News Update - April 2025
FCC Issues NPRM That Proposes Ways To Close The Non-IP Network Robocall Loophole
April 29, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) which is intended to close the non-IP network robocall loophole. 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.
To combat robocalls, the FCC approved rules requiring all IP-based voice service provider networks to implement STIR/SHAKEN. STIR/SHAKEN is defined as caller ID authentication standards that “serve as a common digital language used by phone networks, allowing valid information about a call to pass from provider to provider which, among other things, informs blocking tools of possible suspicious calls by making it easier to detect spoofed calls.” Consequently, the FCC’s rules require voice providers to either upgrade their non-IP networks to IP or work toward developing an alternative caller ID authentication solution for non-IP networks.
Over the past few years, the voice communications services industry has developed and begun to utilize frameworks for authenticating calls on non-IP networks. With the NPRM, the FCC is now officially evaluating “whether any such non-IP caller ID authentication frameworks meet the requirements in the TRACED Act, and whether [it] should require providers who have not completed their IP transitions to implement one or more of these frameworks in their non-IP networks by a date certain.” In the NPRM, the FCC posits that two existing frameworks meet [the TRACED Act] standards while taking further comment on a third.” The FCC proposes requiring that providers regularly certify to their implementation. Additionally, the FCC proposes there be a two-year grace period for compliance with any adopted final rules.
FCC Releases Final Agenda For Open Meeting On April 28th
April 21, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission has released the following final agenda for the FCC’s open meeting on Monday, April 28, 2025:
Modernizing Spectrum Sharing for Satellite Broadband – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would promote efficient spectrum sharing between geostationary and non-geostationary satellite systems. To take account of today’s satellite technology and operations and to promote efficient co-existence and expanded services to American consumers, the item would review power limits developed in the 1990s on non-geostationary satellite orbit, fixed-satellite service systems for the protection of geostationary satellite networks. (SB Docket No. 25-157)
Utilizing the Lower 37 GHz Band – The Commission will consider a Report and Order, Sixth Report and Order, and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking establishing a licensing framework for use of the 37–37.6 GHz band (Lower 37 GHz band). (WT Docket No. 24-243; GN Docket No. 14-177)
Caller ID Authentication on Non-IP Networks to Block Robocalls – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to develop a framework for evaluating whether non-IP caller ID authentication solutions are developed and reasonably available, as required by the TRACED Act, proposes to conclude that certain existing solutions satisfy those requirements, and proposes to require that providers that continue to rely on non-IP networks implement non-IP caller ID authentication solutions. (WC Docket No. 17-97)
Clarifying Foreign Ownership Rules – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would set clear expectations about the Commission’s review under section 310(b) of the Act of foreign investment in common carrier wireless, aeronautical radio, and broadcast licensees to reduce unnecessary burdens on industry while continuing to protect the public interest, including national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, and trade policy. (GN Docket No. 25-149)
The FCC’s April 28 open meeting is scheduled to commence at 10:30 a.m. ET in the Commission Meeting Room of the Federal Communications Commission, 45 L Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. The meeting is open to the public, but the FCC headquarters building is not open access, and all guests must check in with and be screened by FCC security at the main entrance on L Street. All FCC open meetings are streamed live at www.fcc.gov/live.
FCC Suspends Seven Individuals From The E-Rate Program And All Other Federal Universal Service Fund Support Mechanisms
April 16, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has suspended seven individuals from the E-Rate program and all other federal universal service fund support mechanisms. Also, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has initiated debarment proceedings against the seven individuals, all of whom have been convicted of fraud related to their participation in the E-Rate program. The FCC’s News Release provides the following information on the action:
Corporations controlled by these individuals requested over $35 million in E-Rate funds and received over $14 million in E-Rate funds from around 2010 to 2016, but did not provide much of the equipment for which they billed the federal government. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau suspended each individual from further participation in the E-Rate program and began proceedings to ban them from participation in the future.
In 2023, the Department of Justice announced the sentencing of Peretz Klein, Ben Klein, Moshe Schwartz, Simon Goldbrener, Sholem Steinberg, Aron Melber, and Susan Klein, who previously pled guilty to defrauding the federal E-Rate program in connection with E-Rate funds provided to private religious schools in Rockland County, New York.
Court Requires ISPs In Spain To Block IP Addresses Connected To Live Pirated Streams Of La Liga Soccer Games
April 15, 2025 – Internet service providers in Spain are blocking IP addresses that are associated with live pirated streams of La Liga soccer games. The Commercial Court No. 6 of Barcelona, Spain issued an order in December 2024, which was upheld on appeal in March 2025, that authorizes La Liga to require Spanish ISPs to block the IP addresses that are facilitating pirated live streams. The court order was obtained by La Liga and Telefónica Audiovisual Digital S.L.U., who purchased the rights to broadcast La Liga matches in Spain for $1.36 billion. However, according to cloud infrastructure providers such as Vercel and Cloudfare, the IP address blocking is being implemented “without distinguishing between infringing and non-infringing services,” resulting in legitimate websites which have no connection to pirated streams being rendered inaccessible.
