Press Release

On March 15, we’ll aim to make progress on many of the issues core to the Federal Communications Commission’s mission: promoting US leadership on 5G, closing the digital divide, advancing public safety, modernizing our media rules, helping rural consumers, and more.

Verizon outlined its strategy for revenue and profitability growth in 2019 and beyond, built on the expansion of its network leadership in the 5G era. Discussion items included:

America’s founders believed that a free press was essential to democracy because it is the foundation of an informed, engaged citizenry. That conviction, enshrined in the First Amendment, has been embraced by nearly every American president. All these presidents had complaints about their coverage and at times took advantage of the freedom every American has to criticize journalists.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has circulated the draft 2019 Broadband Deployment Report, a report that concludes that the digital divide between Americans with and without access to modern broadband networks has narrowed substantially. The report shows that since the 2018 report, the number of Americans lacking access to a fixed broadband connection meeting the FCC’s benchmark speed of 25 Mbps/3 Mbps has dropped by over 25%, from 26.1 million Americans at the end of 2016 to 19.4 million at the end of 2017.

Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and James Lankford (R-OK) led a bipartisan letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai advocating for a public feedback mechanism to allow consumers and states to help inform broadband coverage maps and report any lack of broadband access to the FCC.  “While we are glad the FCC is trying to address some of the issues with their mapping though the ongoing Form 477 proceeding, this alone will not solve everything.

Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O’Rielly announced that he has hired Joel Miller as new chief of staff, press contact, and media advisor in his office. Miller intends to begin work on Feb 25, 2019. He replaces Brooke Ericson, who previously departed for a position in the private sector. Miller is currently employed as Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for Rep Brett Guthrie (R-KY) with responsibility for Rep Guthrie’s communications work on the House Commerce Committee. 

The Federal Communications Commission issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking aimed at streamlining and improving the rules and procedures for processing and licensing competing applications for new noncommercial educational (NCE) broadcast and low power FM (LPFM) stations. Among other things, the NPRM tentatively proposes to:

Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks announced the appointment of William Davenport as Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Advisor covering Wireless and International issues, and the departure of Daudeline Meme, who has served as Acting Chief of Staff and Acting Legal Advisor on Wireless and International issues. Davenport most recently served as Senior Vice President, Federal Regulatory, for Ligado Networks.

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the Truth-In-Billing, Remedies, and User Empowerment over Fees (‘TRUE Fees’) Act. The TRUE Fees Act requires phone, cable, and internet providers to include fees, charges, and surcharges in the prices they advertise for service; allows customers to end their contract without early termination fees if their provider increases prices; prevents hikes on equipment fees unless providers improve equipment; and prohibits forced arbitration clauses for wrongful billing errors.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order that sets the rules of the road for the upcoming transition between legacy Connect America Fund support in certain price cap areas, and new, auction-based support for voice and broadband. The Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II Auction, which closed in August of 2018, allocated nearly $1.5 billion in support for broadband in rural areas currently lacking it.