Most residential multi-tenant environments have more than one broadband provider, so the FCC should reject "baseless calls by some commenters for further regulation," NCTA replied as such filings posted through Tuesday on docket 17-142. Rules here should apply equally to all providers that service MTEs and in all parts of the MTE on a competitively and technologically neutral basis, NCTA added. "At most require that exclusive marketing agreements include a disclaimer that the agreement is not an exclusive access agreement," Verizon said. T-Mobile said the FCC should prohibit wireless carriers from signing restrictive arrangements with MTEs, and such protections should be extended anywhere "large numbers of wireless customers congregate," such as stadiums. Incompas called exclusive commercial arrangements "a pervasive problem that the commission must address."

President Donald Trump continued telecom and tech federal advisory committees through Sept. 30, 2021, Friday night via an executive order. They are the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, National Infrastructure Advisory Council, National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Trump limited Federal Advisory Committee Act-authorized committees to 350 in a June EO and directed all departments and agencies eliminate superfluous agencies by Monday. Committees formed via the FCC and other independent regulatory agencies are unaffected (see 1906140067). CSMAC meets Tuesday, the first time since July 2018 (see 1909100033).

State attorneys general challenging T-Mobile buying Sprint seek a hearing on Deutsche Telekom's alleged “improper withholding of thousands of pages of responsive documents in discovery,” said a Monday letter (in Pacer) to Judge Robert Lehrburger at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. After T-Mobile parent DT withheld 38 percent of requested documents as privileged, AGs found “errors and oddities” in the company’s privilege log and raised them with the company, the states said. “The total page count of documents impacted by DT’s improper privilege invocations is currently 6,213.” Order DT to “re-review each entry on any previously issued log, produce any documents improperly withheld, and certify that an experienced attorney admitted to practice in the United States has considered the propriety of its privilege invocations,” the AGs asked. T-Mobile didn’t comment. Trial on the AGs challenge to the merger starts Dec. 9 (see 1909260046).

The FCC’s proposal for allowing cellular market area-level bidding in the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service auction changed considerably from the original proposal by Chairman Ajit Pai, based on a side-by-side comparison. Commissioners approved a public notice 5-0 Thursday. Officials said then (see 1909260040) clarifying language was added at the request of Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and questions at the request of Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The issue has been important to smaller players who prefer county-level licenses. The rules would permit larger licenses if conditions are met in the 172 largest markets. “We clarify that under this proposal, prices ... would be determined on a county-by-county basis, consistent with the basic clock mechanism,” says language in a new paragraph: “Prices in a particular county would depend upon whether the aggregate demand for blocks in that county exceeds the supply, regardless of whether the demand comes from bidders bidding on a CMA level, on a county level, or both.” The draft says simply: “We seek comment on this proposal for CMA-level bidding generally and on the specific implementation procedures we propose.” The final version adds more than 100 words of questions. “We seek comment on how this proposal, including the proposed implementation procedures ... would affect auction participation by bidders that seek licenses for individual counties,” the notice now says: “We also seek comment on whether there are modifications that should be made to our proposal for CMA-level bidding that would assist auction participation by smaller entities interested in county-sized licenses.” The PN was in Monday's Daily Digest in docket 19-244.

Devote more attention to standardizing decision-making practices for cybersecurity policy, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said Friday, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Rosenworcel urged the FCC to complete a rulemaking to ensure USF support for broadband deployment in rural areas isn't used to buy insecure network equipment, as she said the day before (see 1909260032). It would be a mistake to focus all cybersecurity concerns on Huawei 5G technology, she said: "The situation with this company is just a symptom of a larger problem -- and all of our activity so far is about treating the symptom, not the disease." The FCC should create policies to stimulate a broader market for 5G technology, she said, so "no one company can undermine our national security." If the FCC devotes more mid-band spectrum to 5G, she said, vendors would follow to expand the market for secure equipment. Rosenworcel warned secure U.S. networks could still connect to insecure networks abroad: "The FCC should start a proceeding to investigate the best practices carriers can employ to mitigate that risk. We need to research how we build secure networks that can withstand connection to equipment vulnerabilities around the world." She said her agency should "explore dedicated network segmentation, cross-layer security standards, the role of encryption, and routing validation." She said the FCC might ask licensees to use the NIST cybersecurity framework. Rosenworcel said cyber vulnerabilities multiply as the industry transitions to the IoT. The commissioner wants the FCC to use recent NIST draft security recommendations for IoT devices for use in updating FCC equipment authorization standards. "We should transform the Internet of Things into the Internet of Secure Things," she said.

Lifeline's national verifier will soft launch Oct. 11 in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and Washington state, the FCC Wireline Bureau said Thursday. Eligible telecom carriers in those places shouldn’t begin recertifications for Lifeline subscribers as of that date and should finish any currently open recertifications by Dec. 17, the bureau said. Universal Service Administrative Co. will start reverifying existing Lifeline subscribers during the soft launch period. The NV hard-launched earlier this week in 11 other states (see 1909230046).

