Communications Daily is a Warren News publication.
2019 Bulletins
16
Dec

The government official who has been running NTIA after its last head left is now leaving herself.

Diane Rinaldo alerted officials at the agency this morning, according to stakeholders and one such email from Rinaldo. Her job title is described as "Deputy Assistant Secretary, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator."

In May, NTIA Administrator David Redl resigned amid disagreements between agencies on spectrum issues involving the FCC. Rinaldo after that was named to run NTIA on an interim and/or acting basis.

Stakeholders expect a new official to take over the top NTIA job, perhaps coming from another agency. The Commerce Department and other government officials didn't immediately comment on a successor. NTIA referred our query to Commerce.

5
Dec

The FTC “effectively removed” Facebook’s independent privacy assessor, Chairman Joe Simons wrote a legislator in a letter we obtained.

PricewaterhouseCoopers did the company’s third-party privacy audit before data abuses the agency detailed in its $5 billion privacy settlement with Facebook. Though the newly obtained paperwork doesn't identify the auditing and accounting firm that was the assessor, past documents identify the company.

The agency “effectively removed assessors, in this case and others, by not re-approving those assessors who were insufficiently rigorous in their prior assessments,” Simons wrote in an Oct. 31 letter to Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. We got it through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The FTC, Facebook and PwC didn’t comment Thursday for this report.

4
Dec

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants to spend some $9 billion from the USF over about 10 years for fifth-generation wireless services. At least $1 billion would be for precision agriculture, the agency announced this afternoon.

"We must ensure that 5G narrows rather than widens the digital divide and that rural Americans receive the benefits that come from wireless innovation," Pai said.

The so-called 5G Fund would replace the previously planned Mobility Fund Phase II that would have helped pay for 4G LTE in unserved areas, the agency said. "4G LTE coverage data submitted by providers is not sufficiently reliable for the purpose of moving forward with Mobility Fund Phase II."

Staff "analysis and speed tests suggest that the submitted MF-II coverage maps did not match actual coverage in many instances," said an accompanying report. "Broadband data accuracy should be made a top priority going forward and providers should be put on notice of the penalties that could arise from coverage filings that violate federal law."

The report recommended analyzing the most recent such filings of T-Mobile, Verizon and U.S. Cellular "to determine if they complied with the Form 477 requirements." Those carriers didn't comment right away.

2
Dec

The U.S. Trade Representative Monday evening listed 63 Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings that may face tariffs of up to 100 percent when imported from France. It's in retaliation for that country’s digital services tax.

USTR announced the French tax restricts U.S. commerce and violates Trade Act Section 301. Tech companies and others in the U.S. have opposed that taxation. Their associations issued supportive statements in the minutes after the trade disclosure.

Comments on the proposed tariffs are due to USTR by Jan. 6. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 7.

France's embassy in Washington didn't comment immediately.

25
Nov

State attorneys general lost the only Republican colleague who had joined them in challenging T-Mobile's buy of Sprint. Texas' Ken Paxton's office reached a settlement with T-Mobile that he said Monday morning is "resolving the state’s antitrust claims against the proposed merger."

The pact prevents the combined wireless carrier from increasing prices for wireless services in Texas for five years. The New T-Mobile would build out a 5G network throughout the state, including rural areas, over six years, said Paxton's news release.

Other states have agreed to similar deals.

Representatives for the California and New York AGs helping to lead the challenge to the transaction didn't comment immediately.

18
Nov

The FCC and not satellite providers or other private entities will run an auction for the C band, Chairman Ajit Pai confirmed in a series of tweets late this morning. The agency could aim to move those satellite frequencies for 5G use.

"After much deliberation and a thorough review of the extensive record, I've concluded that the best way to advance these principles is through a public auction of 280 megahertz of the C-band conducted by the @FCC's excellent staff," Pai wrote.

18
Nov

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., is expected to file this afternoon legislation that would make permanent a far more limited version of the distant-signal compulsory license currently authorized under the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. STELA is the subject of an intensifying reauthorization debate on Capitol Hill, with the House Commerce Committee set to mark up a renewal bill Tuesday.

