Telecom

WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the past 11 months, someone created thousands of fake, automated Twitter accounts — perhaps hundreds of thousands of them — to offer a stream of praise for Donald Trump. Besides posting adoring words about the former... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department has awarded nearly $5 billion from the Capital Projects Fund to pay for broadband expansion projects in 33 states, and expects to bestow the remaining $5 billion by the end of the year, the program’s... Read More

Google is girding for a battle of wits in the field of artificial intelligence with “Bard," a conversational service aimed at countering the popularity of the ChatGPT tool backed by Microsoft. Bard initially will be available exclusively to a group... Read More

BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile said Thursday that an unidentified malicious intruder breached its network in late November and stole data on 37 million customers, including addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth. T-Mobile said in a... Read More

A couple of years into the pandemic, Shirley Neville had finally had enough of her shoddy internet service. “It was just a headache,” said Neville, who lives in a middle-class neighborhood in New Orleans whose residents are almost all Black... Read More

WASHINGTON — Seven voice service providers face removal from a key database managed by the Federal Trade Commission if they fail to demonstrate they’re taking concrete steps to comply with the agency’s anti-robocall rules. The first-of-their-kind FCC Enforcement Bureau orders... Read More

BUCHAREST, Romania — An American was chosen to be the first woman to lead the United Nations’ telecommunications agency, the International Telecommunication Union, in its 157-year history after an overwhelming vote Thursday in Romania. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, the new secretary general... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission is looking at ways to help deaf incarcerated people connect better with their families through improved telecommunications services, including video chatting, in prisons and jails throughout the country. “Incarcerated people face considerable barriers to... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission formally added Pacific Networks Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary ComNet and China Unicom (Americas) Operations Limited to its list of companies whose telecom equipment and service pose a national security threat. The commission... Read More

WASHINGTON — Spectrum was the talk of the town as dozens of officials from regulatory agencies and companies came together for the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Spectrum Policy Symposium Monday. Its fifth summit held this year... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission has taken a large step in creating its newest and most accurate broadband maps that intend to lay out, location by location, the homes, businesses, civic centers and other places without internet.  “For the... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission just closed its 2.5 GHz spectrum auction, raking in $427 million for selling most of its licenses. The auction, which was the first of its kind selling county-based licenses, kicked off in late July.... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission is launching an investigation into how the country’s top cellphone providers use geolocation data. “Our mobile phones know a lot about us. That means carriers know who we are, who we call, and where... Read More

WASHINGTON — Every state, U.S. territory and Washington, D.C., has asked for a portion of the $42.45 billion set aside for broadband buildout from the federal government, according to the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. “The Internet... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission is asking Congress to help reform how it collects money to expand and provide telecom services to every American. The reason? The Universal Service Fund is stuck in a “death spiral,” according to FCC... Read More

WASHINGTON — The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday solidified the Federal Communications Commission’s ability to reallocate spectrum that went largely unused. "I am pleased with the court's decision, which upholds the FCC's broad authority to manage the nation's... Read More

WASHINGTON — Friday morning the Federal Communications Commission kicked off a spectrum auction, allowing telecommunications companies to possibly buy more than 8,000 licenses in the 2.5 GHz band. The licenses are mostly available in rural parts of the country, according... Read More

WASHINGTON — Two senators and a member of the House of Representatives are working to ensure internet providers deliver equitable service to customers, banning the practice of throttling service and blocking access to certain content. Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and... Read More

WASHINGTON — Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is asking the country’s top cellphone carriers for information on how each company uses and retains customer geolocation data. It’s important because “mobile internet service providers are uniquely situated to capture a... Read More

WASHINGTON — Throughout the various iterations of the Federal Communications Commission, its members have essentially had to answer one question: “How do you make sure technology as it develops and evolves can be enjoyed by everyone in the country?” said... Read More

WASHINGTON — The proposal to change the Federal Communications Commission’s definition of broadband speeds by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last week could help “future-proof” the country’s once-in-a-generation opportunity to build broadband infrastructure, said Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of the Rural Broadband Association.... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission is fining the company responsible for about 10 million robocalls that directed customers to call “ScammerBlaster” — which scammed customers. The commissioners voted unanimously to fine the company $116 million at their monthly meeting... Read More

WASHINGTON — The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated part of a rule from the Federal Communications Commission that sought to require broadcasters to disclose if foreign governments purchase time on American television and radio airwaves in a Tuesday ruling.... Read More

WASHINGTON — What does a threat sound like? In rainforests across the world it can sound like a chainsaw or a gunshot. Thanks to the nonprofit Rainforest Connection, recording devices around the world are listening for these sounds to alert... Read More

WASHINGTON — Native American tribes across the country are set to receive $77 million in funding to help build new broadband networks and strengthen existing ones, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.  This round of funding will go... Read More

WASHINGTON — Verizon Communications and AT&T have voluntarily agreed to delay some deployment of their long-awaited C-band 5G usage until July 2023 as air carriers continue to work to retrofit passenger and cargo aircraft to ensure they do not encounter... Read More

WASHINGTON — Four states — Louisiana, New Hampshire, Virginia and West Virginia — will receive more than $500 million in funding for broadband expansion projects under the auspices of the $10 billion Capital Projects Fund created as part of the... Read More

WASHINGTON — Slow and steady will be the approach for getting everyone connected to the internet while the government disperses billions of dollars to build out broadband over the next few years. “We are going to go as quickly as... Read More

WASHINGTON — As telecom and mental health professionals across the country prep for a new national suicide prevention number, one hurdle persists: locating people who call or text the hotline. Time is critical when people call local and national suicide... Read More

WASHINGTON — Higher internet speeds are coming to the most rural places in America, as the Federal Communications Commission changed the definition of “high-speed” internet at its meeting Thursday. The four commissioners voted unanimously and across partisan lines to change... Read More