Hello, everyone, Gabriel Bejarano with Market Scale here, and I have the pleasure of being joined today by Maddie Loteenbock, who's partner at Wylie. Thank you so much, Maddie. Thanks. Happy to be here. Absolutely. So, Maddie, your focus is in FCC related practice. So can you just take us through your experiences there and just give our audience a brief bio how it itself to the conversation at hand just a little bit about Wylie and what brought you there. Absolutely. So Wylie is a DC based firm, you know, one stop shop for our clients. With all things related to, Washington, DC, be it, you know, work in my practice. I mean, the firm's telecommunications meet and technology practice, supporting clients on issues related to the Federal Communications Commission. We've also do a lot of great work supporting clients on on, consumer, related issues with the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission. And then, of course, a broader cybersecurity privacy in a governance group. So a lot of pieces going on there. Yeah. I was gonna say that's a lot of touch points. So just tell us a little bit more about what groups Riley focuses on Sounds like it's all encompassing really a one stop shop. So just, in that respect, how are y'all making a difference in the space when you have so many different areas to cover, how are you, helping clients? I think it really helps having sort of a deep bench, to rely on. So, for example, clients might come to me for assistance with FCC licensing issues. And then as part of that, you know, unpacking questions related to cybersecurity or their use of AI technologies. And how does that deal with, you know, the latest guidance that's come out from the FTC and others, you know, outside of the broader telecommunications media technology and cybersecurity work, I'm able to rely on colleagues with international trade experience. We've got a strong government contracts practice group. And so as you can imagine, there's just so much overlap. And I think being able to rely on that different expert teas and Poland folks when and where we need them has been has been a real advantage for us. And there's a specific area I wanted to ask you about, when it comes to metering and smart grid space, what's going on in terms of compliance trends or challenges that you're seeing particularly in that space, with the electrical. Companies. You know, I think you touched on it head on. Right? I think, you know, historically, a lot of clients that I've worked with have been directly involved in the telecommunications and industry, right, whether that's wireless carriers, internet companies, edge edge providers, if you will. And so The neat thing that we're starting to see and, you know, my interest in coming to this conference was the utility industry is really innovating. They're looking to modernize smart grid technology is one example. And I think generally, they're trying to assess how can we use, you know, radio infrastructure and networks to better manage and monitor and oversee our facilities and our business. And I think once you start getting into that space, a piece that can often be overlooked right as the FCC compliance. The FCC has oversight over, interstate and international communications, and I think most relevant here is, their responsibility over spectrum management. So if you're starting to deploy these systems, you've gotta be thinking about FCC licenses for your spectrum use. If you are building new towers or monopoles or a sort of other to support that infrastructure. Right? You've gotta go through the environmental reviews. If you're procuring or developing equipment, there's FCC equipment authorization pieces. So I think there's a lot of stuff there, that you've gotta have on your radar once you start entering this space. Well, what you wish more companies were aware of when it comes to making sure that businesses are, but also that they remain compliant with FCC regulations. Yeah. No. That's a good question. I think one thing that struck me, getting to talk with a lot of people at this conference. I mean, the utility industry generally, they are very sophisticated when it comes to compliance. Right? They've got a lot going on, are certainly very focused on regulations from the Department of Energy. And the EPA and others. And so I think they have these existing systems and structures in place. They've got, you know, the know how on, you know, sort of how to do this. I think the oversight really is not always having the awareness. Right, of the different FCC obligations or, you know, to sort of touch on a a different aspect. Right? I think when we talk about companies looking at utilizing new technologies, we're seeing an interest in drones, for example. Right? And how can we leverage drone technology to do site checks of our, you know, four hundred foot wind farm terminals. Right? Are they, you know, working? And of course, there's new FAA regulations that are coming out. And so I think, you know, having these other pieces on your radar for compliance, and I think just knowing that you don't need to recreate the wheel here. Right? You've got the existing infrastructure. I think it's, you know, not new departments, but it's just making sure that you have people focused on the new pieces and other regulatory. Knowing where to go, how to use the resources available at your disposal. I'm glad you brought up, drones because I wanted to ask you if there were any interesting questions or maybe common themes that you're seeing with drone companies, that you work with, maybe that you wish you knew more people knew about when it comes to drone utilization and licensing, what are some of those common pain points or maybe a trends that you're seeing. Now I think that's right. We got a lot of questions about, you know, drone use, and I think it's just it's a really interesting space and demonstrates, right, the utility industry's, you know, focus on using and leveraging, right, the latest technology to to help and improve their businesses. I think it's really trying to stay up to date. I've got, some colleagues at Wylie that know this inside and out and are regularly posting on the updates. But I think you know, few things to keep in mind on the FCC side, the commission has an open proceeding to look at different spectrum bands. For, drone use. I think, to get a little nerdy on you. Right? There's some, you know, push and pull between figuring out, you know, what what frequencies are gonna be the best, what the, you know, limitations might be in terms of using them for further away operations versus near term operations. You've gotta be able to, you know, send video down right from wherever you I think on the FAA side, there are new pieces related to, you know, communicating an RFID, right, a little, I was talking with someone earlier and they compared it like, an IP address, if you will, for your drone that sort of talks out and says, you know, this is who I am and who I belong to and and what we're doing. And so you know, these are new regulations that are rolling out. And I think it's really important from the industry side to the extent you're using this technology to you know, stay on top of this stuff and have a way to really know when things are coming out and then to be able to turn around in house and say, you know, hey, you know, how are we going to spread the word, make sure we're compliant, whether it's sort of updating checklists procedures so much of it I think can become muscle memory. And so I think just trying to always keep one eye on what's coming up is gonna be useful. Well, we've covered a lot of topics here today, but if people are listening in and they want to learn more, specifically, where can they reach out what type of a website can they reach out to you personally? Absolutely. So our law firm, Wylie, has a website w w w dot wiley dot law. Of course, you can email me directly, m lote inbox at wiley dot law. Or if you just wanna up to date on sort of some of the latest news. We have a podcast. Wiley connect dot com. But yeah, great way, to stay on top of all things, you know, f c c f t c f a a, and a lot of really interesting reads and good content there. So I'd highly recommend subscribing. Fantastic. Alright. Well, that wraps up today's conversation. So thank you so much, Maddie, for taking the time. Thanks.
