Federal

With Rep Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) finally getting enough votes to be elected Speaker of the House and that body cleared for the takeoff of Republican committee leadership, look for that leadership to launch Federal Communications Commission and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) oversight hearings.

The year 2023 could prove to be a volatile year for the Federal Communications Commission as it wrestles with a number of lawsuits concerning its Universal Service Fund (USF) program.

The Federal Communications Commission released an Order adopting the plan to establish a Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs. The planned reorganization will better support the needs of the growing satellite industry, promote long-term technical capacity at the FCC, and help the agency navigate 21st century global communications policy. As part of this plan, the agency will be eliminating the current International Bureau and incorporating that team into the new bureau and office.

It is unfortunate timing that the new Federal Communications Commission broadband map was issued in the middle of the process of trying to determine the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant funding. Congress said that the amount of funding that will go to each state must be based upon the FCC map – and the first draft is clearly flawed. However, assuming that that grant funding question gets resolved somehow, there remains the bigger issue of whether the new FCC map will ever accurately portray broadband availability.

As part of his $45 billion Rebuild Illinois investment strategy, Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) launched a statewide initiative, Connect Illinois, in August 2019 to expand broadband access across the entire state.

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NM) and Jacky Rosen (D-NM) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission asking the body to reconsider maps drafted for the Silver State's broadband Internet connectivity, calling the drafts "deeply flawed" and warning that such maps could perpetuate the digital divide among the state's urban and rural areas.

The Justice Department reached a key milestone in its settlement agreement with Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, requiring Meta to change its advertisement delivery system to prevent discriminatory advertising in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA).

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will require both cargo and passenger airplanes in the US to install 5G C-band tolerant radio altimeters, or an approved radio frequency (RF) filter, by February 24, 2024.

Alan Davidson, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, talked about the agency’s plan to advance open Radio Access Networks (open RAN).

Affordable broadband, cybersecurity in the development of healthcare systems, and technology competition with China head the to-do list in 2023, said Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA). Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a former computer programmer, hammered home the importance of cybersecurity with broadband, and its impact on telemedicine and remote work. She is pushing legislation that would require the Food and Drug Administration to review and update medical device cybersecurity guidelines to protect them from hacking and cyber-attacks.