On Friday, the FCC put out a statement indicating Chairman Ajit Pai is aiming to suspend some of the major portions of an Obama-era privacy rule that many cable and wireless operators panned as unfair. “Chairman Pai believes that the best way to protect the online privacy of American consumers is through a comprehensive and…
FCC Chairman Pai Announces Pilot Program to Release Commission Documents to the Public
If you caught an Ajit Pai speech at a telecom trade show in the last couple years, you quite likely heard his opinions that he wanted to see the FCC’s operations become more transparent to the public. Now that his title has moved from commissioner to chairman, it’s apparent he’s looking to have a lot…
New FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee: Call for Nominations
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced the formation of a new federal advisory committee to explore ways to accelerate deployment of high-speed internet access across the United States and to close the digital divide. Nominees for the committee “will be drawn from a diverse set of stakeholders to address specific regulatory barriers to broadband deployment in…
ISP Groups Call for a Stay on FCC Broadband Privacy Rules
Internet service providers’ trade associations called on the FCC on Friday for a stay on broadband privacy rules the Commission adopted last year. Approved along party lines and under then-Chairman Tom Wheeler, the rules were widely panned by broadband groups at the time. Among the associations filing for the stay last week were the American…
Republicans Call on FCC Chair to Hit the Kill Switch on ‘Unlock the Box’
It certainly didn’t take long for Republicans in Congress to suggest that new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai slap down the former chairman’s proposal to “Unlock the Box,” which would basically require TV providers to make their programming available through third-party devices instead of just cable boxes. In a Wednesday letter to Pai, the Committee on Energy and…
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: Congratulations and Concerns
Conjecture over the last several weeks that Ajit Pai would be named the new chairman of the FCC was confirmed on Monday by President Trump. Pai, a Republican, frequently wrote dissents to regulations advocated by former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler, and in a speech back in December, Pai indicated confidence that the 2015 net neutrality…
FCC Chairman Wheeler Calls for Net Neutrality to Remain
The FCC posted a transcript on Friday of what was billed as FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s final public address before he steps down from the post on Jan. 20. It happened at the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C., and featured Wheeler making direct reference to his strong opinions that the FCC’s open internet rules and…
Colorado Governor Joins the Battle to Bring Better Broadband to Rural America
Donald Trump’s promise during the campaign season to improve infrastructure in the United States has emboldened some politicians to stress that the country’s infrastructure challenges don’t exclusively revolve around dumpy major airports or crumbling roads and bridges. Broadband access, especially in rural areas, is a big issue and one that needs addressing much sooner than later if…
ACA Cheers House Passage of Small Business Enhanced Transparency Exemption Bill
The Small Business Broadband Deployment Act passed the House on Tuesday, which garnered applause from the American Cable Association. The crux is that it would exempt ISPs with fewer than 250,000 subscribers from transparency requirements that were required by the FCC’s Open Internet order − which to call contentious is probably a vast understatement. Last…
General Cable Settles on Bribery Charges
Kentucky-based General Cable Corp., which offers aluminum, copper, and fiber-optic cable solutions, announced on Thursday that it has entered into agreements with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice to end the agencies’ investigations relating to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the SEC’s separate accounting investigation related to the company’s…
Cable Groups and Others Respond to FCC Chair Wheeler’s Departure
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s announcement this week that he will depart the agency in January wasn’t exactly a surprise, but he did keep things interesting after the election by dodging questions about when or if he would step down. Reactions continue to stream in including the following from Michael Powell, president/CEO of NCTA, which given…
Wheeler to Leave FCC
FCC chairs usually tender their resignations when a new administration takes over, but Tom Wheeler kept everyone guessing over the last several weeks. On Thursday morning, the FCC confirmed his departure effective Jan. 20. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (who usually, but not always, votes along Democratic lines with Wheeler) was not approved for a new term…
FCC Regulatory Rollback Under the GOP?
