CCMI Press & News

In a case that could have had tremendous repercussions for the industry, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans released a Opinion affirming the constitutionality of the universal service fund and the Universal Service Administrative Company.

On January 5, 2023, President Biden signed into law the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022 (Act), which expands the FCC’s authority over rates charged for telecom services provided to incarcerated people. 

Illegal robocalls continue to be a serious problem. Last year the FCC received 119,000 complaints about unwanted calls and obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg.

In an Order on Reconsideration, Second Report and Order and Second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking the FCC implemented rules to improve industry support for health care providers serving rural areas.

In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Notice) released January 27, 2023, in Docket No. 23-5, the FCC proposed rules to help ensure that the public has access to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline if a service outage occurs.

It has been fifteen years since the FCC adopted a rule requiring telecommunications carriers and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers to notify customers and federal law enforcement of breaches of customer proprietary network information (CPNI) in their possession.

It’s a new year but the FCC is stuck in the same old place, waiting for a fifth commissioner to be appointed. Gigi Sohn has been renominated by President Biden with the advent of the new Senate.

In 2018, the FCC released a Notice of Inquiry in Docket 18-64 after it recognized that there was a problem routing certain wireless 911 calls.