The North American Numbering Council delivered a call-authentication report to the FCC aimed at combating call spoofing and illegal robocalling. The report "details a framework for call authentication that can more quickly be established than various alternatives, while obtaining the broadest participation of industry," wrote NANC Chairman Travis Kavulla in a cover letter Thursday. The NANC approved a draft April 27 recommending industry set up a governance authority and select a policy administrator over the next year to oversee the framework for providers to use "Shaken/Stir" protocols and procedures for authenticating calls, but it didn't propose a hard deadline for provider adoption due to concerns about network capabilities (see 1804270027). Shaken/Stir stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (Shaken) and Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (Stir). The report provides "a set of milestones for adoption and deployment of a SHAKEN/STIR call authentication system, including metrics by which the industry's progress can be measured," wrote Kavulla. "It also identifies certain actions the Commission may wish to take to ensure that these milestones and timelines are met." Columbia University Professor Henning Schulzrinne, a member of NANC's call-authentication working group, wrote a brief minority report saying "all relevant and affected stakeholders" should be represented on the governance authority. He proposed "to have two non-carrier board members: one board member nominated by NARUC and one by the consumer group members of the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee or drawn from one of the consumer entities that have been most active in this area (e.g., Consumers Union)."

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said T-Mobile and Sprint have a difficult case to make on why their planned combination should be allowed. The companies must show "real evidence" their transaction wouldn't raise consumer prices or reduce competition, she said, answering questions Thursday from NBC News Senior Tech Editor Jason Abbruzzese at the Collision Conference in New Orleans (Facebook webcast). "Going from four to three [national wireless competitors] is a hard case," she said. Rosenworcel criticized recent FCC media ownership changes that "seemed custom-built for one company," Sinclair, which is seeking to buy Tribune: "We shouldn't be playing favorites." She said the FCC was on the "wrong side" of the law, history and the American people in rolling back Title II net neutrality regulation under the Communications Act. But the action "awoke a sleeping giant, because the American public wasn't going to stand for" the agency "mucking around" with internet freedom. "I don't think the story's over," she said, citing two new state net neutrality laws, five state executive orders, 23 state attorneys general challenging the FCC's order in court and 50 votes in the U.S. Senate to undo the order through a Congressional Review Act disapproval resolution. While supporting net neutrality, Rosenworcel said policymakers need to find a "balance" that encourages broadband investment because "it's expensive to deploy networks. That's a real impediment for a lot of companies and a lot of communities." She said she's hopeful blockchain technology could contribute to "dynamically distributing spectrum," rather than simply assigning it to two different categories: exclusive, licensed uses and open, unlicensed uses.

Several groups involved in the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements asked Verizon to meet about how to end sexual harassment in Verizon-contracted warehouses, after complaints at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed by female workers employed at the XPO Logistics warehouse in Memphis. “From the previous incidents and allegations, and now new sexual harassment allegations under XPO Logistics it seems that this is not an isolated issue,” wrote NAACP Tennessee State Conference, National Women’s Law Center, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and others in a Wednesday letter to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam and the Verizon board. “We call for a joint meeting to discuss the actions that Verizon will take to stop the rampant sexual harassment in this warehouse.” Verizon is investigating complaints, a spokesman said: "We have just been made aware of these serious allegations against XPO Logistics. While these allegations do not involve Verizon employees, Verizon has zero tolerance for discrimination and sexual harassment, and we expect our suppliers to abide by these standards."

Comments are due June 1, replies July 2 on an FCC national security NPRM in docket 18-89, said a proposed rule in Wednesday's Federal Register. The NPRM adopted April 17 proposes to bar the use of money in any USF program to buy equipment or services from companies that “pose a national security threat” to U.S. communications networks or the communications supply chain (see 1804170038). It also explores broader related issues (see 1804180053).

Electric utilities urged the FCC to craft "light touch" wireless pole-attachment regulation, and to do so separately from wireline pole-attachment issues. "Wireless antenna attachments are fundamentally different than wireline pole attachments, from both an economic and physical perspective, and should be treated differently," said American Electric Power Service and Georgia Power in a filing posted Tuesday on meetings with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Michael O'Rielly (they also discussed the issue in a meeting with Wireline Bureau staffers). The power companies said the FCC "should take a completely different approach with wireless pole attachments" and not simply "convert" wireline rules to wireless antennas. "It should take an approach that moves away from rock-bottom rates and access micromanagement and adopt regulatory policies that encourage cooperation and incentivize innovative deployment solutions," they said, urging "light touch" treatment that encourages negotiated solutions. In a meeting with Office of General Counsel staffers, the utilities said an April 2017 NPRM's proposed revisions to Rule 1.1424 would be unlawful: "the presumption in the proposed revisions ... (i.e. that ILECS are 'similarly situated' with [cable operators] and CLECs with respect to attachments on electric utility poles) would be at odds with the facts. Not only did Congress, in the 1996 [Telecommunications] Act, specifically treat ILECs differently than [cable operators]/CLECs, but the Commission also reached the same conclusion on a full record in 2011." In a meeting with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai, they also made arguments from a previous submission responding to USTelecom filings (see 1804250036).

