FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will visit Arizona and Nevada this week "to discuss bridging the digital divide and extending digital opportunity to all Americans," said an agency release Monday. The trip will include a meeting with leaders of the Navajo Nation and other tribes Tuesday, a business roundtable discussion with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) and others Wednesday, a discussion on the siting of broadband facilities on federal lands with the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, and a separate infrastructure discussion with Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and others Thursday. Pai also plans to meet with local broadcasters.

Dynamic Spectrum Alliance members should have bought spectrum in the incentive auction instead of now trying to urge the FCC to reserve space in the TV band, the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition said in a newsletter Friday. The coalition has been shopping around a proposal for low-power TV stations to provide the spectrum needed by tech companies such as those in the DSA (see 1708110050), and Friday's remarks were a response to a recent alliance filing (see 1708160062) on the vacant channel proposal. The DSA members want “a free lunch,” coalition Executive Director Mike Gravino said in the newsletter. He disputed that vacant channels need to be reserved for unlicensed use as DSA claimed, and urged the alliance to provide cost/benefit and impact analyses of the vacant channel proposal. “Without this analysis, DSA is not serious about their proposal. And they continue to waste all of our time and resources.” The DSA should “stop blowing smoke up the FCC’s rulemaking process,” Gravino said. “Ask not what the country can do for DSA Charter Members, ask what they are willing to do for all of us, quantify it, and do the fraking [sic] cost/benefit analysis,” he said.

The Voices for Internet Freedom Coalition lauded a column by NAACP interim CEO Derrick Johnson last week supporting strong, enforceable net neutrality rules, but the coalition suggested clarity about a legal foundation based on Communications Act Title II is key. "With the fate of net neutrality on the line, the NAACP urges [FCC] Chairman [Ajit] Pai to respect the congressional intent behind Title II ... to protect the free flow of information and not jeopardize it by removing high-speed broadband from the equalizing framework of Title II," Johnson wrote Wednesday in The Hill. "ISPs should not be able to discriminate against any information, or against any groups of people, based on their profit margins or their whims." The Voices Coalition applauded the NAACP for "standing up to protect the online voices of the Black community and communities of color," and it urged the civil rights organization "and all groups that support the Title II Net Neutrality rules, to clearly state their position during the current FCC reply-comment period," a release Monday said. In initial comments, the NAACP joined the Communications Workers of America in calling Title II "one approach" to justifying net neutrality rules while floating Telecom Act Section 706 as a blueprint for "commercially reasonable" ISP-edge arrangements (see 1707190025). Meanwhile, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance backed the FCC's proposal to "reverse the harmful effects" of the 2015 Title II net neutrality order and return to classifying broadband as a Title I information service. The proposal "would undoubtedly spur greater investment in broadband networks that will benefit the dynamic internet economy" and "protect taxpayers from an expanding bureaucracy and subsidies for expanding taxpayer-funded networks," said TPA's reply Monday in docket 17-108. "Nonexpress" reply comments continued to trickle in after the FCC extended an Aug. 16 deadline to Aug. 30 (see 1708110053). The number of public comments posted in the docket dropped Wednesday through Friday to fewer than 10,000 per day after generally running in the hundreds of thousands daily since early July, reaching 1.55 million Aug. 1. Monday, 94,244 were posted by late afternoon, bringing the cumulative total in the docket to 20.46 million.

Fifth-generation wireless “is right around the corner” and “brings the promise of a high-speed, high-capacity, seamless wireless Internet experience,” but only as long as regulators stay out of the way, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told the Americans for Prosperity’s Defending the American Dream Summit Saturday in Richmond, Virginia. “It is estimated that such innovations will result in economic benefits to the tune of $500 billion in gross domestic product growth and more than 3 million jobs in the U.S. alone,” O’Rielly said. “The FCC’s job is to provide an environment for such innovation and investment to flourish in the communications technology sector while protecting consumers along the way.” The FCC has wandered off course, O’Rielly warned in remarks, posted by the FCC Monday. “Rather than permitting ‘disruptive’ technologies to continue to develop, the Commission favored regulatory ‘know-it-all-ism,’” he said. The result “has been the creation of market uncertainty, leading to a rethinking of network investment.” Some changes before the FCC may seem small, but really add up, he said. For example, he said, the FCC is considering changes to its wireless and wireline infrastructure siting rules. “These are the types of rule changes that will accelerate access to 5G networks that enable life-saving innovations, such as remote surgery and vehicle collision avoidance systems,” he said. “Not to mention, they will allow self-driving cars and other breakthroughs we can’t imagine today.”

NARUC asked the FCC to expand its Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee to include more state and local officials. Of 30 BDAC members, 21 represent the broadband industry while only two represent state governments, two represent local governments and one represents tribal government, said an association letter Monday in docket 17-83. It said one NARUC and six local government representatives are among the 58 BDAC working group members. "It is self-evident, that any recommendations will necessarily reflect the composition of the committee. A simple review of the current roster suggests the committee is heavily weighted in favor of those seeking attachments to poles. The concept for this committee was a good one, but the usefulness of any recommendations is likely to be undermined by this imbalance," said the filing. It also said BDAC had only two members from power companies, which are also regulated by state regulators. NARUC noted it passed a resolution in July urging the FCC to add state and local government members to BDAC and its working group "to an amount that equitably balances" the broadband industry membership (see 1707200014). An FCC spokesman said: “BDAC members were chosen from a diverse set of stakeholders, with the goal of forging consensus on how to eliminate unnecessary barriers to deployment of high-speed Internet. We sought representation from state, local, and Tribal government, rural and urban Internet service providers, independent network builders, pole and conduit owners, trade associations, and non-profit organizations. We believe the makeup of the BDAC reflects the diversity we sought. Our broader goal is one everyone can agree on: accelerating access to robust, affordable, high-speed Internet for all Americans.” He also noted BDAC's vice chair is a state official: Kelleigh Cole, director, Utah Broadband Outreach Center, Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development. BDAC members said Friday initial recommendations are targeted for Nov. 9 (see 1708180043).

