AT&T and FirstNet “have been on the ground since day 1” of the California wildfires to support first responders, “bringing reliable connectivity to the area,” said Scott Agnew, president-FirstNet Program at AT&T, in a blog this week. “Dozens of agencies are working together, from local departments and federal teams to international first responders providing mutual aid,” Agnew said. So far, public safety agencies have made more than 20 requests for emergency support, “and the FirstNet Response Operations Group has deployable cell sites on the ground, such as Satellite Cell on Light Trucks, dedicated solely for first responder communications,” he said. “The team has also tapped into deployable assets from the AT&T fleet, such as AT&T Super Cell on Wheels, which provide 10x the capacity of a normal antenna. These assets are supporting public safety’s beachfront incident command posts.”
Preempt California's regulatory framework for VoIP services, the Cloud Communications Alliance and Cloud Voice Alliance asked the FCC in a petition for declaratory ruling filed Monday (see 2501240002). The California Public Utilities Commission’s pending proceeding on the issue "conflicts with federal policies designed to promote competition, innovation, and affordable communications services," the groups said. They also asked that the FCC reaffirm its "end-to-end jurisdictional analysis as the definitive standard for determining the regulatory treatment of VoIP services."
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted an administrative stay late Tuesday afternoon that temporarily blocked a White House OMB memo, which called for a freeze on most federal grants and loans, from going into effect. The Trump administration memo already faced an array of legal challenges, including a planned lawsuit from a coalition of Democratic attorneys general from New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Broadband officials and industry advocates raised questions about the memo's constitutionality and the future of certain FCC programs, such as Lifeline. Others warned the freeze could have serious implications for NTIA's BEAD program.
AT&T CEO John Stankey said Monday the carrier will move aggressively to shutter more of its legacy copper network in coming months, filing applications at the FCC to stop selling legacy products in about 1,300 wire centers. That is about a quarter of AT&T’s footprint, officials said on a call discussing Q4 results. AT&T also announced that its growth is continuing, with 482,000 postpaid phone subscription net adds in the quarter and 307,000 AT&T Fiber adds.
The California Public Utilities Commission will hold a virtual prehearing Feb. 14 about the second phase of its proceeding for an updated regulatory framework for VoIP providers, per a ruling Wednesday (see 2411070036). The CPUC wants prehearing statements from interested parties by Feb. 10.
The FCC approved the Bifrost subsea cable system, which will connect California, Oregon, Guam, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore, said a notice in Friday's Daily Digest. The system is a joint effort of Meta, Indonesia's Telin and Singapore's Keppel.
The National Sheriffs’ Association and the California State Sheriffs’ Association asked that the FCC stay an October order giving the FirstNet Authority -- and, indirectly, AT&T -- use of the 4.9 GHz band (see 2410220027) pending judicial review of the order. The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure challenged the order, while the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance questioned aspects of it, in petitions for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2412040043). The sheriffs groups said plaintiffs will likely prevail in court. “The Order is arbitrary and capricious because its last minute decision to block public safety entities from modifying existing licenses and applying for new licenses was not the subject of adequate notice,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 07-100. In addition, the order is “self-contradictory and not based on sound reasoning,” the groups said. It "claims that incumbent licensees will not be adversely affected, when they will immediately be stripped of their geographic license rights and ability to apply for new or modified licenses as needed.” The order also unfairly helps AT&T “better position itself vis-à-vis its commercial wireless service competitors” by giving it “access to free mid-band spectrum in order to ‘maintain parity’ with its competitors, which is not an appropriate use of the 4.9 GHz public safety spectrum.”
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases are marked with an * .
The California Public Utilities Commission approved $32.5 million in new broadband grants Thursday. Three projects will receive a collective $28 million through the state's last-mile federal funding account grant program. The remaining funding will be awarded through seven grants supporting digital literacy and broadband adoption efforts. “These grants represent a perfect example of what we are trying to achieve in order to close the digital divide, especially in areas that have historic need," said Commissioner Darcie Houck: "It is necessary to not only build broadband infrastructure, but we also have to make sure everyone is able to use it."
The FCC on Thursday unveiled its selection of the initial 707 participants for the FCC’s cybersecurity pilot program, including 645 schools and districts, 50 libraries and 12 consortia. The program's future is unclear. Commissioners approved its launch 3-2 in June, with Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissenting (see 2406060043). Both questioned whether the FCC had the authority to act. The FCC said Thursday, “Participants in the three-year pilot program will receive support to defray the costs of eligible cybersecurity services and equipment and provide the Commission with data to better understand whether and how universal service funds could be used to improve school and library defenses against increasing cyberattacks.” All 50 states, in addition to Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and several Tribal lands, "are reflected by the Pilot participants announced today," the FCC said. Illinois had the largest number of winners at 76, 12 more than California, which was second.