The FCC Wireless Bureau Friday began a temporary freeze on nonfederal applications in the 3100-3550 MHz band. Industry officials told us the notice is potentially significant. The bureau also established a docket on the freeze, 19-39. A year ago, Administrator David Redl said NTIA would study use of the 3450-3550 MHz band for wireless broadband (see Ref:1802260047]). Redl said use depends on DOD's ability to find another location for military radar systems that operate there. Mid-band spectrum has been a continuing focus of carriers as they start to deploy 5G. “It’s great to see the FCC move forward today on the 3.45 GHz band,” said Kara Graves, CTIA director-regulatory affairs. “Policymakers realize how important it is to free up mid-band spectrum quickly, and this is a helpful step toward making this band available for 5G.”

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan's pay package exceeds $103.2 million, placing him third on As You Sow’s list of the S&P 500's “most overpaid” chief executives for 2019, said the social responsibility group Thursday. Its fifth annual report used a “regression analysis” of proxy statements and other public filings to compute “excess CEO pay” on the basis of “total shareholder return,” plus the percentage of shareholders who voted against their CEOs’ pay packages, said the group. Based on those metrics, the report pegs Tan’s excess pay at nearly $86.9 million, partly because a large proportion of Broadcom shareholders -- 38 percent -- voted against his pay package. Tan tried to spearhead Broadcom's takeover of Qualcomm last year, but was forced to withdraw the bid after President Donald Trump killed it on national security grounds (see 1803150060). Disney CEO Bob Iger ranked sixth with a $36.3 million package and excess pay of $22.4 million, said the report. It said 55 percent of Disney shareholders voted against Iger’s package, placing Disney eighth on the list of highest percentage of dissenters. It was the second year in a row Iger placed among the top 25 most overpaid CEOs, said the report. Broadcom and Disney didn’t comment. “Overall CEO pay continues to increase,” but so, too, does shareholder “opposition to high CEO pay,” said the report.

Comments are due March 6, replies March 13 on Viasat and Redwire requests to be designated as Connect America Fund eligible telecom carriers, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 09-197 and Thursday's Daily Digest. Both won CAF Phase II auction support over 10 years, with Viasat bidding $122.5 million to serve 190,595 locations in 20 states and Redwire bidding $4.8 million to serve 8,041 Oklahoma locations. Viasat's petition seeks ETC status for Alabama, California, Florida and West Virginia, which have declined to exercise their jurisdiction, and says it will provide satellite broadband and voice service. Windstream in November called Viasat's funding a waste because it would provide the "same high-latency service" it already provides (see 1811080031). But Viasat replied that "stringent" FCC criteria require it to offer a service tier and pricing it doesn't otherwise offer, including usage allowance that's expected to rise (see 1811130034). As a federally recognized tribal entity, Redwire is not subject to Oklahoma regulatory jurisdiction, says its petition, which notes it will deploy a wireless network to provide broadband and voice service to anchor institutions, businesses and residences.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr welcomed a draft broadband report under a Telecom Act Section 706 mandate, while Public Knowledge was critical and called for releasing the item or more details before a vote. That continued the mixed initial reaction (see 1902200057). The draft, which finds advanced telecom capability is being adequately deployed nationwide, shows "the FCC’s policies are working," Carr said in an emailed statement. "Internet speeds are up, prices are down, and more Americans were connected with fixed, high-speed broadband last year than at any point in history." He said he's "incredibly proud of the work America’s telecom crews are doing," "glad this FCC is making it easier for next-gen broadband infrastructure to be built," and looks forward "to building on these positive results.” But Alisa Valentin, a PK communications justice fellow, disputed the FCC narrative "that the agency has 'substantially narrowed' the digital divide." It "fails to match up with the stories we hear from those who live in rural areas or who experience digital redlining in urban communities," she emailed. "If the FCC is going to make sweeping claims like this one, it should release either the report or a detailed fact sheet before the full Commission votes on it. Rural Americans have a right to know how the FCC can justify a conclusion that doesn't reflect their reality." The FCC faced a Feb. 5 deadline for issuing the report but was delayed due to the government shutdown. Chairman Ajit Pai, who Thursday highlighted his planned votes for a March 15 commissioners' meeting (see 1902210048), circulated the draft report Tuesday (see 1902190057). He could put it on a March 8 agenda for the meeting if it hasn't been released by then. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel criticized the draft Tuesday. Other commissioners didn't comment.

Too often 5G-related spectrum allocation talks among the government and wireless and satellite interests devolve "into un-neighborly yelling matches" revolving around spectrum hoarding instead of cooperation, Ligado Senior Vice President-Government Relations and Public Affairs Ashley Durmer blogged Tuesday. Durmer also said "arbitrary rules" making spectrum unusable "won’t cut it." She didn't specifically discuss Ligado's hope of introducing terrestrial low-power service in the 1526-1536 MHz band.

