BROWSING: Policy

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...

‘There is only one gamechanger’ – new UK government told to get radical with AI

The only way out of this mess is with technology, an old Labour prime minister told a new Labour prime minister in London today (June 9) – four days after a new UK government won power in a landslide election victory, and got a...

Vodafone Portugal’s attempts to buy Nowo is a no-go

The purchase would have led to 'significant impediments to competition and consumer harm,' said Portugal’s competition authority Following a draft decision thwarting Vodafone Portugal’s proposed acquisition of Cabonitel, including Nowo Communications, the country’s competition authority Autoridade da Concorrencia (AdC) this week officially prohibited the deal...

Apple will not release gen AI features in Europe

Apple will also withhold iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay Screen Sharing in the EU this year Due to regulatory concerns relating to the European Parliament’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple has said it will withhold the release of generative AI (gen AI) tools like its Apple Intelligence feature across...

CBRS sharing system to be tweaked, enable more uninterrupted spectrum access

The changes would expand access by changing up the aggregate interference model used to determine sharing Changes are coming to the shared Citizens Broadband Radio Service band at 3.5 GHz, with proposed tweaks to the aggregate interference model that is used to determine spectrum access...

“Not for companies, not for the state” – five things to know about the European AI Act

The new Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) sets a common regulatory and legal framework for the development and application of AI in the European Union (EU). It was proposed by the European Commission (EC) in April 2021 and passed in the European Parliament last...

Echostar accuses T-Mo of ‘anticompetitive’ acquisitions

EchoStar, which merged with Dish, wants a national spectrum screen of 25% Every other year, the Federal Communications Commission asks for input on the state of competition in the domestic communications market, to help inform a report to Congress. This year, EchoStar—now the parent company...

US internet users increased by 13 million in two years, NTIA says

There have been 'great strides' in closing the digital divide, NTIA says, but wide variations in who is connected remain The numbers of United States internet users increased by about 13 million between 2021 to 2023, according to new numbers from the National Telecommunications and...

The 10 smartest (capital) cities in Europe

Paris is the smartest (capital) city in Europe, apparently. So says smart cities new research by Swedish real-estate tech firm ProptechOS, which has evaluated 23 European capitals on a number of tech-related scores, garnered from OECD ratings for civic ‘smartness’, and found the French...

The 10 smartest cities in the US

Whatever happened to the concept of ‘smart cities’? We used to write about them all the time, but the whole discipline seems to have splintered in recent years into a myriad of public and private urban smart-infrastructure sub-sectors, mostly covering the creeping modernisation of...

Reader Forum: A cohesive mitigation approach is required to curb political robocalls ahead of November elections

Americans received more than 16 billion political calls in Q1 2024 Over the first three months of 2024, Americans received more than 16 billion political robocalls. The unwanted calls, which ranged from AI deepfake election disinformation campaigns to financially motivated scams and more traditional nuisance...

FCC designates ‘Royal Tiger’ robocalling ring as a threat to consumers

C-CIST classification identifies an international robocalling group dubbed 'Royal Tiger' as a consumer threat For the first time, the Federal Communications Commission is designating a persistent international calling fraudster ring as a threat to consumers, in an action meant to help telcos target its scam...

CTIA 5G Summit: Competitiveness, auction authority and closing the digital divide

'We are in the midst of a global battle over the future of wireless networks,' said Commerce Assistant Secretary Alan Davidson WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. global competitiveness, the ongoing lack of spectrum auction authority for the Federal Communications Commission and how telecom carriers will continue to support...

FCC requests more rip-and-replace funding

The FCC now estimates that $4.98 billion is needed to fund rip-and-replace efforts The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week asked for more funding to support communications providers' "rip-and-replace" projects for Huawei and ZTE equipment, which has been banned by Congress for use in U.S....

US newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft—’A critical issue for civil life’

The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI and Microsoft are stealing copyrighted articles without permission and without payment Eight daily newspapers, including The New York Daily News and The Chicago Tribune, have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that the pair are “purloining millions of the Publishers’ copyrighted articles without...

FCC levies fines against carriers for LBS information misuse

FCC fines the three major carriers $200 million The Federal Communications Commission has levied fines of $200 million against the three national operators, saying that AT&T, T-Mobile US and Verizon illegally provided access to customers' location information without end-users' consent or sufficient safeguards. AT&T faces...