Industry and public interest groups disagreed last week about whether the California Public Utilities Commission should temporarily freeze the state LifeLine specific support amount (SSA) for wireline and wireless providers. The CPUC is considering freezing the SSA at $19 beginning Jan. 1 until a new methodology is calculated (see 2406040032).
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) took shots at each other on X Wednesday, trading jabs about net neutrality and Carr's selection as President-elect Donald Trump's FCC chair. Carr "opposes net neutrality, which ensures that you, not telecom companies, get to decide where you go on the internet," Wiener wrote. "Fortunately [California] has a strong net neutrality law, which I authored after Trump's FCC repealed net neutrality in 2017," he said, adding that "we'll defend an open internet" (see 2309280056). Carr responded with an image of search results for "What has Scott Wiener done?," appearing to imply that Wiener has done little worth noting.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Sirius XM filed a complaint at the FCC against China’s Shenzhen Tongwei Electronics' wideband signal boosters and California’s MiCOM Labs, which certified the devices. The boosters can operate in the 2300 MHz band, licensed for the terrestrial wireless communications service, in violation of FCC rules, the complaint said. “Testing has shown that these devices produce out-of-band emissions … that cause harmful interference” to satellite digital audio radio service and aeronautical mobile telemetry, the complaint said. The booster models are sold on Amazon under the trade names Beyle, Tonve or Becky, the complaint said. SiriusXM said AT&T, which uses the WCS band, supports the complaint.
Facing a growing problem of telecom network vandalism and theft, industry groups are calling for updated state laws, including harsher criminal penalties, as deterrents. In a meeting Tuesday at Verizon facilities in Texas with law enforcement representatives, telecom industry officials repeatedly raised the specter of 911 and telehealth service disruptions.
Charter Communications supported a USTelecom petition asking the California Public Utilities Commission to reconsider rules for implementing the state’s BEAD initial plan volume 2. However, consumer groups urged the CPUC to deny the application in a separate response Friday. USTelecom had raised concerns that state rules, including on required low-price plans, could discourage participation in the broadband grant program (see 2411010053). Charter agrees that the CPUC’s September order “contains legal errors,” including that “rate caps constitute impermissible rate regulation,” the cabler responded Friday in docket R.23-02-016. Also, Congress and the NTIA never asked for or required the CPUC’s proposed middle-class affordable service option, said Charter. And the CPUC may not require companies to participate in federal or state Lifeline programs, it said. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and Center for Accessible Technology disagreed in a joint response the same day. USTelecom’s rehearing application “makes only narrow claims that the Commission errs by requiring participation in the state and federal Lifeline programs, which it does not, and also claims that the Commission errs by adopting affordability plans that create improper rate regulation, which is inaccurate and previously rejected by the Commission.” TURN and CforAT added, “Far from committing legal error, the Commission’s affordability programs and measures … represent a necessary and important step in the process of implementing a landmark opportunity to invest $1.86 billion in federal funding” for broadband.
During a Thursday Incompas virtual event, communications industry lawyers offered few clues about which lawmakers will fill vacant top GOP slots on the House and Senate Communications subcommittees, but CEO Chip Pickering forecast substantial leadership continuity on both chambers’ Commerce committees. Pickering and lawyers who spoke at the event, meanwhile, saw limited prospects during the lame-duck session that Congress would advance a spectrum legislative package or funding for the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program and Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.
Stronger state laws are needed to combat a rising trend of copper thieves damaging telecom infrastructure, panelists said Tuesday at NARUC’s conference in Anaheim, California. On Wednesday, the NARUC board passed resolutions on phone number conservation, the Universal Service Fund and utility coordination on broadband deployment. The Telecom Committee cleared those measures Monday (see 2411120014). Copper prices are up and therefore so is theft, said Dan Gonzalez, Charter Communications group vice president-state regulatory affairs. The cable company’s lines don’t contain copper, which is common in traditional phone networks, but thieves don’t know the difference, and they damage Charter infrastructure when seeking copper, he said. Networks are exposed and easily accessible, making theft a low-risk, high-reward activity, he said. In addition, many state laws don’t classify the networks as protected critical infrastructure or impose adequate penalties, said Gonzalez. Charter sees fewer incidents in states with broader definitions of critical infrastructure and stronger penalties, including Florida, Tennessee and the Carolinas, he said. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is receiving more copper theft reports than previously, said Richard Mitchem, CISA supervisory protective security adviser. Mitchem agreed that identifying the networks as critical infrastructure is a good idea because that would mean stronger repercussions for damage. Todd Foreman, Recycled Materials Association law enforcement outreach director, said raising awareness about the issue is important because law enforcement resources are limited and not all police are looking closely for sales of stolen copper. He agreed that increasing penalties would help discourage theft.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New suits since the last update are marked with an *.
California’s SB-976 violates free speech and puts children’s safety at risk, NetChoice said Tuesday in a lawsuit seeking to block the measure before it becomes effective Jan. 1 (see 2409230032). SB-976 violates the First Amendment when it limits access to online speech, forces companies to track children and increases the risk of data breach, said NetChoice in the complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.