FCC Announces USF and High-Cost Items for Consideration

The FCC announced that at its June Open Meeting it will consider, among other things, a Report and Order that would establish the Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program and provide up to $200 million in Universal Service Fund support to eligible schools and libraries for cybersecurity services and equipment. The Commission also announced consideration of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) seeking comment on whether to change the existing bank rating standards that are used to qualify financial institutions to provide letters of credit to eligible telecommunications carriers receiving high-cost support. The NPRM also seeks comment on whether to allow Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support recipients to lower the value of their letter of credit to one year of support in certain circumstances.

DIRS Petition for Clarification and/or Reconsideration

The FCC is seeking comment on a Petition for Clarification and/or Reconsideration filed by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (“ATIS”), which asks the Commission to clarify and/or reconsider rules making Disaster Information Reporting System (“DIRS”) reporting mandatory for cable, wireline, wireless, and interconnected Voice-over-Internet protocol (“VoIP”) providers. ATIS seeks clarification of whether the waiver of Network Outage Reporting System (“NORS”) filings during DIRS activations applies to pending and ongoing NORS filings, as well as to Public Safety Answering Points (“PSAPs”) and 988 notification requirements. ATIS also asks the Commission to reconsider the requirement that final DIRS reports be filed within 24 hours of DIRS deactivation and include the estimated dates by which unresolves issues regarding providers’ equipment and issues shall be resolved.

WEA Pleading Cycle Announced

The FCC announced the pleading cycle for proposed rules describing how commercial mobile service providers participating in the Wireless Emergency Alert (“WEA”) system would implement multilingual alert templates. The rules would require providers support eighteen template alert messages translated into the thirteen most spoken languages in the United States aside from English, and American Sign Language. The FCC seeks comment on whether the templates and translations are accurate and if they will be effective, among other things. Comments and reply comments are due June 12 and July 12, 2024, respectively.

First C-CIST Classification Announced

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau officially classified a group of entities and individuals, known as “Royal Tiger,” as a Consumer Communications Information Services Threat (“C-CIST”). Royal Tiger is accused of persistently facilitating robocall campaigns aimed at defrauding and harming consumers. The FCC’s designation of Royal Tiger as a C-CIST provides another way for the international anti-robocall community to identify threats before they reach U.S. networks. This action is the first of its kind and builds on the FCC’s “Spring Cleaning” initiative combatting illegal robocalling practices.

Thomas B. Magee, Tracy P. Marshall, Sean A. Stokes, and Wesley K. Wright also contributed to this article.