Common Cause, Fight for the Future and Public Knowledge plan a big push next month on net neutrality. Activities kick off Sept. 27 with a “Hill Walk” and visits to congressional offices, said a Thursday news release. The following day, supporters plan a rally at the FCC. “We encourage you to attend the … Commission's Open Meeting to let the Commissioners know how you feel about net neutrality,” the groups said.

An update to the FCC Electronic Comment Filing System saw some files from the old system that were lacking dates temporarily appearing Wednesday afternoon in ECFS as new files, a spokesman told us Thursday. By noon, the glitch -- which had 2,600 files lacking "date received" information showing up across multiple dockets -- appeared to be resolved.

Verizon opposed an Incompas motion to modify FCC protective orders for reviews of past transactions. Noting it agreed with previous objections filed by AT&T, Charter Communications and Comcast (see 1707280026), Verizon said the motion "could make public the highly sensitive business information of third parties like Verizon who, in response to Commission requests, submitted highly confidential and confidential information." There's "no legal justification or sound policy basis to justify making this highly sensitive business information available in the Restoring Internet Freedom proceeding," said the telco's opposition Tuesday in docket 17-108. It said Incompas "improperly filed this Motion only in the Restoring Internet Freedom proceeding and not in the respective transaction dockets in which the protective orders were issued." Incompas formally responded last week to the previous oppositions (see 1708040058). Incompas referred us Wednesday to a statement by CEO Chip Pickering regarding the previous oppositions: "We must have a full and complete net neutrality record. Cable and AT&T’s apocalyptic overreaction to our request for merger information, already available at the FCC, clearly shows they have something to hide. The courts are destined to review any FCC order, and it doesn’t take Matlock to see cable and AT&T want to hide evidence that will show both the means and the motive to do harm to consumers and competition in the event net neutrality protections are off the books. A closed process threatens to close the internet."

A key to when mobile 5G will launch is when standards are approved and whether China decides to opt in to the standards that will be used in the rest of the world, said Ronan Dunne, group president of Verizon Wireless, at the Oppenheimer financial conference Wednesday. The second big factor is the release of a wide number of devices, he said. Verizon intends to lead the way, he said: “We’ll be first. We have been in every generation of technology.” When a company goes first, it influences how “the industry sets up,” he said. “You help to define the rules by which industry plays.” Verizon has pre-commercial 5G trials in eight of the 11 markets where it plans tests, Dunne said. “We’re focused on the fixed-wireless opportunity,” he said. “What we’re looking for in the trials is just what the practical propagation experience is, the experience of self-install, do you need antenna rather than on the window on the inside?” Later in the year “we’ll have a lot more insight,” he said. The download speeds have been “very good,” but “what we need to understand is all of the conditions” like what effect trees have or what happens when a UPS van pulls up and blocks an antenna, Dunne said. Verizon’s buys of XO Holdings and Straight Path will give the carrier a very strong position in the 28 and 39 GHz bands, he said. Verizon is very interested in the unlicensed part of the 3.5 GHz band, he said. Rollout takes time, he said. Dunne said more than 90 percent of its data traffic now is on Verizon’s LTE network, versus only about 55 percent of voice traffic. “Voice over LTE came a little later,” he said.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said she's "concerned about the serious allegations made by the Wright petitioners" against inmate calling service provider Securus, seeking approval of its sale to Platinum Equity. "Whether it is a per-connection fee or a first-minute fee, a regulated affiliate or an unregulated affiliate charging egregious flat-fee inmate calling service rates: it makes no difference to the pocketbooks of an inmate’s family," Clyburn said in a statement responding to our query. "Irrespective of whether the transaction is approved, I hope that the FCC will investigate." The Wright Petitioners and other inmate family advocates said Securus simply rebranded prohibited per-call connection charges and flat-rate fees as "first minute" rates and continued charging "unjust, unreasonable and unfair" prices (see 1706190023 and 1707050015). Securus was to meet with FCC staff Wednesday "to clear out any and all issues that are relevant to our simple transfer of control request," CEO Richard Smith emailed. "We have responded to all previous allegations by the Wright Petitioners in a respectful and accurate way to date -- we will continue to do so [so] the FCC Staff is crystal clear on our thinking and responses." The Wright Petitioners also have alleged the ICS provider misled the FCC by telling the commission it had received all state approvals it needed, even though Alaska and California hadn't acted (see 1708030040). The company later said it "had obtained all state approvals required by the Stock Purchase Agreement as a condition to closing the transaction," and its prior letter "was intended to be read and should be read as referring only to these contractual obligations" (see 1708070049).

Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel are expected to be sworn in soon as commissioners -- after the FCC gets paperwork back from the White House, agency officials said Wednesday. Once a commissioner is confirmed by the Senate, the president must sign the paperwork, which is then transmitted to the agency. The White House had 65 nominees confirmed at once, which led to some delay in the process, officials said. Rosenworcel and Carr were confirmed last week as part of an agreement between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. (see 1708030060). Carr remains working inside the building as general counsel until he becomes a commissioner. No decision has been made on how the eighth-floor office layout will be reconfigured after the two are sworn in. Commissioners generally pick their suite of offices based on seniority. The chairman often swears in new commissioners, but the managing director or other officials also can do that.

A year after spending $1 billion to acquire 33 percent of BAMTech as the springboard to launch an ESPN-branded subscription streaming service for live sports (see 1608100024), Disney announced Tuesday it will pay $1.58 billion more to buy an additional 42 percent of the streaming-technology company. Disney also will launch its long-awaited ESPN-branded “multi-sport video streaming service” in early 2018, followed by a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019, said the studio. Launch of the ESPN-branded service has had several delays. Disney CEO Bob Iger first indicated plans to launch it in 2016, then sometime in 2017, and now early 2018. The service will feature about 10,000 live regional, national and international games and events a year, including from Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Grand Slam tennis and college sports, Disney said. With the new “strategic shift” toward a Disney-branded service, “Disney will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new releases, beginning with the 2019 calendar year theatrical slate,” it said. “Plans are for the Disney and ESPN streaming services to be available for purchase directly from Disney and ESPN, in app stores, and from authorized MVPDs.” Netflix didn’t comment.

The FCC needs to address problems with the electronic comments filing system (ECFS) before going any further on its net neutrality proceeding "or it will be clear that this is a rogue agency" beholden to large telcos, Fight for the Future (FFTF) said in a statement Monday. It cited reports that the FCC claimed ECFS was "hacked" in 2014 despite a lack of evidence it was the subject it was a cyberattack. That raises questions about the veracity of FCC claims that its ECFS was subject of a directed denial-of-service attack earlier this year (see 1705080042), FFTF said. The FCC didn't comment. Meanwhile, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) in a news release Tuesday said more than 5.8 million fake pro-net neutrality comments were filed with the FCC between July 17 and Aug. 4. It said the deluge came from fake email domains and U.S. address-generator programs, often with the same comments being submitted hundreds of times by filers under the same name but coming from different false email and physical U.S. addresses. It said the comments all use the same language -- "I am in favor of strong net neutrality under Title II of the Communications Act. Sincerely." A spot check of some of the comments found every address was invalid, NLPC said. It said Congress should investigate obviously fake comments submitted by pro- and anti-net neutrality advocates. NLPC has done multiple analyses it says point to fraudulent net neutrality comments (see 1706070017 and 1705310019).

The FCC launched an inquiry into whether advanced telecom capability is being rolled out to all Americans in a reasonable and timely way under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act, noting it didn't issue a report on its last inquiry. "We propose to start this Inquiry afresh, with updated data and questions focused on the current progress of deployment of advanced telecommunications capability," said a notice of inquiry in docket 17-199 inviting comments by Sept. 7, replies by Sept. 22. The NOI proposes to keep the current 25/3 Mbps speed benchmark for fixed broadband. "We sell consumers short by proposing a speed benchmark that is way too low," said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn in a concurring statement. She voiced concern about the FCC's desire for comment "on whether to deem an area 'served' if mobile or fixed services is available" and "on whether the Commission should establish a speed benchmark based on the speed tier consumers are subscribing to."

Court refusal to stay an FCC business data service order and to transfer litigation drew praise from BDS order supporters and mixed views on its import, with some seeing a chance the court still could undo regulatory decisions. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday denied (in Pacer) motions to stay the deregulation and transfer the case to the D.C. Circuit, in ruling on various procedural motions in Citizens Telecommunications v. FCC, No. 17-2296. Letting BDS "modernization" take effect "is an important -- though unsurprising -- affirmation that the Commission thoroughly analyzed our massive data collection to establish a robust, forward-looking competitive framework. These reforms will encourage vigorous investment in next-generation networks," said Chairman Ajit Pai. Windstream, BT Americas, Incompas and the Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee sought the stay, joined by Sprint and Granite Communications in requesting transfer (see 1707050032).