Good afternoon from Washington, DC! Below you will find this week’s Weekly Wireless Wrap-Up, your update on the wireless telecommunications regulatory landscape, important wireless decisions, and more! Of note this week, the FCC released the Tentative Agenda for the January Open Commission Meeting and Alan Davidson was confirmed as head of NTIA. Here’s your wrap-up:
FCC:
- Last Wednesday, January 5, 2022, the FCC published in the Federal Register the Second Report and Order requiring covered text service providers to support Short Message Service (“SMS”) text messaging to 988 by routing covered 988 text messages to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 10-digit central telephone number by July 16, 2022. The Order is effective February 4, 2022. For more information and to view a copy of the Notice, see our post here.
- Last Thursday, January 6, 2022, the FCC released the Tentative Agenda for the January Open Meeting, scheduled for Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 10:30 AM. The Commission is tentatively scheduled to consider 8 items. Two items are of particular importance for wireless providers: 1) a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to require broadband internet access service providers to display “broadband nutrition labels” to consumers that disclose information about pricing, introductory rates, data allowances, speeds, and management practices, among other things; and 2) a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to update the equipment authorization rules to reflect more recent versions of the technical standards incorporated by reference in the Commission’s rules. For more information, to view a copy of the Tentative Agenda, and to view copies of the draft items scheduled for consideration, see our post here.
- Last Friday, January 7, 2022, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”) released a Request for Comment on several Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grant programs to be administered by NTIA, including the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (“BEAD”) program, the Middle-Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program, and the Digital Equity Planning Grant Program. Comments are due by 5 PM Eastern Time on February 4, 2022. For more information and to view a copy of the Request for Comment, see our post here.
Nominations
- Yesterday, the Senate voted 60-31 to approve Alan Davidson as head of NTIA. Davidson was nominated late last year by President Biden and will be the first permanent head of the agency since May 2019, when David Redl resigned. For more information on his nomination, see Congress’s website here.
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