Too much news on COVID-19 to fit into the FR this week, but among the items of note to telcos are the Governor’s mitigation efforts news release (and subsequent releases), the PA PUC’s emergency order on termination of service, and the FCC’s Keep Americans Connected pledge. (PTA has established a page on its site for […]

It’s called the Unserved High-Speed Broadband Funding Program and legislation creating it was filed in the form of House Bill 2348 this week. The bill repeals the Mobile Telecommunications Broadband Investment Tax Credit most of which, according to the bill’s sponsors (Representatives Martin Causer and George Dunbar) and the state’s Independent Fiscal Office, was not […]

Yesterday, Reuters reported that the FCC is poised to levy fines totaling $200 million against the nation’s largest wireless carriers for disclosing real-time customer location data. The case dates back to May 2018 and prompted some regulators and congressmen to condemn the practice and urge commission action.

Kudos to PUC Counsel Joe Witmer who recently received the Inaugural Ray Baum Memorial Leadership Award at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Winter Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. The award honors longtime utility regulatory force Ray Baum who served as a Commissioner at the Oregon Public Utility Commission, and as a staffer on […]

In the wake of a shake-up at the top of Republican leadership in the House with Speaker Mike Turzai recently announcing that he will not seek re-election comes news this week that Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati will move on to the next phase after his current term expires this year. Scarnati has served […]

At its Public Meeting yesterday, the PA PUC unanimously approved the petition of Armstrong Telecommunications Inc. to become an eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) and utilize Connect America Fund proceeds to deliver broadband to 1,949 locations in Crawford, Erie, and Mercer counties. A Commission press release on the matter noted that it has now granted three […]

Yesterday, the FCC approved the $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Commissioners Rosenworcel and Starks dissenting in part), with an accompanying news release saying that the first phase of the fund will begin later this year and devote $16 billion to census blocks unserved with fixed broadband at the 25/3 Mbps speed. A release from […]

The nation’s largest broadband associations (NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association, USTelecom, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, WTA – Advocates for Rural Broadband, and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association), are locking arms and asking the FCC to revise the letters of credit provisions in the new […]

The House Consumer Affairs Committee has scheduled a voting meeting for Tuesday, January 14, 2020 to consider House Bill 1400, legislation dealing with 5G deployment in Pennsylvania. In its current form, the bill provides for the uniform regulatory treatment of small cell facility deployment at the municipal level. A Multichannel News article on the 5G […]