ECF Receives Another $421 Million from the FCC, New York Takes Aim at Robocalls
ECF Receives Another $421 Million From the FCC
The FCC announced yesterday that it will commit over $421 million in the latest round of Emergency Connectivity Fund announcements. This brings the total program commitments to over $3.05 billion, which supports off campus learning for schools and libraries in all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia. The program to date has committed to supporting 6,954 schools, 613 libraries, and 80 consortia, which are approved to receive over 6.8 million connected devices and over 3.5 million broadband connections. “Far too many students lack the connections they need to get online and stay connected to their teachers. Thankfully, Congress gave us the tools through this program to make a real difference in our communities as we work to close the Homework Gap and help schools and libraries engage in online learning,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
New York Takes Aim at Robocalls
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation into law that builds on federal action combatting robocalls. Legislation S.6267a/A.268a requires telecommunication companies to block robocalls from certain numbers to prevent unwanted robocalls across additional providers, codifying in state law the rules released by the FCC in 2017. The rules, which went into effect in June of 2021, allows telecommunications companies to proactively block calls from certain numbers, including calls that are the most likely to be illegitimate. Legislation S.4281a/A.585a requires voice services providers to implement the STIR/SHAKEN call authentication framework to validate that a call is actually coming from the number it displays. “New Yorkers are fed up with annoying, predatory robocalls, and we’re taking action to stop them,” Governor Hochul said. ”This legislation will enable telecom companies to prevent these calls from coming in in the first place, as well as empower our state government to ensure that voice service providers are validating who is making these calls so enforcement action can be taken against bad actors.”
The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.
