Office of Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, adds Nate Beltran, ex-Dewey Square, as tech policy adviser ... President Joe Biden plans to nominate Dimitri Kusnezov for undersecretary-science and technology, Department of Homeland Security; he's a theoretical physicist at the Department of Energy, working on emerging tech ... FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announces that Amy Nathan, most recently senior counsel-Office of Economics and Analytics, is retiring.
FCC commissioners approved a Further NPRM 4-0 Thursday on an enhanced competition incentive program. The ECIP item includes, as expected (see 2111170054), language requiring staff prepare a five-year report on the program's effectiveness, sought by Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Only Starks and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel offered substantial comments on the item during the meeting.
Backers of two bills aimed at mandating improvements to spectrum policy coordination between the FCC and other federal agencies are hopeful President Joe Biden’s recent FCC and NTIA nominations (see 2110260076) will mean a clearer path to those measures’ enactment. The House Communications Subcommittee unanimously advanced one of the measures, the Spectrum Coordination Act (HR-2501), during a Wednesday markup. The subpanel also unanimously cleared the Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act (HR-1218).
The Biden administration is committed to releasing a national spectrum strategy, a goal the Trump administration never met. NTIA didn’t have a permanent administrator for much of the Trump administration, as been true so far during the Biden administration. President Joe Biden is trying to change that by nominating Mozilla Foundation Senior Adviser Alan Davidson to head the agency. Biden's also filling out the FCC by renominating Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and picking Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy’s Gigi Sohn for the vacant Democratic commission seat (see 2110260076).
No changes have been proposed internally to a draft FCC order clarifying ATSC 3.0 multicast rules, though the item hasn't been OK'd by all commissioners, said agency and industry officials in recent interviews. Broadcasters say approving the item -- which stems from an NAB petition for clarification -- will speed the transition to 3.0. “Anything we can do to expedite 3.0 deployment will be for the benefit of viewers and platform users,” said One Media Executive Vice President-Strategic and Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz.
No changes have been proposed internally to a draft FCC order clarifying ATSC 3.0 multicast rules, though the item hasn't been OK'd by all commissioners, said agency and industry officials in recent interviews. Broadcasters say approving the item -- which stems from an NAB petition for clarification -- will speed the transition to 3.0. “Anything we can do to expedite 3.0 deployment will be for the benefit of viewers and platform users,” said One Media Executive Vice President-Strategic and Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz.
Senators told us they believe there's a feasible if narrow legislative window to reconfirm FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel this year, act on fellow Democratic commission pick Gigi Sohn and affirm NTIA administrator nominee Alan Davidson. The White House announced President Joe Biden’s intent to choose the trio Tuesday, as expected. Biden designated Rosenworcel Tuesday as permanent chair. She had been acting head since January. The White House also nominated Winston & Strawn patent lawyer Kathi Vidal as Patent and Trademark Office director.
FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a proposed rulemaking aimed at curbing illegal and unwanted robotexts, said a news release Monday. If adopted, the rulemaking would “explore steps to protect consumers from illegal robotexts, including network level blocking and applying caller authentication standards to text messaging,” and require mobile wireless providers to block illegal text messages. “Ensuring the integrity” of texting “is vitally important,” Rosenworcel said: “It’s time we take steps to confront this latest wave of fraud and identify how mobile carriers can block these automated messages before they have the opportunity to cause any harm.”
Better FCC broadband maps, receiver standards -- perhaps from industry -- and scaled-back telehealth restrictions were among telecom items sought Friday at a Free State Foundation event. Commissioner Brendan Carr hoped to find out when updated maps will be available, and Republican colleague Nathan Simington again raised the issue of receiver standards. Ex-Commissioner Mike O'Rielly suggested considering factors other than where a company is headquartered in assessing trustworthiness of foreign-made telecom gear. And former Cable Bureau Chief Deborah Lathen wants stakeholders to consider the virtues of permanently scaling back telehealth restrictions.
The FCC remains focused on opening the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for 5G, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Tuesday. Other speakers said the U.S. is making progress on 5G, but it's a time of uncertainty and change on spectrum policy. Promoters had planned an in-person event but took it virtual with the rise in COVID-19 infections.