The administration views open and interoperable networks as “the way of the future” and the $1.5 billion Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund will "help put the U.S. and its partners at the forefront of that innovation,” NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said Thursday at a public session where officials took questions and explained the fund. Timing is tight: Applications are due June 2 and NTIA plans to make the first awards in August, Davidson said. Another round of funding will come next year.
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Meta should be banned from monetizing children’s data, the FTC said Wednesday, claiming the company violated its 2020 privacy order with the agency.
Senate Judiciary Committee members hope for unanimous support Thursday during a markup on legislation meant to protect children on social media, despite opposition from Public Knowledge and industry groups (see 2305010034 and 2304200032).
Lukas LaFuria’s David LaFuria, who represents smaller carriers, raised process concerns on the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (SCRP) in a call with FCC staff. The process is improving, but concerns remain, said a filing Tuesday in docket 21-232. “When a reimbursement request does not precisely match the original application, a carrier must amend its application,” LaFuria said: This “freezes the processing of the entire application, and it threatens the congressionally mandated timeline for completing the SCRP. The amendment process is also time-consuming for applicants, as it requires creating and updating a detailed and highly particular macro-enabled Excel spreadsheet each time.” He also urged the FCC to “develop a means for applicants to process a single invoice multiple times when the purchased goods are used in multiple projects.” The agency “could allow items purchased in bulk to be put into an ‘inventory’ category and removed in increments as needed on a site based on average unit cost,” he said.
A draft order, Further NPRM and NPRM on the broader 12 GHz band includes, as expected (see 2304260072), asking about fixed-wireless use in the lower part. It also asks about possible unlicensed use. The FCC also released a draft order on the 60 GHz band and a robocall order and FNPRM. All are proposed for votes at commissioners' May 18 open meeting. The proposed title of the 12 GHz draft is “Optimizing Spectrum for Services from 6G to Satellite.”
The FCC shouldn’t extend broadcasters’ waiver of the 2013 audible crawl rule without gathering more information on NAB’s efforts to implement audible crawls or setting specific benchmarks for implementation, said the American Council for the Blind and the American Foundation for the Blind in comments posted in docket 12-107 Tuesday. “We are concerned that outreach related to this waiver petition is being performed to check-the-box and will continue to prove insufficient for finding or developing a solution to this problem,” said a joint filing from the consumer groups. Compliance with the 2013 rule requiring broadcasters to provide audio description on a second audio stream of emergency information conveyed through graphics was originally required by 2015, but the agency granted an 18-month waiver and has repeatedly extended it (see 2304100058). NAB requested a two-year extension for the current waiver, which expires May 26. In comments posted Tuesday, the Society of Broadcast Engineers backed NAB’s request. “The technology for automated audio description of a dynamic image simply does not yet exist to permit broadcasters to effectively and efficiently abide by the non-textual component of the Audible Crawl Rule,” said SBE. The FCC should determine whether NAB has reached outside the broadcast industry to technical experts in AI and emergency alerting, the consumer groups said. “Without proactive outreach and engagement by broadcasters to the technology sector” a solution ”will not materialize and consumers with disabilities will never receive full and equal access to emergency alert information.”
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is proposing a bifurcated approach on the 12 GHz band for the commissioners' May 18 open meeting, dedicating the band's lower section, for now, to satellite broadband and the upper part to mobile broadband. The order involves some of the most hotly contested spectrum before the agency. The decision is in line with advocacy from SpaceX and others that said the upper 12 GHz band, which some refer to as 13 GHz, makes more sense as a target for wireless broadband than the lower 12 GHz (see 2210130063). Industry officials said the FCC may ask questions about fixed-wireless in the lower band. The FCC will also take on 60 GHz and robocalls.
The Texas House received a Senate-passed bill Wednesday that would add more teeth to the state’s already controversial social media law. Despite a tech industry challenge of the original 2021 law at the Supreme Court (see 2301230051), the Texas Senate voted 18-12 Tuesday for SB-2509 to create a new cause of action under the state’s deceptive trade practices law to allow private suits against platforms for not following the 2021 law. It would also allow the state attorney general to issue civil investigate demands if the AG “has reason to believe that a person has engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to engage in a violation of this chapter.”
Industry welcomed a draft FCC order that would modify access stimulation rules to close a loophole exploited by extending the rules to include IP-enabled service providers (IPES). Commissioners will consider the item during their open meeting Thursday (see 2303300070). Some sought clarifying language to ensure no additional loopholes may arise.
An FCC Further NPRM examining numerous enhancements for wireless emergency alerts is expected to be approved with limited tweaks at the commissioners' open meeting Thursday (see 2303300070), agency and industry officials said. Other wireless items, including receiver principles, are expected to be approved with minimal changes.