Auto sector manufacturers and importers will have 425 days to cut from their supply chains Chinese software that enables automated driving systems or enables a vehicle to connect to the outside world at a frequency above 450 MHz, according to a final rule from the Bureau of Industry and Security set for Thursday's Federal Register and effective March 17. The agency issued a proposed rule in September (see 2409220001). Chinese hardware that enables out-of-car communication above 450 MHz will be banned beginning in the 2029 model year, or, for items that aren't associated with a model year, before Jan. 1, 2029. The final rule adds that later imports that would otherwise be banned, that are to repair completed connected vehicles model year 2029 or earlier, will also be allowed. Examples of these sorts of hardware are telematics control units, cellular modems and antennas that collect data from GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes, BMS and other units. The agency said the list of parts is not exhaustive but clarified the rule to say the hardware must "directly enable" the connected capabilities. Companies from adversary countries cannot design or manufacture these systems because the administration says they could imperil infrastructure and "enable mass collection of sensitive information, including geolocation data, audio and video recordings, and other pattern-of-life analysis."

Various consumer and public interest groups met with aides to FCC Commissioners Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks to urge that the FCC move forward on implementing a 2023 order closing the lead generator loophole (see 2312190032). “We explained that the new regulation is widely viewed by all parties to be a highly effective mechanism to cut down on the proliferation of unwanted telemarketing calls,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-278. In 2024, there were an average of 1.4 billion telemarketing calls every month in the U.S. “but these calls escalated in late 2024” to more than 1.8 billion, the filing said. The groups that met with the FCC aides included the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Public Knowledge, National Consumers League and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates also participated. The order becomes effective Jan. 27 but faces a challenge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2412180008).

The FCC on Wednesday approved Inland Cellular’s proposed acquisition of Commnet’s rural digital opportunity fund support obligations in parts of Washington and Montana. The Wireline Bureau noted it sought comment in July (see 2407030047) and none was filed.

The FCC released the 2024 Universal Service Monitoring Report, providing an overview of revenue in the U.S. telecom industry and associated contributions to universal service support. Released this week, the report shows a steep drop in some sources of revenue. Local exchange revenue was $12.3 billion in 2023, down from $30.5 billion in 2014. Local private line revenue declined from $31.2 billion to $19.1 billion during the same period. Total telecom revenue fell from $228.5 billion in 2014 to $116 billion in 2023. The tables are based on information filed with the commission in FCC Forms 499-A and 499-Q.

T-Mobile on Monday announced plans to buy digital-out-of-home ad company Vistar Media for $600 million. Vistar works with other companies to place ads on digital screens on billboards, at bus stops and the like. The company will become part of T-Mobile’s Advertising Solutions business. “As a top marketer, connectivity provider and one of the largest physical in-store retail media network operators, T-Mobile will help marketers and advertisers reach consumers with more addressable and measurable solutions,” T-Mobile said: “The timing is perfect for this transformation as digital screens still represent a small percentage of the overall [out-of-home] advertising market and are becoming more accessible.” T-Mobile said it hopes to close the buy in Q1.

Several groups on Friday filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court for a rehearing of its December order denying a writ of certiorari regarding the FCC's classification of broadband. ACA Connects, USTelecom, CTIA, the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association, and the New York State Telecom Association cited the 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court's narrow decision overturning the FCC's order (see 2501020047). That decision "establishes the [2nd] Circuit’s decision as a conflicting outlier," they said.

The FCC Wireline Bureau on Friday reminded recipients of funding through the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program of their obligation to file reimbursement spending reports. The next reports are due by Feb. 10.

NTIA awarded nearly $18 million in additional tribal broadband connectivity program support Friday (see 2412170043). Atautchikun, a "public benefit company," received more than $7 million to pre-pay qualifying broadband service for about 800 tribal households, provide end-user devices and expand digital tribal government services. Other tribal entities in Washington, Alaska, Arizona and North Dakota received funding for similar projects.

Verizon's network is clear of any remaining threat from the Salt Typhoon Chinese government-affiliated incident (see 2412300039). In an update Friday, it said a few "individuals primarily involved in government or political activity were targeted by the threat actor” and “those customers have been notified of the threat actor’s activity.” It added: “We have not detected threat actor activity ... for some time and, after considerable work addressing this incident, we can report that Verizon has contained the activities associated with this particular incident.”

A trio of public safety groups urged the FCC to require telecom providers to “implement, host, maintain, and operate” a secure, two-way outage dashboard providing updated information on 911 outages. The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, the National Association of State 911 Administrators and the National Emergency Number Association said the existing system isn’t working. “Unfortunately, the Commission’s current outage reporting rules combined with the practices of the service providers often result” in emergency communications centers (ECCs) “not being notified of outages or receiving notifications that are either irrelevant to the ECCs’ jurisdiction, provide limited information, are not updated in a timely manner, or are formatted in a way that it is difficult and time-consuming for the ECCs to parse through during an outage situation,” said a filing this week in docket 15-80. ECCs “should be notified of outages and disruptions that could impact communications … even if the outage does not meet the high thresholds that trigger a notification requirement in the existing rules,” they added.