FCC Issues Annual Internet Access Services Report

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recently released its annual report on access to Internet connections in the U.S., including information on the gap between current service levels and the benchmark Internet connection speeds recommended under the Commission’s National Broadband Plan.

According to the Commission’s report, entitled Internet Access Services: Status as of June 30, 2024, approximately 97% of residential fixed Internet connections had a speed of at least 10 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 1 Mbps upstream by the end of the reporting period, with 94% of residential connections having a speed of at least 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream. These results easily surpass the target set in the National Broadband Plan of 3 Mbps downstream and 768 kilobits per second (kbps) upstream.

Without accounting for speed, the total number of Internet connections remains strong. As of June 30, 2024, there were more than 548 million Internet connections operating at speeds over 200 kbps, slightly more than the 544 million recorded the previous year. And, once again, modern Internet connections are dominated by mobile technologies, which account for more than 75% of all Internet connections.

FDA to Address Data Integrity Concerns with Third-Party Testing Labs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is raising concerns about the integrity of data submitted by two China-based testing laboratories in support of recent premarket medical device submissions.

Detailed in a press release, the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has issued General Correspondence Letters to Mid-Link Technology Testing Company, based in Tianjin, China, and the Sanitation & Environment Technology Institute of Soochow University in Suzhou, China. The FDA’s communications inform the testing laboratories that it has been unable to “ensure the reliability and validity of biocompatibility testing and animal safety and performance testing studies” conducted at their respective laboratories.

As a result, the CDRH says that it will reject data generated by those two testing laboratories for use in premarket device submissions “until the two firms have adequately addressed these issues.”

The FDA has previously raised concerns about the operations of these two testing laboratories. In September 2024 warning letters sent to each laboratory, the FDA identified “laboratory oversight failures and animal care violations” that raised questions about the quality and integrity of data generated by the testing laboratories.

FCC Issues Annual Voice Telephone Services Report

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released its most recent report on voice telephone services available to consumers in the United States.

The report, titled “Voice Telephone Services: Status as of June 30, 2024,” shows the continued decline in the use of legacy wireline technologies in favor of mobile wireless technologies. By the end of the reporting period, wireline technologies accounted for just over 18% of the 471 million retail voice telephone service connections in the U.S., with mobile voice subscriptions equaling more than 82% of total service connections.

Further, the report highlights the continued shift toward mobile wireless technologies. According to the report, during the three years from June 2021 through June 2024, mobile voice subscriptions increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8%, while interconnected VoIP (wired) subscriptions declined at a CAGR of 1.3% and retail switched access (wired) lines declined at a CAGR of 17.8%.

Editorial Clarification

The article “Preparing for the EU’s New RED Cybersecurity Requirements” (June 2026) was published later than intended, resulting in outdated information that did not reflect the current regulatory landscape. We apologize for any confusion that this article may have created for our readers. Rather than retracting this article, we will be publishing an updated companion piece that covers the latest developments in EU RED Directive implementation, including the finalized harmonized standards, in an upcoming issue.

FDA Expands Unannounced Inspections of Foreign Manufacturing Facilities

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is stepping up its use of unannounced inspections at foreign manufacturing facilities that produce medicines and other medical products.

According to a press release, the FDA currently conducts about 12,000 domestic facility inspections and 3000 foreign facility inspections each year, covering more than 90 countries around the globe. However, U.S.-based manufacturing facilities are typically inspected without prior notice, while foreign-based facilities are usually given advanced notice of plans for inspections.

The FDA says that these different inspection protocols give foreign-based facilities ample time to prepare for their inspection and provide a theoretical advantage over domestic facilities in the FDA’s oversight process. It also provides those facilities with an opportunity to falsify records or find ways to conceal potential violations of FDA requirements ahead of the actual inspection.

Going forward, the FDA says it plans to expand its use of unannounced inspections to include foreign-based facilities as well. These steps will “provide real-time evidence and insights that are essential for making fact-based regulatory decisions to protect public health.”