October 2019

The US Supreme court has declined to overturn two lower court rulings that MN was preempted from regulating Charter Communications’s interconnected voice-over-internet protocol telephone service because the courts were convinced the operator had made the case for why it was an information service, not a telecommunications service, even though the Federal Communications Commission has yet to classify interconnected VoIP either way. That sounds like it would buttress the FCC’s assertion it can pre-empt state efforts to reregulate internet access, which the agency has definitely classified as

On July 10, 2019, Sen Steve Daines (R-MT) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai saying he was troubled by reports of "duplicative federal investment from the Universal Service Program for Schools and Libraries (E-rate) that has led to wasteful overbuilding of broadband infrastructure." On Oct 15, Chairman Pai responded, saying the FCC is reviewing the record on a petition for a rulemaking to consider amending rules relating to the E-rate program competitive bidding requirements.

On May 16, 2019, Rep Brian Mast (F-FL) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai asking if the FCC would grant a waiver request that would provide interim relief by allowing service providers to assist consumers by providing eligibility information to the National Verifier in batches for an eligibility determination, or if the FCC would establish some alternate form of electronic submission to verify eligibility in the interim period prior to full launch of the service provider application programming interface (API).

Better mobile phone coverage in the British countryside has moved a step closer after the government and the telecoms regulator backed an industry plan to share masts and build new towers in very remote areas. Mobile operators spent months thrashing out an agreement to allow access to each other’s masts in rural areas to improve patchy coverage, but it was contingent on Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, revising the rules of an impending sale of spectrum for 5G services. The regulator on Oct 25 confirmed the changes had been agreed.