The partial government shutdown could have lengthy FCC aftereffects, said former Chairman Tom Wheeler in a blog post for the Brookings Institution Tuesday. Returning from month-plus shutdown “is not a situation where employees walk back in and pick up where they left off a few days before,” Wheeler said. “So much new has piled up on the Commission’s plate that the first thing to do upon returning is to assess the new pile, the second step is to catch up on other developments in the intervening period, then the third step is to reprioritize.” Only then “can the Commission get back to full productivity.” By making it difficult to get new tech reviewed or consult with FCC experts, the shutdown is likely causing delays for the advance to 5G and slowing progress on T-Mobile buying Sprint, Nexstar/Tribune and the resolution of the Sinclair hearing designation order, Wheeler said. He criticized “the Trump FCC” for using the shutdown as reasons not to respond to congressional requests for information on carriers selling location information and to delay the net neutrality court case. The shuttering has “proven a convenient excuse” for the FCC “to avoid unpleasant explanations of their activities,” Wheeler wrote. Wednesday, the agency didn’t comment.

The FCC will hold a scheduled commissioners’ meeting Jan. 30, without the planned agenda items, said a public notice Wednesday (see 1901230035). As expected (see 1901180015), the meeting will instead consist of “announcements only,” the agency said. The FCC didn’t comment on whether the January agenda items would be pushed to a future meeting or approved on circulation. Details of the meeting depend on how long the shutdown lasts, the PN said. If the shutdown ends and the FCC “resumes normal operations” before Tuesday, the meeting will be held, as usual, in the Commission Meeting Room. If the shutdown continues through Tuesday, it will be conducted over conference call, the PN said. If the meeting is held via call, the public can listen in on an audio-only feed by calling 866-233-3841, pass code 463377, the PN said. “Call-in capacity may be limited depending on the volume of call.” In either scenario, the start time was moved to 11 a.m. "This could very well be one of the FCC's most productive meetings," cracked ex-Commissioner Robert McDowell in response. “Given the length of the shutdown so far, proceeding with the announced agenda wasn’t possible, even if the Commission were to resume operations soon,” emailed telecom attorney Steve Augustino of Kelley Drye. “The option of a delay could crowd the February meeting, so this is the only practical solution.” Use the agenda-less meeting to provide guidance on priorities after operations resume, he recommended. “The agency should signal what will be tackled first,” he said. “We have quite a backlog of work that is piling up, and there could be a flood of calls and filings on the first day of normal operations.”

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s media aide Kate Black has written a guidebook for women seeking political office with actress and comedy podcaster June Diane Raphael, Rosenworcel tweeted Tuesday. According to the publisher, Represent is structured around a 23-point checklist for female candidates at every level of office. The book will be published in September.

Calendar corrections: The date of an AT&T event on privacy is Feb. 5. ... The URL for a Free State Foundation telecom event is here.

Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler questioned whether the administration is fully committed to cybersecurity as industry moves on 5G. A Monday opinion in The New York Times builds on his recent blog post (see 1901140038). “Leadership in 5G technology is not just about building a network, but also about whether that network will be secure enough,” Wheeler said. “And the 5G ‘race’ is more complex and dangerous than industry and the Trump administration portray.” Wheeler cited self-driving cars: “When 5G enables autonomous vehicles, do we want those cars and trucks crashing into each other because the Russians hacked the network? If 5G will be the backbone of breakthroughs such as remote surgery, should that network be vulnerable to the North Koreans breaking into a surgical procedure? Innovators, investors and users need confidence in the network’s cybersecurity if its much-heralded promise is to be realized.”

T-Mobile is the best positioned among U.S. carriers “to deliver real 5G whenever that reality actually materializes,” BTIG’s Walter Piecyk wrote investors Friday. “T-Mobile’s deep and unused low-band spectrum should enable it to launch real 5G before all of its peers. T-Mobile should therefore be considered a primary 5G investment opportunity for investors whether their acquisition of Sprint is approved or not.” The analyst said if the deal isn’t approved, T-Mobile likely will spend $20 billion on spectrum over the next two years. A likely target is Dish Network’s band 66, which includes AWS-4 downlink spectrum and AWS-1 and paired AWS-3, he said. “If that block or Dish’s band 70 is not an option, $20 billion would provide a healthy budget for C-Band spectrum that could become available as early as 2020,” he said. “Unfortunately, C-Band will not likely be usable for several years.” Meanwhile, T-Mobile Friday named Ulf Ewaldsson, ex-Ericsson, senior vice president-technology transformation, reporting directly to Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray. (See also the personals section of this publication's issue).

