Congressional Review of FCC Enforcement

Three Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting review of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, expressing concern with the Bureau’s enforcement goals, strategy, and management.  The letter cites the recent decision to close several field offices, as well as  FCC data showing the Commission issued only 4 Telephone Consumer Protection Act citations in 2013 despite a backlog of over 1,000,000 TCPA-related consumer complaints.

Forfeiture Order

Last week the Commission denied The Hinton Telephone Company’s Petition for Reconsideration of a $100,000 Forfeiture Order for alleged willful and repeated violation of Part 64 of the Commission’s Rules (“Miscellaneous Rules Relating to Common Carriers”).  According to the Forfeiture Order, for three months Hinton routed 9-1-1 calls to an automated message instructing callers to “hang-up and call 9-1-1.”  Section 64.3001 and 64.3002 of the Commission’s rules require carriers to transmit a 9-1-1 call to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), designated answering point, or an appropriate local entity.

Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act

Also last week the Senate passed Senate Bill 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Action (CISA) of 2015, which provides for the sharing of cybersecurity-related information between private entities and the U.S. Government in an effort to curb data breaches and improve cybersecurity.  Although companies will not be required to share information under the bill, opponents of the bill argue that the bill encourages the collection and distribution of personal information.  The CISA is similar to two cybersecurity bills passed by the House earlier this year.

LTE-U Meetings With FCC

Various Wi-Fi stakeholders have submitted ex parte notices highlighting recent discussions with FCC staff pertaining to the impact of LTE Unlicensed (LTE-U) technology and Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) on Wi-Fi operations (Docket No. 15-105).  LTE-U and LAA are new technologies created to address wireless network congestion.  LTE-U will operate on unlicensed spectrum (5GHz), which is used by wireless devices for Wi-Fi connections.  The Wi-Fi stakeholders argue that LTE-U will disrupt connections to Wi-Fi and that specific standards and test procedures should be adopted to assess the coexistence of Wi-Fi and LTE-U services.