press release

The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and Free Press filled joint comments with the Federal Communications Commission calling on the agency to increase efforts to help Puerto Rico fully recover from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which devastated the island’s communication infrastructure.

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing examining data prioritization and how it is critical to the internet’s function and growth. Members of the Subcommittee heard from a range of expert witnesses who testified on the how and why data is currently prioritized on the network, and potential needs for future prioritization.

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing to help protect the security of the nation’s communications networks through its stewardship of the over $8.5 billion a year Universal Service Fund (USF). The FCC is seeking comment on a proposal to prohibit use of USF funds on the purchase of equipment or services from any company that poses a national security threat to the integrity of US communications networks or the communications supply chain. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking also seeks comment on a number of issues, including:

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Public Notice seeking comment on proposed application and bidding procedures for the auctions of the 28 GHz and 24 GHz spectrum bands.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted new measures to tackle the problem of failed or poor-quality long-distance calls to rural parts of the United States. 

The Federal Communications Commission proposed modernizing rules governing business data services (BDS) for certain small rural carriers, known as Alternative Connect America Model, or A-CAM, carriers. 

The Federal Communications Commission proposed to eliminate a rule adopted in 1972 that requires cable operators to maintain at their local office a current listing of the cable television channels that each cable system delivers to its subscribers.

The Federal Communications Commission started to streamline the application process for a category of satellites known as “small satellites.” The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposes a new authorization process within Part 25 of the Commission’s rules to govern satellite licensing that is tailored to small satellite operations. This new process will address current needs in this evolving industry sector, as existing Commission licensing rules and processes were not developed with these types of systems in mind.

The US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released version 1.1 of its popular Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, more widely known as the Cybersecurity Framework. The framework was developed with a focus on industries vital to national and economic security, including energy, banking, communications and the defense industrial base.

The Federal Communications Commission reached a settlement concluding its investigation into whether T-Mobile USA violated the Communications Act when it failed to correct ongoing problems with delivery of calls to rural consumers and whether it violated the FCC rule that prohibits providers from inserting false ring tones with respect to hundreds of millions of calls. T-Mobile agreed to pay $40 million to the US Treasury and entered into a compliance plan to prevent future violations.