FCC Announces Tentative Agenda For Open Meeting On April 28th
April 7, 2025 – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has announced the following tentative agenda for the FCC’s next open meeting scheduled for Monday, April 28, 2025:
Modernizing Spectrum Sharing for Satellite Broadband – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would promote efficient spectrum sharing between geostationary and non-geostationary satellite systems. To take account of today’s satellite technology and operations and to promote efficient co-existence and expanded services to American consumers, the item would review power limits developed in the 1990s on non-geostationary satellite orbit, fixed-satellite service systems for the protection of geostationary satellite networks. (SB Docket No. 25-157)
Utilizing the Lower 37 GHz Band – The Commission will consider a Report and Order, Sixth Report and Order, and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking establishing a licensing framework for use of the 37–37.6 GHz band (Lower 37 GHz band). (WT Docket No. 24-243; GN Docket No. 14-177)
Caller ID Authentication on Non-IP Networks to Block Robocalls – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to develop a framework for evaluating whether non-IP caller ID authentication solutions are developed and reasonably available, as required by the TRACED Act, proposes to conclude that certain existing solutions satisfy those requirements, and proposes to require that providers that continue to rely on non-IP networks implement non-IP caller ID authentication solutions. (WC Docket No. 17-97)
Clarifying Foreign Ownership Rules – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would set clear expectations about the Commission’s review under section 310(b) of the Act of foreign investment in common carrier wireless, aeronautical radio, and broadcast licensees to reduce unnecessary burdens on industry while continuing to protect the public interest, including national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, and trade policy. (GN Docket No. 25-149)
The FCC’s April 28 open meeting is scheduled to commence at 10:30 a.m. ET in the Commission Meeting Room of the Federal Communications Commission, 45 L Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. The meeting is open to the public, but the FCC headquarters building is not open access, and all guests must check in with and be screened by FCC security at the main entrance on L Street. All FCC open meetings are streamed live at www.fcc.gov/live.
FCC Announces Reduced Pricing For Access To Reassigned Numbers Database
April 7, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission has announced reduced pricing for access to the Reassigned Numbers Database. Specifically, effective April 28, 2025, the pricing for querying the Reassigned Numbers Database will be reduced for all subscriptions by 20%, and two more Tiers (Tiers 3A and 4A) will be added. The Reassigned Numbers Database allows callers to determine whether a telephone number has been permanently disconnected and therefore is no longer assigned to the party the caller wants to reach. It contains reassigned number information from each provider that obtains North American Numbering Plan U.S. geographic numbers and toll free numbers. The FCC’s rules require service providers to report disconnection information to the Reassigned Numbers Database Administrator each month. Additional information about pricing is available on the Reassigned Numbers Database website.
FCC Wireline Bureau Issues Order Dismissing And Denying Enhanced A-CAM Petitions For Reconsideration
April 4, 2025 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has issued an Order On Reconsideration which addresses several petitions for reconsideration of the 2023 Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced A-CAM) Order. The FCC’s Enhanced A-CAM program will provide model-based funding to rural rate-of-return carriers that opt in to the program for a 15-year term in exchange for deploying 100/20 Mbps or faster broadband service and voice service to all locations in their service areas by the end of 2028.
The Bureau’s Order On Reconsideration addresses five petitions for reconsideration of various parts of the Order, filed by The ACAM Broadband Coalition; St. James Township and Peaine Township, Beaver Island, MI; Blooston Rural Carriers; the Coalition of RDOF Winners; and NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association.
First, the Bureau has clarified an Enhanced A-CAM support recipient’s obligations when filing cybersecurity and supply chain risk management plans, and as a result, has dismissed as moot a petition raising this issue.
Second, the other petitions, which raised several arguments, were denied or dismissed because the Bureau concluded they “fail to identify any material error, omission, or reason warranting reconsideration, rely on arguments that have been fully considered and rejected by the Commission, or raise issues beyond the scope of the Enhanced A-CAM Order.” The arguments raised in these petitions that were denied by the Bureau cover the following issues: changes to the enhanced a cam program’s deployment deadlines; processes for determining locations that are ineligible due to presence of unsubsidized competition; and provision of support to unserved areas subject to a previously awarded grant.
Mergers & Acquisitions: TurboNet Technologies’ RDOF Support & Obligations Transferred To United Fiber
April 2, 2025 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has granted a Section 214 application filed by TurboNet Technologies, Inc. (TurboNet) and United Fiber, LLC (United Fiber). By granting the application, the Bureau’s has consented to the transfer of TurboNet’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support and related buildout and service obligations associated with three census block groups in Lafayette County, Missouri (291070902003, 291070902004, and 291070902005) to United Fiber. There are 72 census blocks and 496 locations in the three transferred census block groups. The total amount of RDOF support being assigned to United Fiber is $700,874.20.
