The FCC proposed a $163,912 fine, the maximum allowed, against BarrierFree 4-1 Wednesday for allegedly reporting inaccurate data that “significantly inflated its broadband subscription numbers, failing to file required deployment data, making false statements to Commission investigators, and failing to respond to other inquiries.” The company reported in three filings “vastly more broadband subscribers than there were housing units in the Suffolk County, New York, census tracts where it reported providing service,” said a news release: BarrierFree “apparently failed to submit its March 2019 broadband deployment data Form 477 filing, provide accurate responses to Letters of Inquiry issued by the Commission’s Enforcement Bureau during the course of its investigation, and fully respond to those Letters of Inquiry.” Partially dissenting Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel asked why the FCC took so long to clamp down on the ISP, since it had apparently failed to file the required form 27 different times. “For too long the FCC has fumbled efforts to fix its broadband data and put off initiatives to improve its maps, making it more difficult to close the digital divide -- both during this pandemic and beyond,” she said: “Regrettably, today’s enforcement action is another episode in this continuing mess.” The proposed fine is too small, though all the law allows, said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, voting to concur with the action. The case points to the need for “robust verification and challenge processes,” he said: “The forfeiture proposed here cannot be … severe enough to adequately address the harm BarrierFree caused and deter future violations.” The provider didn't comment.

NTIA’s petition for an FCC rulemaking on Communications Decency Act Section 230 “lacks a legitimate legal basis” and would “cause serious harm to company moderation efforts,” Internet Association Deputy General Counsel Elizabeth Banker told reporters Tuesday (see 2008120050). Content moderation protects consumers, and reasonable people want platforms to take action like “removing promotion of suicide, plans for bombs and other dangerous materials, or 419 scams,” she said. The FCC lacks “authority to implement this rule under both First Amendment case law and administrative law precedent,” she added. Comments on the petition are due Wednesday.

Moving T-band incumbents to other bands could cost $5.9 billion or more, more than an auction of the frequencies would raise, Los Angeles County told the FCC. Like other commenters in docket 13-42, LA hopes Congress rescinds a requirement the systems move. In the Los Angeles area, the projected cost of relocation is $857.3 million, and that's “merely a conservative estimate based upon a number of assumptions which can vary significantly depending upon the spectrum chosen,” the county said. The New York Police Department estimates at least $1.5 billion to move its operations. “The lack of an identified spectrum band that public safety T-Band licensees will migrate to, creates uncertainty which increases the projected migration time and cost,” the department said. “A public safety T Band licensee may consider purchasing multiband radios to mitigate this risk. However, doing so increases costs. If the spectrum band chosen is significantly higher than T- Band more sites will be required to achieve the same coverage, particularly in-building.” The destination bands for relocated licensees haven't been determined, APCO said: “Without knowing whether spectrum is available, it’s impossible to know for sure what the ultimate relocation costs will be. ... Even if the relocation costs are fully covered, public safety agencies will still endure the distraction of changing equipment and troubleshooting new systems during an ongoing public health crisis that is straining operations and budgets.” Comments were due Monday.

The FCC deactivated the disaster information reporting system for most of the 19 states in the area affected by storms Laura and Marco, said public notices through Monday. The system remains active for 35 counties in Louisiana and three in Texas, said Monday’s PN. “The areas of greatest challenge remain in [Louisiana's] Lake Charles, Sulphur, Shreveport, and the coastal markets,” said Verizon. Monday’s DIRS report showed 5.2 percent of cellsites down in the affected area, and one Louisiana public service answering point rerouting 911 calls. Two TV stations and 18 FMs are out of service in the affected area, along with 188,985 cable and wireline subscribers. A Wireline Bureau order temporarily waived the agency’s phone number aging rule, to allow quick reassignment of numbers in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Arkansas. The waiver took effect immediately, and will expire May 28, the order said. It will also apply in other areas for which a state of emergency due to the storms is declared, the order said. “We also encourage all service providers in the areas affected by Hurricane Laura to waive call forwarding, message center, and voicemail service charges for affected customers.”

The Wireless Bureau denied ACA Connects' request for a stay on the C-band lump sum election deadline (see 2008140033). By saying the stay would give the FCC more time to revise the lump sum payments amount, ACA is assuming, without proof, the agency or court will side with it on the amount issue, said Monday’s order. It rejected ACA arguments that integrated receivers/decoders should have been included. The cable association didn't immediately comment. ACA also saw wireless and satellite interests opposed to its ask that the FCC review its C-band final cost catalog (see 2008170003), in docket 18-122 postings Monday. ACA's disagreement "does not warrant a reversal of the lump sum determination," and changing the lump sum amounts now could delay the accelerated transition, Intelsat said. SES said the cost catalog reflects the Wireless Bureau "reasonably exercis[ing] its discretion," and the underlying methodology and assumptions were fully explained. AT&T said ACA's argument isn't about fair treatment but about trying to get C-band licensees to cover big costs of a technology transition for earth station operators, even though that doesn't promote the FCC goal of a fast, seamless move. Verizon agreed ACA is trying to turn the spectrum proceeding "into a fiber subsidy plan for its members, or at least maximize their opportunity to profit from the relocation." CTIA also commented. Discovery, Disney, Fox and ViacomCBS said the bureau sensibly excluded costs of integrated receiver/decoder equipment from lump sum payments by concluding that's an expense for transitioning satellite operators, but installing them is a cost for moving earth stations. CenturyLink backed ACA, saying staff "clearly erred" by excluding integrated receiver/decoder costs.

The FCC intends to “finalize new rules … later this year” to allow TV white spaces devices to operate with higher power in less-congested areas, Chairman Ajit Pai told House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and 13 other lawmakers in letters released Monday. Microsoft and others urged the FCC to act on TVWS, though there was opposition (see 2006030023). Matsui and the other lawmakers supported the NPRM in their June letter to Pai. “Our proposals will expand broadband availability for more rural Americans,” Pai said. “I also agree with your assessment that the current [COVID-19] pandemic has put our need for spectrum in sharp relief.” The spectrum that TVWS devices operate in “allows for the delivery of services over relatively longer distances and is better suited to deal with variations of terrain,” Pai said. “This makes it more attractive for providing broadband in rural and remote areas. The devices operate on an unlicensed basis, reducing barriers to entry.”

The FCC won’t freeze radio regulatory fees or change the way it calculates them, and will continue phasing in fees for satellite providers, said an order and Further NPRM on FY 2020 regulatory assessments released Monday. Direct full-time equivalent employee allocations “best reflect the benefits provided to the payor,” the order said. The item, unanimously approved by the full FCC, includes measures intended to provide relief during the COVID-19 pandemic but doesn’t go as far as some broadcast commenters had requested. The agency can’t waive 2020 fees or late payments, or suspend fee increases over the current lack of advertising, the order said. Instead, the order streamlines the process of seeking hardship reductions or waivers, lowers the interest rate for installment payments of regulatory fees, and allows “red light” licensees to seek such relief. The agency will issue public notices with greater detail. The order adopts the population-based fees for TV broadcasters proposed in an earlier NPRM. “The population-based metric better conforms with the actual service authorized here -- broadcasting television to the American people,” the order said. “We disagree with the radio broadcasters that we should ignore our long-standing methodology in order to freeze regulatory fees for (and thus benefit) radio broadcasters at the expense of other regulatees,” said the order. “Because the Commission is statutorily obligated to recover the amount of its appropriation through regulatory fees, these fees are a zero-sum situation.” The agency also collect regulatory fees from most non-U.S. licensed space stations that have U.S. market access, the order said. Assessing the same regulatory amount on those stations as on U.S. licensed space stations “will better reflect the benefits received by these operators through the Commission’s adjudicatory, enforcement, regulatory, and international coordination activities,” the order said. The FNPRM seeks comment on methods for calculating fees for non-geostationary orbit satellites.

AT&T supported Friday’s civil rights march on Washington, D.C., said Tanya Lombard, AT&T vice president-multicultural engagement and strategic alliances. The company is “firmly committed to the moral principle that Black lives matter,” she said. “The March is about far more than police reform and other worthy issues,” she said: “It is about social justice. Social justice is a value that is -- and certainly ought to be -- shared by everyone. That means not just shared by people who live here, but also by the institutions that impact our lives, whether a government, a charity or a corporation.”

USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter and Incompas CEO Chip Pickering had video calls with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on their agreement on whether and how much access LECs need to provide to DS0, DS1, DS3 and operation support systems (see 2008060044). They also spoke with Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel, said a filing posted Friday in docket 19-308. “The Compromise Proposal was negotiated in direct response to the issues raised in this proceeding and with the intention of bringing an end to the debate over whether and to what extent certain unbundled network elements will continue to be available,” they said: “The proposal recognizes the significant changes in a modern communications market that has seen increased competition for voice and broadband service. It also recognizes that some providers, primarily in less populated areas generally subject to less competition, may still be impaired" without access to incumbent LEC facilities" to offer competitive alternatives.”

ACA Connects is "once again seeking handouts" from the FCC with its application for review of the C-band final cost catalog (see 2008170003), NAB said in an opposition Friday to be posted in docket 18-122. It said ACA arguments that the cost of integrated receivers/decoders should be included in the C-band lump sum are unconvincing, and the record's clear that selecting and buying such equipment should be seen as part of the satellite transponder transitions and guided by satellite operators and programmers, not MVPDs. ACA didn't comment.