you call 911 in an emergency, it’s critical that your call goes through,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said. The December outage “was the result of the reapplication of a known flawed security policy update file by a Verizon Wireless employee,” the bureau said: “Verizon Wireless was aware that the version of the security policy update file that caused the outage was related to the root cause of the outage that occurred in October. Due to insufficient naming convention protocols and a failure to follow then-current implementation protocols, the flawed security policy update file was reintroduced into the Verizon Wireless network.”
CTIA and other organizations encouraged the FCC to collaborate as it seeks protection for survivors of domestic violence from abusers who may misuse connected car services. Reply comments were posted Tuesday in docket 22-238 (see 2405240067). The record "demonstrates a shared commitment among commenters to work with the commission to better protect survivors," CTIA said. "An approach that widens the scope of the proceeding" would force the commission to focus on "legal authority questions that ultimately divert from the shared and vital goal of helping survivors," the group said. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation warned that the Safe Connections Act doesn't allow the FCC to regulate original equipment manufacturers' privacy and data collection practices. The alliance warned that new regulations would "create compliance challenges while fomenting consumer confusion." The group also cited statutory and logistical hurdles to accommodating line separation requests for connected car services, noting they use only one phone number. The FCC should "promote access and utility of supportive services to survivors," said Electronic Privacy Information Center, Clinic to End Tech Abuse, National Network to End Domestic Violence and Public Knowledge in joint comments. The groups urged the FCC to continue working with stakeholders to "develop an anti-abusable framework for connected devices."
Apple representatives met with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on the company’s support for a geofenced variable power (GVP) device class in the 6 GHz band (see 2404290035). Apple noted its agreement with commenters “who explained how flexible power levels enabled by adoption of the GVP proposal will greatly improve reliability, performance, and consumer benefits of portable unlicensed devices without creating a significant risk of harmful interference to incumbent licensees,” a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295 said. Apple representatives also joined with executives from Broadcom, Google, Meta Platforms and Qualcomm in a meeting with staff from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. They discussed the strong momentum behind Wi-Fi deployment in the 6 GHz band. In 2024, manufacturers expect to ship 147.2 million Wi-Fi 6E access points, 23.12 million Wi-Fi 7 APs, 576.2 million Wi-Fi 6E devices and 231.4 million Wi-Fi 7 devices, the companies said. Both Wi-Fi standards use 6 GHz spectrum. “The Commission has fostered a robust Wi-Fi ecosystem that steadily grows year after year -- as evidenced by the strong demand for Wi-Fi access points,” they said.
Amateur radio operators were the most prolific commenters to an FCC Public Safety Bureau request for comment on the effects of the May 7-11 geomagnetic storm. Responses were due Monday in docket 24-161 (see 2405240046). Amateurs submitted most of the 17 comments. “Developing an ability to better predict storms such as the … 2024 geomagnetic storm is essential to prevent serious disruptions to our nation’s communications services as well as to the electric grids that power them,” the American Radio Relay League said. The storm “affected amateur radio communications as expected, with radio black outs between many areas of the world and signals with substantially reduced strength between other areas of the world, depending upon frequency and time,” ARRL said. NOAA said the storm touched some of its systems. “With the growing interdependence on spectrum across critical infrastructure systems, there is increased potential vulnerability to space weather,” NOAA said. The agency said “several specific examples can be seen of systems operating erratically due to the geomagnetic storms,” including farm equipment running in circles “due to loss of navigational signals.” SpaceX satellites “measured two-to-three times more drag than normal in orbits at 300 km and as much as five times more drag in orbits at 550 km,” it said. SpaceX was “fortunately able to maintain service throughout the May solar storm,” and on the day the storm peaked, “the average Starlink user saw less than one minute of disruption.” Iridium’s second-generation constellation “experienced an instantaneous, but short lived, increase in the atmospheric drag up to 10 times greater than normal” during the storm, the company reported. Iridium said it continuously monitors its system and was able to address the storm's issues: “The monitoring for this storm was not new, although more engineers were required to be engaged because each of the six planes in the constellation has a different angle from the sun, and experienced different impacts from the storm.”
A California Senate panel scaled back what the California Public Utilities Commission could require from cable companies under a proposed update of the state’s 2006 video franchise law, known as the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act (DIVCA). At a hearing webcast Monday, the Senate Communications Committee voted 12-4 to approve the Assembly-passed AB-1826 with amendments. The Senate committee delayed receiving testimony on an Assembly-passed equity bill (AB-2239) that would ban digital discrimination as defined by the FCC (see 2405230012).