Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Industry counseled against FCC regulation on vulnerabilities to the security and integrity of border gateway protocols (BGP), in early comments on a February notice of inquiry from the FCC (see 2202250062). Cisco and other commenters said the issues are difficult and complex and require an international approach. The notice is part of the FCC’s cybersecurity focus as it looks at vulnerabilities posed by Russian companies (see 2203180051).

The FCC is working on a proposal on siting wireless and broadcast towers, small cells and other facilities in flood plains. An NPRM, circulated last month by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, takes on how the FCC should help the U.S. meet targets in executive order 13690, handed down under President Barack Obama in 2015, rescinded during the Trump administration and reinstated in the early days of the Biden administration.

Broadcast groups and the FCC will face off in oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Tuesday over the agency’s foreign-sponsored content disclosure rules, and broadcast and appellate attorneys told us it's especially difficult to predict how the matter will play out, with rules that were unanimously approved and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a backdrop. “There is simply no need -- and it is unlawful -- to force broadcasters leasing to churches, schools and local businesses, among others, to do pointless research as to whether those lessees are foreign agents,” said an NAB spokesperson Friday. NAB is challenging the rules alongside the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council.

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks is making staff changes, including a new wireline adviser, and new legal adviser, said a news release Thursday. Former Wireline Associate Bureau Chief Justin Faulb is Starks’ newest adviser; he previously had multiple roles at the agency, including as designated federal officer of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. “He is one of the Commission’s leading experts on supply chain security,” said Starks in the release. Faulb’s wireline experience will come in handy on “securing our communications networks, increasing deployment, and achieving digital equity,” Starks said. Starks’ Media and Consumer Protection Adviser Diane Holland is moving to a position as deputy bureau chief in the Wireline Bureau and will be replaced by Austin Bonner, who had been Starks’ legal adviser, wireline and public safety. “Diane brought to my office a depth of knowledge and experience that will be hard to replace,” Starks said. Morgan Bodenarain, a former aide to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., will be Starks’ new legal adviser, focusing on digital equity, the release said. Bodenarain will succeed Special Adviser Alisa Valentin, who's leaving the FCC to work in the “non-profit space,” the release said.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel cautioned House Communications Subcommittee members that some sales from upcoming auctions of the 2.5 GHz band and “construction permits for new full power television stations in communities with no license for the allotted station” will be on hold “pending reauthorization” of the commission’s auction authority if the current statute lapses Sept. 30 without a renewal. CTIA CEO Meredith Baker, meanwhile, urged the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees to adopt a stopgap renewal due to the limited legislative time before Sept. 30. The issue was a major focus of House Communications’ FCC oversight hearing last week (see 2203310060).

California legislators urged the Public Utilities Commission to pause before approving rules for a $2 billion last-mile federal funding account (FFA) required by the state’s $6 billion broadband law. At a hearing livestreamed Wednesday, Assembly Communications Committee members grilled CPUC Communications Division Director Rob Osborn on a proposed rule to prevent ISPs from increasing prices for FFA-funded plans for 10 years.

As providers prepare for the June 30 opening of the FCC’s reporting portal for its forthcoming broadband maps, some industry representatives and experts said questions remain about what the broadband serviceable location fabric will look like and the kind of information that will be sought once the portal opens. Most agreed the new maps should be ready to be published by the fall, reflecting what FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told House Communications Subcommittee members last week (see 2203310060).

House Communications Subcommittee members largely but not completely avoided using a Thursday FCC oversight hearing to make partisan points, amid the commission’s focus on bipartisan issues during the ongoing 2-2 split, as expected (see 2203300001). Lawmakers instead focused on questions about the FCC’s work to produce improved broadband connectivity data maps, its handling of the affordable connectivity program and Emergency Connectivity Fund programs, and how commissioners believe Congress should structure a renewal of the commission’s spectrum auction authority.

The Senate appeared highly likely Tuesday to vote this week on discharging Democratic FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya from the Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction, lawmakers and aides told us. The chamber may also do a discharge vote this week on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, but that’s less likely since leadership is prioritizing action on Bedoya over her, officials said. Senate leaders previously eyed initial votes on Bedoya and Sohn last week (see 2203220058) but scuttled that plan when it was clear all 50 chamber Democrats wouldn’t be present to ensure their advancement.

The FCC and most other tech and telecom-focused federal agencies would get a funding increase in FY 2023 under a budget proposal President Joe Biden released Monday. Five entities -- the DOJ Antitrust Division, Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), NTIA, FTC and National Institute of Standards and Technology -- would get double-digit percentage increases compared with FY 2022. Biden signed off earlier this month on the FY22 omnibus appropriations package, which itself increased funding for the FCC, FTC and other agencies (see 2203150076).