Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission proposed new consumer protections against AI-generated robocalls and robotexts.

AST SpaceMobile, which is preparing to offer low earth orbit (LEO)-based cellular broadband network services, says that it has gotten an initial license from the Federal Communications Commission for space-based operations in the United States. Initially, AST SpaceMobile’s services will include a cellphone-to-satellite offering.

As Tribes work in record numbers to close the significant digital divide across Indian Country, they need good policy that facilitates self-determined and sustainable solutions. To the contrary, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), became, for many, yet another lesson in the dangers of investing significant sums of federal money into new Internet networks on Tribal lands without regard to local knowledge or priorities, leaving Tribal governments to spend their own time and resources to fix broken processes. This report exami

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr joined Rep John Joyce (R-PA) in Blair County, Pennsylvania, for a roundtable discussion on the Biden-Harris Administration’s $42 billion plan for extending Internet service throughout rural America. Commissioner Carr and Rep Joyce heard directly from a range of stakeholders that want to see new Internet builds in their communities—from healthcare, education, economic, local government, and other leaders to the broadband builders that are ready to get the job done. Commissioner Carr said:

The availability of reliable, high-speed internet throughout the United States has been a focus of policymakers for decades, with the need for an expansive broadband infrastructure listed as “the great infrastructure challenge” of the 21st century by the Federal Communication Commission. However, federal guidelines have never set a benchmark for what “reasonable prices” might mean for residents in each state, and there are no established benchmarks for determining what an affordable level of broadband service would look like throughout the country.

On August 5, 2024 the World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee approved and provided for Federal Communications Commission (FCC) consideration of its draft recommendations on issues that will be considered by the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-27).

The Federal Communications Commission announced the anticipated rechartering of the Consumer Advisory Committee and solicited nominations for membership. The FCC intends to recharter the CAC for a period of two (2) years following consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat, General Service Administration. It is anticipated that after this consultation, the renewed charter will become effective on or before October 13, 2024.

How much power may Congress hand off to the Washington bureaucracy? That’s a live question, so grab the popcorn to read a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In a 9-7 en banc ruling, it invalidated a “universal service” surcharge added to cellphone bills.

In March 2024, the Federal Communications Commission circulated a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, or NPRM, seeking input on how to best “lower costs and address the lack of choice for broadband services available to households in apartments, condos, public housing, and other multi-tenant buildings.” Public Knowledge and 30 other organizations

Hopes came alive again in Congress that the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which lapsed in June, could actually get funded. First, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a House bill on July 30, matching the language of a Senate bill that would extend the ACP with $6 billion and modify the program. On July 31, Democrats in the Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance an earlier bill – the ACP Extension Act – by attaching it as an amendment to the Plan for Broadband Act, legislation that would direct the NTIA to create a coordinated federal broadband strategy. Sen.