Nadler's bill, the Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act, would limit the distant-signal license to cover only trucks, RVs and households in short markets, according to bill text we obtained. The measure defines short markets as those “in which programming of one or more of the four most widely viewed television networks nationwide is not offered on either the primary stream or multicast stream transmitted by any network station in that market.”

The legislation would provide a limited extension of the distant-signal license for 120 days for all other currently covered subscribers.

The bill would require satellite providers that use the distant-signal license to provide "local-to-local service" in all 210 designated market areas. That's an apparent bid to address lawmakers' concerns about the 12 markets where AT&T's DirecTV provides limited or no access to locally broadcasted networks' stations. AT&T says the 12 markets have access to local stations' terrestrial signals.

28
Oct

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he will circulate an order for the Nov. 19 commissioners’ meeting that would bar providers from using USF support to buy from suppliers deemed a threat to national security. Pai will also propose that the FCC seek comment on a process to remove and replace such equipment from USF-funded networks.

We simply can’t take a risk when it comes our networks and hope for the best,” Pai blogged Monday. “My plan calls first for an assessment to find out exactly how much equipment from Huawei and another Chinese company, ZTE, is in these networks, followed by financial assistance to these carriers to help them transition to more trusted vendors."

Commissioners approved a supply chain NPRM 5-0 in April 2018. Smaller carriers have had concerns since some use cheap equipment from Chinese vendors. Huawei and ZTE didn't comment.

The announcement comes as the World Radiocommunication Conference starts in Egypt.

1
Oct

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld much of the FCC reclassifying broadband service as a Title I Communications Act information service, with some exceptions including on pre-emption for states' own regulations. The ruling also included a partial dissent from Judge Stephen Williams and concurring opinions from Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins. Our earlier bulletin incorrectly described the FCC's newest rules as on Title II.

Williams' dissent focused on the pre-emption issue. "The majority conspicuously never offers an explanation of how a state regulation could ever conflict with the federal white space to which its reasoning consigns broadband," he wrote. The ruling is in Pacer.

"Today’s D.C. Circuit decision is a big victory for consumers! The court affirmed the @FCC’s decision to repeal 1930s utility-style regulation of the Internet," tweeted FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "A free and open Internet is what we have today. A free and open Internet is what we’ll continue to have going forward."

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel had a different take. "The court sends back to the @FCC much of the mess it made with #NetNeutrality," she tweeted. "The @FCC was on the wrong side of the American people and the wrong side of history. Let's keep up the fight."

1
Oct

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld much of the FCC reclassifying broadband service as a Title I Communications Act information service, with some exceptions including on pre-emption for states' own regulations. The ruling also included a partial dissent from Judge Stephen Williams and concurring opinions from Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins.

"The Commission has not shown legal authority to issue its Preemption Directive, which would have
barred states from imposing any rule or requirement that the Commission 'repealed or decided to refrain from imposing' in the Order or that is 'more stringent' than the Order," the D.C. Circuit said Tuesday morning. It vacated that portion of the rules.

It remanded to the federal regulator what the decision called "three discrete issues." The order "failed to examine the implications of its decisions for public safety," doesn't "sufficiently explain what reclassification will mean for regulation of pole attachments," and "the agency did not adequately address Petitioners’ concerns about the effects of broadband reclassification on the Lifeline Program." The ruling is in Pacer.

The agency didn't comment right away on Mozilla v. FCC.

23
Sep

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated and remanded the FCC’s 2016 quadrennial review order, the deregulatory reconsideration order that followed, and a portion of the broadcast incubator order, said an opinion (in Pacer) in Prometheus v. FCC released Monday. The three-judge panel rejected broadcaster arguments that the FCC’s deregulation hadn’t gone far enough, and arguments from the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters and Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council that the FCC incubator program’s comparable markets provisions were unreasonable. “We do, however, agree with the last group of petitioners, who argue that the Commission did not adequately consider the effect its sweeping rule changes will have on ownership of broadcast media by women and racial minorities,” said Judge Thomas Ambro, writing for the majority. The FCC’s “analysis is so insubstantial that we cannot say it provides a reliable foundation for the Commission’s conclusions. Accordingly, we vacate and remand the bulk of its actions in this area over the last three years,” the court said. The court also rejected a request from public interest groups that a special master be appointed to oversee the remand process. Judge Anthony Scirica concurred in part and dissented in part from the majority opinion. Judge Julio Fuentes was the panel's third judge.

