The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a lower court judgment that said a Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuit brought against ZocDoc by Radha Geismann, a Missouri-based corporation, was moot after Geismann rejected a settlement offer. The district court said the offer “would have afforded Geismann complete relief, notwithstanding a pending class-certification,” the New York-based appeals court said Thursday. “The court entered judgment in Geismannʹs favor in the amount and under the terms of the unaccepted offer and dismissed the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on the ground that it had become moot. We conclude that the settlement offer did not render the action moot and that judgment should not have been entered nor the action dismissed on that basis.” Geismann’s suit was based on two unsolicited faxes allegedly sent by ZocDoc. The lower court noted in its decision that ZocDoc offered Geismann three times as much as it sought, plus legal fees. Senior Judge Robert Sack wrote the decision for the three-judge panel.

The National Consumers League voiced concern about the FCC's decision not to defend intrastate inmate calling service rate caps (see 1701310061 and 1702060028). A "lack of access to affordable voice service may contribute to the problem of contraband wireless devices being used in correctional facilities," NCL said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 12-375 and others on a meeting with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and an aide. Commissioners are tentatively scheduled to vote March 23 on a draft on contraband cellphones in prisons and jails (see 1703020063). NCL also asked the FCC to refresh the record on "bill shock" due to "high" inmate mobile roaming (IMR) rates. Some wireless carriers have begun providing better IMR options, but "these plans still amount to a financial burden for far too many travelers," the group said.

After ZTE agreed to enter a guilty plea Tuesday in connection with the illegal sale of wireless and wireline technology to Iran (see 1703070042), CEO Zhao Xianming in a statement acknowledged ZTE's mistakes and said the company "remains committed" to positive change. It will pay the U.S. $892.4 million, under the impending guilty plea and settlement agreements reached with the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security and Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ had announced. New "compliance-focused procedures" and significant personnel changes have been top priorities, and the settlement agreements will allow the company to move forward in a stronger position than before, the smartphone company said. Among recent changes are spinning off a new compliance department from the firm's legal department, an expanded export control compliance manual, and creating a CEO-led Compliance Committee with the authority to "significantly change" policies and priorities and provide better oversight of the compliance initiatives, it said.

The geostationary (GSO) satellite industry continues to suffer with orders from operators for new satellites lagging well behind customers' increased data demands, said multiple satellite manufacturing company executives Wednesday at Satellite 2017. Airbus Defense and Space Executive Vice President-Space Systems Nicolas Chamussy said some orders have been postponed due to operators being under economic pressure, and the satellites being turned out are increasingly powerful with more capacity, obviating the need for as many units. The market is challenging, but several major satellite orders are "on the cusp," said Orbital ATK Space Systems Group President Frank Culbertson. But the drought is hurting many of the small manufacturers that make up satellite suppliers' supply chains, Culbertson said: "Until the market picks up ... they are worried." SSL Executive Vice President-Engineering, Manufacturing and Test Operations Paul Estey said the market needs "significant transformational changes," with satellite buyers and suppliers working more cooperatively as a route to more affordable pricing. He also said more GSO/low earth orbit constellation combinations are inevitable. Boeing Satellite Systems International President Mark Spiwak said many satellite constellation operators are re-evaluating business plans due to the downward spiral in bandwidth costs. Thales Alenia Space Senior Vice President Martin Van Schaik said the frequency in technology innovation is causing hesitancy in the market: “There is a new constellation [announced] per week -- our customers think 'What direction should we go for?'” Etsey warned there could be future problems with the proliferation of planned LEO constellations sucking up launch vehicle capacity. Spiwak said Boeing, being the nation's single largest exporter, has had conversations with the Trump administration about export and business policy, and those talks have been "pro-business." "There are some encouraging signs," he said. Spiwak also said Boeing has put forward plans for its own non-geostationary orbit constellation (see 1606230050), but it won't necessarily be competition for the company's customers since Boeing will look to possible partners to operate parts of the constellation "out of our swim lane."

Global internet connection speeds continued to rise in Q4, with the global average connection speed rising 26 percent year over year to 7.0 Mbps, Akamai said Wednesday in a report. South Korea had the highest average connection speed globally at 26.1 Mbps, and Washington, D.C., had the highest average U.S. speed at 26.7 Mbps, Akamai said. Global mobile connection speeds in Q4 ranged from 26.8 Mbps in the U.K. to 2.9 Mbps in Venezuela, Akamai said. Thirty countries reported an average mobile connection speed of at least 10 Mbps, and 58 had an average speed of at least 4 Mbps, Akamai said. The IPv6 transition appeared to pick up speed in Q4, with Akamai finding that 47 percent of content requests to its servers came from IPv6 addresses. Meanwhile, the number of unique IPv4 addresses that connected to Akamai decreased 0.4 percent year over year to 807 million.

