FCC Chairman Ajit Pai appointed Jerry Ellig, an economist at the free-market-oriented Mercatus Center, as chief economist. Pai is hoping to put more emphasis on economic analysis at the FCC and in April proposed the creation of a new Office of Economics and Data (see 1704050047). Ellig has been affiliated with the George Mason University-based center since 1996, though from 2001 to 2003 he was deputy director of the FTC Office of Policy Planning. Ellig recently published “a series of papers that assess the quality and use of regulatory impact analysis in both executive branch and independent agencies,” the FCC said in a Wednesday news release. “These papers identify best practices, shortcomings, and reasons for variation in the quality of agencies’ analysis.” The new chief economist will help the FCC establish the new economics office, the FCC said. Former FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright, now a professor at GMU, tweeted: “Fantastic choice. Well done.” But Dwayne Winseck, communications professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, tweeted the choice represents the "triumph of ideology over reason.”

Updated files on the post-incentive auction transition are available on the FCC’s website, said the Media Bureau and the Incentive Auction Task Force in a public notice Monday. “The files will be updated on a rolling basis whenever there is a phase change request granted,” the PN said.

The FTC is backing FCC efforts to give telecommunications providers the ability to block illegal calls at the network level. In a Monday news release, the FTC said it voted 2-0 to submit a comment to docket 17-59 on the FCC's NPRM seeking two types of provider-based call blocking. One is when "the subscriber to a particular telephone number requests that telecommunications providers block calls originating from that number," the release said. The second is when the "originating number is invalid, unallocated, or unassigned." The FTC's release said provider-based call blocking at the network level is the most effective type of blocking since it stops calls before they get to consumers. The FTC also said the problem goes beyond illegal robocalls and includes those made by a live operator "that are abusive, fraudulent, or unlawful," which should be clarified by the FCC. The FTC also said providers need to resolve how to address illegal caller ID spoofing or when they inadvertently block a consumer or business phone number. The FTC told the FCC to provide flexible standards in helping providers deal with blocking "presumptively illegal" calls.

The FCC pre-empted an exclusive license of Sandwich Isles Communications that the agency said, in effect, bars telecom competition in the Hawaiian home lands. Citing its authority under Section 253 of the Communications Act, the commission unanimously pre-empted enforcement of an exclusivity provision of a telecom license granted by Hawaii's Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to Waimana Enterprises and then assigned to its subsidiary, Sandwich Isles, said a Monday order in docket 10-90. A draft order recently circulated (see 1706280032). Commissioner Mignon Clyburn issued a statement saying the order "highlights the importance of section 253 of the Communications Act in enabling competition. And how useless it will likely be in a broadband-only world, if the Commission’s majority moves forward with its plan to reclassify broadband as an information service. Breaking down barriers to infrastructure deployment without Title II is about as effective demolishing a wall by staring at it. Without a Title II telecommunications service at issue, today’s Order would not have been possible." Sandwich Isles didn't comment.

The FCC didn't act by Friday on a request to stay its recent business data service order, said an agency spokesman Monday. He said the issue remains under consideration. Windstream, BT Americas, Incompas and the Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee had asked the commission to act by June 30 or they would consider inaction a denial (see 1706260054). The FCC rarely grants such requests, but parties are required to seek regulatory relief before asking courts for a stay. Challenges to the deregulatory order are before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Various parties asked that the case be transferred to the D.C. Circuit.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's interview on C-SPAN's The Communicators series (see 1706290070) is available here. It was also scheduled to run on C-SPAN's cable channel Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and Monday on C-SPAN2 at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

An FCC draft inquiry on advanced telecom deployment circulated June 26, according to the commission's circulation list, which was updated Friday. The inquiry under Section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act explores whether advanced telecom capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.

The Library of Congress Copyright Royalty Board officially launched eCRB, its electronic filing and case management system. In a news release Thursday, it said a regulation published in the Federal Register in early June allows most CRB filings to happen within eCRB. It also said the launch of eCRB should speed the claims process for cable and satellite royalty funds.

An FAA rulemaking committee aimed at developing standards for identifying drones will meet July 18-19, said the agency in a Friday news release that briefly provided an update of the panel's inaugural meeting (see 1706210064 and 1705230030). It said the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Identification and Tracking Aviation Rulemaking Committee, which first met June 21-23, considered existing drone ID and tracking issues, air traffic management for drones, concerns for local governments and potential legal matters. The FAA said the committee developed preliminary questions and reviewed some identification technologies. A Senate committee last week advanced legislation reauthorizing the agency until 2021, but that bill will have to be reconciled with House legislation (see 1706290024).

The FCC waived rules in order "to assist remote Alaskan health care providers (HCPs) impacted by the Rural Health Care Program pro-ration," said a commission order Friday in docket 02-60 that said the waiver applied only on a one-time basis. "This order creates a path for service providers in remote Alaska to reduce the cost of service to affected HCPs by waiving Commission rules that could otherwise serve as unnecessary roadblocks to relief. ... [W]e find that special circumstances present good cause for this waiver." The order said qualifying demand for the first time exceeded the healthcare program's $400 million annual cap, triggering a "pro-ration" rule that lowers support for applicants.