19
Sep

CTA has picked “nextgenTV” as the consumer-facing logo that will adorn ATSC 3.0-compatible TVs and other receivers, we learned Thursday. CTA didn’t comment.

The association plans to unveil the logo and branding effort as part of 3.0's go-to-market strategy at its Technology and Standards Forum next Thursday in Los Angeles. Details of receiver conformance will be discussed.

The nextgenTV logo is expected to be on prominent display at NAB Show New York Oct. 16-17. The logo’s first CES showing in January is expected as a backdrop to showcasing the first 3.0-compliant U.S.-market TVs from LG and Samsung, and perhaps others. Broadcasters announced plans at the NAB Show to debut 3.0 services in the top 40 U.S. TV markets by the end of 2020, accompanied by broad receiver support.

13
Aug

The tranche of tariffs the Trump administration Tuesday morning announced it will delay to Dec. 15 are the 10 percent List 4 tariffs on smartphones, laptops, videogame consoles and computer monitors. Earlier this morning, we incorrectly reported the tranche.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel chimed in shortly after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announcement. "The USTR just announced the 10% tariffs on phones & laptops will be delayed until December 15," she tweeted. "But this follows a 25% tariff already on 5G antennas, semiconductors & routers. We need a thoughtful way to build a digital future. This mix of taxes on consumers & networks is not it."

Tech groups didn't immediately react to the news or comment to us.

13
Aug

Viacom and CBS expect to become ViacomCBS by year's end. Viacom CEO Bob Bakish would head the merged entity, Viacom said Tuesday. CBS acting CEO Joe Ianniello would be CBS CEO/chairman.

Viacom said the deal will speed up direct-to-consumer strategy, mean beefed-up advertising and distribution, and create a major content producer. "Our unique ability to produce premium and popular content for global audiences at scale -- for our own platforms and for our partners around the world -- will enable us to maximize our business for today, while positioning us to lead for years to come.," Bakish said.

Bakish said existing CBS shareholders will own about 61 percent of the combined company, Viacom shareholders about 39 percent.

13
Aug

The Trump administration will delay to Dec. 15 the 10 percent List 3 Section 301 tariffs on smartphones, laptops, videogame consoles and computer monitors, announced the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Tuesday morning. Delaying the tariffs on those articles appears certain to spare the consumer tech industry from passalong price increases during the peak holiday selling season. It bears watching whether the delay will prompt a rush on shipments of those items from China, as U.S. importers scramble to beat the higher duties. There was no immediate word on the fate of other products the tech industry targeted for List 4 removal, including TVs, smart speakers, smartwatches and Bluetooth headphones. Other products are being removed from List 4 entirely, “based on health, safety, national security and other factors,” said USTR. The full and final List 4 will appear on the USTR website Tuesday, it said. USTR will install a List 4 exclusion process for products with immediate tariff exposure, it said.

9
Aug

The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, other tribes and supporters won a partial victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The court Friday vacated the most important portion of the March 2018 wireless infrastructure order, placing small cells back under FCC, historic and environmental review. The court upheld other parts of the order. Commissioner Brendan Carr, who is overseeing FCC work on wireless infrastructure, said the decision wasn’t a total loss. The court “upheld key provisions of last March’s infrastructure decision,” Carr said: “Most importantly, the court affirmed our decision that parties cannot demand upfront fees before reviewing any cell sites, large or small. These fees, which had grown exponentially in the last few years, created incentives for frivolous reviews unrelated to any potential impact on historic sites. Those financial incentives are gone, and we expect our fee restrictions to continue greatly diminishing unnecessary and costly delays.”

We grant in part the petitions for review because the Order does not justify the Commission’s determination that it was not in the public interest to require review of small cell deployments,” the court held: “In particular, the Commission failed to justify its confidence that small cell deployments pose little to no cognizable religious, cultural, or environmental risk, particularly given the vast number of proposed deployments and the reality that the Order will principally affect small cells that require new construction.”

