August 2023 Open Commission Meeting

The FCC held this Open Meeting on the subjects listed below:

Public Drafts of Meeting Items – The FCC is publicly releasing the draft text of each item expected to be considered at this Open Commission Meeting with the exception of items involving specific, enforcement-related matters including restricted proceedings and hearing designation orders. One-page cover sheets are included in the public drafts to help summarize each item. Links to these materials are provided below.

• Advancing Understanding of Non-Federal Spectrum Usage
  The Commission considered a Notice of Inquiry that would initiate a technical inquiry into how to obtain more sophisticated knowledge of real-time non-Federal spectrum usage—and how the Commission could take advantage of modern capabilities for doing so in a cost-effective, accurate, scalable, and actionable manner. The Notice of Inquiry would explore the potential to advance the Commission’s understanding of commercial spectrum usage by leveraging new data sources, methods, and technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in an increasingly congested radiofrequency environment. (Docket No. 23-232)
• Updating Digital FM Radio Service*
  The Commission considered an Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on proposed changes to the methodology used to determine maximum power levels for digital FM broadcast stations and to the process for authorizing digital transmissions at different power levels on the upper and lower digital sidebands. (MB Docket No. 22-405)
• Affordable Connectivity Program High-Cost Benefit
  The Commission considered a Sixth Report and Order which would implement the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) high-cost area benefit, providing a discount of up to $75 per month for broadband services provided in qualifying high-cost areas, by participating ACP providers. (Docket No. 21-450)
• Robocall and Spoofing Fine
  The Commission adopted a Forfeiture Order against an international network of companies for violating federal statutes and the Commission’s regulations when they executed a scheme to make more than five billion robocalls to more than 500 million phone numbers during a three-month span in 2021, including violating federal spoofing laws by using more than one million different caller ID numbers in an attempt to disguise the true origin of the robocalls and trick victims into answering the phone.

*NOTE: This item was adopted prior to the Open Meeting teleconference and thus deleted from the agenda of the meeting itself.

Meeting Documents

FCC Launches Technical Inquiry Into Spectrum Usage Data

• News Release
• Notice of Inquiry
• Rosenworcel Statement
• Starks Statement

FCC Acts to Provide Subsidy for Consumers in Certain High-Cost Areas

• News Release
• Report and Order
• Rosenworcel Statement
• Starks Statement
• Simington Statement

FCC Imposes Record Fine on Transnational Illegal Robocalling Operation

• News Release
• Forfeiture Order
• Rosenworcel Statement

Related Materials

• Deletion Notice
• Agenda
• Tentative Agenda
• Circulation Documents:
  • Advancing Understanding of Non-Federal Spectrum Usage
  • Updating Digital FM Radio Service
  • Implementing the Affordable Connectivity Program High-Cost Benefit