America’s Communications Association and other members of the leading rival group to the C Band Alliance said they made tweaks to their proposal for the spectrum, filing in FCC docket 18-122 a supplement to their “5G Plus Plan.” The others behind the plan are the Competitive Carriers Association and Charter Communications. The biggest change is that the proposal increases the amount of reimbursable funds for programmers by about $800 million. “Our members share an interest in preserving a healthy ecosystem for video delivery, so we took these questions very seriously,” blogged ACA President Matt Polka: “After dozens of individual conversations with more than 10 programmers of different sizes, and a series of webinars with even more, we supplemented our plan with additional details that incorporate programmers’ feedback.” Polka urged the FCC to adopt the plan. “Charter’s perspective on the reallocation of c-band spectrum for 5G is informed by its position as a growing player in wireless and a provider of video programming and high speed broadband to millions of Americans living in urban, suburban and rural communities across 41 states,” a Charter spokesperson emailed. “The goal of this proceeding is to find a solution that clears and assigns C-band spectrum, efficiently and expeditiously, enabling 5G services in the U.S. as fast as practicable," emailed Peter Pitsch, CBA head-advocacy and government relations. “The ACA Connects’ ‘top-down’ proposal would foist a fiber-based concept on the entire video distribution system by an arbitrary date. The CBA plan remains the best way to balance all of these important priorities.” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday he still expects a proposal in the fall. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said he doesn't like the idea of a private auction, like the CBA proposal. Asked after the commissioners' monthly meeting if there's a band-clearing proposal he favors, he said "we need to be led by the science." He also wants to ensure the federal government and citizens "are the ones who benefit." Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel didn't comment.

Comments by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly at Americas Spectrum Management Conference (see 1909240057) seem to bode well for the C-Band Alliance's band-clearing plan, New Street Research analyst Vivek Stalam wrote investors Wednesday. Pai's indication there will be C-band activity in the fall seems to point to no agency delay in the band-clearing process, it said. O'Rielly made a strong case for the CBA proposal and isn't likely to defend something unlikely to be adopted, he said. O'Rielly's defense of the CBA's potentially profiting off the spectrum-clearing process seems to indicate the FCC order will let it capture most of the proceeds from an auction, it said.

AT&T and CTIA sought rehearing of a California Public Utilities Commission decision last month to adopt an emergency disaster relief program for customers of communications service providers. CPUC required providers to implement such programs upon a declared state of emergency by the governor or the president when a disaster results in service loss, disruption or degradation. The decision imposed obligations on landline providers “that are contrary to law,” AT&T said in one application posted Tuesday in rulemaking 18-03-011. The carrier “makes significant voluntary efforts” to help customers, but the decision “seeks to turn voluntary aid efforts … into mandates,” which “creates legal problems,” AT&T said. The CPUC is infringing on authority the legislature gave to the governor and the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), it said. Requiring carriers to provide various products and services for free for a year or more “creates an unconstitutional taking,” it said. Requirements for voicemail are pre-empted because that's an information service not subject to state regulation, and mandates about inside wiring and jacks are unlawful because that’s competitive and deregulated, AT&T said. Having to abide by requirements for 12 months or a period specified by CalOES “is neither explained nor supported by any record evidence or legal authority,” it said. Wireless carriers do much voluntarily, but the CPUC orders imposes “unlawful and inflexible” requirements, CTIA and AT&T Mobility said in a separate rehearing application. “Imposing a rigid set of requirements on carriers will deter wireless providers from tailoring their relief measures to consumer needs.” A VoIP coalition including AT&T, Comcast, Charter Communications, Frontier Communications and the California Cable & Telecommunications Association sought rehearing Wednesday. “Members of the VoIP Coalition have no substantive objection to voluntarily offering support similar to that set forth in the Rules to their VoIP customers,” the coalition said. “However, treating VoIP as a regulated utility service and imposing these disaster relief measures as mandatory requirements on VoIP service exceeds the Commission’s jurisdiction, is preempted by federal law, and should be corrected on rehearing.”

The FCC is opening an investigation on Sprint after the agency found the company claimed monthly subsidies for 885,000 Lifeline subscribers who weren't using the service, a violation of the program's non-usage rule, it said Tuesday in a news release. Those subscribers were nearly 30 percent of Sprint's Lifeline subscriber base and nearly 10 percent of all Lifeline subscribers, the agency said. The Lifeline program's non-usage rules require providers after 15 days' notice to de-enroll subscribers who don't use their phones at least once in 30 days. An Oregon Public Utility Commission probe brought the Sprint matter to light, the FCC said. Sprint is "committed to reimbursing federal and state governments for any subsidy payments" collected in error, a spokesperson said Tuesday. "The misconduct today, if true, amounts to corporate malfeasance," FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said in a statement. He said Tuesday's announcement "directly impacts" the agency's review of the proposed deal between Sprint and T-Mobile. He said the review shouldn't go forward until the Lifeline investigation is resolved and responsible parties held accountable. The company said it discovered an implementation error after the company made system updates in mid-2017 in how it calculates Lifeline usage and eligibility after the FCC "approved sweeping changes" to the program. Sprint investigated "and proactively raised this issue with the FCC and appropriate state regulators," the spokesperson said. "We also engaged an independent third party to review the results of our review and the effectiveness of our operational changes." Opponents of Sprint/T-Mobile could question "whether, in light of these findings, Sprint is qualified to own its licenses. If it is not, then the question becomes what is the remedy," New Street's Blair Levin told investors Tuesday. A new round of litigation could further delay the deal's closing, Levin wrote.