AT&T is eliminating all location aggregation services, “even those with clear consumer benefits,” after a report carriers sold customers' real-time location data eventually accessed by bounty hunters (see 1901090066), a spokesperson said Thursday. AT&T stopped most location aggregation services last year but maintained some that “protect our customers, such as roadside assistance and fraud prevention,” the spokesperson emailed. “We are immediately eliminating the remaining services and will be done in March.”

Several telecom service providers will give federal employees a break during the government shutdown (see 1901080004), they said. AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Windstream indicated in their responses to our survey and in announcements they won't disconnect such customers during the partial shuttering. It's "Frontier’s usual business practice to develop payment plans with qualified customers to keep their service uninterrupted," said a representative. Sprint care reps "will coordinate with qualified customers and our financial team to find a payment option that works and keep your service uninterrupted during the government shutdown," said CEO Michel Combes Tuesday. "T-Mobile is providing account support to customers directly affected by the U.S. government shutdown to ensure their wireless service remains available during the closure," the carrier said Saturday in a statement. That applies to government-account customers, said the carrier that's buying Sprint. "Verizon is standing by to help with flexible payment options to keep your service running," Nancy Clark, senior vice president-customer service, said Monday. Its offer is for wireline and wireless customers, said a spokesperson Wednesday. "Just because the government shutdown [sic], doesn’t mean that your phone, TV, and internet should stop working too," said AT&T Wednesday. "As long as the shutdown is in effect, our customer service team will waive late fees, provide extensions, and coordinate with you on revised payment schedules." CenturyLink "has always worked with customers having difficulty paying their bills so there is no need to offer special payment solutions for those impacted by the government shutdown," a rep said. Windstream's "normal process is to work with customers facing financial hardship to avoid any interruption of service for nonpayment," said a spokesperson. He noted its provisions in this situation are similar to Sprint's. Cox Communications "will work with individual customers on a case by case basis as always," emailed a spokesperson Wednesday. He and some other companies wouldn't say if they're committing to keeping service going for all federal employees and/or agencies during the government's shuttering or be more specific about their plans. Comcast has "mechanisms" to "work with all customers" on such issues, a rep said. Altice and Charter Communications didn't comment.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr applauded Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after Mayor Paul TenHaken (R) and the city council voted unanimously Tuesday for an ordinance authorizing 5G wireless infrastructure deployment. “The city’s forward-thinking leadership gets it,” Carr said Wednesday in a statement. “By charging cost-based fees, Sioux Falls promotes broadband deployment consistent with the FCC’s September infrastructure decision.” The local law (see page 19) authorizes the mayor to sign an agreement with Verizon Wireless to install and maintain small-cells facilities in the right of way. The carrier would pay $175 annually per pole and a $500 application fee to install small cells on any city streetlight pole or to replace a pole for that purpose.

"The broad wireless industry" should "commit to labeling something 5G only if new device hardware is connecting to the network using new radio technology to deliver new capabilities," Verizon asked of "competitors, vendors and partners." AT&T noted it's starting such an indicator, which drew criticism from rivals. Verizon "won’t take an old phone and just change the software to turn the 4 in the status bar into a 5," blogged Chief Technology Officer Kyle Malady Monday. "People need a clear, consistent and simple understanding of 5G so they are able to compare services, plans and products, without having to maneuver through marketing double-speak or technical specifications." To let AT&T "customers know when they’re connecting to a 5G Evolution tower, we’re rolling out a '5G E' indicator initially on a handful of 5G Evolution capable devices," emailed a spokesperson Tuesday. Devices with that indicator include the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active and LG V30 and V40. The carrier's 5G Evolution is in over 400 markets, he noted. Sprint Chief Technology Officer John Saw said "AT&T is blatantly misleading consumers -- 5GE is not real 5G." Sprint has its "sights on providing our customers with contiguous coverage using the first 5G smartphone in the U.S.," he added. The company is being sold to T-Mobile, whose CEO John Legere asked on Twitter if AT&T really thinks "customers would fall for their mountain of '5G E' BS?!" Legere said "@verizon isn’t innocent in all this 5G puffery. They’re up on a soap box right now saying they’d 'never do what @att is doing,' but from where I stand they’re doing the same thing." T-Mobile didn't comment further to us on Verizon. All Sprint would say on the subject is that it will market "real 5G that is standards based in the first half of 2019." 5G Americas President Chris Pearson declined comment on Verizon, as did CTIA and the Competitive Carriers Association.