Reps. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., raised concerns Thursday about the FCC's C-band NPRM, saying in a letter released the next day the commission should seek a “balanced” approach for terrestrial use of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band. Reply comments on the proposal were due in December (see 1812110054). “This balance must consider protection of the existing services upon which consumers rely, as well as the associated investment by incumbent users of this spectrum,” the lawmakers wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “Nearly every television viewer and radio listener depends on C-band spectrum to reliably receive content” and satellite licensees on the band “and their content delivery customers have invested billions of dollars in the launch of satellites and construction of earth station infrastructure to deliver this content” to consumers. “We do not oppose examination of new, additional uses of the C-band,” Cardenas and Kinzinger said. If the FCC moves to open the band up for spectrum reallocation, it should at minimum “ensure that incumbents are made whole for costs incurred as a result of any new services or shared uses in the band.” The FCC must oversee any spectrum reallocation on the C-band, the lawmakers said. “Tens of millions of Americans rely on the C-band to receive news, entertainment, weather and sports content every day,” said the American Cable Association, NAB, NCTA and NPR. “It’s critically important for the FCC to ensure that any changes to C-band spectrum usage must preserve interference-free access to this popular radio and TV content.” The C-Band Alliance's plan for that spectrum “is completely consistent with this letter,” emailed Advocacy and Government Relations Head Preston Padden on Friday. “While making spectrum available for 5G, CBA’s Members will continue their 99.999% reliable C-band service to all current customers and cover the costs of the transition including purchasing and installing filters. No other plan does this.” The FCC didn't comment.

Regulations.gov is back online for users after an outage for much of Thursday. The website where many agencies, but not the FCC, accept filings and post documents reportedly had said originally it was offline due to the partial government shutdown. Later Thursday, it blamed "system issues." Friday, it was back online. The site is expected to remain online during the rest of the government-funding impasse, a help-desk staffer told us. He confirmed the tech issue wasn't shutdown-related, saying the site resumed working at around 5 p.m. EST Thursday. The EPA, which helps manage regulations.gov, didn't comment. The agency, which runs Energy Star, is closed for the shutdown, says EPA’s website. All Energy Star “tools, resources, and data services will not be available” for the “duration,” it says.

A U.S. District Court rightly ruled Pacer fees were unlawfully set above the amount authorized by Congress but was too permissive in allowing the fees to fund some non-Pacer expenses, said the National Veterans Legal Services Program, National Consumer Law Center and Alliance for Justice in a docket 19-1081 appellant opening brief (in Pacer) Wednesday. They asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reverse the lower court's denial of their motion for summary adjudication on liability and its partial grant of the government's cross-motion for summary judgment and remand the case to the District Court. DOJ didn't comment Thursday.

A federal court panel denied an FCC stay request to postpone Feb. 1 oral argument on challenges to its net neutrality reversal order (see 1901170055), as some expected (see 1901150011). Judges Patricia Millett, Robert Wilkins and Stephen Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Thursday denied a commission motion for a delay that was based on the lapse in appropriations, said the brief order, citing opposition to the request in Mozilla v. FCC, No. 18-1051. That panel will review the case on the merits. The FCC Tuesday said petitioners challenging the order opposed the motion, and petitioner Incompas Wednesday filed opposition (see 1901150058). The FCC and others noted a previous D.C. Circuit ruling that such stay denials constituted "express legal authorization" for agencies to comply with court requests for oral argument or briefing, despite Anti-Deficiency Act restrictions during the partial government shutdown. The denial "does now enable us to adequately prepare," emailed an FCC spokesperson Thursday. Incompas is "glad the court ruled so quickly," and looks forward to presenting its "case to save net neutrality and keep the streaming revolution going," emailed Incompas General Counsel Angie Kronenberg. Mozilla didn't comment.