The FCC defended its actions to several lawmakers...
The FCC defended its actions to several lawmakers in both chambers, in letters from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to various lawmakers released Friday. In a letter dated March 27 and sent to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., ranking…
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member John Thune, R-S.D., Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and subcommittee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Wheeler detailed the agency’s plans for an “accelerated” media ownership review, to be presented no later than June 30, 2016, as well as a defense of the sidecar item the agency reviewed at its March 31 meeting (http://bit.ly/1st4X2o). Wheeler told Pryor in a different March 27 letter that the FCC “is committed to realizing the tremendous promise the 5 GHz band offers for unlicensed use, but we also remain obligated to protect incumbent users from harmful interference,” touching on a report and order the FCC considered at its recent meeting (http://bit.ly/1qeMvZz). In a March 27 letter to Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., Wheeler reassured him that prisons and smaller correctional facilities may seek a waiver if the FCC’s revamp of inmate calling hurts them. “The Report and Order recognized that security measures are an important part of inmate calling services, and allowed security costs to be recovered through inmate calling service rates,” Wheeler said (http://bit.ly/1emGov2). “The Report and Order also leaves critical decisions about security to correctional facilities and inmate calling service providers. With respect to the concerns you convey that some jails and smaller correctional facilities may have to reduce or discontinue interstate inmate calling services due to the reforms, inmate calling service providers that do not believe their costs will be recovered may seek a waiver of the adopted rate caps.”