The Commerce Department confirmed Monday it designated Doug Kinkoph as acting NTIA administrator. Former acting Administrator Diane Rinaldo left NTIA last week, just seven months after David Redl's own abrupt exit as agency head (see 1912160049). NTIA described Kinkoph's temporary role as "performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information." Kinkoph had been Rinaldo's deputy and was delegated to oversee wireless issues while she ran the agency (see 1905140063). Rinaldo had recused herself from handling spectrum deployment issues because her husband works as a lobbyist for T-Mobile.
The FCC will study availability and effectiveness of call-blocking options, said Friday's public notice. It plans to open a record in docket 17-97 and will take comment for 30 days after Federal Register publication, replies 30 days later. A declaratory ruling in June (see 1906060056) tasked the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau with writing a June call blocking report. The report will address any consumer costs to adopting the technologies. A follow-up is due in 2021.
Thirty-nine winning bidders in the FCC's first toll-free numbers auction, in the 833 code, were announced Friday, the agency said in docket 19-101. Somos posted the winning bidders of 1,659 phone numbers. The auction raised $285,075. National Sales Partners led winners, at $176,109. Other big bidders include Leland Smith, Coore, Primary Wave Media and FracTel. “This information includes the Toll Free numbers initially selected by each applicant for the 833 Auction,” Somos said: Jan. 16, “Somos will release bidding information on every number available in the auction, including, for every bid placed on a number, the amount of the bid and bidder’s name.” Final payments are due Jan. 8. Companies like 1-800-Flowers.com, Comet Media, Dish Network and Verizon won little if anything.
Net neutrality won a prime spot in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2020 agenda. The Democrat proposed a bill Thursday that would build on a 2018 executive order that restricted procurement to ISPs that follow open-internet principles, codifying that and banning zero rating and blocking, throttling and paid prioritization. It would direct the Department of Public Service to hold mobile and fixed ISPs accountable by investigating and fining providers that violate net neutrality. ISPs would have to disclose net management practices and annually certify compliance with New York net neutrality rules. The bill would give a private right of action so any New Yorker could bring a complaint against violators. Cuomo said "while the federal administration works to undermine this asset, in New York we are advancing the strongest net neutrality proposal in the nation so big corporations can't control what information we access or stymie smaller competitors.” Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D) praised Cuomo for seeking to codify his 2018 EO: “The principles of a free and open internet are essential.” Fahy is one of several New York lawmakers with net neutrality bills; legislators were expected to talk before January about possible coordination (see 1910240024). It's "promising and shows that the governor’s team is thinking about the issue comprehensively,” said Free Press Action Fund General Counsel Matt Wood. Public Knowledge also wants to see the text but is encouraged, said Policy Director Phillip Berenbroick. “With the FCC missing in action, it is critical that state governments step up.” New America’s Open Technology Institute also welcomed it. DPS, NCTA and CTIA declined comment; the FCC and USTelecom didn’t respond.
Apple iPhone and smartphone models by Samsung don’t exceed FCC RF specific absorption rate (SAR) limits, reported the Office of Engineering and Technology Thursday. Chicago Tribune tests found some exceeded such limits. “The FCC takes claims of non-compliance with its regulations seriously and commenced its own testing program of the implicated handsets,” the regulator said: “All sample cell phones tested by the FCC Laboratory, both grantee-provided and FCC-purchased samples, produced maximum 1-g average SAR values less than the 1.6 W/kg limit specified in the FCC rules.” The newspaper didn’t comment.
Federal employees will have a day off Dec. 24 with exceptions “for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need,” said President Donald Trump in an executive order Tuesday.
The Wireless Innovation Forum's new 6 GHz Band Multi-Stakeholder Committee said controversies remain, as does work to be done. Getting protections right is important, Wednesday's report said. “A number of licensed users occupy this spectrum, prominent occupants being users of fixed point-to-point links,” it said. “A large fraction of these links serves critical functions that must maintain a high level of availability.” The group filed in FCC docket 18-295 and discussed the report with retiring Chief Julius Knapp and others from the Office of Engineering and Technology. "WinnForum's 6 GHz Committee has accomplished the most important task for any co-existence analysis: Identify suitable protection criteria and propagation models used to predict compatibility," said Andrew Clegg of Google, WinnForum chief technical officer: "It's important that these considerations get buy-in from all stakeholders." Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii (see 1912180064) raised concerns, while Zebra also lobbied the FCC (see 1912180063).
The FCC’s NPRM on the 5.9 GHz band, approved by commissioners 5-0 last week (see 1912120058), underwent changes from the draft circulated by Chairman Ajit Pai three weeks earlier, based on our side-by-side comparison Wednesday when it was released in the Daily Digest. The NPRM proposes to reallocate the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi and cellular vehicle to everything (C-V2X), while potentially preserving a sliver for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC). Officials said last week the item had been tweeked. Draft language that tentatively concluded "no additional provisions are needed to protect non-federal incumbent operations in the 5.9 GHz band from new C-V2X operations” was changed to proposing only. The draft said, “Promoting traffic safety and other [intelligent transportation system] benefits remains a critical priority of the United States, and we support the development and widespread use of these technologies and services.” The final NPRM said, “We continue to recognize the importance of ITS, and are committed to a regime that enables the provision of ITS.” The final notice recognized more explicitly importance of bands beyond 5.9 GHz for ITS, saying the spectrum is “part of a larger transportation and vehicular safety-related ecosystem that also includes spectrum outside of the 5.9 GHz band.” The final document adds language on the importance of ITS. “We note that a primary purpose of the original DSRC band was to provide valuable vehicular safety of life applications to the public,” the final wording said: “We propose that ITS in this band continue to provide safety of life services. ... Additionally, we seek comment on whether there are actions that we should take, or requirements that we should adopt, to promote rapid and effective deployment of ITS.” The final NPRM includes questions not in the draft on 5G Automotive Association assertions C-V2X needs 60 MHz to evolve to include 5G. “Is it necessary to plan for such systems?” the final NPRM asked: “If so, can 20 or 30 megahertz support 5G automotive applications?” The NPRM casts a wider net. “We propose that U-NII-4 devices meet an [out-of-band-emission] limit of -27 dBm/MHz at or above 5.925 GHz, which is the same limit required for U-NII-3 devices at this frequency,” the draft said. The final notice added “or devices that operate across a single channel that spans the U-NII-3 and U-NII-4 bands.” And “autonomous vehicles are already being deployed and clearly cannot be relying on DSRC because it is not widely deployed and would not be for many years even under favorable predictions” changed to “autonomous vehicles are already being tested and deployed using applications and technologies other than DSRC for vehicle-to-vehicle communications or other transportation or vehicular-safety.”
Access to reliable broadband is a "very important" factor in considering a new residence, the Fiber Broadband Association reported, compiled by RVA Market Research and Consulting. It said 89 percent of single-family home purchasers and 86 percent buying a new multiple dwelling units rated broadband reliability as a very important factor. Some 46.5 million U.S. homes are passed with fiber broadband, a 16 percent increase over last year. A record 7.2 million were passed with fiber broadband in the year ending in September. The report projects new fiber deployment will decline in 2020 due to AT&T cutbacks. FBA plans to post the report.
The FCC will divvy up nearly $89.2 million in rural broadband funding over the next 10 years among Viasat, LTD Broadband, Horry Telephone, Bruce Telephone and JCWIFI.com, it said Monday. That will help cover service to more than 123,000 unserved rural residences and businesses in 21 states. It's the eighth release from the Connect America Fund Phase II auction. Viasat is receiving the bulk -- $87.1 million over 10 years to offer service to more than 121,700 residences at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps.