Welcome to the Tech & Telecom Weekly, an e-newsletter keeping you apprised of the latest developments in the telecommunications and high-tech industries.
FCC Policy
The next FCC Open Meeting, the first under Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, is scheduled for February 17, 2020, at 10:30am ET. No Tentative Agenda has yet been released. For more information, please contact Stephanie Joyce.
Compliance Alerts
Lifeline providers are required to file their Annual Lifeline ETC Certification Form (2020 FCC Form 555) by January 31, 2021, through the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) portal. This form reports the results of a provider’s annual rolling recertification process. National Verifier service providers must complete Form 555. Additional information can be found here or by contacting Katherine Barker Marshall.
Legislative Affairs
Several members of Congress sent a letter to former FCC Chmn. Pai, prior to his departure, urging the agency to vet the winners of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Auction thoroughly. “We urge the FCC to validate that each provider in fact has the technical, financial, managerial, operational skills, capabilities, and resources to deliver the services that they have pledged for every American they plan to serve regardless of the technology they use.” The members seek to ensure good service for rural communities and “to minimize any opportunities for fraud or abuse.” For more information, please contact Stephanie Joyce.
In the Courts
Companies that engaged in robocalling between 2015 and 2020 might have a free pass for alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) due to a Supreme Court ruling in July 2020 that TCPA was rendered unconstitutional by an exemption for robocalls related to federally backed debts. Grubhub is making that argument in its latest motion to dismiss a putative class action, Donna Marshall v. Grubhub Inc., pending in the Northern District of Illinois. In her complaint, Marshall alleges Grubhub called her cell phone dozens, “possibly even hundreds” of times, effectively preventing her from using her phone. Grubhub argues that it cannot be liable for alleged TCPA violations committed during the period in which TCPA was deemed unconstitutional. For more information, please contact Susan Metcalfe.
Rural Broadband
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