An additional $65.7 million annually over the next 10 years in alternative connect America cost model (A-CAM) support means an added 106,000 rural customers getting improved broadband service from rate-of-return companies, the FCC said Monday. Bringing and maintaining broadband "in deeply rural America is not at all easy," NTCA said. "But the connections these funds will enable will help to drive commerce, unleash innovation, and promote distance learning and telemedicine in communities across rural America currently waiting for higher speed connectivity." The companies commit to building out 25/3 Mbps broadband to those 106,000 sites that otherwise would have received slower 10/1 Mbps service -- which Chairman Ajit Pai tweeted Monday was "good news on the rural broadband front!" It helps further close the digital divide, he said. Alaska, Arizona, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming will have more than double the number of customers served by 25/3 service, the agency said. Massachusetts will have the smallest gains, at 9.1 percent. Minnesota will have the biggest jump in number of sites, with 11,358 additional sites getting 25/3 service under the A-CAM funding, the FCC said. Others with big jumps are Oklahoma with 7,724 additional sites and Texas with 7,025. Of the 186 rate-of-return companies receiving the money, Minnesota's Arvig Enterprises is the biggest single recipient, with $24.7 million annually. Also receiving substantial funding: Pioneer Telephone Cooperative ($24.42 million), Great Plains Communications ($22.52 million), Telephone and Data Systems ($20.32 million) and Blackfoot Telephone Cooperative ($13.67 million). "This program is great for all rural America," said Arvig Chief Financial Officer Staci Malikowski in an interview. She said the money helps "us do what we do ... a whole lot faster" and can make the difference in broadband being provided at all. Malikowski said rural customers, and the funding helps pay for deployment of such technologies as copper or fiber, plus electronic upgrades of existing infrastructure. The 186 companies had been authorized to receive A-CAM support but had picked revised offers that carried extended funding and new deployment obligations, the FCC said.

Apple representatives said the FCC shouldn’t adopt rules for the 6 GHz band that would put users’ privacy at risk. Technical rules in an NPRM “will robustly protect incumbents, making privacy-intrusive device-identification requirements unnecessary,” the company said in docket 18-295, posted Thursday. “Successful rules for the 6 GHz band will support innovative consumer products, including portable and mobile devices, in addition to access points.” Apple met with aides to all commissioners, except Chairman Ajit Pai. The agency is examining Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use of the band (see 1903190050).

CTIA, the Competitive Carriers Association and USTelecom urged the FCC reconsider a decision to merge under one contract and a single administrator the administration of the reassigned numbers database “with the already consolidated” North American Numbering Plan Administrator and Pooling Administrator “functions.” Others also sought reconsideration of the order. In December, commissioners voted 4-0 to create a reassigned number database (RND) to help combat unwanted and illegal robocalls to people with new numbers. “Combining the databases under a single contract will not promote the Commission’s desired goals of operational and cost efficiencies; it will actually reduce efficiencies on both accounts,” said the telecom groups in docket 17-59. The groups said instead the FCC should refer the issue to the North American Numbering Council. NANC should have the flexibility “to best satisfy its overarching mandate from the Commission to ‘consider the most cost-effective way of administering the database, with the goal of minimizing costs and burdens for all users and service providers, while ensuring that it will fully serve the intended purpose,’” they said. The Professional Association for Customer Engagement said business landlines and other toll-free numbers shouldn't be included in the database. Including them would “create an unnecessary burden for Providers seeking to comply with the RND’s requirements while accomplishing nothing in achieving the Commission’s goal of protecting consumers from unwanted calls,” PACE said: Adding these numbers “needlessly increases the cost of database administration and neither businesses nor consumers are expected to query the database for such numbers.”

Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist wrote members of Congress opposing the C-Band Alliance's plan for clearing more than 200 MHz of 3.7-4.2 GHz band (see 1811130055), saying it “misses the mark.” Stakeholders believe the FCC will need to find a compromise between CBA's proposal and rival plans from T-Mobile and others (see 1904250060). The top executive of an alliance member said separately that the transition will take work. The CBA's proposal “is unworkable because it lacks transparency and does not provide a mechanism to reimburse the taxpayers for the sale of this valuable asset,” Norquist said. “Should the CBA produce a new and credible proposal for a secondary market transaction it is worth consideration.” It's “fortunate that the incumbent satellite companies have shown a willingness to work with the FCC to find a win-win solution to re-organizing the band,” Norquist said. The band “is not only the most readily available mid-band spectrum, it is also globally harmonized, a rare valuable benefit that would enable wireless carriers to keep costs lower through economies of scale.” CBA said in a statement it's "appreciative of [ATR] acknowledging" the alliance's bid "to create a fast path to clearing spectrum" for 5G. "We are presently engaged with a number of stakeholders so that we can fully understand the concerns regarding a market-based approach," but it's "our intent to present an approach to the FCC which is fully transparent and responsive to the needs of market participants," CBA said. Relocating C-band customers will require "a significant amount of investment," SES CEO Steve Collar said in an earnings call Friday with analysts, according to a transcript. He said SES isn't focused on C-band clearing as "any potential financial opportunity," at least currently. He said the FCC seems motivated to move on a band-clearing plan "relatively quickly," with "some activity" by the agency in the second half of the year.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied the FCC’s motion to hold in abeyance the challenges to the agency’s infrastructure orders from last summer (see 1904180006). That means last week’s briefing schedule (in Pacer) “remains in effect,” the court said in Wednesday orders (in Pacer) in Sprint v. FCC and Portland v. FCC. The agency declined comment.

General Motors petitioned the FCC to OK the automaker's new request to yank its petition that sought a partial waiver on providing real-time texting functions (see 1812260053). The new ask came after speaking with a lawyer for disability group commenters that opposed the waiver. GM now called itself "deeply grateful to Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing" Inc. (TDI) and "corresponding groups" for "their thoughtful submission, which questioned the necessity of the Petition." The discussion "helped lead GM to agree that the Petition is not necessary," said the motion posted Thursday in docket 15-178. "Once available to the general public, the Cruise AV in-vehicle customer support function would provide non-interoperable RTT-to-RTT communication (as between AV riders and customer support personnel); non-interoperable transmission and receipt of RTT communication from public safety entities (with immediate intervention and assistance from customer support personnel), and non-interoperable simultaneous voice and RTT communication (as between AV passengers and customer support personnel)." Passengers can use smartphones for "interoperable communication," so the automaker doesn't need the waiver, it said. It cited "the in-vehicle service button or accessible devices" giving "blind, low-vision, deaf, and hearing-impaired passengers" always-on communications. GM noted RTT rules don't apply to the company's Cruise autonomous vehicles being tested in Detroit, Phoenix and San Francisco "because the vehicles will offer a non-interoperable, non-interconnected telematics service rather than interoperable, interconnected communication." Led by TDI, more than a dozen groups had opposed GM's ask as "either unnecessary or unwarranted, depending on a critical ambiguity in the petition." The Hearing Loss Association of America, National Association of the Deaf, Paralyzed Veterans of America and other groups' comments ask the FCC to consider "broader issues" of IoT "accessibility and 911 access implicated" here. A GM lawyer and the FCC declined to comment. TDI's lawyer praised GM's withdrawal request.

New America Open Technology Institute opposition to allowing TV white spaces to be used for the ATSC 3.0 transition runs counter to its previous position that consumers should be protected during the transition, NAB said in a meeting Tuesday with the FCC Media Bureau and Incentive Auction Task Force, per a filing Thursday in docket 16-142. OTI opposed the 3.0 order on the basis of consumer protection but now opposes allowing broadcasters to use TV white spaces to maintain service during the transition, NAB said. OTI has “lost track of its own positions,” NAB said, comparing the advocacy group with Moby Dick’s doomed antagonist Captain Ahab. OTI also acts as though the FCC never sought comment on the use of the white spaces for 3.0 before Sinclair-owned One Media lobbied on the issue, NAB said. “OTI was aware of this at one point, because it joined comments addressing this issue.” The FCC should allow the white spaces to be used for the 3.0 transition, NAB said. "We obviously know the FCC asked a question about it, but the proposal we oppose was initiated by Sinclair’s OneMedia," emailed Michael Calabrese, New America Wireless Future Program director. "Awarding broadcast licensees free, exclusive access to vacant TV channels would violate the Communications Act," impose costs on wireless mic users, and "derail" efforts to expand broadband to rural areas, Calabrese said. Letting broadcasters use the white spaces would "subsidize the broadcasters’ ambition to compete with mobile carriers who, unlike broadcast licensees, paid for their spectrum at auction.”

