Telecommunication

Legislation currently wending its way through Congress could extend 100 percent bonus depreciation of property for US businesses.

The top three telecommunications companies in the US are shrinking quickly. Across the industry, telecommunications companies are shedding employees as quickly as they can as they automate their networks, outsource tasks to other companies and do less when it comes to customer service. 

The Federal Communications Commission announced the unanimous adoption of a Declaratory Ruling that recognizes calls made with AI-generated voices are “artificial” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The ruling, which takes effect immediately, makes voice cloning technology used in common robocall scams targeting consumers illegal.

Patricia Pereira, an 80-year old woman living in Camp Seco, California, is cut off from 911 and other essential services. At the beginning of 2023, Pereira asked AT&T if landline service could be transferred from a neighboring home to hers. Instead of transferring the service, AT&T cut the copper lines dead on both properties. Pereira lives in a dead zone and barely receives cellular signals. This is happening in rural AT&T areas across the country.

Martinsville, Virginia, is looking for quick ways to create new revenue and the answer may be staring the city in the face. MiNet is a city-owned telephone and internet service provider for local businesses and residents in Martinsville. As of the 2020 census, the population of Martinsville was 13,485, but MiNet only has a total of 376 customers with 98 and of them classified as residential.

On Dec 12, 2023, Sen Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel requesting input on proposals to modify the contribution base for the Universal Service Fund (USF).

Comcast Corporation reported results for the 4th quarter that ended December 31, 2023. Growth in residential connectivity revenue was driven by international connectivity revenue due to increases in wireless revenue, reflecting higher sales of wireless devices and services, and in broadband revenue, as well as the positive impact of foreign currency; domestic broadband revenue due to higher average rates; and domestic wireless revenue due to an increase in the number of customer lines.

The Federal Communications Commission updated its rules, and proposed additional updates, to improve communications network reliability, resiliency, and transparency during disasters and outages. The rule changes will increase participation in, and enhance the use of, the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS), in which service providers report on their operational status during emergencies. Certain types of communications providers are required to report network outages to the FCC’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) on an ongoing basis.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to more precisely route wireless 911 calls and Real-Time Texts (RTT) to 911 call centers, which can result in faster response times during emergencies and ultimately save lives. Wireless 911 calls have historically been routed to 911 call centers based on the location of the cell tower that handles the call. But in some cases, the nearest cell tower may be in a neighboring jurisdiction. In these cases, the call may be routed to a 911 call center in that neighboring jurisdiction, not the call center that serves the caller’s location.

The federal government has spent $12.82 billion in the last two years helping low-income households pay for internet service. Almost a quarter of it has gone to one company. Charter Communications received $3.01 billion through the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a larger slice than any of its competitors.