News Update - April 2024
FCC Fines The Largest U.S. Mobile Wireless Providers For Failing To Protect And Illegally Sharing Customer Location Information
April 29, 2024 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued forfeiture orders against the largest U.S. mobile wireless providers for failing to take reasonable steps to protect its customers’ location information and “for illegally sharing access to customers’ location information without consent.” Under 47 U.S.C. 222, the Communications Act’s privacy statute, carriers are required to protect the confidentiality of certain customer data related to the provision of telecommunications service, including location information. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau began an investigation into how mobile wireless providers sell access to customers’ location information after learning that a Missouri Sheriff “used a ‘location-finding service’ operated by Securus…to access the location information of the wireless carriers’ customers without their consent between 2014 and 2017.” In general, each forfeiture order explains that the largest U.S. mobile wireless providers sold access to their customers’ location data to “location information aggregator” companies who then resold the data to third-party location-based service providers or, in some cases, to intermediary companies who then resold access to location-based service providers. The fines levied against AT&T and Sprint are unchanged from the amounts first proposed in their Notices of Apparent Liabilities (NALs). The fine amounts for T-Mobile and Verizon fines were reduced as a result of their response to their NALs.
AT&T, Inc. – Forfeiture Order – fined $57,265,625 for failing to take reasonable steps to protect its customers’ location information.
Sprint Corporation – Forfeiture Order – fined $12,240,000 for failing to take reasonable steps to protect its customers’ location information.
T-Mobile USA, Inc. – Forfeiture Order – fined $80,080,000 for failing to take reasonable steps to protect its customers’ location information.
Verizon Communications – Forfeiture Order – fined $46,901,250 for failing to take reasonable steps to protect its customers’ location information.
NTIA Approves BEAD Program Initial Proposals For Kansas, Nevada, & West Virginia
April 25, 2024 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Kansas, Nevada and West Virginia’s Initial Proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The Initial Proposals detail how each state plans to spend their BEAD allocation by providing grants to deploy high-speed broadband to all unserved and underserved locations within their borders. These three states may now request access to funding and begin implementation of their BEAD broadband grant programs. They received the following amounts under BEAD: Kansas – $451.7 million; Nevada – $416.6 million; and West Virginia – $1.2 billion. All states submitted their Initial Proposals by December 27, 2023. NTIA will continue to announce approval of Initial Proposals on a rolling basis. Updates on the status of other U.S states and territories’ Initial Proposals are available online from NTIA’s Bead Initial Proposal Progress Dashboard page.
Charter Defaults On RDOF Support In Michigan, Missouri, & Wisconsin
April 25, 2024 – Charter Communications, Inc. has notified the Federal Communications Commission that its affiliates Charter Fiberlink – Michigan LLC, Charter Fiberlink – Missouri, LLC, and Charter Fiberlink CCO, LLC are defaulting on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) winning bids in Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin. The defaulted RDOF winning bids represent approximately 2.4% of Charter’s RDOF locations. In its letter, Charter primarily blames its decision on costs related to utility poles:
Due largely to unforeseeable costs, primarily costs associated with the need for extensive utility pole replacements, deploying broadband in these few specific CBGs has become uneconomical. Despite years of consistent reiteration by the Commission that cost sharing principles apply to pole replacements, utilities generally have not been willing to share cost responsibility for pole replacements, and at best their practices are inconsistent, as the Bureau has observed.
FTC Approves Rule Banning Noncompete Agreements For All Workers
April 23, 2024 – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a final rule that bans noncompete agreements for all workers on a nationwide basis. Noncompete agreements impose contractual conditions that prevent workers from taking a new job or starting a new business, and often force workers to stay in a job they want to leave. The FTC estimates that 30 million workers are subject to a noncompete. The final rule banning noncompete agreements and clauses will become effective 120 days after it is published in the Federal Register. The FTC has released an outline that provides the following high-level overview of the rule:
The final rule bans new noncompetes with all workers, including senior executives after the effective date.
For existing noncompetes, the final rule adopts a different approach for senior executives than for other workers. For senior executives, existing noncompetes can remain in force. Existing noncompetes with workers other than senior executives are not enforceable after the effective date of the final rule.
The FTC estimates that banning noncompetes will result in: Reduced health care costs: $74-$194 billion in reduced spending on physician services over the next decade; New business formation: 2.7% increase in the rate of new firm formation, resulting in over 8,500 additional new businesses created each year; and Rise in innovation: an average of 17,000-29,000 more patents each year for the next ten years.
Altice USA, Inc. Affiliates Default On RDOF Awards In Arkansas, Kentucky, & West Virginia
April 19, 2024 – Altice USA, Inc.’s affiliates TCA Communications, LLC, Cebridge Telecom KY, LLC, and Cebridge Telecom WV, LLC have notified the Federal Communications Commission that they are defaulting on their Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) awards in 22 census block groups (CBGs) in Arkansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The Altice companies were awarded RDOF funding to deploy 100/20 Mbps broadband service. In the letter notifying the FCC of their failure to try and meet their obligations, the Altice companies provided the following explanation:
Altice is committed to closing the digital divide and delivering high-speed broadband to rural communities, including through expansion of its broadband network in Arkansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia, and had begun connecting unserved locations in some of these RDOF areas. By relinquishing these CBGs now, however, Altice helps ensure that unserved and underserved locations in these areas are eligible to receive federal funding through programs like NTIA’s Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (“BEAD”) Program. These states are in the process of finalizing their BEAD eligibility maps and removing the below CBGs as federally-funded with enforceable commitments will permit unserved and unserved locations in these areas to receive even higher speeds.