26
Jul

DOJ and attorneys general for five states said they reached a settlement with T-Mobile and Sprint on their proposed deal. The settlement goes further than the companies’ earlier proposal at the FCC.

The companies agreed to divest Sprint’s prepaid business, including Boost, Virgin Mobile and Sprint prepaid, to Dish Network. The new T-Mobile will also sell spectrum to Dish and make available at least 20,000 cellsites and hundreds of retail locations. “T-Mobile must also provide Dish with robust access to the T-Mobile network for a period of seven years while Dish builds out its own 5G network,” DOJ said.

Participating AGs are from Nebraska, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota. “With this merger and accompanying divestiture, we are expanding output significantly by ensuring that large amounts of currently unused or underused spectrum are made available to American consumers in the form of high quality 5G networks,” said DOJ antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim.

The combining companies said that the "DOJ action moves the merger one step closer to closing, pending other regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other closing conditions." It's an "incredibly important step forward for the New T-Mobile," said that carrier's CEO, John Legere.

20
May

As T-Mobile and Sprint agreed to concessions to get their deal OK'd, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he'd recommend approving the deal. He would suggest commissioners greenlight the transaction, with an FCC release saying that "in the coming weeks," he will "present his colleagues with a draft order that would resolve this matter."

One critic wasn't persuaded, nor was Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. She tweeted that she has "serious doubts." Commissioner Brendan Carr said he would support the deal, in a separate statement.

The companies' new steps include agreeing to divest Boost, Sprint's prepaid business. The company would retain Virgin Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile. Pai said that "the companies have offered specific commitments regarding the rollout of an in-home broadband product, including to rural households."

The combining carriers said their network would cover at least two-thirds of the U.S. rural population with mid-band spectrum 5G. Their fifth-generation network would reach 97 percent of the country's people within three years of completing the deal and 99 percent within six. This is all according to Pai's statement Monday morning.

"The companies would suffer serious consequences if they fail to follow through on their commitments to the FCC," said Pai. "Consequences ... could include total payments to the U.S. Treasury of billions of dollars" and "create a powerful incentive for the companies to meet their commitments on time," he added.

The conditions in "yet another policy-by-press-release Pai statement would do nothing to alleviate the obvious harms of this deal," Free Press General Counsel Matt Wood emailed us. He fears the effect on the poor, people of color "and anyone seeking a better price" for wireless service.

The combining companies didn't comment right away on their new plans.

12
Apr

The FCC intends to begin its auction of spectrum in the 37, 39 and 47 GHz bands Dec. 10 and plans to begin work on a fund targeting broadband deployment in unserved rural areas, Chairman Ajit Pai told reporters Friday morning. The announcements came ahead of Pai's planned participation in an afternoon event with President Donald Trump aimed at clarifying that the U.S. isn't headed toward a nationalized 5G network, as we reported Thursday. That event is set to begin just before 2:30 p.m., the White House said.

The auction of spectrum in the 37, 39 and 47 GHz bands is “critical to providing the airwaves necessary for carriers to deploy 5G networks,” Pai said on a call with reporters. An item on the auction was already on the docket for Friday's commissioners' meeting, which itself was centered around 5G items. The auction will include 2,400 megahertz from the 37 and 39 GHz bands and 1,000 megahertz from the 47 GHz band. The FCC was also expected to consider a plan for sharing the 37 GHz band between industry and DOD. NTIA Thursday night weighed in on that, signaling it's not backing down, we reported.

The $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund will repurpose funding from the USF Connect America Fund, which is itself set to begin being phased out after the end of 2020, Pai said. Funding for other USF programs would be unaffected by the reallocation. The FCC plans to launch an initial proceeding to set up rules for the fund later this year, but Pai said he wants the funding to be allocated on the same reverse auction basis as was used in the CAF Phase II auction. The funding should be targeted at unserved areas and projects that aim to provide service at the current FCC minimum of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, he said.

11
Apr

NTIA isn't backing down from asking the FCC to protect some DOD sites as the commission is poised Friday to adopt an order to partly free up the upper 37 GHz band for commercial wireless use including 5G. NTIA said in a letter to the FCC Thursday evening it should reject “pleas by potential bidders” to “effectively change the nature” of spectrum allocations in the upper 37 GHz band, following an auction. The letter said the Pentagon is willing to restrict requests to areas that can’t be accommodated in the lower 37 GHz band.

