BROWSING: Policy

Rip and replace funding passes as part of defense bill

This year's defense authorization bill includes full funding for the rip and replace program for telecom networks The U.S. Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden's desk. The $895 billion bill includes full funding for the...

NTIA awards $273 million to spur ORU development

Nokia, JMA Wireless, and Solid are among the awardees in the latest round of grants, which focus on ORU hardware development The Biden administration has awarded $273 million in another funding round for the Wireless Innovation Fund, meant to support Open Radio Access Networks and...

What the FCC’s new leadership means for innovation in connectivity (Reader Forum)

In November, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would appoint Brendan Carr as the new chairman of the FCC. A Republican currently serving on the Commission, Carr will aim to redirect the FCC’s focus toward broadband expansion — especially in rural areas, streamlined infrastructure development...

How to save BEAD? Remove 13 words (Reader Forum)

Much has been made over the glacial pace at which the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is rolling out its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. To date, not a dollar of the $42.5 billion program has been put...

FCC seeks to require telcos to bolster network security

The ongoing fallout from the Salt Typhoon cyber attack on U.S. telcos may result in new requirements around network security plans In the wake of the Salt Typhoon cyber attack that penetrated more than half a dozen U.S. telecom networks, the FCC is taking a...

Five things to know about the Senate hearing on China and national security

Amid the ongoing revelations related to the Salt Typhoon cyber attack on telecommunications companies including AT&T, Verizon and Lumen, a Senate subcommittee recently held a hearing on the issues related China and cybersecurity, as well as economic security and national security. The national security...

USF constitutionality case heads to Supreme Court

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Universal Service Fund unconstitutional The U.S. Supreme Court will review a circuit court ruling which held that the Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional. The U.S. Solicitor General asked SCOTUS to review a Fifth Circuit Court decision from earlier...

Carr tapped as Trump’s choice to lead FCC

Carr wrote a chapter in Project 2025 that outlined priorities for the FCC Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, is the incoming Trump administration's pick to run the FCC. Carr, 45, has focused on telecom workforce needs during his tenure at the...

Robocalls surged ahead of the 2024 election — Now telcos must meet the moment (Reader Forum)

As the 2024 US Presidential Election approached, political robocalls and robotexts surged. Potential disinformation campaigns, scams and AI-generated deepfakes may hae been increasingly used to attempt to confuse and mislead the public, posing potential risks to voters and further eroding trust in the voice...

Telecom CEO, FL company plead guilty to $100m in Lifeline fraud

Q Link Wireless of Dania Beach, Florida and its CEO, Issa Asad, have both pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal Lifeline program that provides discounted connectivity services to low-income people, in a scheme that stole more than $100 million from the program over about...

What should we expect from 6G?

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As the vision for 6G begins to make its way from R&D to standardization, what are the trends and goals, both technological and societal, that will and should influence it? Experts from across the telecom industry, government and academia gathered in Washington, D.C. this...

AT&T to pay $13 million to settle cloud breach

The FCC says AT&T is “strengthening its data governance practices” The U.S. Federal Communications Commission today (Sept. 17) announced that AT&T will pay $13 million to settle an investigation associated with a customer data breach made public in July. The settlement is related to a...

NTIA seeks input on the future of data centers

Data centers are a vital component of digital infrastructure, one that is expected to grow at a fast rate and require more land, power and interconnections. The United States doesn't have enough data centers to support the coming demand, particularly the demand driven by...

FCC moves forward on Rural 5G Fund

The Federal Communications Commission plans to "reignite" the $9 billion Rural 5G Fund, moving forward with new rules for the program, which has been languishing since 2020. According to the FCC's National Broadband Map, more than 14 million homes and businesses nationwide lack access...

FCC settles network outage issues with AT&T, Altice

The Federal Communications Commission has announced two settlements with telecom service providers in regards to network outages during 2023. AT&T will pay nearly a million dollars as part of its settlement. In addition to the $950,000 fine for the network outage on August 22,...

FCC settles with voice provider over political deepfake robocalls

Settlement includes "historic" compliance plan, FCC says The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau has come to a settlement with Lingo Telecom, the voice service provider that transmitted political robocalls to New Hampshire voters that included "deepfake", artificial intelligence-generated audio that impersonated President Joe Biden and...

WinnForum to start work on ‘highly dynamic’ spectrum sharing

The Wireless Innovation Forum, which developed the spectrum sharing standards under which CBRS operates, is setting its sights on new work to develop approaches for spectrum sharing that is more dynamic, adaptable and real-time. WInnForum has set up the new Highly Dynamic Spectrum Sharing...

DoT releases national V2X plan

$60 million in recent grants will support V2X deployments in Utah, Arizona and Texas The U.S. Department of Transportation has officially released a national V2X plan for vehicle-to-everything communications and infrastructure, which envisions nationwide deployment of wireless technology in the 5.895-5.925 GHz band by 2036....

Rosenworcel proposes inquiry on telecom customer service options

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is proposing that the agency open an inquiry on "ways to ensure that consumers have appropriate and efficient access to customer service resources" when it comes to phone, cable and broadband services. The proposal, which would have to...

AT&T told to come back to Earth with space coverage claims

NARB concurs with recommendation that AT&T 'discontinue or modify' claims about the availability of NTN coverage The National Advertising Review Board (NARB) has agreed with the previous recommendation made by a panel of the BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division (NAD) that AT&T “discontinue or...

FCC proposes rules for AI-generated robocalls, texts

The Federal Communications Commission is asking for input on how it should define the types of robocalls and texts that would be considered "AI-generated", as well as proposing new rules governing them. In line with similar, previous actions, the FCC is looking at having...

BEAD progress: VA, NM plans approved; First middle-mile project breaks ground

The states of New Mexico and Virginia recently had their "Internet for All" plans for the implementation of the federal Broadband Access, Equity and Deployment (BEAD) program accepted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is overseeing the BEAD program. This means that New...

Circuit court ruling imperils USF

Court ruling reverses an earlier panel decision on USF constitutionality The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that the mechanism by which the Universal Service Fund is funded and administered is unconstitutional, which imperils the existence of the program that supports...

$1.6 billion in CHIPS funding set to support advanced chip packaging

The federal CHIPS for America program has released info about a new funding round of up to $1.6 billion, focused on bolstering advanced semiconductor packaging manufacturing in the United States. The funding will be focused in five related research and development areas: Equipment, tools, processes...