1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2020

December 2020

Senate confirms Trump nominee for FCC, threatening deadlock under Biden

The Senate confirmed Nathan Simington as a new Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, a move that threatens to saddle the nation’s foremost telecom regulator with political deadlock at the start of the Biden administration. The chamber backed Simington on a 49-46 vote, installing a new commissioner at the FCC who has pledged “regulatory stability” and expressed an openness to using the agency’s rule-making powers to explore the way social-media sites handle political speech.

Senators Urge Funding for Broadband Mapping and Securing Communications Infrastructure

In a letter the leadership of the Senate and the Senate Committee on Appropriations, senators urged full funding for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act and the Broadband DATA Act. The Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (“rip and replace”) created a program to help small, rural telecommunications operators remove equipment posing a security threat to domestic networks and replace it with equipment from trusted providers. Fully funding the Broadband DATA Act would ensure more accurate broadband maps and better stewardship over the millions of dollars the federal go

Groups Urge Congress to Include Broadband Subsidy in Stimulus Bills

Public interest, government, civil rights, labor, higher education, and rural advocacy groups urged Congress to offer a federal broadband subsidy in forthcoming COVID-19 stimulus packages. They argue that tens of millions of Americans — particularly low-income families, rural residents, and people of color — lack broadband access, leaving our most vulnerable communities struggling to stay connected with school, work, healthcare, entertainment, and their loved ones during the pandemic.

Chairman Pai Remarks at India Mobile Congress 2020

We’ve been asked to talk today about finding the right balance when it comes to regulating the 5G marketplace. India Mobile Congress' organizers have made no secret about their favored approach when they titled this session “Light Touch Regulation.” Fortunately, I share this approach, so you’ll hear no complaints from me. It is in our mutual interest for the U.S. and India to work together not only on 5G security, but on issues across the communications landscape and beyond.

FCC Issues Annual Report On State 911 Fees

The Federal Communications Commission published its twelfth annual report to Congress on the collection and distribution of 911 fees by states. The report finds that in 2019, states and territories collected more than $3 billion in 911 fees, and more than $200 million of that funding was diverted for uses other than 911. The report identifies five states—Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and West Virginia—where 911 fees were diverted for other purposes. 2019’s report found that almost $198 million in 911 fees were diverted for non-911 uses by the same five states.

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