The following are topics I found to be interesting but which didn’t justify an entire blog:

Update on the Telecom Act? Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Richard Hudson (NC-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, announced a hearing titled The Telecommunications Act of 1996: 30 Years Later. The stated purpose of the hearing is to examine the lessons learned from an examination of the Act. The hearing announcement suggests that Congress will see “how Congress can build on those lessons to modernize our laws to promote innovation, strengthen competition, and drive investment in modern communications networks.”

It’s obvious to anybody who follows telecom regulations that a lot of the changes made in the Act were quickly obsolete when broadband products became the predominant products of the telecom industry. Every reform effort has to start somewhere, and maybe this is the first step towards real discussions on updating telecom regulation. But in an industry dominated by regulatory capture from carriers, it seems highly unlikely that Congress has the appetite to take a fresh look at regulating the large carriers.

Will Starlink Bail on BEAD? A group of twenty House Democrats wrote a letter to Arielle Roth, head of NTIA, expressing concern that Starlink will walk away from the BEAD grants. The concerns come because of requests made by Starlink to state broadband offices for waivers of some of the ongoing reporting requirements that apply to all grant winners. For example, Starlink asked to be excused from conducting speed tests or providing ongoing financial reporting. NTIA has already told state broadband offices that states don’t have the authority to relax any BEAD reporting requirements. Perhaps the House members are worried that NTIA will issue a nationwide waiver for Starlink.

Arielle Roth said recently that states would have to reconsider the awards to Starlink if the company defaults. This has the industry wondering if defaults could result in an invitation for ISPs who want to build fiber or fixed wireless networks to rebid to serve such areas. In most states, there is still a lot of unspent grant funds that could be used for this purpose.

Copper Thefts by Organized Crime? AT&T published a blog that speculates that the magnitude of the theft of telephone copper wires is a lot higher than what might be attributed to random acts of crime. Rahdeese Alcutt, the lead investigator for AT&T Global Security, speculates that thefts in places like Southern California are likely coming from organized crime. The blog points out that it’s not just telephone copper wires being stolen, but anything made of copper, like material in railroads and transit systems, power utilities, HVAC systems, and city lighting systems. He says there are now days with hundreds of thefts of copper. Alcutt thinks this is an organized effort because it involves the use of heavy equipment and a well-coordinated effort to avoid law enforcement.

Fear of the Kessler Syndrome? LeoLabs, a company that monitors satellites in low-earth orbit reported that a Starlink satellite suffered an “anomaly” and broke apart into space debris. LeoLabs believes the likely cause was an “internal energetic source” and not due to a collision with another satellite. This is a concern because of the Kessler Syndrome, which predicts that there is some level of space debris that will result in a spreading cloud of debris that will destroy other satellites and result in a circling cloud of debris around the Earth that would be a barrier to space travel.

This risk increases as the number of satellites in orbit increases. The announced plans of current satellite companies could result in hundreds of thousands of satellites in low-earth orbit within a decade. The more satellites, the higher the chance of having catastrophic collisions. LeoLabs is not predicting that this anomaly will be a problem, but nobody knows what it might take to initiate the cloud of debris.

FCC Suspends Lifeline Providers. The FCC has always investigated fraud in the Universal Service Fund. The agency recently blocked seven individuals from ever participating in USF again after they were convicted of fraud. All of the convictions involved E-Rate reimbursement for broadband at schools and libraries. The fraud covered a range of bad behavior. A few individuals embezzled money that was legitimately paid to school systems. A few submitted fraudulent invoices to the E-Rate program or hired unsavory E-Rate partners.