Edgar Class

Advises clients on transactions involving the transfer, assignment or lease of FCC licenses and authorizations, including companies seeking to invest in FCC-regulated entities. Provides regulatory advice on FCC spectrum auctions, spectrum allocation proceedings, wireless licensing and policy matters. Assists clients in obtaining foreign ownership approvals, including the preparation and prosecution of Petitions for Declaratory Ruling under Section 310(b) of the Communications Act. Advises clients on national security issues. Counsels clients in FCC enforcement and compliance matters, from the negotiation of settlement agreements to the development and implementation of compliance plans. Represents several major international telecommunications companies on Universal Service Fund matters before the FCC and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). Develops practical, client-focused strategies to ensure compliance with the FCC’s rules and regulations. Negotiates commercial contracts related to telecommunications services and customers. Successfully represents clients on numerous E-Rate appeals before the FCC. Successfully represented a major airline providing Wi-Fi service to its frequent flyers in an FCC proceeding involving Over-the-Air-Reception-Devices rules against an airport requiring the airline to cease such operations.

On November 22, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) aimed at broadening and strengthening its oversight of submarine cables. The NPRM seeks to revise the Commission’s submarine cable licensing rules. The NPRM is the result of the most comprehensive review of the Commission’s submarine cable rules since 2001, and would significantly expand and revise a multitude of regulations aimed at addressing evolving national security and law enforcement concerns.

On Friday, August 23, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) issued a Public Notice announcing that its rules regarding standardized national security and law enforcement questions (Standard Questions) for parties whose applications will be referred to the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector (the Committee) took effect the same day. The Commission originally adopted the Standard Questions in an October 2021 Second Report and Order, but their effectiveness had been delayed pending approval by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Friday’s announcement marks the completion of the final step in the Commission’s efforts to improve the timeliness and transparency of the Committee – the inter-agency working group commonly referred to as “Team Telecom.”

On July 24, 2024, on a petition for rehearing en banc, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in Consumers’ Research v. FCC (Consumers’ Research) that the current funding mechanism for the Universal Service Fund (USF) is unconstitutional and remanded the case to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) for further proceedings. In doing so, the Fifth Circuit reversed its prior three-judge panel decision affirming the constitutionality of the USF and thereby creating a split among the circuit courts following the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits’ denial of nearly identical challenges brought by the same petitioners in 2023. This substantially increases the chance that the Supreme Court will take up the case. But, if left to stand, Consumers’ Research could upend the Commission’s $9 billion annual USF mechanism for providing access to affordable telecommunications to consumers, including low-income families and those in high-cost areas, as well as schools, libraries, and health care providers.

Less than two months after announcing plans and guidance for winding down the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) (see our prior Alert here), the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) released a Public Notice establishing April 2024 as the final month that providers will be fully reimbursed for providing ACP-supported service to participating households, and May 2024 as the final month that the ACP will provide partial reimbursement of any ACP benefit provided to participating households.

In an Order released by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) on January 11, 2024, the agency announced plans and guidance for winding down the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which was established in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (Infrastructure Act) to support discounted broadband service for qualified low-income households by providing a monthly benefit to help pay for broadband service. Providers participating in the ACP program should review the requirements and procedures to wind down the ACP to ensure compliance with program rules.