Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Friday, April 12, 2019:

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau seeks comment on an amended petition filed by TracFone Wireless. TracFone seeks to expand its designation as an eligible telecommunications carrier to certain Tribal lands in Alabama, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, and Virginia.

WC Docket No. 09-197

Comment Date: April 22, 2019 | Reply Comment Date: April 29, 2019

The one principle that anyone engaged in wireless issues knows is that we cannot take time for granted.

Here are the Federal Communications Commission's priorities for the next year:

Communications technologies power one-sixth of the nation’s economy—and every American needs access to these technologies to have a fair shot at 21st century success. That is why the budget request from the Administration before you today is so striking. It asks for less than the $339,000,000 the agency is set to spend in the current fiscal year and is almost $4,000,000 less than the budget level authorized by Congress.

Based on a record of nearly 1 million documents comprised of 7.7 million pages of information submitted by the applicants, as well as arguments and evidence submitted by criminal justice advocates, consumer groups, and other commenters, FCC staff concluded that this deal posed significant competitive concerns and would not be in the public interest. I agree. I’m therefore pleased that the companies have determined that withdrawing their application is the best course.

The Federal Communications Commission recently chose thoughtful and sensible policy reform when an item was circulated to Commissioners to begin a rulemaking that would establish a much-needed and overdue budget for the agency’s Universal Service Fund (USF).  Against the backdrop of special interest groups and uninformed detractors reflexively opposed to any restraint on the agency’s redistributive subsidies, I am proud to lead this effort to inject more fiscal responsibility into the USF. Hardly a revolutionary idea, budgets are precisely what American families and businesses rely on to ma