In a Public Notice issued July 28, 2020, the FCC confirmed that the TCPA’s safe harbor for calls or text messages made for “emergency purposes” applies to calls and text messages made by or on behalf of health care entities...more
The FCC recently reported a decrease of approximately 60% of consumer robocall complaints and a drop of approximately 30% in volume of “unwanted robocalls” that were placed in the first half of 2020 as compared to the first...more
Each day that passes seems to bring with it ever more rapid and significant changes to the U.S. relationship with China. As detailed in a Faegre Drinker client alert last month, on May 27, 2020, the State Department certified...more
The FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau last week issued a declaratory ruling resolving a long-pending Petition on the question of whether certain healthcare-related calls, given their significance and value for...more
On April 20, 2020, commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted unanimously to approve a long pending and controversial application by Ligado Networks to repurpose parts of the L-band (1-2 GHz) to...more
A federal interagency group commonly referred to as “Team Telecom” has been operating largely behind the scenes for years, advising the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the FCC’s review of the national security...more
On March 30, 2020, the American Bankers Association (“ABA”) and several other associations of banks and credit unions (together, “petitioners”) effectively asked the FCC to exempt all COVID-related calls and texts to...more
4/10/2020
/ American Bankers Association ,
ATDS ,
Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Cell Phones ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Debt Collection ,
Declaratory Rulings ,
FCC ,
Federal Contractors ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Reassigned Phone Numbers ,
Revocation ,
Robocalling ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications ,
Telemarketing ,
Text Messages ,
Waivers
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides $200 million for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to support health care providers (HCP) in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On April 2, 2020,...more
On March 12, 2020, the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act entered into force. This legislation is expected to make permanent the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC’s) ban on the use of Universal Service Fund...more
Acknowledging that “effective communications with the American public” are “a critical component” of efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released, on its own motion, a...more
Acknowledging that “effective communications with the American public” is “a critical component” to efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released on its own motion, a...more
The long awaited draft technical requirements for the FCC’s reassigned numbers database was released today. At the time of the adoption of an order establishing this database in December 2018, the FCC tasked its North...more
As previously reported, the FCC’s ban of Huawei and ZTE equipment and services from projects subsidized by the FCC’s Universal Service Fund (USF) became effective on January 3, 2020, following the publication of its December...more
As predicted, amendments to the TCPA – in the form of the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (the “TRACED Act”) – were signed into law by the President of the United States on...more
1/7/2020
/ Amended Legislation ,
Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
FCC ,
Law Enforcement ,
New Legislation ,
Robocalling ,
Spoofing ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications ,
Telemarketing
Senate Bill 151, now called “the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act” (the “TRACED Act”), has been reconciled with the House of Representatives’ bipartisan bill House Bill 3375 and...more
On November 26, 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted unanimously to ban Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE Corporation equipment and services from all projects subsidized by funding from the FCC’s...more
12/5/2019
/ China ,
FCC ,
Foreign Policy ,
Huawei ,
Information Technology ,
National Security ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Supply Chain ,
Technology Sector ,
Telecommunications ,
Universal Service Fund ,
ZTE
On October 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit released a long awaited decision in Mozilla Corporation v. FCC that largely upheld most aspects of the Federal Communications Commission’s 2018 “Restoring Internet...more
10/9/2019
/ Appeals ,
Broadband ,
Classification ,
Deregulation ,
FCC ,
Internet ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Net Neutrality ,
Preemption ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Remand ,
Telecommunications ,
Telephone Service Providers
The FCC’s TCPA docket now has two pending petitions for declaratory ruling on the question as to whether outbound telemarketing calls made through soundboard technology are prohibited communications if made without prior...more
The FCC on August 1 voted to adopt enhanced Truth in Caller ID rules that will subject a broader range of “spoofed” calls to new heftier statutory civil penalty and potentially criminal sanctions for willful and knowing...more
Small-scale satellite operations licensed in the United States may soon benefit from a more accessible and flexible authorization framework. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last year proposed and is now poised to...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took another step closer to establishing a three-year, $100 million Connected Care Pilot program following review of public comments on its prior Notice of Inquiry that previewed...more
On June 24, 2019, the FCC’s adopted Declaratory Ruling and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“Third FNPRM”) was published in the Federal Register, triggering the commenting period deadlines...more
While the FCC has a record open to adopt guidance and a new definition for what it considers as an “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS) and related TCPA matters, there appears to be growing consensus on “Robocall”...more
6/24/2019
/ Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Bad Actors ,
Do Not Call List ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FCC ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Robocalling ,
Safe Harbors ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications
By directing voice service providers to deal with “unwanted calls” as part of its anti-robocall policies, the FCC seems to have moved well beyond addressing “illegal and spoofed robocalls.” The text of the FCC’s new “Call...more
6/12/2019
/ Algorithms ,
Call Blocking ,
Declaratory Rulings ,
FCC ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Opt-Outs ,
Robocalling ,
Safe Harbors ,
Spoofing ,
Telecommunications ,
Telephone Service Providers
Voice service providers soon may dictate which calls will reach you. The FCC honed in on “unwanted calls” when it voted at its Open Meeting yesterday to adopt a Declaratory Ruling and Third Further Proposed Rulemaking (the...more
6/7/2019
/ Auto-Dialed Calls ,
Call Blocking ,
Declaratory Rulings ,
FCC ,
Opt-Outs ,
Robocalling ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Spoofing ,
TCPA ,
Telecommunications ,
Telephone Service Providers