Jimm Phillips

The FCC has made “significant progress” in its handling of the affordable connectivity program during 2022, but “improvements were needed” in measuring and providing public transparency on grant recipients’ spending of program money, the Office of Inspector General said in a Jan. 22 memo to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other commissioners that publicly circulated Tuesday. Some congressional Republican leaders have raised concerns about the FCC’s handling of ACP amid a push to provide the program stopgap funding to keep it running through the end of this year. The Wireline Bureau said earlier this month it would freeze new enrollments Feb. 8 as part of the program's wind-down process.

House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone of New Jersey led four Democrats Monday in filing the Do Not Disturb Act to counteract perceived undermining of anti-robocall protections following the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous 2021 ruling in Facebook v. Duguid. In that case, the court backed a narrow definition of an automatic telephone dialing system under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (see 2104010063). Senate Communications Subcommittee leaders focused during an October hearing on DOJ’s perceived reluctance in enforcing existing anti-robocall statutes (see 2310240065).

The Competitive Carriers Association, NTCA and seven other communications industry groups urged House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committee leaders Thursday night to include language from the Broadband Grant Tax Treatment Act (HR-889/S-341) in a broader tax legislative package. Congressional leaders are weighing bringing up the funding package for a vote. HR-889/S-341, first filed in 2022 (see 2209290067), would amend the Internal Revenue Code to say broadband grants enacted via either statute don’t count as “gross income.”

The FCC will continue updating Congress about the affordable connectivity program's status in hopes of convincing lawmakers for money to keep it running, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told reporters Thursday after the commissioners’ open meeting (see 2401250064). The FCC expects the initiative will exhaust its $14.2 billion allocation in April. The Wireline Bureau said earlier this month it would freeze new enrollments Feb. 8 as part of the program's wind-down process (see 2401110072).

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., is considering attaching an amendment to a pending national security supplemental spending bill that would allocate $3.08 billion to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, communications officials and lobbyists said in interviews. Telecom-focused lawmakers are still eyeing FY 2024 appropriations bills as vehicles for allocating rip-and-replace money, and some are pushing to keep using a spectrum legislative package to pay for it. President Joe Biden asked Congress to authorize the additional rip-and-replace money in October as part of a domestic funding supplemental separate from the national security request (see 2310250075).

Commerce Department and DOD officials will brief House Commerce Committee members Thursday on the findings of a Pentagon study about how commercial 5G use of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band would affect incumbent military systems, as expected (see 2312280044), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, told us Wednesday. Panel Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and others were pressing for more details about the DOD report as they determine whether its findings justify ruling out an auction of the frequency (see 2311290001). House Commerce advanced its Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) in May with language mandating an auction with an eye to using revenue to pay for other telecom projects (see 2305240069). Rodgers pressed Diane Rinaldo, Open RAN Policy Coalition executive director, during a Wednesday House Communications hearing (see 2401170078) on how the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority, which House Commerce wants to restore via HR-3565, would bolster U.S. development of open radio access networks (ORANs). “If you want more ORAN, you need more spectrum,” said Rinaldo, a former acting NTIA administrator. “My members need consistency. They need an understanding of how their business is going to roll out the next couple of years. Coming to a standstill hurts us all and hurts future innovation.”

NTIA’s administration of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (Wireless Innovation Fund) drew criticism from some House Communications Subcommittee Republicans during a Thursday hearing over concerns the agency was slow to use it to aid development of U.S. open radio access networks (see 2401160068). Subpanel Democrats conversely eyed whether Congress should allocate additional funding to the NTIA initiative for ORAN use. Members of both parties sought to tie future ORAN development to the push to give the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program an additional $3.08 billion to close a funding shortfall that could hurt the goal of removing suspect gear from U.S. networks (see 2311070050).

Former NTIA acting Administrator Diane Rinaldo and other witnesses set to testify during a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing say in written testimony that smart, expedited use of funding from NTIA’s Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (Wireless Innovation Fund), among other actions, will help supercharge innovation in U.S. open radio access networks. Several witnesses also urge accelerated development of ORAN standards, ensuring equipment interoperability. The hearing is set to begin at 2 p.m. in 2123 Rayburn, the House Commerce Committee said Tuesday.

House Communications Subcommittee members again raised concerns about the impact the FCC Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program’s $3.08 billion funding shortfall is having on removing suspect gear from U.S. networks, as expected (see 2401100072). Their concerns came during a hearing Thursday. In addition, subpanel members offered generally positive reviews of the FCC's voluntary Cyber Trust Mark cybersecurity labeling program for smart devices (see 2308100032), but some GOP leaders were skeptical that it would remain voluntary as advertised.

A Thursday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on communications infrastructure cybersecurity issues is expected to include the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program and the thus far unsuccessful push to allocate another $3.08 billion to fully pay back participants (see 2311070050). However, just one of four scheduled witnesses mentions the matter in written testimony. Other items the House Commerce Committee identifies in a memo ahead of the hearing include the FCC’s NPRM seeking to establish a schools and libraries cybersecurity pilot program, the commission’s voluntary Cyber Trust Mark cybersecurity labeling effort for smart devices (see 2308100032) and concerns about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers’ potential threat to U.S. IoT devices. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.