Welcome to the Tech & Telecom Weekly, an e-newsletter keeping you apprised of the latest developments in the telecommunications and high-tech industries.

Compliance Alerts

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) will hold its monthly Lifeline call on December 9, 2020, from 3:00-4:00pm ET. Interested participants can register here. During the call, USAC will provide updates about the Lifeline Program, the National Verifier and the National Lifeline Accountability Database, and will discuss upcoming compliance filings.

The FCC has released its Eligible Service List for the Schools and Libraries Program (commonly known as E-Rate) during the 2021-2022 funding year. The FCC also has authorized USAC to open its annual E-Rate application filing window within 60 days. (WC Docket 13-184, DA 20-1418)

The FCC has entered into a Consent Decree with Logix Communications, LP d/b/a Logix Fiber Networks for failure to timely file outage reports in the Commission’s Network Outage Reports System. Logix will pay a $64,000 civil penalty and will implement a compliance plan to ensure that mandatory reporting deadlines are met in the future. (DA 20-1397)
For more information about E-Rate and federal compliance issues, please contact Katherine Barker Marshall.

FCC Policy

The FCC has released the Final Agenda for its next Open Meeting scheduled for December 10, 2020, at 10:30am ET. It contains ten items, including a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to begin implementing section 10(a) of the TRACED Act and an Order on Reconsideration resolving requests for reversal of the agency’s decision that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act permits auto-dialed calls from government entities and government contractors without prior consumer consent. For more information, please contact Stephanie Joyce.

In the Courts

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that it failed to recruit, consider, or hire qualified U.S. workers for more than 2,600 positions. The Complaint seeks injunctive relief, civil penalties, and back pay with interest for the affected workers. For more information, please contact Stephanie Joyce.

Legislative Affairs

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing titled “The Invalidation of the EU-US Privacy Shield and the Future of Transatlantic Data Flows,” on December 9, 2020, at 10:00am ET. Witnesses scheduled to appear in person include FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips and James Sullivan, Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce. The hearing will be live streamed here. For more information, please contact Stephanie Joyce.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) was re-elected Chair of the House Commerce Committee for the upcoming 117th Congress. He promises to “push an aggressive agenda to ensure the Biden Administration has all the resources it needs to crush this pandemic, make health care and prescription drugs more affordable, rebuild and modernize our nation’s infrastructure, combat climate change, and protect people’s privacy.” For more information, please contact Stephanie Joyce.

Note: This publication is distributed with the understanding that the author, publisher and distributor of this publication and/or any linked publication are not rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice or opinions on specific facts or matters and, accordingly, assume no liability whatsoever in connection with its use. Pursuant to applicable rules of professional conduct, portions of this publication may constitute Attorney Advertising.

Media Contact

Marlene Laro
mlaro@potomaclaw.com
703.517.6449

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