Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr announced that Michael Nemcik has joined his office as Acting Legal Advisor, having previously served the office as an intern in 2019. Michael will be standing in for Danielle Thumann, Commissioner Carr’s Legal Advisor since March 2021, while she is on maternity leave. Michael joins Commissioner Carr’s office from the Wireline Competition Bureau’s Competition Policy Division where he focuses on various robocall mitigation and numbering issues.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Rosenworcel sent letters to seven senators on April 8, 2022 in response to their letter regarding the review process for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Rosenworcel sent letters to four House members on April 7, 2022, to respond to their letter on proposed changes to the E-rate competitive bidding process. Rosenworcel said the FCC has begun a rulemaking to consider improvements to the competitive bidding process. She also said funding has been made available to support students’ off-campus learning needs through the Emergency Connectivity Fund and the Emergency Broadband Benefit programs.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau addresses the petitions of USTelecom – The Broadband Association, Verizon, AT&T, and Competitive Carriers Association (CCA). The FCC granted limited waivers of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) rules concerning the requirement that a participating provider allow an eligible household to apply the affordable connectivity benefit to any residential service plan selected by the eligible household (the “all plans requirement”) and non-usage of ACP supported services for which the subscriber does not pay a fee.

The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Data Task Force, Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), and Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) announce that fixed broadband service providers may now access a preliminary version of the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (Fabric) to assist them in preparing their broadband availability data for the Broadband Data Collection (BDC). This preliminary version of the Fabric will help fixed service providers with developing processes to prepare their availability data submissions.

On April 12, Dish Network sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Secretary Marlene Dortch urging the Commission to reconsider its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) award to SpaceX's Starlink. Dish said, "SpaceX cannot credibly claim that it will be able to fulfill its obligations under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction rules." The company included four studies in the letter that it states show SpaceX would violate the conditions for using the 12 GHz band for RDOF.

The Federal Communications Commission published its Equity Action Plan. This Action Plan focuses on concrete actions that the FCC is taking so that people across the country can count on and obtain access to the modern communications they need for work, learning, healthcare, and access to the information they require to make decisions about their lives, their communities, and their country.

The Federal Communications Commission announced the agenda for its upcoming Open Commission Meeting on April 21, 2022. The following items are on the agenda: