Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announces the appointment of members to serve on three working groups of the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (ACDDE). These working groups -- Broadcast Diversity and Development, Digital Empowerment and Inclusion, and Diversity in the Tech Sector -- will assist the ACDDE in carrying out its work. As previously announced, Chairman Pai has designated Julia Johnson, President, NetCommunications, LLC, to serve as Chair of the ACDDE, and Diane Sutter, President/CEO, ShootingStar Broadcasting, to serve as Vice Chair.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules streamlining the wireless infrastructure siting review process to facilitate the deployment of next-generation wireless facilities. The Order focuses on ensuring the FCC’s rules properly address the differences between large and small wireless facilities, and clarifies the treatment of small cell deployments. Specifically, the Order:

The Federal Communications Commission began an examination of how to more quickly route wireless 911 calls to the proper 911 call center, which could result in faster response times during emergencies. In a Notice of Inquiry, the FCC seeks comment on the extent of “misrouted” wireless 911 calls and approaches to avoid such delays, including the feasibility of routing 911 calls based on the location of the caller as opposed to the location of the cell tower that handles that call.

The Federal Communications Commission proposed action to promote more flexible and intensive use of the 4.9 GHz band, a segment of spectrum designated for public safety communications. In a Sixth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC seeks comment on proposals, technical in nature, to encourage greater use of and investment in this public safety band, drawing on input from the public safety community and other potential users.

The Federal Communications Commission took steps to provide increased flexibility in the use of consumer signal boosters and proposed additional actions to further enhance the usefulness and effectiveness of these boosters. The rules  eliminate the current personal use restriction on provider-specific boosters so that businesses, public safety entities, educational institutions, and other enterprise users and their customers can also benefit from the use of boosters.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to streamline the process for reauthorizing television satellite stations when they are assigned or transferred in combination with their previously-approved parent station.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a proposal to move forward in an effort to reduce calls placed by businesses and other legitimate callers to numbers that are no longer assigned to the consumers who consented to receive those calls. The FCC is proposing that one or more databases be made available to give businesses the information they need to avoid making such calls, and thus reduce the number of unwanted calls to reassigned numbers. The Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking  proposes and seeks comment on ways to address this reassigned numbers problem.