Inter-exchange carriers said a U.S. district court erred in ruling LECs can impose access charges on them simply because they are IXCs. The 1996 Telecom Act mandates that local wireline telcos can charge other carriers "reciprocal compensation" when they exchange local calls and "access charges" when exchanging long-distance calls, said a brief (in Pacer) Tuesday by appellants MCI Communications, Verizon and Sprint to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals regarding In re: IntraMTA Switched Access, No. 18-10768. They said an FCC intraMTA rule categorizes all wireless-to-wireline calls within a "major trading area" as local calls, subject to reciprocal compensation "without exception." The Northern District of Texas erred by creating an exception and allowing LECs to impose access charges when long-distance carriers are involved in routing intraMTA calls, the IXCs wrote. "The district court ruled that the 1996 Act did not displace the LECs' preexisting practice of imposing access charges on IXCs, absent an express action by the FCC to supersede the access charge regime," they added. "But the Act's preservation of access charges does not apply to local calls. Because intraMTA calls are local, regardless of whether they are transported by IXCs, they are subject only to reciprocal compensation, and access charges cannot be applied" and "this Court should reverse."

The Lifeline National Verifier (NV) should “not be transitioned until the verifier is provided access" to the Medicare and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program databases, California Public Utilities Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves told FCC commissioners and the Wireline Bureau in meetings last week. The CPUC member met separately Monday and Tuesday during the NARUC conference with Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Brendan Carr, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, and Telecom Access Policy Division Chief Ryan Palmer, said ex-parte letters in docket 11-60. Some federal Lifeline revisions could harm the California program, “especially if done without a proper transition,” said Guzman Aceves, who raised concerns about the NV, program budget and the FCC’s proposal to limit Lifeline to facility-based providers. Lifeline was a hot topic at the NARUC conference, where commissioners agreed to a resolution urging the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) ensure the NV accesses state databases required to automatically check user eligibility (see 1902130052). In commissioner meetings, Guzman Aceves also discussed CPUC efforts to prevent wildfires and the need to increase communications infrastructure resiliency. Hardware was to blame for most 911 system failures in 2018, which could be prevented with adequate investment and maintenance, she said. The CPUC wants to find areas of joint jurisdiction with the FCC “to restore wireless as infrastructure burns and address first responder concerns like the need for backup power for 911 selective routers,” she said. Guzman Aceves told the bureau and commissioners she wanted to better align the California Advanced Services Fund with the federal Connect America Fund. The California commissioner “described the challenges and drain on resources the CPUC has faced in obtaining data regarding whether an area is served as the carriers will not provide information on where they are building.” The FCC "could help substantially with this transparency issue by requiring USAC to collect data at the most granular level possible (address level), in order to avoid duplication of work at the state level for verifying if an area is in fact served or not,” she said.

T-Mobile fired back Wednesday at Chris Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America, who had slammed the Sprint/T-Mobile deal Tuesday in a C-SPAN interview (see 1902190068). “CWA has a track record of inaccuracy and subsequently no credibility,” emailed Kathleen Ham, T-Mobile senior vice president government affairs. CWA earlier had said T-Mobile’s buy of MetroPCS seven years ago would eliminate 10,000 U.S. jobs, Ham said: “The reality is that nearly 3x more people come to work for our Metro business every day -- compared to the time of the merger. That is job growth.” The T-Mobile/Sprint deal will be “jobs positive from day number one and create at least 11,000 jobs” in the U.S., she said. Ham is a key T-Mobile official working with federal regulators on deal approval.

T-Mobile offered the FCC a revised proposal for an incentive auction in the C band. The plan “includes a mechanism through which satellite earth station registrants can participate in the auction,” T-Mobile said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-122. “Including earth station registrants will provide competition in the reverse auction and the opportunity for those entities to directly obtain auction proceeds, leading to a more efficient reallocation of spectrum.” Under the proposal, the FCC would conduct a forward auction among potential licensees for all 500 MHz of C-band spectrum in each market. The purchase price in each market would be offered to satellite operator and earth station registrant incumbents, T-Mobile said. T-Mobile “continues their spiteful attack on Broadcasters and TV Programmers who would be evicted from C-band distribution,” emailed Preston Padden, C-Band Alliance head-advocacy and government relations. “Their updated ‘Disincentive Auction’ proposal changes nothing, except to exacerbate its infeasibility. Once again, T-Mo is trying to distract everyone from their true purpose: delaying C-Band wireless deployments to ensure that, for as long as possible, New T-MO enjoys a monopoly on deploying 5G mid-band spectrum.”

The FCC closure during the partial federal shutdown shouldn't affect the ability of agency workers to file employment discrimination complaints within the 45-day required window, Chairman Ajit Pai said in a letter dated Feb. 6 and released Friday. He responded to a Jan. 6 letter from House Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., urging him to consider waiving or extending complaint filing periods for the shutdown duration. Pai said federal code lets FCC workers seek a waiver of the 45-day deadline for uncontrollable circumstances, such as a shutdown. He said the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tolled its time limits for Dec. 22-Jan. 25 deadlines, extending them for 40 days. The FCC won't close again due to funding through Sept. 30 (see 1902150055).