Public Notice

The Federal Communications Commission is soliciting nominations for membership on the Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC). Nominations for membership are due September 21, 2022. The FCC seeks nominations from interested nonprofit organizations, corporations, trade associations, government agencies, or other entities from both the public and private sectors, who wish to be considered for CAC membership for a two-year term of service. Selections will be made based on factors such as expertise and diversity of viewpoints that are necessary to effectively address the topics before the CAC.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB)—in conjunction with the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force (RBATF) and the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA)—authorized Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904) support for 95 more winning bids.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the USDA will begin accepting applications on September 6 for funding to expand access to high-speed internet for millions of people in rural America nationwide through the ReConnect Program, which received new funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). USDA is making additional funding available for high-speed internet in Round 4 of the ReConnect Program.

The Federal Communications Commission permits use of the 17.3-17.7 GHz band by geostationary satellite orbit (GSO) space stations in the fixed-satellite service (FSS). The FCC also permits limited GSO FSS use of the 17.7-17.8 GHz band on an unprotected basis with respect to fixed service operations. Permitting use of the 17.3-17.8 GHz band to include FSS downlinks increases intensive and efficient use of the band and provides additional downlink capacity for high-throughput satellite communications.

The Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced an updated Memorandum of Understanding between the agencies on spectrum coordination. This marks the first time the MOU has been updated in nearly twenty years. The revised MOU, signed by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson, will strengthen cooperation and collaboration between the agencies and help advance a whole-of-government approach to how we use and manage one of the

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau announced updated minimum service standards for Lifeline-supported service.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau extends two deadlines for Round 2 of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program (COVID-19.

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA)—in conjunction with the Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB)—released updated data on fixed broadband deployment, and mobile voice and broadband deployment as of June 30, 2021. The data includes revisions made by filers through June 28, 2022, while the mobile deployment data include revisions made by filers through November 14, 2021 These data were collected through FCC Form 477 and will be made available on the FCC’s website.

In June 2018, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to address increasing demand in the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program. Specifically, the FCC: (1) increased the annual RHC Program funding cap; (2) provided for the annual RHC Program funding cap to be adjusted for inflation; and (3) established a process to carry-forward unused funds from past funding years for use in future funding years. The FCC also directed its Wireline Competition Bureau to announce a specific amount of unused funds from prior funding years to be carried forward to increase available funding for future fu

The Federal Communications Commission proposed $4,353,773.87 in fines against 73 applicants in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction (Auction 904) for apparently violating FCC requirements by defaulting on their bids between July 26, 2021 and March 10, 2022. The FCC provided clear guidance in its rules and notices on the monetary forfeitures associated with defaults in Auction 904. The bid defaults prevented 1,702 census block groups with 129,909 estimated locations in 36 states from seeing timely new investments in broadband infrastructure.