The draft order protects 14 DOD sites already identified, but also would potentially protect sites not yet identified, which may be needed in the future by DOD. That concerned the wireless industry, and could raise hackles among some FCC members, we reported earlier this week.

The letter lays out a process for accommodating the military’s limited needs in this portion of the 37 GHz band, and warns that an overly restrictive coordination process could have an adverse effect on the development of new applications and next-generation technologies,” NTIA announced. NTIA said “to reduce uncertainty,” the FCC’s pending order should “clarify under what circumstances and processes” DOD and other federal users “may seek access through coordination, under the current allocations, to the Upper 37 GHz band in areas outside the sites listed in the Commission’s rules and adjustments.”

The letter clarifies that when the military seeks access to any new area, NTIA and FCC staff will review the request “to assess any potential impact” on commercial licensees, “contact the impacted licensees (and other parties in interest), and facilitate coordination as necessary.” If coordination is successful, "NTIA would provide any applicable military departments appropriate certifications of spectrum support along with any new or revised frequency assignments.” NTIA said federal spectrum requirements can’t be “accommodated solely through secondary market transitions with non-Federal licensees.”

The FCC didn't comment right away, and nor did CTIA.

10
Apr

The House passed the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill (HR-1644) on a largely party-line 232-190 vote, as expected. The chamber ultimately approved either unanimously or by lopsided bipartisan margins all 12 amendments that were allowed floor consideration. HR-1644 and Senate companion S-682 would add a new title to the Communications Act that reverses the FCC order rescinding its 2015 net neutrality rules and restores reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service.

House passage came after what Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., earlier Wednesday called a “vigorous debate” between the parties on the bill. Democrats largely enthusiastically supported the measure and Republicans strongly opposed it.

The bill faces far longer odds of passing the Senate. President Donald Trump's administration has said he likely will veto the legislation if passed by both chambers.

25
Mar

Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., said Monday night he's “ready to roll” and vote to advance the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill (HR-1644) out of the House Communications Subcommittee, increasing the bill's chances of clearing the subcommittee's Tuesday markup. Butterfield is among four House Communications Democrats who aren't listed as co-sponsors of HR-1644 and was viewed as the most skeptical of the bill during a legislative hearing earlier this month. The other three subcommittee Democrats who haven’t co-sponsored HR-1644 are: Tony Cardenas of California, Tom O'Halleran of Arizona and Kurt Schrader of Oregon.

Butterfield predicted all three would also “vote for it.” The lawmakers' offices didn't immediately comment.

Butterfield would prefer to "roll out a new structure" rather than return to reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service. But he told reporters that "Title II is the best thing going right now."

5
Mar

The FCC's new administrative law judge OK'd Sinclair's request the ALJ nix the hearing designation order proceeding involving the company's now-ended plan to buy Tribune's TV stations. ALJ Jane Hinckley Halprin noted that the HDO alleged Sinclair may have misled the commission on whether it was the real party in interest that would get some divested Tribune’s licenses.

"That is not to say that Sinclair’s alleged misconduct is nullified or excused by the cancellation of its proposed deal with Tribune," wrote Halprin in the five-page order Tuesday. "That broad inquiry, however, would be more appropriately considered in the context of a future proceeding in which Sinclair is seeking Commission
approval, for example, involving an application for a license assignment, transfer, or renewal. At that
time, it may be determined that an examination of the misrepresentation and/or lack of candor allegations
raised in this proceeding is warranted as part of a more general assessment of Sinclair’s basic character
qualifications to be a Commission licensee."

Sinclair and the FCC didn't immediately comment.

26
Feb

A U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel sided with AT&T in upholding a lower court judgment that approved AT&T's buy of Time Warner over DOJ opposition. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruling is affirmed, said the judgment (in Pacer) of Judges Judith Rogers, Robert Wilkins and David Sentelle in USA v. AT&T, No. 18-5214.

The opinion was unanimous. It (in Pacer) was written by Rogers. Some had told us to expect such an outcome.

AT&T and DOJ didn't comment right away in the minutes after the decision was issued.

