The Health and Human Services Department asked the FCC to clarify whether certain automated, prerecorded calls and text messages are allowed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. "We anticipate that no more than six to eight individual messages will be sent to any individual enrollee through some combination of text messages and automated, pre-recorded calls," said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, in a letter posted Friday in docket 02-278. The calls and texts would end "approximately 18 months after the end of the public health emergency."
Gabriella Novello
Gabriella Novello, Assistant Editor, is a journalist for Communications Daily covering telecommunications and the Federal Communications Commission. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2020, after covering election integrity and the 2020 presidential election at WhoWhatWhy. She received her bachelor's degree in journalism with a minor in health promotion at American University. You can follow Novello on Instagram and Twitter: @NOVELLOGAB.
A draft FCC NPRM would seek comment on an Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) Broadband Coalition proposal to establish an "Enhanced" A-CAM program, if adopted during the May 19 commissioners' meeting (see 2010300055). The proposal would "achieve widespread deployment of faster 100/20 Mbps broadband service" in rural areas currently receiving A-CAM support, said a fact sheet Thursday. Also on tap are orders updating priority calling rules and clamping down on robocalls. Another order would allow computer modeling to verify the pattern of FM directional antennas.
E-rate groups and industry broadly rejected the FCC’s proposal to establish a centralized online bidding portal for the E-rate program, as expected (see 2112070053). Groups asked the agency to abandon the NPRM, saying the record doesn’t reflect a need for such a change to E-rate, in comments posted Thursday in docket 21-455.
FCC commissioners will consider a proposal to create an enhanced alternative Connect America model program to bring "faster, better broadband to rural America" at the agency's May 19 meeting, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a meeting preview Wednesday. Commissioners will also consider an order targeting gateway providers and illegal robocalls originating abroad, updates to priority services rules, and regulatory relief for FM radio broadcasters.
The FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee members approved its consumer broadband labels working group’s recommendations on disclosure. All members at Tuesday's virtual meeting (see 2203110064) voted in favor, with Next Century Cities being the sole abstention. NCC didn’t comment on why it abstained.
Political campaign-related robocalls and robotexts may have a negative effect on voter participation and are likely to continue for the foreseeable future, telecom and election experts told us. Voters received an unprecedented number of robocalls and robotexts leading up to the 2020 presidential election, and many sought FCC action to curb those that are unwanted and potentially illegal, according to consumer complaints we analyzed (see 2011030050).
NTIA plans to release a notice of funding opportunity for its digital equity program when it releases notices for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program and middle-mile broadband infrastructure program, said Administrator Alan Davidson Thursday during a Brookings Institution webinar on achieving universal broadband. “That’s the starting gun,” Davidson said, and the notices will “lay out how the programs will be built and how people can participate.”
The Treasury Department is now accepting states’ grant and program plans for its $10 billion Capital Projects Fund, said Joseph Wender, the program’s director, during an Incompas webinar Wednesday (see 2203310037). “We are officially open for business,” Wender said, adding his office is in the process of approving funding applications and expects initial awards to be announced “in months.”
Industry and consumer advocacy organizations urged the FCC to leverage local governments and nonprofit organizations in its outreach efforts to boost enrollment in the affordable connectivity program (see 2203170048). The FCC received reply comments Friday in docket 21-450 on how the agency should design its outreach grant program and pilot program to boost enrollment for households receiving federal public housing assistance.
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted limited waivers of the affordable connectivity program's non-usage rules and a requirement that participating providers apply the monthly benefit to all plans, said an order Friday in docket 21-450. The bureau denied several requests to extend the “all plans requirement” to all participating providers. Providers were required to comply with these rules by Friday (see 2202110055).