Incompas adds Olivia Igbokwe-Curry, Amazon Web Services, to its board … The Wireless Infrastructure Association taps Anthony Carlson, Array Digital Infrastructure, for its board … The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation promotes Mary Collins to executive director, effective Jan. 1, a new position … Self-regulation organization BBB National Programs, elects to its board Kathryn Farrara, replacing Luis-Xavier Hernandez, both of Unilever; Lydia Parnes, replacing Maureen Ohlhausen, both of Wilson Sonsini; and Justin Thomas-Copeland, American Association of Advertising Agencies, replacing Michele Totonis, Lego; and reelects Bob Liodice, Association of National Advertisers.
The House Commerce Committee advanced the American Broadband Deployment Act (HR-2289) Wednesday by a closer-than-expected 26-24 party-line vote, with unified Democratic opposition and a smattering of Republican absences at that point in the markup session. The panel also unanimously advanced the Broadband and Telecommunications Rail Act (HR-6046) and five other bipartisan connectivity bills, as expected (see 2512020063).
NCTA on Friday praised Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., for filing an upper chamber companion Thursday (see 2511200069) to the Broadband and Telecommunications Rail Act (HR-6046). The House Communications Subcommittee cleared HR-6046 Wednesday (see 2511180053).
Groups representing financial institutions called on the FCC to impose tougher Stir/Shaken rules in comments filed last week (docket 17-97) in response to a Wireline Bureau request (see 2508280040). Telecom industry groups and companies also sought tweaks to how illegal robocalls are addressed, through Stir/Shaken and beyond.
The FCC continues to hear both opposition to and support for proposals in its notice of inquiry about changes to wireline infrastructure rules. Comments on the NOI, which commissioners approved 3-0 in September (see 2509300063), were posted Wednesday in docket 25-253. State and local government groups largely opposed changes that could take power away from their members (see 2511180033).
Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., filed an upper chamber companion Thursday to the House Communications Subcommittee-cleared Broadband and Telecommunications Rail Act (HR-6046), Blackburn’s office told us Thursday night.
Incompas warned Tuesday that FCC proposals for the business data services (BDS) market could do more harm than good. The commission’s competitive market test “remains a fundamentally flawed measure of competition, inappropriately allows monopolies or duopolies to qualify as competitive markets, and fails to realistically assess barriers to competitive entry,” the group said in comments in docket 21-17.
Incompas weighed in Wednesday against “remedies proposed by the government, including a forced divestiture,” in DOJ’s antitrust case against Google’s ad tech business (see 2506110049). The remedies trial “has reinforced the critical principle that successful and innovative companies should be encouraged, not dismantled,” said Incompas CEO Chip Pickering. “True competition in the marketplace, not government-mandated restructuring, is what drives innovation and benefits consumers.” Pickering added that as the trial unfolded, “witnesses explained that the DOJ’s untested proposed remedies would cause harm to the small and medium-sized businesses that depend on affordable ads to reach customers on different mediums.”
Public Knowledge (PK) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) warned that the FCC would violate the Communications Act if it abandons universal service in favor of speeding copper retirement. In a joint filing posted Tuesday, the groups reminded the FCC that in the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2017, Congress found that “maintaining quality voice service to rural America remains essential even in the Internet Age.”
While USTelecom and other industry groups generally supported the FCC’s push to enable faster retirement of copper lines, other organizations raised concerns, especially over the role copper lines have historically played in emergency calling. Comments were due this week in docket 25-208.