As policymakers work to help Americans cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these efforts are rightfully directed at broadband funding. Congress and the Agencies continue to build on the programs described in our blog post, “The Increasing Importance of Broadband and Federal Funding in Uniting the Country,” with a focus on distance
FCC Decision on 900 MHz LMR Band Expected Soon
About a year ago, the FCC adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to subdivide the 900 MHz band into a broadband segment and two narrowband segments. The broadband segment would be 3 MHz x 3 MHz from 897.5-900.5 MHz/936.5-939.5 MHZ. The two narrowband segments would consist of 1 ½ MHz x 1 ½
FCC Fines Companies for 911 Outage
Earlier this week, the FCC Fined CenturyLink $400,000 and West Safety Communications $175,000 for a multi-state 911 outage that occurred in August 2018. To resolve the dispute, both companies also entered into a Compliance Plan.
The outage stemmed from an inadvertent switch configuration change, which disrupted the delivery of 911 calls in nine states. The
FCC Weighs in on 911 Fee Parity
At its Open Meeting last week, the FCC approved a Declaratory Ruling that prevents state, local, and Tribal 911 entities from collecting higher 911 fees from VoIP subscribers than what these groups collect from subscribers of traditional telecommunications services. The FCC is promoting fee parity among services that provide end-users with the same 911 calling
FCC Imposes Kari’s Law, RAY BAUM’s Act on MLTS Providers
Earlier this month, the FCC released a Report and Order that implements the direct dialing and notification requirements of Kari’s Law and adopted rules requiring a dispatchable location to be conveyed with 911 calls from certain Multi-Line Telephone Systems (MLTS), pursuant to RAY BAUM’s Act.
These rules will take effect over the next few
The 2.5 GHz Band: No Longer Just for Education
Earlier this week, FCC announced the agenda for the Agency’s July 10th Open Meeting. Chairman Ajit Pai also published a blog post detailing some of these items. This includes an announcement that Chairman Pai had circulated a draft Report and Order for consideration at the meeting next month.
The Report and Order is
Save the Internet Act of 2019 Introduced
On 6 March 2019, Democrats in the House and Senate introduced the “Save the Internet Act of 2019.” The three-page bill (1) repeals the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order released in early 2018, as adopted by the Republican-led FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai; (2) prohibits the FCC from reissuing the RIF Order or
CPNI Deadline Kicks off FCC’s Spring Filing Season
Tomorrow, March 1, 2019, telecommunications carriers and interconnected VOIP providers (“Filers”) will have filed their annual certification confirming they complied with the FCC’s Customer Proprietary Network Information (“CPNI”) rules.
The FCC’s CPNI rules require Filers to establish and maintain systems designed to ensure they adequately protect their subscribers’ CPNI. Consumer data protected by the
2018 Year In FCC Review
The year of 2018 at the FCC could be considered the year of déjà vu. Sure, the Commission broke new ground in some areas, but many of the headline-grabbing items rehashed old proceedings. For instance:
Net Neutrality
The ink was barely dry on the FCC’s net neutrality rules when, in January, the agency released
FCC Issues 900 MHz Licensing Freeze
Earlier this month, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau implemented a temporary freeze on applications for new and modified authority for Land Mobile systems operating in the 896-901/935-940 MHz band. The freeze was effective as of September 13, 2018.
The freeze stems from a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) issued by the FCC in 2017, seeking input