The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied en banc rehearing to utilities and local governments challenging 2018 FCC wireless infrastructure orders on small cells and local moratoriums. Challengers may opt to appeal to the Supreme Court. A three-judge panel in August mostly supported the FCC decisions, prompting September requests for rehearing by the full circuit (see 2009290047). Circuit Judges Mary Schroeder, Jay Bybee and Daniel Bress voted to deny one petition by American Electric Power and Southern Co., and supported denying another petition by the American Public Power Association, said Thursday’s order (in Pacer). Bress voted to grant the petition by Portland, Oregon, and other locals, but Schroeder and Bybee recommended denying it. “We were pleased Judge Bress voted to grant rehearing, but disappointed the Ninth Circuit did not take up the petition,” emailed Joseph Van Eaton, who represented Portland and several other localities. APPA is "reviewing the decision and conferring with members and counsel on next steps," a spokesperson said. The FCC is pleased the court denied rehearing and won’t disturb the agency’s 5G infrastructure actions, a spokesperson said. Thursday's decision "reaffirms a great win for the industry that will provide certainty and will help expedite 5G across the country," said a Wireless Infrastructure Association spokesperson. AEP didn’t comment.

Amazon, Comcast and Facebook were the top tech and telecom sector lobbying spenders during Q3, based on filings due Monday. Twitter, Ligado and T-Mobile reported major increases vs. Q3 2019; Huawei, CenturyLink and Google reported major decreases. NAB was among those earlier reporting decreases, while Charter was among those saying they increased spending (see 2010200059). Facebook shelled out $4.9 million, up 2%. Amazon reported $4.41 million, an 11% increase. Comcast spent $2.96 million, a 1% dip. T-Mobile's $2.64 million was a more than 19% boost. AT&T spent $2.53 million, an almost 22% decline. CTIA was up 3% at $2.35 million. Verizon spent $2.24 million, down more than 7%. Google posted $1.93 million, a more than 35% drop. Qualcomm spent $1.71 million, an almost 4% decline. Apple reported $1.56 million, more than 12% below last year. Ligado spent just over $1 million, a more than 51% rise. Dell was $850,000, down more than 15%. CenturyLink reported $570,000, a 40% drop. Twitter was $430,000, up more than 34%. The Competitive Carriers Association was little changed at $180,000. Huawei reported $100,000, down more than 94%.

The Wireless Infrastructure Association spoke with aides to all five FCC commissioners to argue for approval next week (see 2010060060) of the compound expansions draft order, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-250. The order “will promote broadband deployment and provide greater certainty,” WIA said. CTIA also supported the order: “By revising its Section 6409(a) rules to streamline review of site expansions of up to 30 feet, the Commission will facilitate the collocation of antennas and associated ground equipment on existing towers to enable 5G, advancing the Commission’s longstanding policy to promote more intensive use of existing infrastructure, while recognizing localities’ role in local land use decisions.” NATOA spoke with aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks about concerns (see here and here). “While we continue to believe that Section 6409(a) of the Spectrum Act cannot be reasonably read to allow for new deployment outside the tower site, should the Commission nevertheless amend its rules to this end, the permitted distance of the excavation or deployment from the site should be relative to the size of the existing tower site,” NATOA said. The group criticized the lack of a cap on the allowed size of deployments: “It could allow additions to tower sites of unlimited size -- an outcome that cannot be reconciled with a statute requiring approval only of modifications that are not substantial.”

Dish Network and RS Access (RSA) arguments that 5G and incumbent direct broadcast satellite services can safely share the 12 GHz band are an attempt by terrestrial licensees to increase the value of their licenses at the expense of fellow incumbents, AT&T said in an RM-11768 post Monday. Given all the effort going toward preventing adjacent-band interference in the FCC C-band clearing proceeding, neither Dish nor RSA explains why the 12 GHz interference picture would be any different, especially when vastly more earth stations are in the 12 GHz band than in the C band, it said. RSA didn't comment. Dish Executive Vice President-External and Legislative Affairs Jeffrey Blum told us the company and others, including many public interest groups, see a neutral NPRM on 12 GHz being in the public interest and worthwhile, and it would be a missed opportunity to overlook 500 MHz of centimeter wave spectrum. Small government interest groups support expanded access to spectrum for 5G, but the 12 GHz petition would come "at a cost of severe interference to the latest generation of satellite broadband networks that are a year out or less from providing full service." They said such non-geostationary operators would have a tougher time providing service, especially in remote and rural areas "where 5G is a very, very distant reality." Signatories included Americans for Tax Reform, American Consumer Institute, TechFreedom, Digital Liberty and National Taxpayers Union. Dell CEO Michael Dell talked up the 12 GHz petition in a call with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, per a Monday posting. Dell met with Commissioner Geoffrey Starks earlier this month (see 2010090048).

