Telecommunication

A 911 outage prevented AT&T customers from calling emergency services for hours during the morning of July 2, officials in multiple states said. Officials in TX, MN, WI, WA, and several other states reported issues. The company soon said its fixed the problem. “Earlier this morning some wireless customers may have been unable to connect to 911,” an AT&T spokesperson said. “This has been resolved and we apologize to anyone who was affected.”

As the US gets set to ban certain Chinese manufacturers from selling telecommunications equipment to US service providers, CoBank is warning that rural Americans’ access to communications services could be damaged if insufficient funding is available for rural service providers to replace prohibited equipment already installed in their networks.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a cease-fire on trade that will remove some curbs on Huawei buying high-tech equipment from the US, for the moment lifting one cloud over the global economy. Under the cease-fire, the US agreed to put off additional tariffs on Chinese goods indefinitely. In response, China will start buying large amounts of American farm products, President Trump said.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted an Order setting compensation rates for telecommunications relay services that are supported by the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Services Fund for the Fund Year 2019-2020. In a statement, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said:

The National Security Agency purged millions of Americans’ phone records after learning that some of the data was collected in error in 2018 as part of a controversial counterterrorism program. Between Oct. 3 and 12, an unidentified phone company provided the NSA with records that it should not have received — records not related to terrorism suspects. The NSA assessed that “the impact was limited given the quick identification, purge processes and lack of reporting,” according to one report.

Apparently, a number of the US’ biggest chip makers have sold millions of dollars of products to Huawei despite a Trump administration ban on the sale of American technology to the Chinese telecommunications company. Since the Commerce Department enacted the ban in May, American companies including Intel and Micron have found ways to sell technology to Huawei. The components began to flow to Huawei about three weeks ago. Goods produced by American companies overseas are not always considered American-made, and the suppliers are taking advantage of this.

A platform of recommended media-and-tech policies for all presidential candidates. Over the summer of 2019, Free Press Action will send the platform to each of the presidential candidates. Free Press Action will also generate a scorecard rating each candidate’s positions relative to Right to Connect’s recommendations. What is the platform asking candidates to do?

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) unveiled a bipartisan version of the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act in the House of Representatives to stop abusive robocall practices. The bill would:

Network security is national security.  The risks of having insecure equipment in our networks are alarming. Next week I will be convening stakeholders—including carriers, manufacturers, academics, and trade associations, to start crafting and developing a practical path forward. Specifically, I anticipate digging into what it will take to Find the insecure equipment, Fix the problem, and help Fund the process. Find it. Fix it.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the Open FCC Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 10, 2019: