Following their recent episode on the FCC’s C-Band Proceeding addressing use of the 3.7-4.2 GHz spectrum range, Partners Chip Yorkgitis and Josh Guyan are back to discuss the recently released draft Report and Order, which is expected to be adopted at the FCC’s February 28th meeting. The Order would transition the use of the C-Band to make the 280 megahertz from 3.7 – 3.98 GHz available for flexible use through an auction to be held…

On Thursday, February 6, in a speech at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai outlined his proposal for the realignment of 3.7-4.2 GHz, the so-called C-Band. Later in the day, the FCC website posted a summary of the Chairman’s proposals, and Republican Commissioners Carr and O’Rielly released statements in support of the initiative. A draft order is expected sometime today, February 7, which will fill in a lot of gaps…

Our “Tuning into Spectrum” podcast series takes a close look at hot topics and issues in radio spectrum. Recently, in a letter to Senator Kennedy (R-LA), Chairman Pai stated that he intends to conduct a public auction of the 3.7-4.2 GHz spectrum range (commonly referred to as the C-Band) that would clear 280 megahertz for flexible use to be allocated by auction and allot 20 megahertz to a guard band. In this episode, Associate Avonne…

At its Open Meeting on January 30, the FCC adopted a Report and Order (“Order”) making video relay service (“VRS”) calls that use communications assistants (“CAs”) that work from home (as opposed to at a call center) eligible for compensation from the Telecommunications Relay Service (“TRS”) Fund. According to the FCC, this change will afford VRS providers more flexibility in the type of CAs they can employ, which will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of…

Nearly two years ago, in ACA International v. FCC, the DC Circuit reversed the FCC’s 2015 order interpreting the term “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS) in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and remanded that interpretation for further consideration.  Since that time, callers, call recipients, practitioners and litigants have all been awaiting the FCC’s remand decision. In the meantime, litigation has continued to move forward in many cases.  Most recently, the U.S. Court…

On December 31, 2019, the most significant anti-robocall legislation in fourteen years was signed into law. The Pallone-Thune TRACED Act increases the penalties for transmitting illegal calls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), extends the FCC’s statute of limitations for bringing some enforcement actions and eliminates the requirement to give warnings before issuing certain filings. But most significantly, the TRACED Act requires all voice service providers to implement SHAKEN/STIR, a technical feature of telephone…

In a strongly worded Report and Order, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and Order (the “Order”) released on November 26, 2019, the FCC adopted several measures to protect U.S. communications networks from potential national security threats. Likely coming as no surprise to anyone following the proceeding or current news, the FCC identified Huawei Technologies Company (“Huawei”) and ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”), both Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturers, as national security threats based, in large part, on the…