Industry and the National Emergency Number Association agreed the FCC needs to do more work before reporting to Congress on feasibility and cost of making Wi-Fi access points and other communications technologies available for access to 911 during times of emergency. Replies on a Public Safety Bureau notice were due Friday in docket 20-285. The FCC must file a report as a requirement of Ray Baum’s Act. “In light of the significant technical and security issues raised in this proceeding about relying on Wi-Fi access points as a backup for wireless 9-1-1, the FCC should seek the guidance of relevant technical expert bodies on these issues prior to submitting its study to Congress,” CTIA said. Access points supported by fixed wireline are “just as challenged as mobile wireless services to remain operational during severe emergencies,” it said: “Other Commission proceedings demonstrate the increasing resilience of mobile wireless networks even where fixed wireline backhaul and commercial power is unavailable for extended periods of time.” Connecting through access points “appears to be technically feasible, but work must be done to ensure quality assurance to 9-1-1 and to its callers,” NENA commented. Such connections “must meet, at the very least, the public’s expectations for reliability and service; meeting these expectations may be challenging absent regulatory authority,” the group said. ACA Connects said it’s not “technically feasible” today to use Wi-Fi “to provide a backup path to 911 when mobile networks are down.”

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of San Francisco granted the FTC a temporary restraining order and asset freeze (docket 20-cv-06919) against a pair of businesses accused of an inmate calling scam. In the Oct. 6 order, which was unsealed last week and announced by the FTC Friday, the judge said there has likely been consumer harm from defendants Marc and Courtney Grisham and their Inmatecall.com and Inmatecallsolutions.com businesses seemingly falsely claiming to provide unlimited calling plans for a set monthly rate and claiming affiliation with telecom providers that have exclusive contracts for prison and jail call services. "There is good cause to believe that immediate and irreparable damage to the Court’s ability to grant effective final relief for consumers -- including monetary restitution, rescission, or refunds -- will occur from the sale, transfer, destruction, or other disposition or concealment by Defendants of their assets or records," said the order. The defendants couldn't be reached Friday for comment.

The FCC’s 5-0 vote last year to deny China Mobile an application to enter the U.S. market (see 1905090039) and subsequent actions reflect the U.S. “whole of government” approach to 5G security, Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday in a speech at CyFy 2020. “This decision was made after a lengthy Executive Branch review of the application and consultation with the U.S. intelligence community,” Pai said: “This is one of many examples of how we are working across the entire U.S. government to tackle the real and documented dangers posed by insecure networks.” Pai stressed the importance of open radio access networks and said “international cooperation is critical if we are to protect our 5G infrastructure.” The FCC International Bureau sent letters to DOJ asking that the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecom Services Sector address arguments by China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks and ComNet on why the FCC shouldn’t begin a proceeding to revoke and terminate their domestic and international authorizations. The letters (see here and here) were listed in Friday’s Daily Digest. China Unicom Americas argues it's “not subject to the exploitation, influence, or control of the Chinese government for a number of reasons,” and “none of the company’s senior management or board members [were] appointed by the Chinese government,” the bureau said: Pacific Networks and ComNet contend “neither Company has been asked by the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party to take any action that would ‘jeopardize the national security and law enforcement interests of the United States’ or would suggest that the Companies are vulnerable ‘to the exploitation, influence, and control of the Chinese government.’”

The FCC’s headquarters has officially changed from the Portals building at 445 12th St. SW to the agency’s new home at 45 L St. NE, said a public notice Thursday. An August order amending references to the agency’s old address in FCC rules took effect, the PN said. Despite the official change, most FCC employees haven't visited the new building due to COVID-19 restrictions (see 2010090052). The agency's “prohibition against the delivery of hand-carried documents to the FCC headquarters because of the COVID-19 pandemic” remains in effect, said Thursday’s PN. Chief of Staff Matthew Berry said more information about the opening of the building could be provided to employees in mid-October. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is set to move in November to the FCC's former headquarters.

In an interview on C-SPAN’s The Communicators scheduled to air Saturday, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said he believes nominee Nathan Simington “would be a great addition” to the agency. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know him since the nomination was announced by the president,” Carr said. He said he hasn’t had any communications with the White House about the decision to pull Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s renomination. Carr said he’s open to Congress giving the FCC additional funds to close the digital divide and including broadband in legislation to address infrastructure. Apple’s announcement of 5G-capable iPhones shows how far the U.S. has come in the global “race” to increase internet speeds, Carr said. Phone handsets are “probably the least interesting thing” about what 5G will enable, he said, suggesting the focus will be on the IoT and applications such as augmented reality. The U.S. has been able to remain competitive technologically because it hasn’t adopted the “command and control” methods of countries such as China, Carr said, calling a push to nationalize 5G “a mistake.”

The FCC’s website was down for about an hour Thursday starting soon after the 2:30 p.m. EDT release of Chairman Ajit Pai’s announcement of action to come on Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2010150057). Multiple users, including FCC officials, said they received only an error message when going to FCC.gov. The message said “an unexpected error had occurred." By 4:30 p.m., the site appeared to be restored. The FCC didn’t comment.