FCC Opens Rulemaking Proceeding On Independent Video Programming Issues
April 19, 2024 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) which seeks comment on: (1) the current state of the video programming marketplace for diverse and independent programming; and (2) obstacles faced by independent programmers seeking multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) carriage and carriage on online platforms and how this impacts consumers. To alleviate obstacles that may hinder independent programmers, the NPRM proposes to prohibit two types of contractual provisions in program carriage agreements between independent programmers and MVPDs: (i) most favored nation (MFN) provisions, and (ii) unreasonable alternative distribution method (ADM) provisions. Comments are due on or before 30 days after the NPRM is published in the Federal Register Reply comments are due 60 days after publication.
FCC Final Agenda For April 25th Open Meeting – Net Neutrality Order
April 18, 2024 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has set the final agenda for its open meeting on Thursday, April 25, 2024:
Implementation of the National Suicide Hotline Act of 2018 – The Commission will consider a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which would propose to require the implementation of one or more georouting solutions for wireless calls to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to ensure that calls are routed based on the geographic location for the origin of the call, rather than the area code and exchange associated with a wireless phone. (WC Docket No. 18-336)
Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet; Restoring Internet Freedom – The Commission will consider a Declaratory Ruling, Order, Report and Order, and Order on Reconsideration that would reestablish the Commission’s authority to protect consumers and safeguard the fair and open Internet by classifying broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service and classifying mobile broadband Internet access service as a commercial mobile service; exercising broad and tailored forbearance; and reinstating straightforward, clear rules to ensure Internet openness. (WC Docket No. 23-320)
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
FCC Announces Defaulted RDOF & CAF II Census Block Groups Eligible For Other Funding Programs
April 15, 2024 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has released a Public Notice announcing that certain Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II auction census block groups (CBGs) are now eligible for other funding programs. The following three providers have defaulted on winning RDOF and CAF II bids, making the relevant CBGs eligible for other funding:
RiverStreet Communications of North Carolina, Inc. (Study Area Code 239033) has notified the FCC that it will not fulfill its commitment to offer voice and broadband service to certain CBGs within its CAF Phase II auction supported service area in North Carolina.
Cebridge Telecom LA, LLC (Study Area Code 279064) has notified the FCC of its decision to withdraw from the RDOF support program in all the CBGs covered by its authorized winning bids in Louisiana.
Cable One VoIP LLC d/b/a Sparklight (Study Area Code 279065) has notified the FCC of its decisions to withdraw from the RDOF support program in all the CBGs covered by its authorized winning bids in Louisiana.
Large ISPs Now Required To Display Broadband Consumer Labels
April 10, 2024 – Starting today, large Internet service providers (ISPs) are required to display broadband consumer labels for online and in-store points of sale. In a 2022 Report And Order, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules requiring “ISPs to display, at the point of sale, labels that disclose certain information about broadband prices, introductory rates, data allowances, and broadband speeds, and to include links to information about their network management practices, [and] privacy policies.” Broadband consumer labels resemble nutrition labels that appear on food products. The FCC adopted one label requiring the same information and in the same format for both fixed and mobile broadband service offerings. ISPs with 100,000 or fewer subscribers are required to begin displaying broadband labels by October 10, 2024. Additionally, by October 10, 2024, all ISPs “will be required to make their broadband labels machine-readable to enable third parties to more easily collect and aggregate data for the purpose of creating comparison-shopping tools for consumers.”
Senator Cantwell & Representative McMorris Rodgers Release Draft Version Of Comprehensive Privacy Law
April 7, 2024 – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, have released the American Privacy Rights Act, a draft version of a comprehension privacy law. The discussion draft legislation would replace the patchwork of state laws with a single national privacy standard, and restrict the amount of data that “companies can collect, keep and use about people, of any age,” while also creating a private right of action for privacy violation. The discussion draft of the American Privacy Rights Act and a section-by-section summary are available online.
FCC Tentative Agenda For April Open Meeting Contains Net Neutrality Order
April 4, 2024 – Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has announced the following tentative agenda for the FCC’s next open meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 25, 2024:
Promoting a Fast, Open, and Fair Internet – The Commission will consider a Declaratory Ruling, Order, Report and Order, and Order on Reconsideration that would reestablish the Commission’s authority to protect consumers and safeguard the fair and open Internet by classifying broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service and classifying mobile broadband Internet access service as a commercial mobile service; exercising broad and tailored forbearance; and reinstating straightforward, clear rules to ensure Internet openness. (WC Docket No. 23-320)
Georouting for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline – The Commission will consider a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which would propose to require the implementation of one or more georouting solutions for wireless calls to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to ensure that calls are routed based on the geographic location for the origin of the call, rather than the area code and exchange associated with a wireless phone. (WC Docket No. 18-336)
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
Enforcement Bureau Action – The Commission will consider an enforcement action.
