Telecommunication

People who end up in jail in New York City will now be able to use the phones there for free, after Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill into law that will eliminate the charge. The city had been collecting about $5 million per year from calls made by incarcerated people and their families.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is fighting hard against a Federal Communications Commission proposal they say endangers its members and could send CWA work to unskilled non-union contractors. The FCC is preparing to vote Aug 2 on, and almost certainly approve, a proposal to allow for "one touch, make ready" prep for attachment of communications equipment on utility poles.

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Thursday, August 2, 2018:

The Federal Communications Commission July 24 began auctioning billions in broadband buildout subsidies to cable operators and other competitors to the incumbent telecommunication companies. The FCC gave incumbent telecommunication companies the first shot at its Connect America Fund (CAF) subsidies to deliver fixed broadband to rural communities. Now it is giving competitors a shot at those funds in round two (CAF II), though incumbents can jump back in as well. Round one of the Connect America Fund Phase II Auction (auction 903) began at 10 a.m.

The Federal Communications Commission has released an additional $36 million annually for 175 small rural carriers that opted to transition to receive broadband Universal Service support based on the alternative Connect America cost model (A-CAM). In exchange, the A-CAM carriers have committed to more aggressive broadband deployment goals – although those goals are not as aggressive as those originally established for the A-CAM portion of the high-cost Universal Service program back in 2016.

After being separated from their children at the border and detained in facilities scattered across the US, some migrant parents have to pay steep fees to speak with their children, a policy that a group of Democratic lawmakers have called "shameless" and "morally reprehensible." In a letter sent to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, about 150 Democratic members of Congress argued that the practice of charging "exorbitant" prices to place phone calls from immigrant detention violates ICE's national standards.

Bowing to White House demands, Republican Senators have backed off their attempt to reimpose US sanctions on the Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE. The retreat means ZTE, a company found guilty of selling US goods to Iran in violation of sanctions, will duck Commerce Department penalties that bar US companies from doing business with it. Chinese officials said those penalties would effectively put ZTE out of business.

Verizon eached a deal with state regulators to expand its high-speed internet services in New York and repair its existing telephone infrastructure. The agreement with the state Public Service Commission means Verizon expects to make its high-speed broadband network available to an additional 47,000 households across the state starting in 2018. The deal requires Verizon to expand fiber and hybrid fiber-copper networks to parts of upstate, the Hudson Valley and Long Island.

ZTE Corp can resume business with its US suppliers, the Commerce Department said July 13, after the Chinese telecommunications giant met the conditions of a deal President Donald Trump made to save the company. The saga over the fate of the Chinese firm began in April when Commerce banned US companies from selling to ZTE as punishment for its failure to honor an earlier US agreement to resolve its sanctions-busting sales to North Korea and Iran. Because ZTE relies on US suppliers to make its smartphones and to build telecommunications networks, the penalty was effectively a death knell.

Robocalls ravaged Americans’ smartphones in record numbers in June. But some of the nation’s top businesses – from credit card companies and student lenders to retailers and car dealers – are still urging the Trump administration to make it easier for them to dial and text mobile devices en masse. For many smartphone owners, there’s rarely a day that they don’t receive an unanticipated call from an unrecognized number, some sporting an area code that’s suspiciously similar to their own. In June, robocalls rang an estimated 4 billion times.