In response to great interest from Silicon Valley, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has released draft rules that would make valuable spectrum available for unlicensed wireless broadband services (i.e.,...more
Update 04.10.2020: The FCC has launched an online portal explaining the application process for grants from the $200 million in funding to support telehealth services described in this client update. The FCC will begin...more
4/16/2020
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Emergency Response ,
FCC ,
Filing Requirements ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Medicare ,
OCR ,
Physician Medicare Reimbursements ,
Physicians ,
Public Health ,
Relief Measures ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine ,
Waivers
The Federal Communications Commission recently adopted new measures to combat unwanted robocalls in a unanimous Declaratory Ruling and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The Declaratory Ruling clarifies that carriers can...more
In a recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a federal district court was not necessarily bound by the Federal Communications Commission’s prior interpretation of a federal statute over which the agency has...more
6/24/2019
/ Administrative Orders ,
Administrative Procedure ,
Appellate Courts ,
Binding Precedent ,
Dismissals ,
Due Process ,
Exclusive Jurisdiction ,
FCC ,
Hobbs Act ,
Interpretive Rule ,
Judicial Review ,
Legislative Rule ,
PDR Network LLC v Carlton & Harris Chiropractic Inc ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Set-Asides ,
TCPA ,
Unsolicited Advertisements ,
Unsolicited Faxes ,
Vacated
In an effort to reform and streamline its formal complaint procedures, the Federal Communications Commission has issued a new uniform set of procedural rules. As the FCC acknowledged in its earlier Notice of Proposed...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently adopted a number of orders and proposed rules affecting the availability and use of millimeter-wave spectrum for advanced fifth generation (5G) wireless networks. This is...more
On the eve of Thanksgiving, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a draft order to repeal its own net neutrality rules. The order, which is expected to be voted upon and approved by a partisan 3-2 vote on...more
11/28/2017
/ Broadband Internet Access Services (BIAS) ,
Broadband Privacy Rules ,
Communications Act of 1934 ,
Congressional Review Act ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Net Neutrality ,
Open Internet Rules ,
Repeal ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Section 706 ,
Title I ,
Title II
Last year, the contentious net neutrality debate appeared to be finally settled when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order.[1] But in May, the FCC launched...more
9/13/2017
/ Appeals ,
Broadband ,
Broadband Internet Access Services (BIAS) ,
Common Carriers ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Net Neutrality ,
Open Internet Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Rollbacks ,
Telecommunications ,
Title II ,
Trump Administration
Unsolicited robocalls are the top consumer complaint made to the Federal Communications Commission, which receives over 200,000 complaints a year. An estimated 2.5 billion robocalls are being made to consumers each month,...more
8/1/2017
/ Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Call Blocking ,
Comment Period ,
Consumer Fraud ,
FCC ,
Notice of Inquiry ,
NPRM ,
Public Comment ,
Robocalling ,
Spoofing ,
Unsolicited Phone Calls
New developments: Since we published our update below, the FCC has adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to begin the process of rolling back the rules and regulatory framework for net neutrality...more
5/19/2017
/ Appeals ,
Broadband ,
Broadband Internet Access Services (BIAS) ,
Common Carriers ,
En Banc Review ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Net Neutrality ,
NPRM ,
Open Internet Rules ,
Rollbacks ,
Title I ,
Title II ,
Trump Administration
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has waded back into the shark-infested waters of net neutrality by releasing a draft NPRM proposal to reverse the FCC’s recently upheld consumer protection rules prohibiting Broadband Internet Access...more
5/2/2017
/ Broadband Internet Access Services (BIAS) ,
Broadband Privacy Rules ,
Denial of Rehearing ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Net Neutrality ,
NPRM ,
Open Internet Rules ,
Repeal ,
Reversal ,
Rollbacks ,
Title II
New development: President Trump signed the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval on April 3, 2017. The Federal Communications Commission is now prohibited from promulgating rules “substantially similar” to...more
4/7/2017
/ Broadband ,
Broadband Internet Access Services (BIAS) ,
Broadband Privacy Rules ,
Common Carriers ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Exemptions ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Net Neutrality ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Right To Know ,
Rollbacks ,
State and Local Government ,
Substantially Similar ,
Trump Administration
Following the U.S. Senate’s recent vote, the U.S. House of Representatives has now voted to overturn the FCC’s Broadband Privacy Order using the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Enacted in 1996, the CRA allows Congress to...more
3/30/2017
/ Broadband Privacy Rules ,
Common Carriers ,
Communications Act 2003 ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights ,
Exemptions ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Net Neutrality ,
Obama Administration ,
Repeal ,
Right To Know ,
State and Local Government ,
Title II ,
Tracking Systems ,
Trump Administration
As anticipated, the Republican members of the Federal Communications Commission are taking steps to pare down the 2016 Broadband Privacy Order now that they are in the majority. The FCC has released an order staying the data...more
3/3/2017
/ Broadband ,
Broadband Internet Access Services (BIAS) ,
Common Carriers ,
Data Security ,
Deregulation ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Net Neutrality ,
Privacy Rule ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Stays ,
Telecommunications
In the days since the recent election, many tech, media and telecom industry observers remain unsure of what to expect from the Federal Communications Commission under the Trump administration. Fortunately, there are some...more
12/1/2016
/ Breach Notification Rule ,
Broadband ,
Broadband Internet Access Services (BIAS) ,
Cable Television Providers ,
Communications Act of 1934 ,
Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) ,
Data Security ,
Educational Institutions ,
FCC ,
Libraries ,
Lifeline Program ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Media ,
MVPD ,
Open Internet Rules ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Telecommunications ,
Transition Team ,
Trump Administration
The Federal Communications Commission recently released an order containing new privacy protections for customers of broadband internet access service (BIAS) providers, which was adopted by a 3-2 vote along partisan lines. In...more
11/15/2016
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Breach Notification Rule ,
Broadband ,
Broadband Internet Access Services (BIAS) ,
Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Security ,
FCC ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Open Internet Rules ,
Opt-Outs ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Privacy Laws ,
Telecommunications ,
Trump Administration ,
VoIP
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has struck a major blow to the FCC’s efforts to remove barriers to broadband service and promote competition in broadband markets. In State of Tennessee v. FCC, the court...more
8/15/2016
/ Appeals ,
Broadband ,
Competition ,
FCC ,
Infrastructure ,
Internet ,
Municipalities ,
Preemption ,
Section 706 ,
Telecommunications ,
Telecommunications Act ,
Utilities Sector
For two decades, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has relied on an inter-agency consulting process to evaluate matters before it that potentially raise issues of national security, foreign policy and trade policy. ...more
On its third try, the Federal Communications Commission finally got the sweeping net neutrality court victory it had been seeking for years. In US Telecom v. FCC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia...more
6/21/2016
/ Broadband ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Mobile Broadband Services ,
Net Neutrality ,
Open Internet Rules ,
Privacy Rule ,
Section 222 ,
Telecommunications
As previously promised in last year’s Open Internet Order, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or the Commission) has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking comment on proposed privacy requirements for...more
4/6/2016
/ Broadband ,
Consent ,
Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) ,
Data Security ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Net Neutrality ,
NPRM ,
Open Internet Rules ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Telecommunications
Privacy and data security are high priorities of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under the leadership of Chairman Tom Wheeler. In addition to significant enforcement actions against AT&T and TerraCom/YourTel that...more