Telecommunication

The Federal Communications Commission took a major step toward comprehensively reforming rates and charges for the inmate calling services (ICS) within its jurisdiction. The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has twice rejected and remanded the FCC’s past efforts to address rates and charges for ICS. Recognizing the need of incarcerated individuals and their families to stay connected, the FCC Aug 6 responded to the court’s remands and made several proposals to ensure just and reasonable rates and charges for these services, as required by the Communications Act.

The Clean Network program is the Trump Administration’s comprehensive approach to guarding our citizens’ privacy and our companies’ most sensitive information from aggressive intrusions by malign actors, such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I am announcing the launch of five new lines of effort to protect America’s critical telecommunications and technology infrastructure.

The following items have been adopted by the Federal Communications Commission and deleted from the list of items scheduled for consideration at the Thursday, Aug 6, 2020, Open Meeting.

Common Antenna Siting Rules (MB Docket No. 19-282); Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative (MB Docket No. 17-105): The FCC will consider a Report and Order that would eliminate the common antenna siting rules for FM and TV broadcaster applicants and licensees.

In 2019, Network Communications International Corporation petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to forbear from its obligation to contribute to the Universal Service Fund (USF) with respect to inmate calling services it provides in jails and prisons. More recently, another inmate calling services provider, Securus Technologies, LLC (Securus), sought a waiver from contributions obligations for all inmate calling services providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the critical role that the USF plays in bringing connectivity to rural and low-income Americans, schools, libraries,

One of the many things we take for granted in life is the ability to make a simple phone call.  For tens of millions of individuals who were deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, or had a speech disability thirty years ago, that was not always the case.  This all changed with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) enacted on July 26, 1990.

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.

Given the alarming evidence of egregiously high intrastate inmate calling rates and the Federal Communications Commission’s lack of jurisdiction here, I am calling on states to exercise their authority and, at long last, address this pressing problem. Specifically, I implore the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and state regulatory commissions to take action on intrastate inmate calling services rates to enable more affordable communications for the incarcerated and their families. 

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the August Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 6, 2020:

C-band Auction Procedures – The FCC will consider a Public Notice that would adopt procedures for the auction of new flexible-use overlay licenses in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band (Auction 107) for 5G, the Internet of Things, and other advanced wireless services. (AU Docket No. 20-25)

When it comes our August meeting’s main attraction, repurposing C-band spectrum for 5G, we feel the need — the need for speed. I circulated final draft procedures for a C-band auction to be held on Dec 8, 2020, and we will vote on them at our August meeting. They spell out the many details of the auction — competitive bidding procedures, application requirements, and deadlines governing participation in Auction 107. To spur the deployment of ultra-fast, world-leading 5G networks, we need to make C-band spectrum (among other spectrum bands) available as quickly as possible.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US will impose visa restrictions on Chinese technology firms, the latest move expected to strain relations between Washington and Beijing. “State Department will impose visa restrictions on certain employees of Chinese tech companies like Huawei, that provide material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally,” Sec Pompeo said.