The FCC should streamline the process for deploying broadband infrastructure on federal land, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said during a “Fireside Chat” at the Montana High Tech Jobs Summit Monday with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. Streamlining deployment approval on federal lands could speed up the process of spreading broadband throughout the country’s rural areas, Pai said. “Ubiquitous broadband” is a key to helping rural areas compete in the global economy, Pai said. The commissioners also discussed disruptive innovation, net neutrality and the TV incentive auction. The event also featured a panel on spectrum and the wireless economy that included policy officials from Charter Communications and NAB.
Wiley Rein adds Kelly Cole, who recently began and continues to run Kelly Cole Strategies after leaving NAB (see 1507160027), as an affiliate with the law firm’s Telecom, Media & Technology Practice ... Partner Communications hires Yuval Keinan, leaving Bezeq, as deputy CEO, effective beginning of 2016 ... Future Technologies, wireless communications design firm, promotes David Rumore to chief revenue officer, new position, and adds him to board ... Pure Flix Digital, “faith-based” content streaming service, hires Greg Gudorf, ex-Technicolor and Sony Electronics, as CEO, and Brian Pancarik, also ex-Sony Electronics, as vice president-operations and support ... National Institute of Standards and Technology adds Tod Sizer, Bell Labs, to NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology ... Personal BlackBox adds to board Marc Mathieu, Samsung.
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to take a stab at video and spectrum policy in hearings in the coming weeks. Commerce is tentatively eyeing Sept. 30 for a full committee hearing on the future of video and Oct. 7 for a full committee hearing on spectrum policy, both starting at 10 a.m. The dates circulated among industry lobbyists. Congress returned from its monthlong August recess Tuesday, and neither hearing has been announced.
Congress has an opportunity this year to pass bipartisan legislation forcing additional spectrum auctions, after next year’s TV incentive auction, former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said Wednesday on a call with reporters. McDowell said he's told by his Capitol Hill contacts that new legislation will premier later this month when Congress returns to Washington. CTIA and some of its major members are making a big push for legislation this year, industry officials told us. That's expected to be one of the hot topics next week at CTIA’s annual show in Law Vegas.
The FCC and NTIA, though its Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, are taking a deep dive into bidirectional sharing in which commercial licensees would be asked to share their underutilized spectrum with the federal government (see 1508260066). The Department of Defense has sought more focus on two-way sharing. It's expected to face at least some resistance from licensees, concerned about protecting the spectrum they control, industry observers told us.
T-Mobile is clamping down on a small group of its customers who it alleges are “going out of their way with all kinds of workarounds” to use much more than their share of tethered data, CEO John Legere said in an open letter to subscribers posted Sunday, saying the carrier would contact the customers Monday. Industry observers said the latest development potentially raises some interesting questions about the FCC’s February net neutrality rules and how the agency will interpret them. The order includes a “bright line” rule against throttling (see 1502260043).
The FCC IP technology transition order is unlikely to be shot down if challenged in court, said attorney Douglas Bonner of Womble Carlyle, who represents telecom, cable and VoIP companies in commission proceedings and related litigation. "I don't see obvious grounds for the FCC to be overturned," said Bonner, speaking Tuesday on a Law Seminars International telebriefing on the FCC's IP technology transition order. He said the commission "tried hard to at least balance the interests" of CLEC and ILEC stakeholders, and had substantial discretion under the court's Chevron standard, which defers to reasonable agency decisions when interpreting ambiguous statutory provisions. Section 214 of the Communications Act, which governs telecom service discontinuances and was a basis for much of the order, "delegates a great deal of authority to the FCC to act," he said. Bennett Ross, a Wiley Rein attorney who represents telecom carriers, manufacturers and others, said, "Unfortunately, the D.C. Circuit doesn't always hold the FCC to a rigorous standard in justifying its reasoning." He suggested the court often gives FCC explanations too much deference under Chevron. Both Bonner and Ross said they didn't know if there would be a legal challenge. Ross voiced concern that the FCC's order would slow the IP transition by introducing new layers of inter-related and sometimes imprecise notification and discontinuance regulation as ILECs look to retire "antiquated" copper networks and withdraw or modify related services or their rates, terms and conditions. The FCC order aims to ensure, among other things, that competitors continue to have affordable access to wholesale broadband and voice services as incumbents migrate to IP-based services over fiber networks (see 1508060044). "I think the competitors, CLECs, got much of what they wanted," Bonner said.
Wiley Rein's McBee Strategic Consulting hires Mark Duffy, ex-Qorvis MSLGroup, as manager, communications practice, expanding international practice ... ABRY Partners hires Fadi Chehadé as senior adviser-digital strategy, starting after he leaves ICANN ... Parkmobile, mobile parking payments firm, names Jon Ziglar, ex-Ceridian HCM, CEO, succeeding Cherie Fuzzell, leaving to pursue other opportunities ... Northrop Grumman promotes Robert Fleming to vice president-cyber, unattended systems and division strategy, land and self-protection systems division ... Time Warner promotes Priya Dogra to senior vice president-mergers and acquisitions, leading M&A group.
Industry consolidation has been a dominant factor overhanging how the wireless industry is regulated, especially on transactions policy. The FCC under President Barack Obama's appointees repeatedly has drawn a clear line at four national wireless carriers -- AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. Industry observers disagree whether that makes sense in the current market.
Industry consolidation has been underway for decades and its challenges for the communications bar are nothing new, communications industry lawyers said. Law firms face steady pressure to keep the rates they charge low and, as companies expand, many take routine matters "in-house," the attorneys said. But the attorneys also said technological evolution, including the explosion of wireless, has meant new areas of practice and new clients seeking representation.