U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

A database has been launched by the Federal Communications Commission in efforts to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse for its Lifeline phone service. The National Lifeline Accountability Database has found $169 million in savings in noticing duplications for deletion and also preventing new duplicate records.

The Federal Communications Commission has approved a Report and Order to continue efforts to increase the amount of spectrum available for flexible use wireless services.  This report and order signifies the largest amount of spectrum made available since 2008.

The FCC has issued a fine of $29,000 to R&N Manufacturing, Ltd (RNM) for repeated violations of operating a signal jammer at its manufacturing facility in Houston, TX. The illegal use of the jammer caused interference to cellular and PCS communications in the area that could cause potential public safety hazards.

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed $1.93 million in fines against Viacom, ESPN and NBCUniversal for showing an advertisement numerous times that misuses the warning sounds of the Emergency Alert System (EAS).

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comments from the public on a variety of experiments and data collection initiatives that will review how customers are affected by technology transitions. These transitions are being used to update the nation’s communications networks.