Early comments on a November Further NPRM asking about further steps clamping down on gear from Chinese companies (see 2211230065) is raising some concerns, based on the first comments posted Friday in docket 21-232. NTCA said it supports enhancing U.S. cybersecurity but “the Commission must ensure any equipment certifications fall within the appropriate Commission authority, are narrowly tailored to prevent harm that would result from adding further delays to equipment availability and are not applied retroactively.” Providers, including NTCA members, “typically have no role in the equipment design, manufacturing, or assembly processes, and thus must rely entirely upon information from manufacturers and vendors identifying the equipment components.” IPVM, a security industry research group, reminded the FCC the landscape is complicated. ADI, America’s largest security distributor, recently “placed a considerable order” with China’s Hikvision “which we estimate is valued in the low-tens of millions of dollars” and at least 100,000 more Hikvision devices “are now headed for shelves at ADI stores across America,” IPVM said. The group cited a similar deal involving Dahua-made Lorex cameras: “If the FCC plans to proceed with revoking existing authorizations, we advise that it do so expeditiously. The cost and complexity of such action -- both to the FCC and Americans generally -- only increases over time as droves of devices are continually imported into and installed in the US.”

Consumers' Research challenged the FCC's Q1 2023 USF contribution factor in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, saying "no separate document was issued when the proposed USF tax factor was deemed approved by the FCC on March 28." The petition, filed Monday in docket 23-1091, said approval of the contribution factor "exceed[s] the FCC’s statutory authority" and asked the court to deem the factor unlawful. It's the fourth challenge of a quarterly factor by the group. The 5th Circuit denied the group's challenge of the Q1 2022 factor in March (see 2303240049).

New Jersey prorating rules are allowed under the federal Cable Act, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Monday. No justices opposed the opinion by Justice Douglas Fasciale to reinstate the state Board of Public Utilities’ 2019 cease-and-desist order against Altice for failing to prorate canceled bills. "The regulation does not set the ‘rate’ that companies can charge,” wrote Fasciale. “It simply protects cable users from paying for service they no longer want.” Also, the court found that Altice never sought or received a BPU waiver from the prorating requirement. The court remanded the case to the appellate court to resolve Altice's argument the board failed to follow proper procedures in its enforcement action. The BPU and Division of Rate Counsel had appealed a 2021 state Appellate Division decision that the federal Cable Act preempts the state prorating rule. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Justices Anne Patterson, Fabiana Pierre-Louis and Rachel Wainer Apter joined Fasciale’s opinion. Justice Lee Solomon and temporarily assigned Judge Jack Sabatino recused themselves from the case. "This is a win for New Jersey's ratepayers who will no longer be forced to pay for cable service they do not want or need," said Rate Counsel Director Brian Lipman. Altice and the BPU didn’t comment.

The Universal Service Administrative Co. told the FCC Wireline Bureau the estimated demand for E-rate support during FY 2023 will be $2.94 billion. About $1.66 billion is for category one services and $1.28 billion for category two services, USAC said in a letter posted Thursday in docket 02-6. The estimate is based on the total amount of funding requests received by March 28, USAC said.

President Joe Biden formally withdrew Gigi Sohn’s FCC nomination Thursday, the White House said, more than three weeks after Sohn announced she had asked Biden to remove her from Senate consideration amid perceptions a handful of Democrats would join chamber Republicans to stall her confirmation process for a third consecutive year (see 2303070082). Several names of potential candidates to replace Sohn have circulated since she first announced her exit, including: former acting NTIA Administrator Anna Gomez, ex-Wiley; Narda Jones, chief of staff to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel; NASA Chief of Staff Susie Perez Quinn; FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Chief Alejandro Roark; National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts Chairman Felix Sanchez; and Treasury Department Capital Projects Fund Director Joseph Wender. Lawmakers are hoping Biden soon renominates incumbent Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to ensure the FCC at least maintains its current 2-2 partisan tie (see 2303100050). Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, noted in a recorded video for Free State Foundation's Tuesday conference that he will continue to ensure "our agencies are led by fair and impartial regulators, rather than by partisan idealogues with a penchant for censoring conservative speech," a reference to his criticism of Sohn's views on conservative media outlets (see 2302140077).

House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., was referring to Republican state laws on books and book banning when discussing free speech violations at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Tuesday (see 2303280067).

The COVID-19 telehealth program has been "effective in helping patients access health care during the pandemic" and "improved the quality of the patient experience," said an interim FCC Wireline Bureau report on the program Tuesday. The bureau also found that early reports on the Connected Care Pilot program suggest that participating providers are "able to serve more patients via telehealth than before they began participating." Some providers participating in the pilot program reported initial challenges of digital literacy, the report said. The bureau concluded the COVID-19 telehealth program "appears to have generally been more attractive to applicants" than the pilot program because it provided "a more expansive definition of eligible services" and 100% reimbursement for eligible devices and services. It also said pilot program participants "underestimated the difficulty in implementing telehealth services in certain areas by not accounting for the resources necessary to educate patients who were unfamiliar with telehealth on how to use it."

The financial crisis facing many U.S. tech banks such as Silicon Valley, Silvergate and Signature is affecting the tech sector, GlobalData said Monday. The tech sector relies on those banks for financing, payroll and other services, it said. The bank run will hit the tech sector globally, with nations like Israel, India, Sweden and the U.S., where tech has been a big driver of high net worth wealth, seeing outsized and negative impacts on their wealth markets, it said.

The FCC’s Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC) will host a virtual roundtable Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT on Lessons Learned from the Pandemic on Broadband Access, Affordability and Deployment, said a public notice. The event will include stakeholders from community organizations, ISPs, and federal and state agencies and “assess lessons learned” about programs that provided broadband connectivity to underserved communities during the pandemic, the PN said.

Ligado is seeking a modification of its L-band mobile earth stations blanket license to cover smartphones. In an FCC International Bureau application Wednesday, Ligado requested a mobile earth service category be added to its license for IoT and handheld units that will transmit and receive waveforms over Ligado's mobile satellite service network, letting Ligado offer services to the devices. The company said the handsets don't raise any technical issues since they will operate at or below approved thresholds already authorized in Ligado’s blanket satellite licenses for mobile earth stations. It said its application doesn't require waiver of any regulatory requirements. Ligado, Viasat and Skylo announced earlier this month they were partnering in the growing direct-to-device market (see 2303020023).