On June 4, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) released a tentative agenda for the FCC’s June Open Meeting, which is scheduled for Thursday, June 25 at 10:30 AM ET. The agenda reflects Chairman Brendan Carr’s continued emphasis on national security, review of the universal service programs, and minimizing regulatory fees and delays in infrastructure deployment. Details on the five items expected to be considered at the Open Meeting are summarized below:
- Accelerating the Buildout of Submarine Cables – Second Report and Order and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, OI Docket No. 24-523; MD Docket No. 24-524. This Second Report and Order (2nd R&O) would find that the Cable Landing License Act and Executive Order 10530 authorize the Commission to regulate entities that own and/or operate submarine cable terminal equipment (SLTE) on a submarine cable connecting to the United States. In doing so, the 2nd R&O would grant a blanket license to current and future SLTE owners and operators that are not already licensed under the Commission’s submarine cable regulatory framework, with the exclusion of any entity that would not be qualified to hold a cable landing license under the Commission’s presumptive disqualifying conditions. SLTE owners and operators would be required to comply with routine cable landing license conditions, including filing annual reports and implementing cybersecurity and physical security risk management plans. Entities that are subject to a foreign adversary or that are listed on the Covered List will be required to file an SLTE Foreign Adversary Annual Report. Furthermore, the 2nd R&O would exempt submarine cable licenses from executive branch review (i.e., Team Telecom) where the applicant certifies that 10 national security standards are met. It would also exempt from executive branch review renewals or extensions that have been approved within the last three years.
The Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2nd FNPRM) seeks comment on whether there should be routine conditions for cable landing licenses and SLTE, including whether any of the 10 national security standards for presumptive exemption from executive branch referral should be applied as a routine condition. - Reviewing E-Rate Program and Student Screen Time – Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, WC Docket Nos. 26-133, 13-184, 21-93, 21-455. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would seek comment on the progress the E-Rate program has made in increasing telecommunications and internet service access in schools and on how to ensure children are using networks and services funded by the E-Rate program for educational purposes. The NPRM also would seek comment on whether Congress intended the E-Rate program to continue without sunsetting, whether vendor interests have caused changes to the scope of eligible services for the E-Rate program and whether and how much the E-Rate program has impacted educational practices and outcomes. Beyond seeking comment on eligibility questions, the NPRM would seek comment on, among other things, the FCC’s interpretation of the Children’s Internet Protection Act, which the Commission interprets as imposing restrictions only on devices owned by schools and libraries, and on potential steps the Commission can take to prevent children in schools and libraries from being exposed to obscene material online.
The Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) would seek comment on a proposal to implement new measures to reduce fraud among consultants related to the E-Rate program and on new oversight efforts for the program. In addition, it would seek comment on a proposal to define “consultant” broadly and on requiring an annual certification and disclosure form for each E-Rate consultant. The FNPRM also would seek comment on whether the FCC should make changes to its competitive bidding process and on whether it should delete certain Emergency Connectivity Fund program rules. - Cutting Red Tape and Accelerate the Buildout of Wireline Infrastructure – Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, WC Docket No. 25-253. This NPRM would seek comment on ways in which the FCC could limit state and local government processing times and fees related to wireline telecommunications infrastructure deployment and service provision authorizations. Specifically, the NPRM would seek comment on proposals that would place a presumptive 120-day time limit on state and local governments to review and act on requests for authorization to access and use public rights of way to provide wireline telecommunications services or deploy wireline telecommunications infrastructure. In addition, the NPRM would seek comment on a proposal to limit the fees state and local governments may assess against providers seeking authorizations for wireline telecommunications infrastructure deployment and service to a “reasonable approximation” of the government’s costs of managing its public rights of way related to a particular authorization. The NPRM would seek comment on a tentative conclusion that a state or local government cannot charge a materially higher fee to one provider of wireless telecommunications services than to other such providers for similar uses of the public rights of way. It also would seek comment on a proposal to presumptively prohibit state and local governments from exceeding review timelines or fee limits on the grounds that the same infrastructure may be used to provide additional services on a commingled basis.
- Improving Next Generation 911 Reliability and Interoperability – Second Report and Order and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, PS Docket Nos. 21-479 and 13-75. The Second Report and Order (2nd R&O) would implement rules to streamline and modernize the Commission’s Next Generation 911 (NG911) regulatory framework. In particular, the 2nd R&O would revise the definition of “covered 911 service providers” (CSPs) to include all categories of providers, such as Emergency Services IP networks (ESInets), Next Generation Core Services (NGCS) providers and providers of real-time location services, whose operations are essential to NG911 call delivery. The 2nd R&O would also revise the Commission’s 911 reliability requirements currently applicable to CSPs to reflect widely recognized reliability best practices related to physical diversity, network monitoring and operational integrity. To further support the seamless transfer of 911 calls, the 2nd R&O would adopt rules requiring ESInets and NGCS CSPs to file reports with the Commission describing the steps that they have taken to enable interstate NG911 interoperability. The 2nd R&O would also replace the current rules requiring CSPs to file annual compliance certifications with a requirement that CSPs file a one-time conformance certification filing that only needs to be updated in the event of material changes. Finally, the 2nd R&O would allow 911 Authorities to access CSP filings and codify current Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau investigatory processes.
The 2nd FNPRM would seek comment on whether the Commission should adopt additional interoperability requirements and on ways in which it can implement video technologies to improve accessibility for 911 in NG911 jurisdictions. - Modernizing of the Nation’s Alerting Systems – Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, PS Docket Nos. 25-224, 22-329, 15-91, and 15-94. The R&O would adopt targeted measures to ensure the security of EAS equipment, studio transmitter link equipment and any remotely managed equipment that routes, processes or inserts content into the EAS programming stream. The FNPRM would seek comment on a proposal to require authentication of alerts prior to transmission and on implementing a common message identifier or “universal alert manager ID” to improve detection and blocking of duplicate alerts. As it pertains to wireless emergency alert (WEA) geotargeting alerts, the FNPRM would seek comment on a proposal to eliminate certain WEA geotargeting exceptions and on ways to incentivize the use of and improve geofencing capabilities. Finally, the FNPRM would seek comment on removing and replacing outdated alerting requirements, on implementing EAS capabilities via software instead of hardware and retiring the 90-character maximum versions of WEA messages.