FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a proposed rulemaking aimed at curbing illegal and unwanted robotexts, said a news release Monday. If adopted, the rulemaking would “explore steps to protect consumers from illegal robotexts, including network level blocking and applying caller authentication standards to text messaging,” and require mobile wireless providers to block illegal text messages. “Ensuring the integrity” of texting “is vitally important,” Rosenworcel said: “It’s time we take steps to confront this latest wave of fraud and identify how mobile carriers can block these automated messages before they have the opportunity to cause any harm.”

The FCC's 3.45 GHz auction closed at $6.53 billion Friday, up from $4.25 billion Thursday amid concerns the sale could fail (see 2110140059) after one round Thursday when a bidder dropped 20 MHz of demand in more than 50 large markets. “We don’t know whether a national carrier simply realized they won’t be able to win 40MHz in large markets and reduced demand, or if a financial bidder dropped out (though we suspect the latter),” New Street’s Philip Burnett told investors: “With at least 16 rounds remaining until the auction minimum is reached and excess demand having halved since the auction started, our confidence that the auction will close is waning.” Excess demand is decreasing, “but in a more traditional way,” emailed BitPath Chief Operating Officer Sasha Javid: “Bidders are leaving the very biggest markets of New York and Los Angeles and moving into smaller markets. Nevertheless, it will be the very biggest markets that will drag auction proceeds above the reserve price should this auction succeed in closing.” Except for C band and a few other auctions, “I always worry about a spectrum auction until it crosses the closing threshold,” former Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told us. 3.45 GHz “was made more difficult by the overinflated agency cost estimate and the flawed spectrum cap per market of 40 MHz,” he said: “I remain optimistic that those bidding will ultimately make it succeed because failure would be extremely detrimental.” The auction has to exceed a $14.77 billion reserve price to close.

Some FCC precision agriculture task force working groups have started submitting their final reports for the consolidated report to the commission, members said during a virtual meeting Thursday. The mapping and analyzing connectivity WG report will include a $4 million cost estimate it received to do a more granular survey, said Chair Michael Adelaine of South Dakota State University. The examining current and future connectivity demand WG submitted its report to be consolidated into the final report, said Chair Dan Leibfried of John Deere. "It does look we have a little bit of conflict" in the draft consolidated report about recommendations on higher speeds, Leibfried said. Task force Chair Teddy Bekele of Land O’Lakes agreed and asked the subpanel to identify what parts of the consolidated report will need to be updated. The encouraging adoption of precision ag WG finished its report, said Chair Mike McCormick of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation: "We're really happy with where we are." Accelerating broadband deployment WG Vice Chair Heather Hampton-Knodle of American Agri-Women said its report had no changes.

The FTC on Oct. 21 will deliberate over whether to publicly share evidentiary findings from an agency study on the privacy practices of major ISPs, the commission announced Thursday. Publishing of the findings is subject to a commission vote. In 2019, the FTC issued Section 6(b) orders to AT&T, Comcast, Google Fiber, T-Mobile, Verizon and advertising affiliates. Staff will present study findings at the virtual open meeting, which is set to begin at 1 p.m. EDT. Speaker registration and comments are due Monday.

The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) asked the FCC to act on rules allowing use of 5030-5091 MHz by drones, in comments posted Wednesday in RM-11798. Others stressed dynamic spectrum access in the band. The FCC initially took comment on the band in 2019, responding to a request by AIA (see 1912270039). In August, the Wireless Bureau asked for comments for a record refresh (see 2108230034). “The record overwhelmingly demonstrates support for permanent access to the 5030-5091 MHz band to provide [unmanned aircraft system] command and control,” AIA said. “AIA agrees with the Bureau that the time is ripe to address the technical, operational, and regulatory questions that AIA’s Petition poses.” The UAS industry needs to "access the entire band as soon as practicable" and the regulatory regime should be "appropriate for aviation safety spectrum,” Boeing said. It wants to “condition license eligibility for UAS operators on use of certificated pilots,” under a “dynamic frequency assignment model that prioritizes efficiency” and no "altitude restrictions.” The band is “central to successful domestic/international UAS development and advancement, particularly for larger UAS” operating in FAA-controlled airspace, said Aviation Spectrum Resources. It supports a “flexible spectrum access model developed and guided by the end user community in conjunction with the FAA.” Federated Wireless said its spectrum access system (SAS) technology “can dynamically assign any number of bands for UAS communications, depending on the mission and the needs of the UAS and the operator, including the 5030-5091 MHz band." SAS systems can "provide authoritative and virtually real-time decisions on requests to transmit or assign usage rights, enforce the use of authorized devices, and monitor spectrum assignments and, in some cases, actual usage,” the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance said. The Commercial Drone Alliance also supported a rulemaking.

