press release

Federal Communications Commission Ajit Pai announced that the agency has chosen Kris Anne Monteith to serve as chief of its Wireline Competition Bureau, continuing the work she has been doing as acting chief.

“The FCC and the American people are lucky to have someone as skilled and dedicated as Kris leading this important arm of the agency,” said Chairman Pai. “The FCC has a vital role to play in clearing the way for broadband investment across America and in helping spur deployment where it lags behind. I am grateful that Kris has agreed to continue to lead our talented team of dedicated professionals in furthering these important goals.”

The Wireline Competition Bureau helps lead the agency’s work on Chairman Pai’s top policy priority: closing the digital divide by encouraging investment in broadband infrastructure. It works to protect consumers, foster competition, and ensure that all Americans have access to robust, affordable broadband and voice services. Its programs help ensure access to affordable communications for schools, libraries, health care providers, and rural and low-income consumers.

Monteith has held several senior leadership positions within the FCC in her 20 years with the agency. She has served as acting chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau as well as chief of the Enforcement Bureau. She has been a deputy chief in the Wireline Competition Bureau she now leads, as well as the Media Bureau and the policy division of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Before joining the Commission in 1997, Monteith practiced telecommunications law with McDermott, Will, and Emery and Keller and Heckman in Washington, D.C. She received her J.D. from the George Washington University and her B.A. from the University of Colorado.

Huntsville (Alabama) — aka Rocket City — is truly a place on the rise. Nationally known for its strong science and technology presence, Huntsville is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. and quickly becoming a destination for diverse, creative and entrepreneurial minds. We are proud to announce Google Fiber is officially lifting off in Rocket City. As of this morning, customers in North Huntsville can sign up for Google Fiber’s superfast Internet, TV and phone service. Residents and small business owners in this part of the city now have access to Google Fiber’s superfast Internet. We’re excited to bring our service to more and more Huntsvillians, so be sure to sign up at fiber.google.com/cities/huntsville to be among the first to receive updates and future announcements. Residents in North Huntsville can now sign up for the Fiber 1000 + TV, Fiber 1000, Fiber 100 or Fiber 100 + TV. Customers can also add a Fiber Phone to any of these packages, providing a great voice experience with all of the features of Google Voice, including very low international calling rates.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced a proposal to add an alert option to the nation’s Emergency Alert System (EAS) to help protect our nation’s law enforcement officers. Called a “Blue Alert,” the option would be used by authorities in states across the country to notify the public through television and radio of threats to law enforcement and to help apprehend dangerous suspects.

The Chairman unveiled the proposal at an event hosted by the Department of Justice announcing the nationwide rollout of the National Blue Alert Network. “As we have learned from the very successful AMBER Alert initiative for recovering missing children, an informed public can play a vital role in assisting law enforcement,” Chairman Pai said. “By expanding the Emergency Alert System to better support Blue Alerts, we could build on that success – and help protect those in law enforcement who risk their lives each day to protect us.” Blue Alerts can be used to warn the public when there is actionable information related to a law enforcement officer who is missing, seriously injured or killed in the line of duty, or when there is an imminent credible threat to an officer. As a result, a Blue Alert could quickly warn you if a violent suspect could be in your community, along with providing instructions on what to do if you spot the suspect and how to stay safe.

May 18 the Federal Communications Commission voted 2–-1 to initiate a notice of proposed rulemaking pertaining to its Network Neutrality rules. We are concerned about the possible impact of this rulemaking on the Lifeline program’s support for broadband service. We care deeply about the Lifeline broadband program because it mitigates the affordability barrier to broadband services in our homes — which is particularly acute for low-income people and people of color — and because broadband access removes barriers to educational, emergency, and civil services and job opportunities. We strongly support the FCC's recent Lifeline modernization order, which added stand-alone broadband internet service to Lifeline. We urge the Commission to ensure that nothing in this rulemaking will harm, impair, or weaken the ability of the Lifeline program to help low-income families to afford broadband service so that they can take part in the modern economy. We also urge the Commission to avoid any shift in Lifeline resources or policy that distracts from the program's core goal of defraying the cost of communications services.

The Federal Communications Commission stopped a federally mandated rate increase for certain rural phone customers, pending review of an FCC policy known as the “rate floor.” The FCC froze the current minimum rate for local voice services at $18 per month for customers of companies that receive support from the FCC’s universal service program. That minimum rate, or rate floor, was scheduled to rise to $20 on July 1, and to $22 on July 1, 2018. The freeze will stay in effect until the FCC reviews its rate floor policy, or no more than two years. The review was launched by the Commission May 18 in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on the policy.

The Federal Communications Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, proposing to eliminate the main studio rule, which requires each AM, FM, and television broadcast station to have a main studio located in or near its local community. The Notice also proposes to eliminate the requirement that the main studio have fulltime management and staff present during normal business hours, and the requirement that it be able to originate programming.

The main studio rule, which the FCC first adopted more than 70 years ago, was originally implemented on the premise that local access to the main studio facilitated input from community members and the station’s participation in community activities. Today, modern communications enable stations and community members to interact more directly, without the presence of a local broadcast studio. In addition, community members already, or soon will, have online access to a station’s public file, removing the need for community members to visit the main studio to access the file. Television broadcasters completed their transition to the online public file in 2014, and radio broadcasters will complete their transition by early 2018.

On the afternoon of March 8th, 2017, nearly all AT&T Mobility (AT&T) Voice over LTE customers across the nation lost 911 service for five hours. This report presents the Federal Communications Commission's findings on the investigation.

Among the lessons learned from the March 8th outage is that when 911 service fails for any reason, Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) play a critical role in advising their jurisdictions of alternative ways to reach help. While AT&T and their subcontractors, Comtech and West, made efforts to notify thousands of PSAPs, the notifications were often unclear or missing important information, and generally took a few hours to occur. This outage also offers an illuminating case study that illustrates actions that stakeholders can take to promote network reliability and continued access to 911 service. For example, the March 8th outage emphasizes the importance of auditing all network assets critical to the provision of 911 service, and ensuring that such assets are safeguarded and designed to avoid single points of failure. The outage also demonstrates the need for closer coordination between industry and PSAPs, to improve overall situational awareness and ensure consumers understand how best to reach emergency services.

The Federal Communications Commission took steps to update the Personal Radio Services rules, also known as Part 95 of the Commission’s rules, in order to modernize them, remove outdated requirements, and reorganize them to make it easier to find information. Significantly, as part of this effort, the FCC addressed more than two dozen proposals submitted by interested parties. Today’s action will result in a more consistent, clear, and concise set of rules that will better serve the needs of the public.

The Federal Communications Commission took steps to streamline, consolidate, and harmonize rules governing earth stations used to provide satellite-based services on ships, airplanes and vehicles. The action proposes additional flexibity for this fast growing segment of the satellite communications market. Currently, the regulation of these earth stations, collectively known as “earth stations in motion” (ESIMs), varies depending on the type of vehicle to which they are attached and are covered in various rule provisions. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted today, proposes to integrate the three types of earth stations in motion into a single regulatory category. The proposal also proposes rules to allow for blanket licensing in additional frequency bands—the “conventional Ka-band”— which will offer additional flexibity to ESIMs. Together, these proposed changes would simplify the regulatory approval process for ESIMs, reduce the burden on applicants and increase efficiency in processing applications.

As providers of broadband internet access service in many communities across America, we’ve always been committed to an open internet that gives you the freedom to be in charge of your online experience. And that will not change. An open internet means that we do not block, throttle or otherwise impair your online activity. We firmly stand by that commitment because it is good for our customers and good for our business.