A story on an FCC cable franchising rulemaking misspelled the name of Best Best's Gerard Lederer (see 1812200042).

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel raised concerns about the halt in equipment certifications caused by the federal shutdown. Industry officials said last week that has emerged as a concern with the FCC mostly shuttered since Thursday (see 1901040008). “Go ahead, take a look at the back of the nearest electronic device. You'll see an @fcc number,” Rosenworcel tweeted Tuesday. “The agency certifies every innovative mobile phone, television, and computer that emits radio frequency before they can head to market. Guess what is not happening during the shutdown?”

Extending its expectation of keeping the federal judiciary open through Friday, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said it's "working toward the goal of sustaining paid operations through Jan. 18." If existing funding runs out, the judiciary will "operate under the terms of the Anti-Deficiency Act, which allows 'essential work' to continue." The "mission critical work includes activities to support the exercise of the courts’ constitutional powers under Article III, specifically the resolution of cases and related services," the office said Monday, with each court determining the staff needed. It added that in response to DOJ requests, "some federal courts have issued orders suspending, postponing, or holding in abeyance civil cases in which the government is a party for a limited period, subject to further consideration, or until appropriated funds become available." The department got a stay Monday (see here, in Pacer) from the U.S. District Court in Washington on a Friday deadline for filing a joint status report in docket 17-cv-02409 on litigation over Protect Democracy Project's Freedom of Information Act request for White House communications about AT&T's Time Warner buy (see 1803060004). That status report now is due after DOJ funding is restored. Oral arguments will go on as scheduled this month in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, it says. That includes a GLH Communications v. FCC wireless case Wednesday, which the commission says is auction related. The D.C. Circuit is scheduled to hear oral argument Feb. 1 on challenges to the FCC's net neutrality rollback in Mozilla v. FCC, No. 18-1051.

Bid commitments in the 28 GHz auction reached $690.7 million Monday, up from $690.3 million Friday, with provisionally winning bids on 2,938 of 3,072 licenses, FCC results show. The auction (see 1812280030) shifted to six rounds a day Monday, up from four Friday.

FTC deal reviews aren’t as effective with shutdown-mandated “skeleton crews,” Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter tweeted Monday, calling it a “bad situation.” She responded to a thread from Public Knowledge Policy Counsel-Competition Charlotte Slaiman suggesting transactions can be approved by default if enforcers don’t take action. The FTC and DOJ have an initial 30 days to respond to review applications, Slaiman noted. “It’s not that folks aren’t reviewing, it’s the excellent point that this work can’t be done as effectively with a skeleton crew,” Slaughter wrote.

Judge Robert Wilkins will replace Judge Judith Rogers on the panel reviewing challenges to the FCC's net neutrality rollback order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit announced (in Pacer) Monday in Mozilla v. FCC, No. 18-1051. The move doesn't affect the panel's 2-1 majority of Democratic appointees (see 1901020040): President Barack Obama nominated Wilkins and President Bill Clinton appointed Rogers. The other judges are Patricia Millett, another Obama appointee, and Stephen Williams, appointed by President Ronald Reagan. Asked if the switch changed things, Andrew Schwartzman, counsel for petitioner Benton Foundation, emailed: "Not too much. ... Wilkins and Rogers are unlikely to be very different ideologically. However, he has much less of a track record on tech issues. ... He is more active in oral argument than Judge Rogers. ... When Judge Rogers presides, she is very much by-the-book. Judge Millett will now be presiding; she may be more lax about adhering to time limits." Free State Foundation President Randolph May expects the FCC would "feel more comfortable" with Rogers than Wilkins "on the theory that, in general, he may be more reflexively pro-regulatory and more likely to go along with Judge Millett. But this is really reading tea leaves at the margin.”