Telecommunication

Telecom operators need to get their artificial intelligence (AI), SDN and cloud ducks in a row or risk becoming a "dumb pipe" for connectivity, according to a report by GlobalData. “Telecom operators are increasingly seeking to move beyond the dumb pipe of simple connectivity and diversify in the cloud, AI and SDN," said Laura Petrone, senior analyst for GlobalData. "This trajectory will bring them into direct competition with technology interlopers that are also actively targeting segments that telecoms operators might once have seen as their own.”

The Federal Communications Commission is required to review biennially its regulations “that apply to the operations or activities of any provider of telecommunications service” and“determine whether any such regulation is no longer necessary in the public interest as the result of meaningful economic competition between providers of such service.” The FCC must repeal or modify any regulation that it finds are no longer in the public interest.

Chinese telecom Huawei has again told the Federal Communications Commission that the commission's proposal to exclude some Chinese companies' technology--Huawei and ZTE-- from Universal Service Fund broadband subsidy support is both legally and factually deficient. Government contractors can't buy equipment from Chinese telecoms ZTE or Huawei as part of those contracts, and must submit a plan for phasing out the use of that equipment from its systems. That came with President Donald Trump's signing on Aug 13 of the John S.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted its first Communications Marketplace Report, which provides a comprehensive evaluation of the state of the communications marketplace. As required by Title IV of RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018, the report consolidates several separate reports to address the state of the broader communications marketplace in one place. And as mandated by Congress, this report will be issued every two years.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules to establish a reassigned numbers database that will reduce the number of unwanted phone calls Americans receive. The new rules establish a single, comprehensive database with information provided by phone companies that callers will be able to use to avoid calling reassigned numbers. Callers using the database will be able to find out if telephone numbers assigned to consumers who want their calls have been disconnected and made eligible for reassignment.

California state regulators have been ginning up a scheme to charge a fee for text messaging on mobile phones to help support programs that make phone service accessible to the poor. The wireless industry and business groups have been working to defeat the proposal, now scheduled for a vote in January by the California Public Utilities Commission. It’s unclear how much individual consumers would be asked to pay their wireless carrier for texting services under the proposal.

On Oct 23, 2018, Rep Jared Huffman (D-CA) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai regarding a forbearance petition filed on May 4 with the FCC by USTelecom. [USTelecom was seeking forbearance from the Communications Act's resale and unbundled network element requirements.] "The letters that my constituents submitted to the FCC regarding the petition illustrate the importance of alternative competitive providers in the telecommunications marketplace," Rep Huffman wrote. "I ask that their comments be carefully considered as you review the petition."

On Nov 30, 2018, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wrote to various Members of Congress regarding rural broadband. Many lawmakers expressed cocncernt hat budget limitations in the Universal Service FUnd's high cost program for legacy rate-of-return providers could result in undue reductionsin support for broadband deployment in rural communities.

The Federal Communications Commission released a draft of the appendices to the Communications Marketplace Report. A draft version of the Communications Marketplace Report, scheduled for consideration at the FCC’s December 12, 2018 Open Meeting, was released on November 21, 2018. The appendices include the data collected and analyzed by FCC staff in developing the draft Communications Marketplace Report.