The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service (NWS) joined commenters from the broadcast, MVPD and emergency alerting industries in pushing back on an FCC proposal (see 2402150053) requiring multilingual emergency alert system warnings facilitated by scripted templates, according to comments posted this week in docket 15-94. Though nearly every commenter acknowledged the importance of multilingual EAS, they also said the FCC’s proposal is too preliminary, would greatly burden broadcasters and MVPDs, and in some cases isn’t technically feasible. “The use of pre-installed templates may not be an effective approach,” said the FEMA Integrated Public Alert Warning System Program Office.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel emphasized restoration of net neutrality rules to ensure public safety, during a Monday visit to the Santa Clara County, California, Fire Department. The fire department accused Verizon of throttling its service during the Mendocino Complex Fire (see 1808220059). "When firefighters are going into dangerous environments, they want to know that they have an internet that they can count on," Rosenworcel said. Although states like California have "stepped in and built their own net neutrality laws" since the commission's previous rules were repealed, it's "time that we have a national policy of internet openness," Rosenworcel said: "I think in the aftermath of the pandemic, making sure that there's a watchdog for the broadband connections we all count on, is the right thing to do."
FCC commissioners approved a Further NPRM seeking comment on steps the agency can take to assist survivors of domestic violence access safe and affordable connected car services under the Safe Connections Act. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated the proposal in February (see 2402280053). Comments are due 30 days after Federal Register publication, 60 days for replies, in docket 22-238. "Having access to a car is also a lifeline," Rosenworcel said: "That is why in this rulemaking we propose that survivors should be able to separate lines that connect their cars."
The FCC will take a series of steps to reestablish the commission's net neutrality framework and reclassify broadband internet access service (BIAS) as a Communications Act Title II telecom service in a declaratory ruling and order (see 2404030043). A draft of the items to be considered during the agency's April meeting, released Thursday, would establish "broad" and "tailored" forbearance for ISPs. The draft doesn’t make a final determination on how network slicing should be treated under the rules.
The 5G Fund order that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated March 20 raised long-standing concerns that the agency releases drafts for "meeting" items but not for those voted electronically, regardless of their relative importance. For those items, industry groups and companies must schedule meetings with commissioner staff and the bureaus and offices to ask about details.
State enforcers of net neutrality report no legal actions against ISPs more than five years after the laws took effect. A Communications Daily public records request showed that Washington state’s attorney general's office received 21 complaints related to net neutrality since enacting its first law in March 2018, but most were resolved informally. Half the states with such laws told us they hadn’t received complaints.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Wednesday circulated for a commissioner vote an order that would launch a 5G Fund Phase I multi-round reverse auction, making $9 billion available to target 14 million homes and businesses lacking mobile 5G coverage. The fund includes up to $900 million in “incentives” for incorporating open radio access network technologies in fund-supported networks, said a news release. The fund will rely on the FCC’s updated broadband coverage map. The order “would take a number of steps to improve the program, including: modifying the definition of areas eligible for the auction and ensuring that areas in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that meet the criteria would be included in the 5G Fund auction; increasing the budget for Phase I of the 5G Fund auction and the Tribal reserve budget -- a set-aside portion of the fund to support connecting Tribal communities; and requiring 5G Fund support recipients to implement cybersecurity and supply chain risk management plans as a condition of receiving support,” the FCC said. Commissioners unanimously approved a Further NPRM in November (see 2309210035). Commissioners initially approved a proposed $9 billion fund in 2020, over partial dissents by Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks (see 2010230056). “For the first time in our history … this agency has comprehensive data about where service is and is not all across the country,” Rosenworcel said: “This will be the foundation of our plan to expand the 5G service in rural America to where it is needed most -- where people live, work and travel.” CTIA raised concerns in a filing posted Wednesday, before the order was announced. The FCC should schedule a 5G Fund auction only after final funding decisions are made in the broadband access, equity and deployment program, CTIA said in a meeting with staff from the FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. “While BEAD will not directly fund mobile broadband deployment, it is likely to result in the deployment of fiber broadband backhaul facilities and fixed wireless services that will facilitate the expansion of unsubsidized 5G coverage in rural areas,” said a filing in docket 20-32. Even if the FCC adopts rules in the near term on issues raised in an FNPRM, “the Commission should wait to schedule the ... auction until the impact of BEAD deployments on 5G availability becomes clearer,” CTIA said.
FCC commissioners voted 3-2 Thursday, over dissents by Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, to approve the agency's Telecom Act Section 706 report to Congress. The report concluded that broadband isn't deployed in a "reasonable and timely fashion," with about 24 million Americans lacking access to speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps. The two Republicans also dissented at the commissioners' open meeting on a proposed requirement that cable and satellite TV multichannel programming distributors display prominently the aggregate cost of video programming in ads and customer bills.
The House Communications Subcommittee unanimously advanced the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (HR-820), Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhancing Networks Act (HR-1513) and two other anti-China communications security bills Tuesday. House China Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., meanwhile, is pressing the FCC on whether it will act on reports that mobile devices in the U.S. are still processing signals from China’s BeiDou and Russia’s global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated an NPRM that would seek comment on whether the commission should consider rule changes addressing the "impact of connected car services on domestic violence survivors" as it implements the Safe Connections Act, the agency said in a Wednesday news release. The move comes after the FCC wireless service providers and auto manufacturers responded to Rosenworcel's letters last month asking about their in-vehicle connectivity and connected car services. "