FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the commission is still determining “the best path forward” on revamping elements of the Lifeline USF program. His responded to letters from House Democrats that raised concerns that his preferred plan would mean major cuts to the program’s subsidization of phone and internet services to low-income people. The revamp NPRM adopted in November seeks comment on creating a self-enforcing budget cap, setting a maximum subscriber discount level and ending both federal designation of Lifeline broadband providers and pre-emption of states' role in designating some eligible telecom carriers (see 1711160021). House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., led one letter in January. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and 67 other House members sent a separate letter in March (see 1803210061). Senate Aging Committee Chairman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and ranking member Bob Casey, D-Pa., more recently also raised concerns (see 1805180043). “I am deeply committed to ensuring that the Commission fulfills its obligation to be a responsible steward of” USF, Pai said, posted Monday. “It is critical to strengthen the Lifeline program's efficacy and integrity by reducing the waste, fraud, and abuse that has run rampant in this program for the better part of a decade.” The national verifier of consumer eligibility for the program the FCC is implementing “will be one important tool in eliminating this waste, fraud, and abuse,” but “it simply isn't prudent to sit idly by when hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are at stake,” Pai said. “That's why the Commission last year sought comment on a wide variety of measures to improve the administration of the Lifeline program.” Pai disputed suggestions that an accompanying November order will cut off Lifeline support to tribal members. He said the changes were designed to "incentivize providers" to deploy broadband networks on tribal lands. "All eligible Americans who apply will continue to receive support, but that enhanced support will now be tailored to better target those in need," he responded to Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., and 31 colleagues. "Similarly false are suggestions that the Commission did not consult with Tribes before adopting the 2017 Lifeline Reform Order," he added, citing comments from, and consultations with, various tribal parties: "As Chairman, I have participated in three official Tribal consultations, made numerous visits to Tribal communities, and met with Tribal representatives, including the Navajo Nation."

A “fictional” city is shaping FCC debate on broadband infrastructure deployment and “priming the pump for Washington preempting cities and towns and preventing them from having a role in what is happening in their own backyards,” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel told the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Saturday remarks. With its local officials who “view improvements skeptically,” delay applications and charge big fees for pole attachments, the imagined city is a “caricature based on some outliers and stitched-together stories,” she said. “But this city is the one dominating discussion in Washington.” Rosenworcel applauded San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo (D) for resigning from the FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee and negotiating his city's own agreement with AT&T (see 1801250049 and 1805020046). With few local members, the BDAC “was loath to admit that cities and towns could be something other than impediments to broadband deployment -- they could be partners,” she said. Liccardo showed “it is possible to create a solution that delivers value for everyone and all broadband deployment does not have to come at the expense of local control,” Rosenworcel said. Carrots are better than sticks, she said. “We can begin by developing model codes for small cell and 5G deployment -- but we need to make sure they are supported by a wide range of industry and state and local officials. Then we need to review every infrastructure grant program at the Department of Commerce, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Transportation and build in incentives to use this model.” Rosenworcel praised state and local actions to counter the FCC December order rescinding net neutrality rules, including bills, lawsuits and executive orders: “This one’s not over.” Monday, the FCC didn't comment.

The FCC twice-annual regulatory agenda lists dozens of major items and other significant proceedings that are under development or review and that pertain to the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The list coming in Monday's Federal Register includes more than 60 separate docket items and their status.

Analyst reactions to Verizon personnel changes included that 5G may become a bigger focus under incoming CEO (see the personals section of today's issue) Hans Vestberg. That executive, a relative newcomer hired last year (see the personals section of the April 3, 2017 issue), was previously chief of Ericsson. Vestberg was “a better match for where Verizon was going to go,” outgoing CEO Lowell McAdam told The Wall Street Journal in comments a spokesman told us were accurate. “With 5G in front of us, we are at a huge inflection point. Whoever is at the head of the business should be able to see that through.” The carrier now "has a small window of opportunity to take the lead in 5G," and by next year's second half, "the industry could look very different," Macquarie Capital's Amy Yong wrote to investors Friday. "While its peers have moved toward vertical integration/scale, Verizon has focused on its 5G strategy." The CEO decision is "an extremely surprising move" and "most surprising" because it doesn't include Verizon Wireless Executive Vice President John Stratton, whom "many viewed as the heir apparent," said Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche. She also pointed to the retiring CEO's comments on 5G.