It doesn’t take a great deal of prescience to guess Republicans will gain the majority advantage in the FCC as the new GOP administration takes over. There’s been a huge amount of conjecture splashed all over the web by analysts and journalists about what that could mean to the regulations Chairman Tom Wheeler spearheaded during…
FCC Report Shows Cable as Front Runner in Boosting Broadband Speeds
Cable’s broadband speeds stood out in the just-released “Measuring Broadband America” report put out by the FCC. It’s the sixth study of its kind and tracks nationwide performance of consumers’ fixed broadband internet access services. The Commission says it updated its methodology this year to better represent typical performance by using medians in place of…
Senator Gillibrand Pushes Rural Broadband Bill
Rural access to high-speed broadband is generally a problem. And most of us living in a major metro leaning hard on the internet to get through the day don’t feel the pain unless we’re on a pastoral vacation or visiting relatives for what turns out to be a low-speed holiday. If you’ve had the experience, it…
U.K. Regulator Orders a Openreach/BT Split
Ofcom, which is the communications regulator in the United Kingdom, reported on Tuesday that it was making a formal notification to require the legal separation of Openreach from BT. It says BT fell well short when the regulator asked for voluntary proposals to address competition concerns. The core of the Ofcom proposal is a requirement…
FCC’s Proposed BDS Order Could Be Dangerous to Broadband Innovation, CenturyLink Charges
CenturyLink is getting pretty darn snippy in its latest comments about the FCC’s proposal for business data services (BDS). The company released a statement on Monday saying the Commission’s proposal “suggests an intent to ignore” information in the record that demonstrates competition in the market. CenturyLink’s filing with the FCC also says the “record clearly…
Comcast Executive Responds to FCC’s ISP Privacy Ruling
“For over two decades, ISPs and all other internet companies have operated under the FTC’s privacy regime and during that time, the internet thrived, consumer privacy was protected and ISPs handled consumer data responsibly,” David L. Cohen, senior executive VP and chief diversity officer at Comcast says in a blog posted after Thursday’s 3-2 decision…
Profoundly Disappointing or Empowering to Consumers? Reactions to the Newly Adopted FCC Privacy Rules for ISPs
On a 3-2 party line vote, the FCC adopted new rules today that require broadband internet service providers (ISPs) to implement privacy requirements for subscribers, which the Commission says in a statement gives “broadband customers the tools they need to make informed decisions about how their information is used and shared by their ISPs.” The…
Consumer Complaints to FCC About Bills for Services/Equipment They Didn’t Order Result in Fine to Comcast, and the Operator Responds (Update)
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include Comcast’s response. (See below.) On Tuesday, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau reported that Comcast will pay a $2.3 million fine to resolve an investigation into whether the company wrongfully charged cable TV subscribers for services and equipment not authorized by them. The FCC notes in a statement that it…
Set-Top Box Proposal Dropped from FCC Meeting Agenda
The drama swirling around the FCC’s planned vote on its set-top proposal ended with a statement on Thursday that the order was removed from the agenda. The so-called “Unlock the Box” would require TV providers to make their programming available through third-party devices instead of just cable boxes. “We are still working to resolve the…
Rural Broadband Bill Introduced by Senators
U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill on Wednesday they say could help close the digital divide in rural areas in the U.S. It would allow for federal grants of up to 50 percent of a project’s cost, and up to 75 percent for remote, high-need areas, to be…
Apps-Driven Approach: FCC Chairman Wheeler Modifies Set-Top Plan
A new proposal was offered by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on Thursday revising his “Unlock the Box” plan, which is reviewed in a fact sheet available here. An initial review of the FCC document appears to take into account some of the proposals made by the cable industry on app-driven rules via the alternate “Ditch…
‘Appropriate Thresholds And Unambiguous Metrics’: ACA Files with FCC on Network Outage Reporting Requirements
The American Cable Association, which represents small and medium operators, filed comments with the FCC saying that new outage reporting requirements adopted by the Commission should be based on “appropriate thresholds and unambiguous metrics that provide the FCC with relevant information about significant outages while minimizing burdens on smaller providers.” The crux of ACA’s concern with…
Computer & Communications Industry Association Submits White Paper to FCC on ‘Unlock the Box’
“The cable industry and others have offered an alternative apps plan that would still leave them in control while falling short on ensuring competition and consumer choice,” the Computer & Communications Industry Association says in a recent statement in reference to the FCC’s controversial “unlock the box” proposal. The CCIA is using a white paper…