Nominations are due Dec. 3 for membership in four working groups of the FCC Precision Agriculture Task Force, set to meet Dec. 9 (see 1911180009), said a public notice Tuesday in docket 19-329. The four groups are: (1) Mapping and analyzing connectivity on agricultural lands, (2) examining current and future connectivity demand for precision agriculture, (3) encouraging adoption of precision agriculture and availability of high-quality jobs on connected farms, and (4) accelerating broadband deployment on unserved agricultural lands. The FCC also announced Tuesday (see Personals section, this issue) Land O'Lakes Chief Technology Officer Teddy Bekele as task force chair and Pioneer Communications CEO Catherine Moyer as vice chair.

The leaders of the Senate Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Homeland Security and Intelligence committees urged President Donald Trump's administration Tuesday to “designate a dedicated, senior individual focused solely on coordinating and leading” U.S. 5G deployments and development. Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said at a recent hearing he believes the Trump administration and FCC are finally unified on 5G strategy and related spectrum issues (see 1910310067). “While we appreciate the progress being made within and across departments and agencies, we are concerned that their respective approaches are not informed by a coherent national strategy,” Johnson and other committees' leaders wrote White House national security affairs assistant Robert O'Brien. “In our view, the current national level approach to 5G comprises of a dispersed coalition of common concern, rather than a coordinated, interagency activity.” Others signing the letter are: Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C.; Senate Armed Services Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.; Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; Senate Homeland Security ranking member Gary Peters, D-Mich.; Armed Services ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Foreign Relations Chairman James Risch, R-Idaho; and Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va. “Without a national strategy, facilitated by a common understanding of the geopolitical and technical impact of 5G and future telecommunications advancements, we expect each agency will continue to operate within its own mandate, rather than identifying national authority and policy deficiencies that do not neatly fall into a single department or agency,” the senators said. “This fractured approach will not be sufficient to rise to the challenge the country faces.” Having “a senior leader would position the United States to lead on telecommunications advancements, ensure the United States is appropriately postured against this strategic threat, and demonstrate to our allies the seriousness with which the nation considers the issue,” they said.

T-Mobile/Sprint deal sweeteners including free 5G for first responders and a homework-gap program aren’t enough for New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), she said Tuesday during a webcast news conference on vaping. “Providing public benefits are good, but it does not address the antitrust violations,” said James. Trial starts Dec. 9 in the New York and other state AGs' lawsuit against the deal at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A status conference scheduled for Thursday is expected to be a mostly routine pretrial preparation, though the court might also address DOJ's Nov. 8 objection (in Pacer) to Munger Tolles attorney Glenn Pomerantz representing New York and California. DOJ objected because Pomerantz was lead trial counsel for the U.S. in its lawsuit to block AT&T's buy of T-Mobile and "had access to confidential government information that creates a conflict." Pomerantz's legal representative replied (in Pacer) Thursday that DOJ's letter is "untimely, misapplies the relevant ethical rules, ignores the governing 'trial taint' standard for disqualification in this Circuit, and disregards that the Defendants have acknowledged that they have no issue with Mr. Pomerantz and the Firm’s representation of Plaintiff States."

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said rural telecom providers should become active participants in challenging the accuracy of broadband maps as the FCC upgrades location data reporting in its USF programs. "You can provide a public service," she said Monday at an NTCA telecom policy summit. She wants the broadband mapping program to aim for both speed and accuracy. "Fast and right are not alternatives," she said. "We just have to do both." Rosenworcel also joked she's not "all in" with the RDOF label for the upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund that would allocate up to $20 billion to deploy broadband in unserved and underserved rural markets. Applause broke out in the room when Rosenworcel asked providers to focus on audacious goals and think beyond their current plans so rural broadband customers don't fall behind during the course of the 10-year RDOF program. She asked providers to remember how fast change comes and how often they would need to rebuild their networks.

