Telecom Alert: STIR/SHAKEN NPRM; EBB Program Now Open; Biden Revokes Trump Social Media EO; Additional 2.5 GHZ Tribal Licenses Granted [Vol. XVIII, Issue 20]

STIR/SHAKEN NRPM

The FCC will consider a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at its Open Meeting on May 20 that seeks to shorten the extension for small voice service providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN in their networks.  The FCC required most voice service providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication technology by June 30, 2021 but granted small providers with 100,000 or fewer subscriber lines an extension until June 30, 2023.  Based on new evidence, the Commission now seeks comment on how to best identify a subset of small voice service providers that are at a heightened risk of originating an especially large amount of illegal robocall traffic.  The FCC proposes shortening its extension for such providers to June 30, 2022.  For more information, please contact Tracy Marshall (marshall@khlaw.com; 202.434.4234).

EBB Program Now Open

The FCC issued a News Release on May 12 announcing that the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (“EBB Program”) has officially opened (Vol. XVIII, Issue 18).  Eligible households will be able to receive a discount of up to $50 per month, or $75 on qualifying Tribal lands, on their broadband bill.  Customers can sign up for the Program by either contacting a participating provider, enrolling online, or signing up via mail.  The EBB Program will continue until the $3.2 billion in federal funding runs out or six months after the Department of Health and Human Services declares an end to the pandemic.  For more information, please contact Casey Lide (lide@khlaw.com; 202.434.4186) or Doug Jarrett (jarrett@khlaw.com; 202.434.4180).

Biden Revokes Trump Administration Social Media Executive Order

The Biden Administration issued an Executive Order last week revoking several of President Trump’s executive actions, including his Executive Order calling on the NTIA to ask the FCC to clarify Section 230 of the Communications Act.  Executive Order 13925 targeted social media platforms by calling for regulations to remove the liability shield from companies that censor speech to engage in political conduct.  In November, the FCC issued a statement announcing its intention to move forward with clarifying Section 230 (Vol. XVII, Issue 42).  For more information, please contact Wes Wright (wright@khlaw.com; 202.434.4239).

Additional 2.5 GHz Tribal Licenses Granted

Last week, the FCC announced that an additional 40 licenses of unassigned spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band were granted to help connect rural Tribal communities (Vol. XVIII, Issue 15).  These licenses provide for exclusive use of up to 117.5 megahertz of spectrum that Tribes can use to connect their rural communities to wireless broadband and other advanced services.  To date, the FCC has granted 259 licenses to Tribal entities.  For more information, please contact Doug Jarrett (jarrett@khlaw.com; 202.434.4180) or Wes Wright (wright@khlaw.com; 202.434.4239).