26
Feb

DOJ won't further challenge in court its two-time judicial loss in its failed effort to block AT&T from having bought Time Warner, it said Tuesday. Earlier that day, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit three-judge panel unanimously sided with AT&T in upholding a lower court judgment that approved the deal worth tens of billions of dollars.

"The Department has no plans to seek further review," a spokesperson emailed. "We are grateful that the Court of Appeals considered our objections to the District Court opinion."

25
Feb

Windstream Holdings and all its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, the telco announced, amid a dispute with a hedge fund over a bond issue. "The Company intends to use the court-supervised process to address debt maturities that have been accelerated as a result of the recent decision by Judge Jesse Furman in the Southern District of New York against Windstream Services," it said Monday.

The carrier secured a Citigroup commitment for $1 billion in debtor-in-possession financing. "Following approval by the Court, this financing, combined with access to the cash generated by the Company’s ongoing operations, will be available to meet Windstream’s operational needs and continue operating its business as usual," Windstream said.

The stock, which plunged below $1 last week on a court setback on challenges by Aurelius Capital Management and U.S. Bank, had fallen another 24 percent earlier Monday.

13
Feb

The FCC won't stay open longer than other parts of the federal government in the event of another partial federal shutdown, the agency told employees and confirmed to us Wednesday. It said it has insufficient reserve funds to delay largely shutting down when the continuing resolution funding it expires at midnight Friday.

The regulator used reserve funds to remain open until Jan. 2 during the previous shutdown when some other federal agencies closed Dec. 22.

A commission memo Wednesday to all workers said shutdown activities would happen Tuesday in the absence of another CR. Monday is a federal holiday.

President Donald Trump said he's not “happy at first glance” with a tentative bipartisan deal on border security aimed at passing all remaining FY 2019 government spending bills and averting a government shutdown. He also said Tuesday he didn't anticipate another shuttering. The deal includes passage of funding bills for the FCC and other federal agencies whose FY 2019 funding hasn't yet been approved by Congress. Both chambers would need to pass the funding measure.

1
Feb

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit handed the FCC a loss Friday, rejecting tribal Lifeline support limits and procedures. The FCC's 2017 tribal order was vacated and remanded for a new rulemaking.

The order restricted an additional $25 per month tribal Lifeline subsidy to services provided by eligible telecom carriers that use their own fixed or mobile wireless facilities, excluding carriers that resell services provided over other carriers’ networks. The move limited the extra subsidy to residents of “rural” areas on tribal lands. That additional money, beyond the $9.25 per month provided for Lifeline service, had been available since 2000.

“The Commission’s adoption of these two limitations was arbitrary and capricious by not providing a reasoned explanation for its change of policy that is supported by record evidence,” Judge Judith Rogers said in an opinion. “In adopting the Tribal Facilities Requirement, the Commission’s decision evinces no consideration of the exodus of facilities-based providers from the Tribal Lifeline program. Neither does it point to evidence that banning resellers from the Tribal Lifeline program would promote network buildout. Nor does it analyze the impact of the facilities requirement on Tribal residents who currently rely on wireless resellers.”

Judges Thomas Griffith and Raymond Randolph were the other members of the panel.

The FCC and the National Lifeline Association didn't comment immediately. The case, 18-1026, is NaLA v. FCC.

29
Jan

The now-open FCC delayed deadlines until Feb 8 for all filings that would have been due Jan. 8-Feb. 7. Also, filings that were due from Jan. 2 (the start of the agency's closure) through Jan. 7 remain due Wednesday, said a Tuesday afternoon public notice. It supersedes the commission's earlier guidance.

"While we recognize that the above schedule does not afford an extension of time equal to the length of the shutdown in all cases, we believe these extension periods are reasonable under the circumstances, including the fact that many electronic systems remained available to the public during the suspension of operations," the new PN said. "Staff will consider requests for further extensions in individual matters as appropriate."

A few other categories of filings have different deadlines.

29
Jan

The FCC is transplanting its former Wednesday agenda to the February commissioners’ meeting and moving that Feb. 21 meeting up by a week to take place before the Feb. 15 end of the continuing resolution funding the government, said a tentative agenda Tuesday morning.