Minimizing confusion for E-rate applications among participants can reduce administrative burdens on the FCC and the Universal Service Administrative Co., said NCTA in reply comments posted to docket 13-184 through Monday. That's because applicants will be less likely to make the kinds of mistakes that lead to funding denials and appeals that could be prevented if drop-down menus on form 470s were clearer, it said. The group asked the FCC to change the description of minimum and maximum service levels to minimum needs to allow growth over the full term of the form 470 funding. NTCA endorsed a proposal to create a tab for selecting specific entities and locations where service is requested (see 1911010024). CenturyLink asked the FCC to ensure the form 470 provides "appropriate specificity" about the level of bandwidth that individual institutions need to enable interested providers to "submit responsive bids." AT&T said it "agrees that applicants need to account for growth in their form 470 to avoid funding denials in the future, but the growth estimates cannot be limitless." That's because "E-rate rules do not permit service providers to submit an 'estimated' bid for service," AT&T said. The American Library Association said schools and libraries that already have fiber connectivity should be able to indicate that in the application process, so they don't later waste the time of non-fiber service providers that put in competitive bids. ALA said "leased lit fiber and non-fiber services should be two separate transport service drop-down options."

The Office of Managing Director extended comments for the FCC’s regulatory fee Further NPRM to Dec. 6. The Satellite Industry Association requested an extension to Dec. 13 because many members are involved in the World Radiocommunication Conference. WRC-19 runs until Nov. 22, the original comment due date, Friday's order said. With the extension, replies are now due Jan. 6. The docket is 19-105.

The FCC got general support for a September NPRM (see 1909060030) proposing the agency fully transition its universal licensing system (ULS), its largest, from paper to electronic. Initial comments in docket 19-212 welcomed the change (see 1911010064) and replies were posted Thursday and Friday. American Tower said the FCC should act: “Electronic communications ease the administrative burden that accompanies traditional, non-electronic record keeping and allows for the creation of a more robust record for each transaction at a lower cost. Conducting business electronically is ubiquitous in almost every industry and government, making this move a win-win for the Commission and those it regulates.” AT&T supported a Verizon proposal that the commission permit nonstandard applications to be submitted electronically in PDF form or on a webform for receipt of nonconforming applications. “Currently, non-conforming applications, such as subleases and leasebacks, must be filed on paper in Annapolis Junction, and that office must then forward the application for processing,” AT&T commented: “Because filers of paper applications do not have the benefit of ULS controls that detect certain typographical errors and invalid entries, a ministerial error in an application may not be detected until it reaches Commission staff, and at that point filers often are required to start the process over again. This process is unpleasant and inefficient for applicants and Commission staff alike.” NTCA welcomed all-electronic filing for ULS and in the antenna structure registration (ASR) system. “Allowing additional types of applications to be filed via ULS or ASR would almost certainly benefit filers and the Commission alike through an ability to catch most application errors prior to submission and the ability of Commission staff responsible for reviewing the application to access the application online once the application is deemed complete,” NTCA said.

Industry would benefit if the FTC had more rulemaking authority to provide clarity and could do more policymaking like the FCC, FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter told FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on a podcast released Thursday. With fewer limits on rulemaking, the FTC could provide clearer rules for industry, so businesses wouldn’t have to guess and fall “afoul of enforcement action,” Slaughter said. She sought more resources, noting the FTC had about 50 percent more employees at the start of the Reagan administration. “And that's not an accident, right?” Slaughter said. “We were systematically downsized in order to limit our effectiveness and limit our enforcement.” She said the agency could be doing more with its existing resources. She noted her dissent on the FTC’s $5 billion privacy settlement with Facebook, which she said wasn’t a strong enough deterrent to bad behavior. The agency hears a lot of concerns about manipulative ads, Slaughter said, which are enabled by personal data and personalized advertising. It can be useful for giving consumers what they want, but there's risk of propaganda messages reaching certain audiences, said Slaughter, a Democrat like Rosenworcel. “We've seen a lot of literature, recently, about white supremacist recruitment, targeting teenage boys.” The FTC member noted consumers have very little information about who collects data and how it’s collected, shared and used.

The FCC addressed waste, fraud and abuse in the Lifeline USF program in a fifth order and a Further NPRM in docket 17-287, issued Thursday and OK'd about two weeks ago. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented in part and concurred in part. Comments are due 30 days after Federal Register publication, replies 30 days later. The rulemaking seeks comment on prohibiting Lifeline providers from offering handsets to consumers at no cost.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an unopposed motion for extension, until Dec. 13, to file petitions for a rehearing of the recent net neutrality case, it said Wednesday. Net neutrality advocacy groups had asked for a 28-day extension to request a rehearing or hearing en banc for Mozilla v. FCC, case 18-1051 (see 1911050038). The Digital Justice Foundation asked for rehearing (see 1911010008).