Different antitrust interpretations of the FTC and Sherman Acts create a “dangerous” enforcement divide between the FTC and DOJ, ex-FTC Chairman Tim Muris told a NetChoice panel Wednesday. Companies can expect different sets of rules based on agency, he said. Noting all chairs take over with their own agendas, ex-FTC acting Chief Technologist Neil Chilson, now a researcher at Stand Together, said Chair Lina Khan’s approach seems to be to “move fast and break things.” Khan has taken procedural measures, limited bipartisan potential and given herself more power, said Muris, noting Democrats made it easier for the agency to pursue rulemaking. It’s a move away from consensus antitrust enforcement, said ex-acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen, now at Baker Botts. This embracing of more rulemaking and regulation is a departure from the consumer welfare standard, said Ohlhausen: Some people feel antitrust has become too difficult to enforce, so this is a sidestep, creating questions about dual enforcement. The three panelists led the agency under Republican presidents. The agency didn't comment.

FCC 3.45 GHz auction bids climbed to $2.24 billion Tuesday, after 15 rounds. The auction has to raise almost $14.8 billion to close and cover expected sharing and relocation costs for federal users.

The FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council -- formerly the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment -- plans its first meeting Nov. 3, says Friday's Federal Register. The charter for the committee was renewed for a two-year period that began June 29. The meeting will involve introducing the members of the CEDC and establishing working groups, the FR says.

T-Mobile asked to strike a Dish Network official’s testimony at last month’s California Public Utilities Commission hearing on the wireless carrier’s planned CDMA shutdown (see 2109210040). T-Mobile filed a motion Wednesday in docket A.18-07-012 to remove from the record Sept. 20 testimony by Dish Executive Vice President-External and Legal Affairs Jeffrey Blum, who was the satellite company’s only witness. Blum’s testimony was “irrelevant” to issues raised by the CPUC’s order to show cause, T-Mobile said. “He did nothing more than offer his own personal opinion about how to interpret agreements between the parties and testimony from the prior proceedings.” Blum gave “false testimony ... including fabricated assertions about a three-year CDMA maintenance commitment, and abused the process of this Commission and other government agencies in a bad-faith attempt to hold T-Mobile to this non-existent commitment,” it said: T-Mobile was denied due process because its cross-examination of Blum was “abruptly cut short” when the hearing ended. T-Mobile Technology President Neville Ray "repeatedly testified about a three year migration period during the CPUC’s review of the merger," and the carrier negotiated for an option to lease back 800 MHz spectrum for an extra two years, a Dish spokesperson emailed: "Instead of making meritless claims, T-Mobile should focus on upholding the promises made under oath and ensuring low-income consumers won't be disenfranchised" by a Jan. 1 CDMA shutdown.

An order on updating the table of allotments would incorporate changes from the broadcast incentive auction, the repacking, and from after a freeze on changes was lifted in November, says the draft the FCC released Tuesday. The order is set for commissioners' Oct. 26 meeting (see 2110040068). The table was last updated in 2018. The order would remove language in regulations that became outdated with the auction’s reallocation of channels and the DTV transition. The order doesn’t stem from a preexisting notice and comment process because the revisions “merely correct outdated information from the 2018 Table as a result of channel reassignments and/or community of license changes that have already been approved by the Commission,” the draft says. A third round of connected care pilot program winners will treat "high-risk pregnancy/maternal health, mental health conditions, opioid dependency, COVID-19, and chronic conditions," says a draft public notice on docket 18-213. Selected participants would have six months to file their initial funding requests with Universal Service Administrative Co.