Good afternoon from Washington, DC! Below you will find this week’s Wireless Wrap-Up; your update on the wireless telecommunications regulatory landscape, important wireless decisions, and more! Here is your wrap-up:
- OPEN MEETINGS
- Next Thursday, 3/14, the FCC will host its March Open Meeting. The FCC is tentatively scheduled to consider five items, including a Report and Order to create a voluntary cybersecurity labeling program for Internet of Things products and a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on supplemental coverage from space. For more information on the tentative agenda, see our post here.
- ROBOTEXTS
- On 3/1, the FCC published in the Federal Register notice that it had received OMB approval for the Report and Order requiring providers to block, at a network level, certain text messages that are highly likely to be illegal based upon a reasonable DNO list, thereby establishing the compliance date. For more information and to view a copy of the Report and Order, see our post here.
- TCPA
- On 3/5, the FCC published in the Federal Register the Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“R&O” and “FNPRM” respectively) codifying certain consumer protections under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) and proposing to clarify that the TCPA applies to robocalls and robotexts from wireless providers to their own subscribers. For more information and to view a copy of the Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, see our post here.
- AFFORDABLE CONNECTIVITY PROGRAM
- On 3/4, the FCC announced that April will be the final fully funded month of the Affordable Connectivity Program (“ACP”). There will be partial funding of the program in May, but after May the ACP will no longer support any benefits to enrolled households absent additional funding from Congress. For more information, view the FCC’s Public Notice here and the Press Release here.
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