Today's Regulatory Mix: California AG Petitions Court to Ensure Consumer Protections Against Robocalling, CTIA Report: 5G Promises Massive Job and GDP Growth in the U.S., FCC Prepares for the Next Round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program

California AG Petitions Court to Ensure Consumer Protections Against Robocalling

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra joined a multistate coalition in an effort to stop companies from breaking the law with harassing telemarketing calls. In an amicus brief filed in Lindenbaum v. Realgy, LLC, the attorneys general called on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to reverse a district court’s ruling that a landmark federal law intended to stop telemarketing scams was unconstitutional and unenforceable for a five-year period ending in 2020.

“Californians rely on federal protections to help curb unwanted telemarketing calls. People who engaged in illegal robocalling between 2015 and 2020 should be brought to justice,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Granting a five-year hall pass to these harassers would permit illegal activity and open the door for more."

CTIA Report: 5G Promises Massive Job and GDP Growth in the U.S.

According to new research from Boston Consulting Group, in collaboration with CTIA, 5G deployment will contribute $1.5 trillion to U.S. GDP and create 4.5 million jobs in the next decade. This growth will occur directly through infrastructure investment and indirectly by enabling innovation that transforms all sectors of the economy.

FCC Prepares for the Next Round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau released a report and order for the next step toward committing funding through the COVID-19 Telehealth Program (Program) by finding it is in the public interest to expand the administrative responsibilities of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to include the Program. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented stress on the Nation’s health care system. As health care providers have struggled to provide urgently needed care, telehealth has emerged as an essential resource to combatting the pandemic. In March 2020, Congress allocated $200 million to the Commission to establish a program to help health care providers offer telehealth and connected care services and connected devices to patients at their homes or mobile locations in response to the COVID19 pandemic. The Commission established the Program and committed this funding to health care providers across the country.  In December 2020, Congress appropriated an additional $249.95 million for a second round of funding for the Program under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.

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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.