Technology, Communications & Media

The next-generation of wireless technologies – known as 5G – is expected to revolutionize business and consumer connectivity, offering network speeds that are up to 100 times faster than 4G LTE, reducing latency to nearly zero, and allowing networks to handle 100 times the number of connected devices, enabling the “Internet of Things.”  Leading policymakers – federal regulators and legislators – are making it a top priority to ensure that the wireless industry has the tools it needs to maintain U.S. leadership in commercial 5G deployments.  This blog provides monthly updates on FCC actions and Congressional efforts to win the race to 5G.

In this month’s Telephone and Texting Compliance News, we cover new FCC deadlines for gateway provider obligations and enforcement actions, including removing a non-compliant provider from the robocall mitigation database, ordering providers to block a student loan scam calling campaign, and proposed fines against companies that failed to comply with the reassigned numbers database. We also review Eleventh Circuit decisions halting a TCPA appeal on the basis of standing and rejecting a professional plaintiff’s TCPA claim, plus a Ninth Circuit decision remanding a TCPA case about insurance coverage.

Read about new FCC deadlines for gateway provider obligations and recent enforcement actions against illegal robocalling. These actions include removing a non-compliant provider from the robocall mitigation database, ordering providers to block a student loan scam calling campaign, and proposing fines for failure to comply with the reassigned numbers database.

Read about two Eleventh Circuit decisions, one halting a TCPA appeal on the basis of standing and another rejecting a professional plaintiff’s TCPA claim, plus a Ninth Circuit decision remanding a key TCPA case about insurance coverage.

The next-generation of wireless technologies – known as 5G – is expected to revolutionize business and consumer connectivity, offering network speeds that are up to 100 times faster than 4G LTE, reducing latency to nearly zero, and allowing networks to handle 100 times the number of connected devices, enabling the “Internet of Things.”  Leading policymakers – federal regulators and legislators – are making it a top priority to ensure that the wireless industry has the tools it needs to maintain U.S. leadership in commercial 5G deployments.  This blog provides monthly updates on FCC actions and Congressional efforts to win the race to 5G.

In Borden v. E-Financial, LLC, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an “automatic telephone dialing system” must generate telephone numbers randomly or sequentially under the TCPA's plain text — not dial numbers from a pre-existing list.

Our Telephone Calling and Texting Compliance Developments newsletter covers an FCC Notice U.S.-based voice service providers of enforcement action if they continue to accept or facilitate traffic from Urth Access, LLC, the agency’s Notice of Inquiry seeking information on the non-IP technology in the nation’s phone networks, and a Ninth Circuit decision eliminating potential ambiguity concerning the definition of an automatic telephone dialing system in the TCPA.

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau issued a so-called K4 Notice informing all U.S.-based voice service providers that continuing to accept or facilitate traffic from Urth Access, LLC may result in enforcement action being taken against them. The agency also adopted a Notice of Inquiry seeking information on the non-IP technology in the nation’s phone networks.

The next-generation of wireless technologies – known as 5G – is expected to revolutionize business and consumer connectivity, offering network speeds that are up to 100 times faster than 4G LTE, reducing latency to nearly zero, and allowing networks to handle 100 times the number of connected devices, enabling the “Internet of Things.”  Leading policymakers – federal regulators and legislators – are making it a top priority to ensure that the wireless industry has the tools it needs to maintain U.S. leadership in commercial 5G deployments.  This blog provides monthly updates on FCC actions and Congressional efforts to win the race to 5G.

The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will hear an appeal of a West Virginia federal court’s certification of a class in a TCPA case without consideration of the defendant’s Established Business Relationships with the named plaintiffs.

The FCC is seeking comment on a proposal to require mobile providers to block illegal text messages and apply caller ID authentication technology to text messages, issued Orders starting the process of removing seven voice service providers from the Robocall Mitigation Database, and issued a notice that it is considering seeking comment on non-IP technology in the nation’s phone networks and how it impacts the Commission’s work to stop robocalls. 

Our TCPA newsletter covers the FCC’s proposal to require mobile providers to block illegal text messages and apply caller ID authentication technology to text messages, Orders to start the process of removing seven voice service providers from the Robocall Mitigation Database, and a pending Fourth Circuit appeal of a federal court’s certification of a class in a TCPA case without consideration of the defendant’s Established Business Relationships with the named plaintiffs.

The next-generation of wireless technologies – known as 5G – is expected to revolutionize business and consumer connectivity, offering network speeds that are up to 100 times faster than 4G LTE, reducing latency to nearly zero, and allowing networks to handle 100 times the number of connected devices, enabling the “Internet of Things.”  Leading policymakers – federal regulators and legislators – are making it a top priority to ensure that the wireless industry has the tools it needs to maintain U.S. leadership in commercial 5G deployments.  This blog provides monthly updates on FCC actions and Congressional efforts to win the race to 5G.

Our TCPA newsletter covers the FCC’s selection of the USTelecom-led Industry Traceback Group to continue as the registered traceback consortium, an updated MOU aimed at combatting unwanted robocalls signed by the FCC and the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, and a Florida federal district court ruling on the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act.

In Davis v. Coast Dental, a federal district court in Florida held that receipt of an unsolicited marketing call is not enough, standing alone, to state a Florida Telephone Solicitation Act claim. 

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau selected USTelecom-led Industry Traceback Group to continue as the registered traceback consortium. Also, the FCC and the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications signed an updated MOU that includes a focus on combatting unwanted robocalls and the promotion of 5G and other next-generation communications technologies.

The next-generation of wireless technologies – known as 5G – is expected to revolutionize business and consumer connectivity, offering network speeds that are up to 100 times faster than 4G LTE, reducing latency to nearly zero, and allowing networks to handle 100 times the number of connected devices, enabling the “Internet of Things.”  Leading policymakers – federal regulators and legislators – are making it a top priority to ensure that the wireless industry has the tools it needs to maintain U.S. leadership in commercial 5G deployments.  This blog provides monthly updates on FCC actions and Congressional efforts to win the race to 5G.

In Drazen v. Pinto, the Eleventh Circuit held that every class member must have Article III standing — by having suffered an injury — in order for plaintiffs to recover individual damages in a TCPA class action.

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) issued a Public Notice seeking comment on two recurring obligations relating to the FCC’s caller ID authentication rules, and the FCC and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at combatting unlawful robocalling.