Incompas names Staci Pies, formerly Crown Castle, as senior vice president-government affairs and policy, effective June 2 ... Telus elects to board: Raymond Chan, ex-Baytex Energy; Hazel Claxton, formerly Morneau Shepell; Lisa de Wilde, York University; Victor Dodig, CIBC; Darren Entwistle, Telus; Thomas Flynn, ex-BMO Financial Group; Mary Jo Haddad, MJH & Associates; Martha Hall Findlay, University of Calgary; Christine Magee, Sleep Country Canada; John Manley, Bennett Jones and Jefferies Securities (chair); David Mowat, formerly ATB Financial; Marc Parent, CAE; Denise Pickett, American Express; and Sean Willy, Des Nedhe Development … Commerce Department adds Christy Lewis, ex-Senate Commerce Committee, to its Office of the General Counsel.
Incompas is joining telecom industry voices in raising concerns about the FCC's proposed $4.5 million fine against Telnyx. The proposed penalty (see 2503050026), which stems from robocalls made on Telnyx's network, goes against the FCC's "know your customer" (KYC) guidelines and is essentially regulation by enforcement, Incompas said Tuesday (docket 17-59). Fining Telnyx when it promptly addressed the issue "risks subjecting voice service providers to a strict liability standard, compelling the adoption of KYC measures that may be ineffective for a particular provider, and chilling providers self-reporting for fear of punitive consequences," Incompas said. The Cloud Communications Alliance and Voice on the Net Coalition have also criticized the notice of apparent liability (see 2503110023).
What will come out of the FCC’s “Delete” proceeding is hard to say at this point, since it builds on other FCC efforts to cut regulations, experts said during a webinar Wednesday by the Center for Business and Public Policy at Georgetown University. The FCC has logged more than 1,100 comments so far in docket 25-133, with replies due this week (see 2504290054 and 2504290038).
SpaceX urged the FCC to tweak a draft order on the 37 GHz band to make clear that the coordination mechanism proposed for sharing the spectrum is based on the Part 101 rules for the 70/80/90 GHz band. Others also weighed in just ahead of the FCC’s sunshine notice Monday, cutting off further lobbying. Commissioners are to vote on the order Monday (see 2504070054).
Incompas CEO Chip Pickering said Tuesday’s White House memorandum on permitting “will accelerate the deployment of high-speed broadband networks, robust energy grids and advanced data centers” and help America win the global AI race, according to a release Friday. “By directing federal agencies to eliminate paper-based processes, implement automation and establish the Permitting Innovation Center, the administration is removing the roadblocks that have hindered our technological advancement,” Pickering said. The memorandum called for the Council on Environmental Quality and the National Energy Dominance Council to issue a plan for modernizing federal environmental review and permitting processes for infrastructure projects. “The administration's commitment to deliver results at 21st-century speeds demonstrates a clear understanding that America's AI leadership depends on our ability to build physical infrastructure efficiently,” Pickering said.
Better submarine cable network security starts with walling off untrusted vendors and adversary nations, trade groups and national security interests told the FCC in docket 24-523 this week. Many criticized the NPRM -- which proposes rules changes aimed at addressing national security and law enforcement threats to cables -- as creating more complexity and burdensome regulations and flying in the face of the FCC's "Delete, Delete, Delete" deregulatory agenda. Commissioners adopted the subsea cable NPRM unanimously in November (see 2411210006). The subsea cable industry has said it hoped the Trump administration would alleviate the particularly onerous regulatory burdens it faces (see 2502260042).
CTIA offered the FCC a list of programs for streamlining through the commission’s “Delete” proceeding in comments posted Monday in docket 25-133. In addition, USTelecom recommended “eliminating, streamlining, or reforming” some 3,000 rules in the "Code of Federal Regulations." The comments provide commission staff with thousands of suggestions to wade through as they evaluate changes the telecom industry suggested. As of late Monday, the commission has received nearly 900 comments in the proceeding (see 2504140063 and 2504140037).
Amazon’s Project Kuiper names Madi Lottenbach, ex-Wiley, senior lead-licensing and regulatory affairs … Incompas promotes Keith Matthews to director-communications … Akima promotes Jon Stringfield to general manager, Arctic Peak … Analytics cloud platform Alteryx taps Ben Canning, formerly Smartsheet, as chief product officer.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks’ announcement Tuesday that he plans to resign from the commission in the spring (see 2503180009) is already prompting speculation about potential successors, despite there not being an obvious front-runner. Some officials voiced renewed concerns about whether President Donald Trump will use the upcoming vacancy as an opportunity to erode FCC norms, either by not filling Starks’ role or picking a Democratic nominee who hews more closely to the administration’s telecom policy priorities.
The Trump administration is eyeing an expedited review of federal spectrum holdings to identify bands that GOP lawmakers could mandate for reallocation in a coming budget reconciliation package, a former Commerce Department official and communications sector lobbyists told us. Telecom-focused congressional leaders indicated some progress in Capitol Hill negotiations to reach a spectrum reconciliation deal but cautioned that there has been no major breakthrough. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and congressional DOD supporters remain at loggerheads.