Telecommunication

Telecom providers expect to save millions of dollars thanks to a new Texas state law that cuts fees. But a coalition of nearly 50 TX cities, who will be on the losing end of that revenue, worry those discounts won’t be passed on to their residents. So they’re suing. For years, telecom providers paid two separate fees to run cable and phone lines through city-owned strips of land, know as rights-of-way. Companies were required to pay both fees, even if it took only one line to deliver the two services.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai presented his colleagues with a two-part proposal that would help safeguard the nation’s communications networks. The FCC will vote on this proposal at its Nov 19 meeting.

The US Supreme court has declined to overturn two lower court rulings that MN was preempted from regulating Charter Communications’s interconnected voice-over-internet protocol telephone service because the courts were convinced the operator had made the case for why it was an information service, not a telecommunications service, even though the Federal Communications Commission has yet to classify interconnected VoIP either way. That sounds like it would buttress the FCC’s assertion it can pre-empt state efforts to reregulate internet access, which the agency has definitely classified as

When it comes to 5G and America’s security, we can’t afford to take a risk and hope for the best. We need to make sure our networks won’t harm our national security, threaten our economic security or undermine our values. That requires a comprehensive effort, one the administration has been undertaking, including through a May 2019 executive order. The Federal Communications Commission, for its part, has been working at home and abroad with federal agencies, including the intelligence community.

The Federal Communications Commission clarified that state, local, and Tribal governments cannot charge the same class of subscribers total 911 fees that are higher for VoIP services than for traditional telecommunications services with the same 911 calling capability.

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, the state representatives on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service expressed frustration with their FCC colleagues in coming to a consensus on how to reform Universal service Fund contributions. In 2014, the FCC referred the issue to the Joint Board which is chaired by FCC Commissioner Michael O'Reilly.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the October Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Friday, October 25, 2019.

The House Communications Subcommittee considered a handful of bills Sept. 27 at the hearing "Legislating to Secure America's Wireless Future" -- the thrust of which were to protect 5G networks from foreign intruders looking to spy on the US, as well as to efficiently manage spectrum. Bills being considered at the hearing were: