FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sharply criticized Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s partial dissent from an NPRM on adjusting agency fees in accordance with Ray Baum’s Act, in a statement released with the item Wednesday. “One might think that a pro-consumer approach consistent with the law would garner unanimous support. Sigh,” said Pai. Rosenworcel’s dissent, also included with the item, was based on a proposed increase in fees for formal complaints, from $235 to $540, which she said was anti-consumer and “crazy.” Pai said Rosenworcel didn’t inform Pai’s office of the nature of her objection to the item until Aug. 21, though the item was circulated July 2. Pai individually listed every day in between: “On July 2, when the Office of the Managing Director circulated this item, my colleague did not say a thing, much less request any edits. Nor on July 3. Nor on July 4 (with a pass for fireworks, of course). Nor on July 5. Nor on July 6. Nor on July 7. Nor on July 8 ...” Rosenworcel’s office didn’t comment. Consumers don’t use the formal complaint process, Pai said, saying no such complaints were filed in 2019 or so far in 2020. “In contrast, consumers rely on our informal complaint process. ... And what’s the fee we propose for such actual consumer complaints? Zero,” he said. He also said adjustment to the formal fee was a result of the statute. “So how, then, does the dissent suggest that we calculate a new application fee for formal complaints?” asked Pai, using a blank line to indicate Rosenworcel didn’t propose a solution. “Going forward, my staff and I will continue to search for ways to address issues that are never raised with us and that we’re thus unaware of, given this recurring issue,” Pai’s statement concludes. Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks partially dissented from the item, but only Rosenworcel and Pai released statements. Along with the complaint fee, the NPRM seeks comment on consolidating the application fees assessed on licenses for wireless services, streamlining the application fee schedule, and adopting the same cost-based fees for full-power and Class A TV stations. "It's a strange use of time for a Chairman's office that seems more bent on settling scores and protecting its thin skin than on protecting people's rights," said Free Press Vice President-Policy Matt Wood, who called Pai's statement a "tantrum." The formal complaint process isn't often used by individuals "because the process is time-intensive and expensive too," said Wood. "How is making it even more expensive supposed to help?"

There are 11,539 cable and wireline subscribers out of service and 0.4 percent of cellsites down in the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi Texas counties affected by Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane Laura, said an FCC disaster information service report Tuesday. No public service answering points or broadcast stations are down, the report said.

More access to broadband is needed to battle racial inequality in the COVID-19 pandemic, but isn’t enough, said panelists Tuesday on a Brookings Institution panel focused on whether expanding broadband during the pandemic could alleviate racism and systemic inequality. Broadband access is “necessary, but not all sufficient,” said Kaya Henderson, a former chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public schools. African American communities need better access to broadband for employment, education, and to interact with government institutions, but the internet isn’t enough if other issues aren't addressed, said Henderson, now CEO of education tech company Reconstruction. “Stop treating these like they’re siloed issues,” she said. Being connected has become increasingly necessary to work and get an education in America, and COVID-19 has greatly intensified that, said Brookings Senior Fellow Nicol Turner Lee. “America caught the ‘Rona, and black folks have caught hell,” said Marc Morial, CEO of the National Urban League. “It has been revealed by this pandemic that broadband is a public utility, and we should treat is as such,” said Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program fellow Andre Perry. “ The U.S. should have a Broadband New Deal, addressing job creation, training, and expanded broadband adoption and access, said Turner Lee. “A laptop and broadband is the same as paper and pencil” for students, said Henderson.

The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance supported having 5G in the 12 GHz band (see 2007140001). Adopt an NPRM to “modernize the service rules governing use of the highly valuable but grossly underutilized spectrum between 12.2 and 12.7 GHz,” DSA said in a filing posted Friday in docket RM-11768. “The 12 GHz band presents an opportunity to adopt a sharing framework that greatly expands the availability of a contiguous 500 megahertz of spectrum with favorable propagation characteristics for both fixed and mobile broadband deployments,” DSA said.

After deactivating the disaster information reporting system Sunday for portions of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Public Safety Bureau activated the system for numerous counties in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas because of Laura and Tropical Storm Marco. "Reports are requested at 10:00 a.m." EDT Tuesday and daily at that time until DIRS is deactivated, said a public notice Monday. The bureau also issued PNs on emergency contact info for licensees that need special temporary authority, and on 24-hour availability of FCC staff. The deactivation Sunday was at the request of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Coordinating Center for Communications and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the PN said. The final report of that activation, also released Sunday, said 60,501 cable and wireline subscribers were without service, 6% of cellsites in Puerto Rico had outages and none in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and no broadcast stations or public service answering points were down.

President Donald Trump wants to “Win the Race to 5G” and create a “National High-Speed Wireless Internet Network” during a potential second term, his re-election campaign said Sunday. The proposal is among 50 points the campaign briefly outlined as being on Trump’s agenda. Others included building “the World’s Greatest Infrastructure System” and a “Great Cybersecurity Defense System.” Some lawmakers and advocates believe Capitol Hill’s inability to agree on an additional COVID-19 aid bill that includes broadband funding presents an opening for the issue to become a focus during the presidential and congressional campaigns this fall (see 2008210001).

ACA Connects, which asked for a response by Aug. 20 to its request that the deadline for C-band earth station lump sum elections be stayed (see 2008170003), now is amending its ask to an Aug. 26 deadline. It said in a docket 18-122 post Monday that without a decision by then, it will seek a stay of the Sept. 14 deadline from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The FCC moved the deadline from Aug. 31 to Sept. 14 last week, but never addressed ACA's petition (see 2008200052). T-Mobile officials told Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff T-Mobile doesn't oppose a brief deadline extension, but other deadlines leading up to and including the C-band auction start need to remain the same. It said satellite operators also need adequate time to update their C-band transition plans after all the lump sum elections are made.

Presentations by members of the FCC’s World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee (WAC) are exempt from ex parte rules, the agency said in a Friday notice. “This exemption covers presentations from WAC members to FCC staff and Commissioners in other settings only to the extent that the WAC members are presenting the views of the WAC or its working groups, as opposed to an individual member’s own views or that of a member’s organization,” the FCC said in docket 16-185: “This modification of the ex parte rules is in the public interest because it will allow the WAC to develop and shape its advice and recommendations to the Commission more efficiently and effectively.”

RSM talked up its bona fides as potential C-band relocation coordinator (see 2008030049) in talks with FCC staff including acting General Counsel Ashley Boizelle, Wireless Bureau Chief Don Stockdale and Managing Director Mark Stephens, said a docket 18-122 ex parte post Friday. RSM said it and its partner firms, along with other experts, have "the requisite project management skills and technical expertise to fulfill the FCC-mandated requirements regarding stakeholder disputes."

The FCC activated the disaster information reporting system (DIRS) for Tropical Storm Laura in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Public Safety Bureau said Friday. Reports were due at 10 a.m. daily starting Saturday until the FCC deactivates DIRS. Bureaus released procedures and contact information.