The FCC is taking nominations for a new Precision Agricultural Connectivity Task Force through July 17. Chairman Ajit Pai said Monday the agency will work with the Agriculture Department to develop policies to speed broadband deployment for unserved agricultural lands. The task force will prepare a report due within a year on the status of fixed and mobile broadband access for agricultural lands; projections for future connectivity needs of agricultural operations; and ways to measure availability of broadband on agricultural lands. The FCC seeks representatives from diverse demographic regions, including small farmers and tribal agriculture producers; state and local government, data collection and mapping experts; and industry representatives, including from fixed and mobile broadband service providers, satellite broadband and telecom equipment manufacturers. Requirements and duties are in Monday's public notice. Congress sought ways to ensure federal spending on broadband deployment in rural areas is better coordinated across agencies (see 1905020058).

The U.S. is stuck in the starting blocks of the 5G race as it awaits an FCC decision on how to free up C-band spectrum, former Chairman Tom Wheeler blogged Friday for the Brookings Institution. He said European nations over the past year have done 5G spectrum auctions, but a C-band decision looks to come late this year. He said substantial time has been spent on debates about various potential auction processes, but the technical specifics of what to auction in terms of such issues as power levels, out-of-band emission levels and geographic and spectrum license sizes are far more difficult. "We are behind where we would have been if the FCC had stepped up and done their public interest job in the first place," he said. The agency didn't comment.

Employees from ITTA members and other carriers that don't offer sales incentives to enroll Lifeline customers should be exempt from registering their own personally identifiable information (PII) as Universal Service Administrative Co. develops a Lifeline representative accountability database (RAD), the group told the FCC, posted Friday in docket 17-287. Executives from ITTA and its member companies met Tuesday with Wireline Bureau officials to get clarification on who will be required to register. The RAD is part of a national verifier program to ensure beneficiaries are qualified (see 1903080016). ITTA noted the vast majority of abuses in the Lifeline program involve sales agents not employed by member companies. If USAC determines carrier employees must register with the RAD, the association said, registration information should be limited to name, employee status and business-related contact information rather than birth dates or social security numbers. ITTA called it an "undue risk" to require PII "when massive data breaches are a near daily occurrence." On the Lifeline consumer side, beginning last Thursday, any changes in information for the qualifying person requires service providers to de-enroll the consumer, make edits to the enrollment information, and reapply for benefits using the new information, USAC said.

The FCC isn’t affected by President Donald Trump's executive order directing all federal departments and agencies to eliminate one-third of their current Federal Advisory Committee Act-authorized committees by Sept. 30, a spokesperson told us Friday. The order limits the total governmentwide number of advisory committees to 350. Eliminated committees should include those found to deal with subject matters that have “become obsolete,” have accomplished their stated objectives, have primary functions “that have been assumed by another entity” or that the agency finds have a “cost of operation [that’s] excessive in relation” in relation to their “benefits to the Federal Government.” Agencies can count committees already eliminated since Trump entered office in January 2017 toward their quota. Agency heads can seek a waiver of the requirement if OMB concludes “it is necessary for the delivery of essential services, for effective program delivery, or because it is otherwise warranted by the public interest.” All agency heads will need to submit recommendations by Aug. 1 to OMB for eliminating committees. OMB will recommend which committees to eliminate by Sept. 1. The order doesn’t apply to the FCC because it generally exempts independent regulatory agencies, the FCC spokesperson said. The FTC's also an independent regulator. An NTIA spokesperson was checking at our deadline on how it would affect that Commerce Department.

Government collection of Timothy Carpenter’s cellsite location information violated the Fourth Amendment, but his robbery conviction stands because police “relied in good faith,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Wednesday (see 1807050025). Police acted in good faith because the collection occurred years before the Supreme Court ruled in U.S. v. Carpenter (in Pacer) the search unconstitutional, the court said. Thursday, Carpenter's attorney didn't comment.

The Q3 USF contribution factor would grow to 24.4 percent, its highest ever, under an FCC proposal in Thursday's Daily Digest and on docket 96-45. The USF contribution factor rose above 20 percent for the first time in Q4 (see 1809120035). Some advocates for the USF urged the FCC to find new sources of contribution to help sustain the program (such as from fees on broadband service) since revenue from interstate telephone charges continues to decline (see 1904020022). The prospect of ever-rising consumer fees played into a recent NPRM on an overall budget cap for the USF program (see 1905310069). The new contribution factor rate for Q3 would be set within 14 days of the announcement without further action from the agency, said an Office of Managing Director public notice.

DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim gave his most aggressive speech yet toward the tech industry Tuesday, signaling structural remedies are a possibility against Google and Apple, Cowen’s Paul Gallant said (see 1906110076). The speech want further than Delrahim's talk in May 2018, when he suggested companies offering free services aren’t “immune from antitrust enforcement,” the analyst emailed investors Wednesday.

The FCC granted the North American Numbering Council a three-month extension to file a document on the technical requirements for establishing a comprehensive database containing reassigned phone numbers, said a Wireline and Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureaus order Wednesday in docket 17-59. The report is due Sept. 13, and status update July 12. In April, NANC requested an extension until April 13, 2020, due to the complexity of FCC's initial request, delays stemming from the government shutdown early this year, and scheduling conflicts among working group members engaged in other commission work, it said. "The additional time will ensure the development and consideration of a complete record to address the complex technical aspects of the database's establishment, operation, and funding." Commissioners voted in December for the new database to let callers check whether a number has been permanently disconnected to help prevent robocalls intended for others (see 1812120026).

Saying user equipment out-of-band emissions limits proposed by the C-Band Alliance could impair 5G operations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band, Charter Communications told FCC officials it backs AT&T's call for a public notice seeking comment on C-band proceeding technical issues (see 1906070044), posted to docket 18-122 Wednesday. Charter had meetings with aides to the commissioners and with the heads of the Wireless Bureau and Offices of Engineering and Technology and of Economics and Analytics.

Womble Bond asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to force the FCC to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request on behalf of 75 rural phone carrier clients concerned about T-Mobile’s alleged rural call blocking. The pleading cites T-Mobile’s “illegal practice of, inter alia, inserting false ring tones into calls made by T-Mobile’s customers and intended for rural destinations.” The practice saved T-Mobile millions of dollars in call-completion costs, the law firm said. “Inexplicably, the Commission has missed its deadline to respond to the FOIA Request, and in response to Requestor’s informal follow up inquiries, has failed to provide an estimate of how long it will take to complete its review,” said Monday's complaint (in Pacer) in 1:19-cv-01690-RDM. “No justification of any type has been provided for the failure to grant or deny the FOIA Request. Coincidentally, however, during the pendency of Requestor’s FOIA request, certain Commission members have been issuing announcements of their intent to support T-Mobile’s planned merger with Sprint.” T-Mobile didn't comment.