Public Notice

On December 12, 2019, the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), a Rural Development agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and solicitation of applications for the Broadband Pilot (ReConnect) Program in the Federal Register. On March 31, 2020, RUS published a Notice in the Federal Register to extend the application window to April 15, 2020.

The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau issued a temporary, limited waiver to TV broadcasters to enable them to more easily air live and taped same-day local content, like religious services, during time slots regularly dedicated to children's programming

President Donald Trump established the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector, the primary objective of which shall be to assist the Federal Communications Commission in its public interest review of national security and law enforcement concerns that may be raised by foreign participation in the United States telecommunications services sector.  The function of the Committee shall be: (i) to review applications and licenses for risks to national security and law enforcement interests posed by such applications or licens

The Federal Communications Commission proposed a $6,013,000 fine against TracFone Wireless, a prepaid wireless provider offering Lifeline service under the SafeLink Wireless brand, for apparent violations of the FCC’s Lifeline program rules. TracFone apparently claimed federal Lifeline funding for customers who were not actually determined to be eligible for the program, which helps make communications services more affordable for low-income Americans.In 2018, TracFone apparently sought and obtained federal Lifeline support for hundreds of ineligible subscribers in Florida.

The Federal Communications Commission voted to adopt a $200 million telehealth program to support healthcare providers responding to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Congress appropriated the funds as part of the CARES Act. Through the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, the FCC will help healthcare providers purchase telecommunications, broadband connectivity, and devices necessary for providing telehealth services. Funding applications from healthcare providers will be processed on a rolling basis.

The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) reminds authorized alert originators, including state and local governments, that the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system is available as a tool to provide life-saving information to the public during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. In recent years, the Federal Communications Commission, together with the Federal Emergency

The Federal Communications Commission announced extensions of key E-Rate service implementation and filing deadlines to provide relief to program participants affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. These extensions will alleviate administrative and compliance burdens on schools and libraries and enable them to focus on transitioning to remote learning during the pandemic.

The Federal Communications Commission gave certain carriers flexibility to focus Universal Service Funds on hard-hit areas in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the waiver order allows competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) to use their high-cost legacy support in the service areas of any affiliated ETC in order to respond to the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19. FCC rules require all legacy high-cost support to be used in a particular service area.

The Federal Communications Commission seeks comment on a proposed a framework to provide state and federal agencies with access to outage information to improve their situational awareness while preserving the confidentiality of this data, including proposals to: Provide direct, read-only access to NORS and DIRS filings to qualified agencies of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Tribal nations, territories, and federal government; allow these agencies to share NORS and DIRS information with other public safety officials that reasonably require NORS and DIRS information to prepare for

The following items have been adopted by the Federal Communications Commission and deleted from the list of items scheduled for consideration at the March 31, 2020 Open Meeting.