Chinese multinational ZTE will plead guilty and pay $430.5 million to the U.S. government for illegally shipping U.S.-origin wireless and wireline infrastructure hardware to customers in Iran for almost six years, obstruction of justice, and “making a material false statement,” DOJ announced. In total, ZTE will pay the government $892.4 million, under the impending guilty plea and settlement agreements reached with the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ said. BIS suspended another $300 million in penalties, which ZTE will pay if it breaches its settlement with the agency, DOJ said. ZTE lied to federal investigators and “deceived their own counsel and internal investigators” about the illegal acts, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. An independent corporate compliance monitor will review and report on ZTE’s export compliance program over the next three years, during which the company will remain on corporate probation, according to DOJ’s announcement. “Criminal information” filed March 7 in federal court in the Northern District of Texas charged ZTE with one count of “knowingly and willfully” conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and one count each of obstructing justice and making a material false statement. ZTE then signed a plea agreement with the government, which the court must still approve, DOJ said. BIS four times extended the original June 30, 2016, deadline for a temporary general license for ZTE that maintains normal licensing requirements for exports, re-exports and in-country transfers to ZTE and ZTE Kangxun (see 1702230001), after announcing sanctions against the two entities and two affiliated firms on March 8, 2016 (see 1603070001). The current temporary general license expires March 29.

Free-market oriented groups urged the FCC to reverse its ISP privacy rules, approved in October. The FCC posted thousands of public comments this week on the rules (see 1703060054), many of them urging the agency to better align its rules with those of the FTC. The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) said the FCC should reject the October rules. “Part of the FCC’s agenda under new Chairman Ajit Pai should be to undo the errors and mistakes of the previous regime,” IPI said in a filing in docket 16-106. Under former Chairman Tom Wheeler, “the FCC made a distinct departure from sound policy analysis, disregarded empirical evidence, showed contempt for input from Congress and from other federal agencies, neglected cost/benefit and other economic analysis, and stubbornly pursued a narrow ideological agenda,” IPI said. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation reminded the FCC that the privacy rules were approved in the “waning days” of the Obama presidency. “Thankfully, the Commission now has an opportunity to revisit these flawed rules,” ITIF said in a filing. “The Commission should vacate these rules in their entirety or significantly revise the rules such that they ‘parallel the [Federal Trade Commission’s] framework as closely as possible’ so as to not erect technology-based regulatory silos, unduly impede innovation, or diminish dynamic, cross-sector competition.” Consumer Policy Solutions said in a filing it makes little sense for the FCC to impose unique rules for just ISPs. “The process for developing privacy regulations should be through a multi-stakeholder process with FCC, FTC, and NTIA collaboration with consumer organizations, industry, academics, government and policy leaders, and privacy policy experts,” the group said. “Consumers want and need a more consistent approach to privacy regulation that will match their online experience.” But the Center for Digital Democracy, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Institute for Public Representation, Common Sense Kids Action, Consumer Action and the Electronic Privacy Information Center said the FCC should preserve the rules. “Children’s Advocates oppose the request of some petitioners to rescind the rules in their entirety,” the groups said in a filing. “Because the FTC’s Section 5 jurisdiction does not extend to common carriers, the effect of rescinding the rules in their entirety could mean that parents would have no control over their ISP’s use of their children’s information.” The groups also opposed petitions seeking to modify the privacy rules by changing the classification of certain sensitive information to nonsensitive, or replacing opt-in consent with opt-out. “These proposed modifications would significantly weaken privacy protections for children.”

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said he would back reconsideration of the FCC's Connect America Fund Phase II bid weights decision (see 1702230019) since it "seem[ed] to intentionally favor fiber over wireless and satellite" in setting the weights for determining winning bids. At Monday's Satellite Industry Association (SIA) dinner, O'Rielly said he was "more than disturbed" with the ruling and though there's logic to setting quality and speed goals, favoring particular technologies "does not comply with our obligation to serve as many of the unserved as possible within our budget," according to the released text. He previously raised the idea of reconsideration at the FCC's February vote. At the SIA event, O'Rielly also criticized some spectrum frontiers decisions, calling them "best guesses ... destined to be raised on reconsideration." He said the earth station siting requirements in the 28 and 39 GHz bands didn't make sense. O'Rielly also was critical of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) decision to block study of the 28 GHz band, saying "we should consider as many bands as possible for potential commercial wireless and satellite use, with the understanding that some bands may not be suitable for sharing." Pointing to WRC-19 agenda items 1.13 about terrestrial use and 1.6 about regulatory frameworks for non-geostationary satellite systems in the same frequency band, O'Rielly said, "I am sure there are heated debates to come, but studies need to be encouraged, not stymied, to inform how spectrum can be shared and to help regulators -- both here and abroad -- adopt sound spectrum policy."

The FCC might act on business data services (BDS) regulation in April, though it could take longer, industry representatives told us this week. "They could act as soon as April," said one stakeholder. Asked about the speculation, an attorney emailed, "I also heard a rumor about April, but the FCC staff members I spoke to were noncommittal about timing. I would be a little surprised if they got it on the April meeting agenda." Asked about potential BDS action, another industry representative emailed: "Possibly in next several months, FCC releases NPRM to deregulate BDS." BT lobbied all three FCC commissioners against "precipitously writing rules" on BDS and technology transitions "that would kill competition" (see 1703060053). The FCC declined comment Tuesday.

The Communications, Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CISRIC) will meet March 15 at 1 p.m. in the FCC meeting room, said a commission public notice Monday.