Wealth likely will be transferred to private companies from the public as a result of the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee's work, Brookings Institution senior fellow Blair Levin said Monday in a speech to a Coalition for Local Internet Choice conference in Austin. “The BDAC and the FCC will likely adopt a framework in which industry gets all the benefits with no obligations and municipalities get all the costs and no guaranteed benefits,” said Levin, who authored the FCC’s 2010 National Broadband Plan. The commission under Chairman Ajit Pai “is the first FCC to interpret its statutory mandate to say it doesn’t have much legal authority or policy rights to regulate broadcasters, telephone companies, cable companies, or wireless companies,” Levin said. “Instead, its principal regulatory mandate is to regulate another set of enterprises: local governments.” The FCC didn’t comment.

The FCC sought comment Tuesday for an upcoming report on the feasibility of allowing wireless operators to use or share 3.7-4.2 GHz. “How should we assess the operations and possible impacts of sharing on Federal and non-Federal users already operating in this band?” the public notice asked. “How might sharing be accomplished, with licensed and/or unlicensed operations, without causing harmful interference to Federal and non-Federal users already operating in this band, and in which parts of the band would such sharing be feasible? What other considerations should the Commission take into account in preparing the 3.7- 4.2 GHz Report?” The band is a top FCC priority and an NPRM is expected this summer (see 1803020042). The report was required by the recently enacted Mobile Now Act. Comments are due May 31, replies June 15. "I have repeatedly called for freeing up this band for commercial purposes and I am pleased to see this important step forward in our process, as it will complement and not delay the Commission’s ongoing work on the matter," said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. The PN is by the Office of Engineering and Technology and the International and Wireless bureaus. Meantime, April's PN on a freeze on new or modifications of fixed satellite service licenses in the band (see 1804200003) needs clarification to clear up any misconceptions that might dissuade registration of earth stations, the American Cable Association said in a docket 18-183 filing posted Tuesday. It said the current wording makes it sound as if registration without an accompanying coordination report provides no benefit to new registrants, and needs to make clear those registrants won't get interference protection from fixed service transmissions by existing licensees. ACA said that and other changes would let it then start "meaningful grass roots efforts" to educate members on registering within the 90-day window ending July 18.

The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee is likely to wrap up initial reports for vote in July, BDAC Chair Elizabeth Bowles told us. “I was pleased with last week’s meeting,” Bowles emailed. “The discussion was both productive and substantive, and all voices were able to be heard and to raise their concerns with the various drafts. The last two Working Groups’ reports were voted out, and we will now be moving on to creating of the final report for phase one of our work.” Other members said much work remains (see 1804300058). Committee chairs and vice chairs haven’t had a follow-up call yet, but BDAC members will likely take the next few weeks to eliminate any minor inconsistencies in the reports approved, said committee member Brent Skorup of the Mercatus Center. “For instance, suppose the state model code says cities must complete a review within X days and the municipal model code says the review must be completed within Y days, that needs to be cleaned up and those tweaks approved.” The rates and fees ad hoc committee “will hopefully collect more data and issue some more analysis,” he said.

Blame the Obama administration for a projected 15.52 percent reduction in USF support for small rural carriers over the next year, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Tuesday. Universal Service Administrative Co. Tuesday announced support calculations for the budget control mechanism for July 2018 and June 2019. “The prior Administration’s budget control mechanism has created constant uncertainty for small, rural carriers, endangering their ability to make long-term investment decisions to bring high-speed broadband to the millions of Americans who still lack it,” Pai said. “That’s why earlier this year we allocated $180 million to such carriers as a stop-gap measure to avert budget cuts for the current funding year. But now small carriers are facing even more severe cuts in the coming year, which will only exacerbate the digital divide in rural America.” It shows importance of a recent NPRM to review the budget control mechanism (see 1803230025), Pai said. “We’re still accepting public input on the Notice, but once that period has ended, I hope my colleagues will support my efforts to take action in the coming months.” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel didn't comment.

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly “violated the Hatch Act” at the American Conservative Union's February Conservative Political Action Conference when he called for the re-election of President Donald Trump, said the U.S. Office of Special Counsel Tuesday. The Project on Government Oversight and American Oversight urged the OSC to investigate (see 1802270035). O'Rielly said during his appearance he was only trying to answer a question about how to prevent further “regulatory ping-ponging.” But “regardless of his explanation,” O'Rielly “advocated for the re-election of President Trump in his official capacity as FCC Commissioner,” OSC Deputy Chief-Hatch Act Unit Erica Hamrick said in a letter to POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian that the group released: O'Rielly "violated the Hatch Act’s prohibition against using his official authority or influence to affect an election. Although OSC has decided to issue a warning letter in this instance, OSC has advised Commissioner O’Rielly that if in the future he engages in prohibited political activity while employed in a position covered by the Hatch Act, we will consider such activity to be a willful and knowing violation of the law, which could result in further action” by OSC. “I appreciate that OSC recognized that the statement in question was part of an off-the-cuff, unrehearsed response to an impromptu question, and that they found this resolution to be the appropriate consequence,” O'Rielly said. “While I am disappointed and disagree that my offhand remark was determined to be a violation, I take their warning letter seriously.” FCC General Counsel Thomas Johnson contended in a letter last month to top House Commerce Committee Democrats that the appearances of O'Rielly, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr at CPAC didn't violate ethics rules (see 1803260040 and 1804230023).