Communications companies, local governments, utilities and other respondents to communication outages should prioritize protecting cable and fiber lines, publicize individual action plans and provide mutual aid to one another, the FCC Public Safety Bureau said Thursday in a public notice on cross-sector cooperation for hurricane season. The notice was based on findings gathered during the agency’s hurricane season resiliency roundtable July 7. “Protecting cable and fiber lines is critical to disaster recovery," it said. “Damage to these networks can cripple communications, delays emergency response, disrupts rescue operations, and cuts off essential services like healthcare, transportation, and banking -- severing lifelines for affected communities.” The notice also recommended that stakeholders establish relationships across industries before disasters happen, prepare centralized response plans and lines of communication, and learn the infrastructure and lexicons of other sectors. “Establishing relationships between stakeholders is crucial to effectively preparing for and responding to disasters.”
The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered F&F Realty Partners on Thursday to explain within 10 days the alleged interference of Telematrix cordless phones used in a hotel that it owns in Rosemont, Illinois, with T-Mobile’s network. Nextel West, a subsidiary of T-Mobile, complained that the phones were “generating spurious emissions” in the 1883-1893 MHz band, interfering with the network's use of the 1885-1890 MHz band.
The FCC is getting comments from consumers who don’t want the agency to speed up the retirement of copper networks, arguing that wireless connections aren’t a suitable alternative. Comments were posted Thursday in docket 25-208. In July, commissioners approved an NPRM on ways to accelerate copper retirements (see 2507240048).
The FCC Wireline Bureau said in a notice Thursday that interconnected VoIP numbering authorization applications filed by three providers lacked some of the information required under the commission’s rules. The three providers are Porting.com, CallTower and ConnectTo Communications. The bureau reached out to request the information, and “to date, the applicants have not complied with the requests. As a result, the Commission has not released public notices accepting the applications for filing.” Meanwhile, the bureau approved an application by E. Ritter Communications under its streamlined approval process.
Virgin Island Telephone, formerly known as Viya, asked the FCC to act on the company's request to extend transitional high-cost support that's set to expire at the end of the year under a 2023 order.
House Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia of California and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee ranking member Maxwell Frost of Florida on Wednesday expanded panel Democrats’ investigation into ABC's temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! (see 2509180055) to also probe why Nexstar Media Group is continuing to preempt the show following its return to air. The committee Democrats’ investigation already also included Sinclair, which continues to preempt Kimmel as well (see 2509230051). Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and three other Democratic senators pressed Nexstar and Sinclair earlier this week on the matter.
Animated comedy show South Park’s episode Wednesday included segments lampooning FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and the controversy over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! In the episode, a caricature of Carr falls down some stairs, gets buried in soiled cat litter and suffers violent diarrhea from eating poisoned soup. He then ends up in a hospital bed with broken bones and toxoplasmosis, which a doctor character says will take away Carr’s “freedom of speech.” The cartoon’s version of Vice President JD Vance then threatens Carr, telling him there's “an easy and a hard way” -- the same words Carr used when demanding that Kimmel be suspended or preempted last week. The FCC didn’t respond to a request for comment on the episode. South Park streams on Paramount Plus, which is owned by Skydance Paramount. The FCC has an open news distortion proceeding against Paramount-owned WCBS-TV New York, and Carr has said the agency will be scrutinizing the conduct of Skydance's broadcast stations (see 2508070027).
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) unanimously approved a report Thursday on “best practices” for the FCC and industry on the ethical and practical use of AI and machine learning (ML). The report, which examines privacy and new risks for telecom networks, wasn’t released Thursday.
Upcoming FCC action to undo its July 2024 order allowing E-rate recipients to use funding for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots is a clear sign that House leaders have lost interest in advancing a Senate-passed Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (S.J.Res. 7) against that order, supporters and opponents told us. The FCC is likely to approve next week two proposals to cancel both the off-premises hot spot order and another to fund Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2509030064). The House Commerce Committee's Republican leaders still haven't taken a position on S.J.Res. 7, which the Senate passed more than four months ago. Supporters argue that moving the CRA measure would prevent a future majority-Democratic FCC from resurrecting the Wi-Fi rules for schools and libraries in their current form.
NextNav names Tim Gray, formerly Anterix, CFO, replacing Chris Gates, who becomes executive vice president of corporate development … Verizon adds Merissa Velez, ex-FCC Space Bureau, as director of international spectrum policy and regulatory counsel ... Mediacom promotes Fuad Alnajjar to group vice president of business engineering; Pradeep Kanda to group vice president of network security; Belinda Maldonado to group vice president of human resources; Joseph Michulski to group vice president of corporate finance; Ruben Martino to vice president of finance; and Manvinder Singh to vice president of data warehouse.