“Because the agency is currently funded under a Continuing Resolution that runs through February 15, the FCC’s statutorily-required monthly meeting has been moved from February 21 to February 14,” said a news release. The February meeting items previously scheduled for this coming Wednesday include a caller-ID spoofing NPRM, an IP captioned telephone service order, and a media modernization order on equal employment opportunity reports.

Because of the shutdown, Wednesday's meeting won't have votes on those items.

23
Jan

The FCC will hold its scheduled commissioners’ meeting Jan. 30 but without the planned agenda items, the agency said in a release Wednesday. “Due to the current partial lapse in appropriations, the items previously set forth in the January 3, 2019 Tentative Agenda will not be considered at the meeting,” the release said. If the shutdown continues through Tuesday, the meeting will be held via conference call, the release said. If the shutdown ends and the FCC “resumes normal operations” before Tuesday, the meeting will be held in the Commission Meeting Room, consisting of “announcements only” rather than the agenda items, the agency said.

18
Jan

As the FCC's closure drags on, the agency has reversed course and is reopening its equipment authorization system. That potentially allows some new RF equipment to gain approval. A Jan. 2 public notice on the lapse in funding said the EAS wouldn't be available, the FCC noted Friday.

"After reviewing our statutory authority, the status of contract obligations and our lapse in funding plan, we will be reactivating this system today," said the new PN. "All other provisions" of the Jan. 2 public notice "continue to apply," it said.

Concerns about the partial government closure's impact on FCC device approvals mounted last week. Some stakeholders wanted EAS reopened.

17
Jan

That the FCC lacks funding wasn't sufficient cause for the court overseeing challenges to the agency's rollback of common-carrier net neutrality rules to delay oral argument. "These cases remained scheduled for oral argument on February 1, 2019," said a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit order filed Thursday.

"Upon consideration of the motion to postpone oral argument in light of the lapse of appropriations" and of the opposition to that, the FCC motion was denied.

The case is Mozilla v. FCC, No. 18-1051.

Mozilla and the FCC didn't comment immediately.

15
Jan

Due to the ongoing FCC closure during the partial government shutdown, the agency Tuesday requested that the court hearing appeals to its common-carrier net neutrality rollback delay Feb. 1's oral argument. The agency's request noted petitioners oppose the motion. The case is Mozilla v. FCC, No. 18-1051.

Taking no petition on the government's request, the agency said, are petitioner-intervenors the Internet Association, Entertainment Software Association, Computer and Communications Industry Association and Writers Guild of America West. The U.S., intervenor Digital Justice Foundation and respondent-intervenors USTelecom, CTIA, NCTA, the American Cable Association and Wireless ISP don't oppose the motion, it said.

Mozilla didn't comment right away.

2
Jan

The Senate confirmed Democratic FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks and Commissioner Brendan Carr to a second full term Wednesday night via unanimous consent. The chamber also confirmed Kelvin Droegemeier as White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director. A breakthrough on a string of confirmations followed hours of negotiations Wednesday night between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a Senate source said.

Confirmation of Carr and Starks followed months of behind-the-scenes negotiations and the end of holds on Carr placed by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska. Senate leaders had long insisted on advancing Carr and Starks as a pair. Their confirmation chances were boosted shortly before the start of Christmas recess when Manchin and Sullivan lifted their holds, though prospects were seen as remote as recently as Wednesday afternoon.

Starks will succeed former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn for a term ending in 2022. Carr's additional five-year term ends in 2023. The Senate in 2017 confirmed Carr to an abbreviated term that ended last year.

CTIA quickly praised both confirmations.

2
Jan

The FCC electronic comment filing system, electronic document management system, Daily Digest, universal licensing system and network outage reporting system will remain up during the partial government and agency shutdown, said a public notice Wednesday. Shot clocks on deals will be paused, though some incentive auction activities will continue, the PN said. Comment deadlines also will be paused.

There won't be support for such commission systems aside from activities involving spectrum auctions, the PN said. It said its filing window and mail operations will stay open only for spectrum auction activities.

Any submissions due during the shutdown instead will be due on the second day of normal operations.

In part, this shutdown plan is a major change from the last lengthy shuttering. ECFS went offline during the 2013 government shutdown.