Public advocates opposed T-Mobile’s agreement with the California Emerging Technology Fund to end CETF’s opposition to the carrier’s Sprint buy at the California Public Utilities Commission. The agreement, which included $35 million for CETF, failed to appease other opponents (see 1904170027). The CPUC Public Advocates Office said Tuesday that what CETF and T-Mobile did “is procedurally improper and seeks relief that is not allowed by law.” If it’s a settlement, they failed to follow CPUC rules requiring “notice of the agreement, public settlement conferences, reasonableness requirements,” and the commission’s public interest test, the office said in docket 18-07-011. The agency should hold more evidentiary hearings to “determine whether there is any basis for the facts and figures and dollar amounts listed in the Agreement,” or order parties to follow proper procedure, it said. While supporting efforts to close the digital divide, the office said parties didn’t “sufficiently describe what these programs do, the amount of money necessary to properly fund them, who operates them, or any other details about them.” The Greenlining Institute and The Utility Reform Network jointly raised similar concerns. The kerfuffle could mean further delay to the review, Tellus Venture Associates President Steve Blum, local government consultant, blogged Wednesday. “One possible outcome is that the administrative law judge managing the CPUC’s review could order new hearings to delve into the details of the agreement.” The agreement is a "very good deal" for the "digitally disadvantaged," CETF President Sunne McPeak said in an interview. CETF filed its agreement the same way it and others have done on past mergers, while providing more detail than others have, McPeak said. CETF contacted TURN, the Public Advocates Office and others before submitting the pact, she said, saying CETF was set up to be accountable to the legislature and CPUC. T-Mobile didn’t comment.

AT&T has deployed 5G in parts of 19 markets, with plans to cover 200 million POPs by the end of next year, Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said Wednesday on Q1 results. “Our plans for 5G are going quite well,” he told investors and analysts. “We’re very optimistic. We’re leading in 5G.” But the company won’t see an uptick in revenue until next year, he said. The stock closed down 4.1 percent to $30.79 as analysts said some results like video losses lagged behind expectations. The FirstNet build has hit 53 percent competition, with a goal of 60 percent by the end of Q3, Stephens said. “We’re well ahead of schedule.” Putting new spectrum in play is “working and it’s working in the quality of the network,” he said. Customers get that the quality of the network is improving, said CEO Randall Stephenson. “We’re not going out and doing a lot of aggressive promotions and we’re not doing pricing to try to get customers to stay,” Stephenson said. “It is happening just organically.” AT&T customers like the 5GE, or 5G evolution, service and are finding it to be faster than 4G, he said. “It is truly a step-change difference in product capability,” Stephenson said. “This is the No. 1 area that I am most pleased with.” FirstNet now has 570,000 subscribers at 7,000 agencies, with many new customers, Stephenson said. “This is driving a not inconsequential impact in subscriber gains,” he said. “We continue to be more enthused about [FirstNet] than when we won the bid.” AT&T reported 204,000 postpaid net losses in Q1 “with losses in tablets offsetting gains in wearables and phones.” The company added 79,000 postpaid smartphones, but lost 428,000 tablets and other branded computing devices. Postpaid churn was 1.17 percent, up from 1.06 percent the same quarter last year. DirecTV Now, AT&T’s streaming service, lost 83,000 subscribers and the number of premium video subscribers declined by 544,000. Stephenson warned that more losses are on the way. Net income attributable to AT&T fell to $4.1 billion, from $4.66 billion. Total revenue rose almost 18 percent to $44.83 billion compared with a year ago. Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche saw results as mixed. “Mobility offered a pleasant surprise as the postpaid phone additions were in stark contrast to where the Street was looking,” she said. “While Entertainment Group financials were in-line, the video losses continue to be worse than expected.” New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin saw the results as “uninspired.” The quarter “was a mixed bag for AT&T: subs grew in Wireless, but were worse than expected in the Entertainment group,” Chaplin told investors.

The FCC is starting to look at a decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which raises questions about a 2016 order implementing a provision in the 2015 budget law, said Mark Stone, deputy chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, at an FCBA event Wednesday evening. The order allows robocalls to cellphones for purposes of government debt collection (see 1608110038). The court severed the debt-collection exemption “from the balance of the automated call ban” and remanded the issue to a lower court for “further proceedings as may be appropriate.” The debt-collection exemption “fails strict scrutiny review” and is “fatally underinclusive,” the court ruled Wednesday in American Association of Political Consultants v. FCC. “By authorizing many of the intrusive calls that the automated call ban was enacted to prohibit, the debt-collection exemption subverts the privacy protections underlying the ban,” the court said. “The impact of the exemption deviates from the purpose of the automated call ban and, as such, it is an outlier among the other statutory exemptions.” Judge Robert King wrote the order, supported by Judges Barbara Keenan and Marvin Quattlebaum.