FCC Holds First In-Person Meeting Since Shifting to Remote Work

FCC commissioners held their monthly meeting Wednesday at the agency’s new headquarters for the first time, making it the first in-person meeting for commissioners since the COVID-19 pandemic caused the agency to shift to remote work. "We hope to use today's open meeting as a first step toward welcoming the agency and the public into our new building," Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said at the meeting, which was also in part held virtually. Media and the public couldn't attend in person.

The hybrid meeting, which combined in-person commissioners and staff appearing by videoconference, was the first in the FCC’s new meeting room in their new headquarters in Washington's NoMa district. The hybrid set-up was intended to assess the possibility of returning to in-person open meetings, Rosenworcel said on a post-meeting press call. She didn’t say if the April meeting will be in-person or hybrid or return to all virtual but said she wants to get back to physical open meetings “as soon as safely possible.” She called the meeting “a first step toward reopening” and said the FCC will “have a conversation” about re-entry with the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force and the union for FCC employees, the National Treasury Employees Union. Tracy Bridgham, president of the NTEU’s FCC chapter, said earlier this month NTEU doesn’t want the FCC to rush into the next phase of re-entry, and the current maximum telework phase should remain in place “for a while” (see 2203040052).

Commissioners unanimously approved a notice of inquiry seeking comment on digital discrimination, as expected (see 2203150051). The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act mandated that the FCC adopt rules combating digital discrimination. Congress gave the FCC “the heavy task of outlining and understanding its root causes,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

The final NOI addresses some comments raised in ex parte filings, D'wana Terry, special adviser to Rosenworcel and head of the FCC's cross-agency digital discrimination task force, told reporters Wednesday (see 2202080013).

Commissioners also unanimously adopted a Further NPRM seeking comment on who should pay the cost of a pole replacement and whether the agency should adopt additional measures to expedite dispute resolutions. “Pole attachments and replacements don’t always receive the attention they deserve,” Rosenworcel said. “We can’t afford to have access to utility poles become an impediment to broadband deployment.”

“The more clarity we can provide with regard to pole replacements, the faster access to poles can be granted, and in turn the faster families can get connected,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr. Acting now is “particularly important” given the recent federal broadband investment, Carr said, noting he “continues to hear concerns from broadband builders about unnecessary delays when they seek to attach poles that are owned by municipal or cooperative utilities.”

Expediting pole access “is a critical element of extending broadband to unserved communities,” said NCTA, “applauding the FCC for initiating this proceeding.” The Wireline Bureau made “a few changes” in response to the record it received before the meeting, Associate Bureau Chief Adam Copeland told reporters. Among the changes are modifications to the item’s discussion on red tagging, additional questions about the nondiscrimination provision, and other “infrastructure-related barriers to deployment that may exist,” Copeland said. The bureau also extended the pleading cycle to a 60-day deadline for comments, 90 days for replies, he said.

Commissioners approved the fourth and final round of connected care pilot program participants, with projects focused on low-income and veteran patients. The projects cover 16 applications totaling about $29 million in funding requests. The adopted public notice also waived an administrative filing deadline for previously selected participants. It has “become clear there is bipartisan support for legislative measures that may be necessary to keep the success we have seen with telehealth going,” Carr said.

Commissioners also voted 4-0 to revoke Pacific Networks’ and its subsidiary ComNet’s authority to offer domestic or international services in the U.S. Rosenworcel said the FCC already scoped potential action against Russian companies since that country’s invasion of Ukraine. The FCC “completed a top-to-bottom review … associated with Russian interests in communications,” Rosenworcel told reporters: “We have shared that information with our national security colleagues.”

Starks suggested a focus on Russia, noting Russian hackers “are seeking to sabotage Ukraine's networks, utilizing new ways of attacking critical infrastructure, financial and government networks.” The U.S. hasn't had a coordinated attack on its networks but “we cannot ignore the capabilities of Russian state actors,” he said.

The FCC revoked Pacific Networks’ and ComNet’s section 214 authority saying doing so “safeguards the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure from potential security threats.” The FCC acted “based on input from Executive Branch agencies, thorough review of the companies’ responses in this proceeding, the public record, and the FCC’s public interest analysis under the law.” The order is effective 60 days after release.

Carr said the FCC should do more to protect national security. “The FCC must ensure that our covered list stays up-to-date” and should add China Telecom, China Unicom and Pacific Networks and ComNet to the list, he said. The FCC should seek executive agency input on other Chinese companies, including drone company DGI (see 2110190051), he said. The FCC should look at whether some companies are continuing to offer private networks or data centers after having their section 214 authority revoked, he said: “This is not a development that we can afford to ignore.”

Rosenworcel told reporters the FCC will likely update the covered list later this month after consultation with other federal agencies.

Carr also urged the FCC to complete a proceeding launched in June designed to further clamp down on gear from companies deemed to pose a security risk to U.S. networks (see 2106170063). CTA has raised concerns. “The Secure Equipment Act gives us additional authorities to close this loophole, and we should reach a final determination in that proceeding quickly,” he said.

With the latest revocations, the FCC is acting against the last of the Chinese providers identified as a threat by Team Telecom, Starks said: “Taken as a whole, our actions have strengthened our national security, affirmed the FCC’s statutory responsibility to protect the national defense and the safety of life and property.”

“Communications networks depend on trust,” Rosenworcel said: “It’s fundamental. That’s why during the past year” the FCC “has made it a priority to increase trust with a series of initiatives to support network security.”

Meeting Notebook

The FCC is “following the Broadband Data Act thoughtfully and carefully,” Rosenworcel told reporters after the GAO’s decision to deny and dismiss in part LightBox’s challenge of CostQuest’s award to produce the new map’s broadband serviceable location fabric (see 2203110040). “The most important thing to note is that GAO gave the green light” for the FCC to move forward with the fabric, Rosenworcel said. The software for the fabric is “underway,” she said, and the FCC will open its system for carriers to input data once it has been stress tested. Rosenworcel didn’t say when the new maps may be released. The maps should have been completed last year, Carr told reporters. “It’s a bit of a black box for me,” Carr said, noting he’s unaware of the current timeline for the new maps.

Carr told reporters he favors allowing “price discovery” in the planned 2.5 GHz auction, which would preclude a sealed-bid auction (see 2203100051). A more traditional simultaneous multiple-round (SMR) format makes “a lot of sense” given “the types of licenses here, where they’re not exactly fungible," he said. Carr said he plans to take another look “at where the record is developing on that.”

Rosenworcel said she's "disappointed" in NAB's opposition to the FCC's foreign sponsored content rules, which took effect Tuesday (see 2203150077). "I continue to believe this is a thoughtful exercise in diplomacy," she said in a post-meeting press call. Rosenworcel said the agency had pressed OMB to approve the rule's Paperwork Reduction Act provisions quickly in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The foreign sponsorship rules are in keeping with other FCC requirements on identifying the sponsors of content, she said. Commissioner Brendan Carr said on his own press call that he had no regrets about voting for the disclosure rules, which were unanimously approved. NAB has said its objections aren't to the disclosures but to the rule putting additional regulatory burdens on a broad scope of broadcasters when a very small number air foreign-sponsored content. The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council are challenging the rules in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit alongside NAB. Oral argument in the case is April 12.