The outcome of Tuesday's Senate elections could scramble Senate Commerce Committee Republicans’ leadership structure given the competitive contest between ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Colin Allred, his Democratic challenger. Four other panel members also face tough or competitive reelection fights (see 2411040051). Democratic leaders on the House and Senate Commerce committees indicated they intend to stay in those roles in the upcoming 119th Congress regardless of the election’s outcome.
With more than $1.8 billion in federal cash from the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program on the line, USTelecom asked the California Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its rules for implementing the state’s BEAD initial plan volume 2. In a rehearing application (docket R.23-02-016) posted Friday at the CPUC, the national ISP association said it “cannot stand by and risk the Commission’s adoption of a collective set of requirements that will severely limit participation in and the overall effectiveness of California’s BEAD Program.” The commission should deny USTelecom's application, a consumer advocate urged.
California startup Logos Space Services is seeking FCC Space Bureau OK for a planned 3,960-satellite constellation aimed at providing connectivity to enterprise customers and in-space data relay among other satellite constellations. In an application posted Thursday, it said the non-geostationary orbit Logos Network would operate in the Ka, Q/V and E bands at altitudes between 860 and 925 km. The company said it plans a phased rollout, with the first phase of 1,092 satellites letting it commence service and then Logos increasing capacity and throughput as it continues deployment.
Telecom companies balked at consumer advocates’ call to apply California carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations to broadband. The California Public Utilities Commission posted reply comments Thursday in a rulemaking about how to update the state’s 30-year-old COLR rules (docket R.24-06-012). In initial comments last month, carriers subject to COLR requirements asked that the CPUC shed those obligations in many parts of the state, while consumer advocates said COLR obligations remain necessary and should be updated to include high-speed internet service, not just voice (see 2410020037). Frontier Communications replied Wednesday that it opposes expanding the proceeding to do “a complex, controversial evaluation of legal and policy matters pertaining to the Commission’s potential regulation of broadband services.” Likewise, Consolidated Communications said the CPUC should "decline the invitation to undertake a substantial review of its regulatory jurisdiction over broadband services.” TDS protested that the consumer groups "seek to greatly expand this OIR beyond its intended purpose” without providing factual or legal reasons. Don’t let public advocates "transform this … into a generic telecommunications industry reexamination docket,” said a coalition of small rural local exchange carriers. Representing cable companies, the California Broadband and Video Association warned that adding broadband to the definition of a basic service or extending COLR obligations to broadband providers would be federally preempted. Meanwhile, the CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office pushed back on companies that said COLR obligations are outdated and should be eliminated. "In reality, the COLR concept remains essential to the guarantee of universal service, but must be updated to reflect the state’s transformed telecommunications landscape,” PAO said. AT&T disagreed. "Maintaining COLR obligations where they are superfluous would divert resources from vital broadband investments to outdated [time division multiplexed] networks, which are increasingly unwanted by consumers,” the carrier said. “It would not only stifle competition by arbitrarily constraining ILECs alone but also result in unnecessary operational costs and increased environmental harm due to prolonged use of copper networks.”
Connecticut, Texas, New Jersey and California are among the states preparing to advance comprehensive AI legislation in 2025, according to lawmakers and stakeholders.
The California Privacy Protection Agency will conduct an investigative sweep of data broker registration compliance under the state’s Delete Act, the CPPA said Wednesday. The law requires data brokers to register with the CPPA and pay an annual fee. Starting in 2026, data brokers must honor consumer requests to delete all their personal information.
The FTC "click-to-cancel" rule and California's automatic renewal law amendments give the FTC and private plaintiffs new leverage in challenging advertising claims for any company selling products on an auto-renewal or continuous service basis, say Venable lawyers. Shahin Rothermel, Ari Rothman and Claudia Lewis blogged Tuesday that the additional leverage has "potentially business-ending implications" as the two provide new rights of action where companies could face millions of dollars in liability for allegedly false or misleading claims about products or services. However, multiple challenges of the FTC rule (see 2410240001) could delay its implementation date of 180 days after publication in the Federal Register, they said.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
The California Public Utilities Commission should consider recent federal actions on incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS) before adopting a permanent intrastate rate cap, industry and consumer groups argued in comments posted Wednesday. However, The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) suggested lowering the cap again on an interim basis. The CPUC received comments Tuesday on a Sept. 30 staff proposal recommending a permanent intrastate rate cap of 4.5 cents per minute for IPCS voice calls.
Indian Peak Properties has long flouted Rancho Palos Verdes land use laws and ignored neighbors, the California city said. In addition, the company is using its appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit "as a post hoc end-run around five different state or federal court rulings and two prior [FCC] rejections," it added. In an amicus brief filed Monday with the appellate court (docket 24-1108), the city said the company, operating from a home, is trying to get protection of FCC rules by expanding the agency's over-the-air reception devices (OTARD) rule in a way the commission didn't envision, the statute didn't authorize and that is inconsistent with legislative intent. Indian Peak is appealing an FCC order denying its petitions for declaratory ruling seeking a federal preemption under the OTARDs rule of a decision by Rancho Palos Verdes to revoke, under local ordinances, the company’s conditional use permit for the deployment of rooftop antennas on a local property (see 2405060035). Rancho Palos Verdes urged dismissal of Indian Peak's appeal. The city said Indian Peak's arguments that its first FCC petition, sent in April 2020, should have stayed all ongoing proceedings in the California courts "is a manifest abuse of the process and a misreading of governing law."