Incompas supports the FCC’s proposed 5G Fund but agrees with others who argue the agency should wait on making awards until after funding is released for the broadband access, equity and deployment program, a filing posted Friday in docket 20-32 said. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated an order on the fund in March (see 2403200071). Allowing NTIA to complete the BEAD allocation “will give the Commission a better understanding of where gaps in wireless 5G service exist and will help ensure that funding efforts are not duplicated and that USF funding will reach the areas where there is still a funding need,” Incompas said.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and four other senators joined forces Tuesday night to file an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill that would allocate $6 billion to the FCC’s affordable connectivity program for FY 2024 and $3.08 billion to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Senate leaders were still in talks Tuesday night on what amendments to the FAA package they would allow floor votes on in hopes of securing a time agreement to speed consideration of the measure.
Incompas CEO Chip Pickering urged lawmakers and industry to "mitigate the potential risks" of artificial intelligence (AI) as the technology "becomes more sophisticated." In a blog Friday, Pickering wrote that companies "must develop public trust by building transparent AI systems" and "take accountability for the technology they release to the public." It's also "key for the lawmakers considering regulations surrounding AI to balance responsibility and accountability, while empowering innovation and competition."
TWN Communications, supplier of commercial and residential broadband services to rural electric cooperatives, taps former FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein as executive vice president-chief strategy and external affairs officer ... NCTA hires NTIA’s Russ Hanser as deputy chief legal officer ... Incompas adds DC Blox CEO Jeff Uphues to its board ... Silicon Labs taps board member Bob Conrad, also a former Texas Instruments and Analog Devices executive, as senior vice president-worldwide operations; Sandeep Kumar, who currently leads global operations, will depart Silicon Labs in 2024's second half ... New IAB hires: Cintia Gabilan, ex-Amazon and Meta, as vice president-IAB Media Center; Arlene Mu, ex-Lowe's, as assistant general counsel; and Nadine Karp McHugh, ex-Goldman Sachs, as executive in residence ... Ivanti, IT and security company, adds Proofpoint’s Alex Lei, also former Dell Technologies, as senior vice president-sales, Asia Pacific and Japan ... Streaming media company FreeCast rehires Chris Savine, ex-Netscape and AOL Time Warner, as chief operations officer and head-finance; he previously was FreeCast’s chief financial officer from 2014 to 2020 ... Involta, provider of data center and cloud infrastructure and services, hires Everstream Solutions' Dereck Wischmeyer as general counsel.
TWN Communications, supplier of commercial and residential broadband services to rural electric cooperatives, taps former FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein as executive vice president-chief strategy and external affairs officer ... NCTA hires NTIA’s Russ Hanser as deputy chief legal officer ... Incompas adds DC Blox CEO Jeff Uphues to its board ... Silicon Labs taps board member Bob Conrad, also a former Texas Instruments and Analog Devices executive, as senior vice president-worldwide operations; Sandeep Kumar, who currently leads global operations, will depart Silicon Labs in 2024's second half ... New IAB hires: Cintia Gabilan, ex-Amazon and Meta, as vice president-IAB Media Center; Arlene Mu, ex-Lowe's, as assistant general counsel; and Nadine Karp McHugh, ex-Goldman Sachs, as new IAB executive in residence ... Ivanti, IT and security company, adds Proofpoint’s Alex Lei, also former Dell Technologies, as senior vice president-sales, Asia Pacific and Japan ... Streaming media company FreeCast rehires Chris Savine, ex-Netscape and AOL Time Warner, as chief operations officer and head-finance; he previously was FreeCast’s chief financial officer from 2014 to 2020 ... Involta, provider of data center and cloud infrastructure and services, hires Everstream Solutions' Dereck Wischmeyer as general counsel.
Industry and consumer groups have lobbied the FCC in recent days on whether to maintain its proposed language regarding forbearance of Universal Service Fund (USF) contributions for broadband internet access service (BIAS) in its draft order restoring net neutrality rules, according to an analysis of recent ex parte filings in docket 23-320. The FCC in its draft order to be considered Thursday during the commissioners' open meeting tentatively decided to grant ISPs forbearance from Communications Act Section 254(d) requirements, which govern USF contributions (see 2404050068).
Incompas pushed back on CTIA's claims regarding some FCC-proposed rules for call labeling and blocking in a meeting with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff (see 2404080034). The group noted that the "lack of transparency into the call labeling and presentation practices that carriers and their analytics providers deploy is an increasing problem." FCC oversight of call labeling and blocking is necessary to ensure that "pay-to-play" business models "do not stymie nondiscriminatory, competitively neutral standardized solutions," Incompas said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 17-59. "Without greater accountability and transparency, competitive providers, their customers and end-users will be significantly disadvantaged," the group warned, asking the FCC to also "standardize the inclusion of rich call data."
House Commerce Committee members on Thursday vowed to find a bipartisan solution for updating Communications Decency Act Section 230.
The FCC will take a series of steps to reestablish the commission's net neutrality framework and reclassify broadband internet access service (BIAS) as a Communications Act Title II telecom service in a declaratory ruling and order (see 2404030043). A draft of the items to be considered during the agency's April meeting, released Thursday, would establish "broad" and "tailored" forbearance for ISPs. The draft doesn’t make a final determination on how network slicing should be treated under the rules.
FCC commissioners will vote on restoring net neutrality rules during the agency's April 25 meeting, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced Wednesday (see 2403290057). Commissioners will consider a declaratory ruling, order, report and order, and order on reconsideration. "A return to the FCC’s overwhelmingly popular and court-approved standard of net neutrality will allow the agency to serve once again as a strong consumer advocate of an open internet," Rosenworcel said. Also on April's agenda is a draft NPRM about georouting 988 calls (see 2404030051).