Telecommunication

With the first year of the 116th Congress coming to a close, House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) highlighted the Subcommittee’s work to restore network neutrality, combat the robocall epidemic, secure America’s telecommunications supply chain, fix faulty broadband maps, and more. The Subcommittee held 12 hearings, three markups, and passed 11 bills in 2019. Accomplishments listed include:

US technology companies have rebuffed a Trump administration request that they pledge to stop sourcing supplies from some Chinese companies, amid concerns that such a policy could break competition laws. The state department asked telecoms carriers and chipmakers to sign up to a set of principles which would have in effect shut out Huawei, and possibly others, according to three people briefed on the proposals.

According to the federal government, the majority of American homes now use cellphones exclusively. “We don't even have a landline anymore,” people began to say proudly as the new millennium progressed. But this came with a quieter, secondary loss—the loss of the shared social space of the family landline. Meanwhile, the physical medium of communication has shifted from telephone poles, visually linking individual homes, to the elusive air.

The Federal Communications Commission started the process of designating 988 as a new, nationwide, 3-digit number for a suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline. This designation will help ease access to crisis services, reduce the stigma surrounding suicide and mental health conditions, and ultimately save lives.

On September 25, 2019 a half dozen Members of Congress from Iowa wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai with concerns that changes to intercarrier compensation could have profound impacts to rural Iowa local exchange carriers (LECs).

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Thursday, December 12, 2019:

Implementation of the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2018 (WC Docket No. 18-336): The FCC will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would propose to designate 988 as the 3-digit number for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline.

Public Knowledge joined 23 other public interest, civil rights, tribal, and rural advocacy groups (including the Benton Institute) in a letter urging the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology to require Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai to address public safety concerns about America’s increasingly fragile and unreliable communications network. 

The US House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to approve the bipartisan Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED Act), a Senate bill (S. 151) that would crack down on unwanted robocalls. The vote was 417-3.  The bill has already passed the Senate so it now heads to the President's desk. Among other things, the bill would give the Federal Communications Commission civil fining authority of up to $20,000 per call for those who "intentionally flout" telemarketing restrictions.

Remaining globally competitive in the digital age will require a highly skilled workforce, genuine digital security, and fast and reliable telecommunications networks—all areas directly impacted by infrastructure policy. However, there are still millions of Americans who do not have basic digital skills, do not have direct access to computing equipment, and do not have personal access to a broadband connection. Many rural and metropolitan neighborhoods do not have any high-speed connections, putting every business there at a disadvantage.

European Union communications ministers will gather in Brussels on Dec 3 to discuss how to safeguard emerging fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks. Their decisions could have lasting impacts on European countries’ ability to protect their people’s privacy, and ultimately, safeguard their freedoms. It’s critical that European countries not give control of their critical infrastructure to Chinese tech giants like Huawei, or ZTE. But securing 5G networks means more than preventing any one company from building them.