Cable leased access, telecom discontinuance, rural USF, and slamming/cramming items approved at Thursday's commissioners' meeting (see 1806070021) were released Friday. Leased access Further NPRM, comments will be due 30 days after it's published in the Federal Register, with replies 45 days after publication. It would vacate a 2008 leased access order and solicit comment on the state of the leased access market and on updating that rules regime. The FCC issued text of an IP captioned telephone service order, declaratory ruling, FNPRM and notice of inquiry that takes actions to curb IP CTS funding and authorize automated speech recognition technology, and seeks comment on proposals and issues. Also released were orders to ease telecom service discontinuance approvals and streamline related network-change processes (here), provide certain rate-of-return telcos (not receiving model-based support) USF contribution relief on broadband service (here) and bolster safeguards against telephone slamming and cramming (here).

The fight against state 911 fee diversion "has had mixed results," FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly blogged Friday. "Of the five self-reported diverting states and seven states and territories that did not respond to the Commission’s inquiry ... two states remedied filing errors to clarify that they are not diverters, one state and one territory are in the process (one with firm commitments) of ending diversion within their borders, one state started exploring ways to stop the practice, and seven states and territories have not yet made progress on either providing the Commission with their state data or ending the despicable practice of stealing 9-1-1 fees for their own personal spending." O'Rielly included a table with updates. O'Rielly is to speak June 21 in Trenton about New Jersey 911 fee diversion at a news conference event hosted by the New Jersey Association of Counties and the New Jersey Wireless Association. Some New Jersey lawmakers at an April legislative hearing backed a constitutional amendment to guarantee revenue collected for the emergency system goes to that purpose (see 1804050042). O'Rielly suggested to us "creative options" to increase pressure on diverting states (see 1805220034).

Distil Networks "approached the FCC" in May 2017 "to offer Distil's services for free" to help the agency fix problems with its electronic comment filing system application programming interface caused by what the FCC claimed was a distributed denial-of-service attack, said Chief Product and Strategy Officer Rami Essaid in a statement. It was one of at least four software and cybersecurity firms that pitched their services in the days after the 2017 DDoS incident, according to a package of a thousand-plus pages of emails that American Oversight received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request (see 1806060032). The FCC "denied [Distil's] offer, claiming that they cannot filter out 'free speech,'" Essaid said. "However, this is not a matter of free speech -- bots are not real people." Former FCC Chief Information Officer David Bray disputed earlier this week a report that the agency pushed a false narrative after the 2017 incident that the system also had been victim of a cyberattack three years previously (see 1705100062 and 1806050046).

Tower company PTA-FLA isn’t a T-Mobile unit (see 1806060039).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruling against the FTC on LabMD was called an important decision and bad for the agency. The commission can't require a company to completely overhaul its data security program but can ban specific acts or practices (see 1712070068), an 11th Circuit panel ruled Wednesday. The FTC sued the now-defunct diagnostic cancer lab in 2013 for unfair data security practices. The ruling said the FTC improperly mandated LabMD’s complete overhaul and charged the district court with managing the overhaul. “This is a scheme Congress could not have envisioned,” the panel said. “We therefore grant LabMD’s petition for review and vacate the commission’s order.” TechFreedom President Berin Szoka said Thursday the court’s decision shows the FTC “has been acting unlawfully for well over a decade” and calls into question the validity of past data security consent decrees. The commission didn’t comment. Wiley Rein called it “an important milestone and inflection point for” new agency leadership: “This case raised issues going to FTC power and practice, but ultimately turned on the remedy imposed by the agency which was found to be so vague as to be unenforceable.” The agency can ask for a full 11th Circuit review en banc or Supreme Court review. Judges Gerald Bard Tjoflat, Charles Wilson and Eduardo Robreno made up the panel and Tjoflat wrote the opinion.

Cable and broadcast interests continue to air with FCC officials their worries about terrestrial wireless use of C-band. In a docket 17-183 filing Thursday, NPR recapped a meeting officials had with Chairman Ajit Pai where it made similar arguments to those it made to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mike O'Rielly (see 1805290018) that sharing C-band with commercial wireless services will cause harmful interference to public radio earth station downlinks, and that sharing isn't possible with current technology. NCTA, in a separate filing, recapped a meeting with staffers including Wireless Bureau Chief Don Stockdale, International Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan and Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp. NCTA said neither fiber nor Ku-band spectrum is a good substitute for C-band and such a substitution wouldn't be feasible for its C-band operations such as cable TV distribution. NCTA expressed concerns about band repacking costs and technical issues such as earth station filtering. It told the FCC it would be premature to endorse any particular proposal before there's a comprehensive record about how incumbent C-band services will be protected and incumbent users will be made whole. Representatives participating in the meeting were from NCTA, CBS, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Enterprises, Discovery, Disney, 21st Century Fox, General Communication and Univision Communications. NCTA earlier said many questions still need addressing (see 1806010032).