Press Release

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Public Notice seeking comment on proposed application and bidding procedures for the auctions of the 28 GHz and 24 GHz spectrum bands.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted new measures to tackle the problem of failed or poor-quality long-distance calls to rural parts of the United States. 

The Federal Communications Commission proposed modernizing rules governing business data services (BDS) for certain small rural carriers, known as Alternative Connect America Model, or A-CAM, carriers. 

The Federal Communications Commission proposed to eliminate a rule adopted in 1972 that requires cable operators to maintain at their local office a current listing of the cable television channels that each cable system delivers to its subscribers.

The Federal Communications Commission started to streamline the application process for a category of satellites known as “small satellites.” The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposes a new authorization process within Part 25 of the Commission’s rules to govern satellite licensing that is tailored to small satellite operations. This new process will address current needs in this evolving industry sector, as existing Commission licensing rules and processes were not developed with these types of systems in mind.

The US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released version 1.1 of its popular Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, more widely known as the Cybersecurity Framework. The framework was developed with a focus on industries vital to national and economic security, including energy, banking, communications and the defense industrial base.

I announce my resignation from my position as Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, effective April 28, 2018. I am grateful to President Obama and Vice President Biden for the opportunity to serve during some important milestones in the FTC’s history including the 100th anniversary of the agency and its first Commission led entirely by women. During the last four years, the FTC took careful stock of the tools it needs to remain nimble enough to navigate fast-paced digital markets.

The Federal Communications Commission reached a settlement concluding its investigation into whether T-Mobile USA violated the Communications Act when it failed to correct ongoing problems with delivery of calls to rural consumers and whether it violated the FCC rule that prohibits providers from inserting false ring tones with respect to hundreds of millions of calls. T-Mobile agreed to pay $40 million to the US Treasury and entered into a compliance plan to prevent future violations.

The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced a five-year cooperative research and development agreement with the University of Colorado Boulder to develop a wireless test bed. NTIA’s Boulder-based Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) will work with the university to install spectrum monitoring sensors throughout the CU Boulder campus, with data to be available to both parties for spectrum management research.

Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced legislation—the Community Connect Grant Program Act—to establish the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program under law and make improvements to the grant program that makes funding available for broadband projects in tribal, low-income, and remote rural areas. The USDA Community Connect program through the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) helps fund broadband deployment into rural communities. In addition to authorizing the program and targeting areas that lack access across the nation, Sen.