Good afternoon from Washington, DC! Below you will find TLP’s Weekly Wireless Wrap-Up, your weekly update on the wireless telecommunications regulatory landscape, important wireless decisions, and more! Notably, this week, the FCC released its Agenda for the September Open Meeting and reminded providers that their obligation to block calls from providers not listed in the Robocall Mitigation Database had begun. Here’s your wrap-up:
FCC:
- Late last Wednesday, September 22, 2021, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released a Public Notice encouraging 2.5 GHz Rural Tribal Priority Window applicants to resolve mutually exclusive applications. As of September 22, 2021, the Bureau had granted 270 licenses, and was working to process the remaining pending applications, a majority of which involved mutual exclusivity concerns. For more information see our post here.
- Also on Wednesday, the FCC published the 2021 Regulatory Fees Report and Order in the Federal Register setting an effective date of September 22, 2021. For more information, see our post here.
- On Thursday, September 23, 2021, the FCC published the Report and Order establishing a streamlined process for private entities to submit information about unlawful, unwanted calls, setting an effective date of October 25, 2021. For more information, see our post here.
- Also on Thursday, the FCC released the Agenda for the September Open Meeting, which will be held tomorrow at 10:30 AM on the FCC’s webpage and YouTube channel. The FCC will consider nine items, including a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addressing SIM swap and port-out fraud that was added to the agenda after the release of the Tentative Agenda. For more information regarding wireless providers’ fee obligations, see our post here.
- On Tuesday, September 28, 2021, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released a Public Notice reminding handset manufactures and service providers of upcoming increases in deployment benchmarks for hearing aid-compatible handsets. Beginning October 4, 2021, handset manufactures will be required to ensure that 85% of covered wireless handsets are hearing aid-compatible. The benchmark for service providers will increase to 85% in 2022, for Tier I providers, and 2023, for all other providers. For more information, see our post here.
- Also on Tuesday, the Wireline Competition Bureau released a Public Notice reminding voice service providers that beginning on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, they are required to block calls from any voice service provider that has failed to file in the Robocall Mitigation Database. In addition, the Notice announced that the Bureau was creating an email subscription service to notify subscribers of updates to the Database. For more information see our post here.
Congress:
- Last Thursday, September 24, 2021, the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing entitled “National Cybersecurity Strategy: Protection of Federal and Critical Infrastructure Systems.” The hearing discussed ways the Federal Government could collect information on cyber-attacks, particularly those that target federal agencies, and ways to more effectively implement best practices to prevent and respond to such attacks. Witnesses included Chris Inglis, National Cyber Director in the Executive Office of the President, Jen Easterly, Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the Department of Homeland Security, and Christopher DeRusha, Federal Chief Information Security Officer in the Office of Management and Budget. For more information and to view the hearing, see the Committee’s website here.
For more information or assistance on telecommunications matters, please contact us.