Public Notice

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) respectfully requests that the Federal Communications Commission initiate a rulemaking to clarify the provisions of section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934. Specifically, per President Donald Trump's Executive Order No. 13925: Preventing Online Censorship (EO 13925), NTIA requests that the FCC propose rules to clarify:

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA), in consultation with the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), initiated the urban rate survey for 2021. The FCC will be collecting the rates offered by a random sample of providers of fixed services identified using December 2019 FCC Form 477 data. The Commission will collect separate samples for fixed voice and fixed broadband services with up to 500 urban Census tracts in each. Because some providers serve many urban Census tracts, these providers may receive surveys for multiple Census tracts.

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr announced that the FCC, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) have reached an agreement that will support wireless infrastructure builds while continuing to protect historic properties. It does so by amending the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for the Collocation of Wireless Antennas (Collocation NPA) that the FCC, ACHP, and NCSHPO entered into in 2001.

The Federal Communications Commission authorized over $20 million in funding over ten years to expand rural broadband in Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Viasat will serve rural locations in Pennsylvania with $19,945,120 in FCC support, and Tribal provider Fond du Lac Communications, Inc. will receive $55,011 to provide gigabit fixed broadband to serve small, isolated communities in Tribal areas in Minnesota. The funding represents the 14th wave of support from the successful 2018 Connect America Fund Phase II auction.

By this Public Notice, the Federal Communications Commission announces the anticipated renewal of its Disability Advisory Committee and solicits applications for membership on the Committee, subject to renewal of the Committee’s charter. Applications for membership are due by 11:59 P.M. EST on August 13, 2020. The mission of the Committee is to make recommendations to the FCC regarding disability issues specified by the FCC.

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on Thursday, July 16, 2020. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and related agency telework and headquarters access policies, this meeting will be in a wholly electronic format and will be open to the public on the Internet via live feed from the FCC’s web page and on the FCC’s YouTube channel.

By this Public Notice, the Federal Communications Commission announces the anticipated renewal of the Consumer Advisory Committee and solicits nominations for membership on the Committee, subject to anticipated renewal of the Committee’s charter on or before October 20, 2020. Nominations for membership are due on August 7, 2020. The Committee’s mission is to make recommendations to the FCC regarding topics of particular interest to consumers, to be specified by the FCC, and to facilitate consumers’ participation in proceedings before the FCC.

The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission issued new Vertical Merger Guidelines that outline how the federal antitrust agencies evaluate the likely competitive impact of mergers and whether those mergers comply with US antitrust law.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau directed the Universal Service Administrative Company, which administers the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program, to carry forward up to $197.98 million in unused funds from prior funding years to the extent necessary to satisfy funding year 2020 demand for the Program. The Rural Health Care Program funding cap for funding year 2020 is $604.76 million.

The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau formally designated two companies—Huawei Technologies Company (Huawei) and ZTE Corporation (ZTE), as well as their parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries—as covered companies for purposes of the agency’s November 2019 ban on the use of universal service support to purchase equipment or services from companies posing a national security threat.