Broadband providers, broadcasters, satellite companies and the FirstNet Authority urged the FCC not to expand outage reporting requirements. Meanwhile, groups such as Public Knowledge, Next Century Cities and The Utility Reform Network (TURN) said increased reporting rules are a matter of public safety. Comments were filed in docket 21-346 by Monday’s deadline.

The possible end of the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) isn't an excuse to make sweeping changes to state broadband grant rules, ISPs told the California Public Utilities Commission this week. In Monday comments (docket R.20-08-021), AT&T, Frontier Communications, cable companies and small rural local exchange carriers urged the CPUC to swiftly reject last month’s The Utility Reform Network (TURN) petition to modify rules for the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband infrastructure account (see 2404150062).

Non-stand-alone 5G networks tied to a core 4G network worked well in 5G's first phase, but they can’t handle network slicing and other things the new generation of wireless is promising, speakers said Monday during Fierce Network’s Cloud Native 5G Summit.

A California proposal to allow people without social security numbers (SSNs) to sign up for low-income telecom support was mostly supported in comments Friday at the California Public Utilities Commission. However, consumer advocates sought tweaks to the CPUC staff proposal to ensure maximum inclusion and disagreed with T-Mobile’s Assurance Wireless on whether accepting applications without SSNs should be mandatory. Other companies generally praised the staff plan while seeking more clarity on certain details.

Opening the 2 GHz band and the 1.6/2.4 GHz band to more satellite operators won't happen without a fight from incumbent satellite operators in those bands. SpaceX is pushing for such openings (see 2403270002). EchoStar and Globalstar argued against amending the rules governing those bands in comments posted Monday. The FCC Space Bureau in March rejected SpaceX requests to operate in the bands but put on public notice SpaceX petitions about amending the rules governing the bands.

Sometime in October 2025, expect the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to issue rules requiring that companies report cyber incidents and ransomware payments, Wiley's Sydney White said during the second part of an FCBA CLE on Thursday (see 2405090051). The rules are part of additional authority CISA received under the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA). Numerous cyber incident-reporting requirements exist, so new requirements will add to companies' reporting burden, experts said.

Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley signaled that his company is open to selling “assets” amid rumors that it's eyeing divesting 60 stations. Meanwhile, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said broadcasters can’t have confidence about transactions in the current regulatory environment. The CEOs spoke during their respective Q1 earnings calls last week. Ripley, Sook and executives from Gray and E.W. Scripps also discussed progress on ATSC 3.0, a backloaded political advertising market, and streaming during earnings calls.

House Republicans pushed back during a Friday Communications Subcommittee field hearing in Bakersfield, California, against calls for Congress to allocate stopgap funding to the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program and the rollout of NTIA’s $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment program. ACP supporters believe they made progress last week toward securing a path that keeps the program funded in FY 2024 despite proposals attaching funding to the FAA Reauthorization Act (HR-3935) failing in the Senate (see 2405100046).

The number of states with privacy laws reached 18 after Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed SB-541/HB-567 on Thursday. Vermont and Minnesota could soon join the ranks. While not first, Maryland “sets the new standard” for state privacy laws and “raises the bar” for Congress, said Caitriona Fitzgerald, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) deputy director, in an interview. Meanwhile, in California, the first state with a privacy law, board members of the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) slammed the preemptive current draft of a privacy bill from Congress.

The Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday plans to mark up legislation that would regulate kids’ social media use, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., announced Friday.