U.S. Cyber Command will be raised to the status of a unified combatant command, said President Donald Trump Friday in a statement and in a memo to the Defense Secretary James Mattis. The move is aimed at strengthening and streamlining cyberspace operations and providing more opportunities to improve defense, Trump said. He directed Mattis to provide a recommendation and possible plan about the "future command relationship" between Cyber Command and the NSA, potentially separating them. During the campaign, Trump promised to improve the command (see 1610030025).

The FCC should require broadcasters to simulcast content using the current standard during the ATSC 3.0 transition, said Verizon in a meeting with Chief Michelle Carey and other Media Bureau staff Wednesday, an ex parte filing said Friday in docket 16-142. “Just as broadcast TV stations should have the flexibility to choose whether and when to implement ATSC 3.0, other affected parties should similarly have the option of deciding whether and when to invest in new equipment to view and deploy ATSC 3.0, particularly consumers.” Rules governing simulcasting and quality of the 1.0 signal would be more efficient than other ways of easing the burden on MVPDs, and can have time limits for when 3.0 is more widespread, the telco-TV provider said. “The Commission can review and sunset any such restrictions as appropriate based on its evaluation of ATSC 3.0 penetration in the video market.” Broadcasters proposed simulcasting in initial filings on the transition, and have said repeatedly it should be allowed, not required (see 1707060060).

At least nine members of the Department of Commerce's 15-member Digital Economy Board of Advisors, including co-Chairs Zoë Baird, Markle Foundation president, and Mitchell Baker, Mozilla chairwoman, resigned amid fallout over President Donald Trump’s response to a white supremacist rally earlier this month in Charlottesville, Virginia (see 1708140044). Trump's statements drew criticism from many executives, leading the White House last week to halt formation of the Presidential Advisory Council on Infrastructure and dissolve two other CEO-dominated councils (see 1708160068 and 1708170048). IEEE President Karen Bartleson, Comcast Chief Diversity Officer David Cohen, University of California-Berkeley School of Law professor Sonia Katyal, McKinsey Global Institute Director James Manyika, Consumer Reports CEO Marta Tellado, Microsoft President Brad Smith and Rapid7CEO Corey Thomas also are confirmed to have resigned from the board. All nine members were appointed to two-year terms last year. Commerce, which didn't comment on the departures, intended the board to give recommendations to the secretary and NTIA administrator on the digital economy and internet policy issues (see 1511240034 and 1603300033). “It is the responsibility of leaders to take action and lift up each and every American,” Baker said in a letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “Our leaders must unequivocally denounce bigotry, racism, sexism, hate, and violence.” Lyft President John Zimmer was appointed to but never officially participated in the council, a spokesperson confirmed. Cohen was one of the other board members who addressed their resignations in letters to Ross, but Comcast didn't comment on why he decided to resign. A Microsoft spokesperson said Smith "is no longer a member of the group" effective Friday, but didn't give a reason. Lyft “will not participate in any advisory panel associated with the Trump administration,” the spokesperson said. Other companies whose executives are on the board, including AT&T, didn't comment.

Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler weighed in on the issue of removing statues of Confederate leaders and said in a blog post for the Brookings Institution that President Donald Trump (see 1708160044) is “wrong.” Wheeler has written two books about the Civil War, and disputed the president’s claim that removing statues of Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson would lead to similar treatment for Founding Fathers such as George Washington. “These men were building as opposed to tearing down,” Wheeler said.

Business data service litigants proposed a consensus briefing schedule and format to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, reviewing four petitions challenging the FCC April BDS order (see 1704200020). Opening briefs of two sets of petitioners that basically believe the order was overly regulatory or overly deregulatory would be due Sept. 26, with the brief of respondents FCC and DOJ due Nov. 10, briefs of different intervenors supporting different parts of the order due Nov. 17, and reply briefs of petitioners due Dec. 11 (final briefs incorporating an appendix would be Jan. 2), said a motion (in Pacer) filed Thursday by CenturyLink on behalf of "all other Petitioners, Respondents, and Intervenors" in Citizens Telecommunications v. FCC, No. 17-2296, and consolidated cases. The motion, which proposed word limits for briefs, said it tried to streamline the arguments and briefs. It said telco petitioners CenturyLink and Citizens expect to argue the order reduces price-cap ILEC rates more quickly than justified in areas that remain regulated. It said petitioners Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee, BT Americas, Granite Telecommunications, Incompas, Sprint and Windstream joined by Access Point, Alpheus Communications, New Horizon Communications and Xchange Telecom expect to argue the order deregulated price-cap ILEC rates in areas without adequate competition and without adequate notice, justification and factual support. Telco intervenors AT&T, CenturyLink and USTelecom, and cable intervenors NCTA and Comcast expect to defend different aspects of deregulation, while intervenors Ad Hoc and others expect to defend rate reductions, the motion said.