California will make phone calls free for many incarcerated persons. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Keep Families Connected Act (SB-1008) Thursday, the Democrat’s office said. Newsom vetoed a telecom industry-supported bill (AB-2749) to put a shot clock on California Public Utilities Commission reviews of California Advanced Services Fund broadband grant applications and require wireless eligibility in CASF’s federal funding account. Newsom supported but sought refinements to AB-988 to implement the national 988 suicide prevention hotline with an 8 cent monthly surcharge on wireline, wireless and VoIP lines.
Congress is buying itself more time to continue negotiations on a potential spectrum legislative package by agreeing to temporarily extend the FCC’s auction authority through Dec. 16 (see 2209210076), but the breathing room hasn’t appreciably improved prospects those talks will result in a deal by the new deadline, lawmakers and lobbyists told us last week. The House voted 230-201 Friday to pass a continuing resolution that includes the FCC renewal and an extension of federal appropriations to the Dec. 16 date (HR-6833). The Senate approved it Thursday (see 2209290066). President Joe Biden was expected to sign the measure before FY 2022 appropriations expired late Friday.
Hurricane Ian caused large wireless outages in Florida's southwest where the storm made landfall, the FCC said Thursday. The FCC report covered network outage data submitted by communications providers through the disaster information reporting system (DIRS) as of Thursday at noon. The FCC will monitor the situation and is "committed" to ensuring communications are restored, said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel after Thursday’s commissioners' meeting.
The House Commerce Committee’s bipartisan privacy legislation is stronger than California’s privacy law, Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said Thursday. He hopes to convince House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other skeptical members that the bill should set the national privacy standard.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington laid down a marker in favor of exclusive-use licensing, in remarks to the Competitive Carriers Association. The speech came the week after a daylong NTIA forum on a national spectrum strategy, where the emphasis was on the importance of sharing (see 2209190061). Carriers hope the strategy, when it’s eventually released, will also lay out bands for licensed use (see 2209260048).
The FCC approved a requirement that satellites in low earth orbit deorbit within five years of end of life, and the International Bureau anticipates further orbital debris rule-making action but can't say when, Deputy Chief Patrick Webre said Thursday. The 4-0 approval at the commissioners' September meeting was expected (see 2209230003). It also adopted unanimously orders updating emergency alert system rules, an NPRM removing FCC rules references to analog TV now that no analog TV services remain, and an order expanding access to telecom relay services for deaf or hard of hearing individuals. The agency said it's acting in Florida in response to Hurricane Ian (see 2209290055).
House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., warned the FCC and FTC not to "continue to exceed Congressional authorizations" given the "limitations" on their authority highlighted in the Supreme Court's June West Virginia v. EPA ruling. The high court further clamped down on the ability of agencies like the FCC to regulate without clear direction from Congress (see 2206300066). The committee "will exercise our robust investigative and legislative powers" to ensure federal agencies don't overreach, Rodgers told FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and FTC Chair Lina Khan in Sept. 23 letters released Wednesday. Rodgers appears to be putting federal agencies on notice ahead of the GOP's potential regain of House control in the Nov. 8 midterm election.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin easily won election as secretary-general of the ITU Thursday, winning 139 votes to 25 for Russian Rashid Ismailov at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Bucharest, Romania. The win was expected (see 2209280046), but industry officials said they were surprised by the size of the victory. Bogdan-Martin becomes the first woman to head the ITU and first American since 1965. She had led the ITU Telecom Development Bureau, after being elected to that post in 2018.
Small and regional carriers are taking different approaches to 5G and fixed wireless, said Eric Boudriau, Ericsson North America head-customer unit regional carriers, at the Competitive Carriers Association conference Wednesday. “Everybody starts from a different position,” he said. Fixed wireless is “really, really accelerating” in the U.S. and internationally, he said. Other executives stressed the importance of addressing federal infrastructure rules to better fund wireless. The discussion was streamed live from Portland, Oregon.
The FTC should be “careful” in drawing up potential competition rules that might not withstand judicial scrutiny, former Democratic officials told an antitrust conference Wednesday in Washington.