New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and 11 other local officials signed a Free Press pledge that they will do business only with ISPs that follow net neutrality principles like those rescinded by the FCC in December. Other signatures included mayors from Austin, Baltimore, San Francisco and Putnam, Connecticut. Free Press urged other mayors to join. The FCC declined comment.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is back from a four-day visit to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, a spokeswoman confirmed Monday. Pai viewed hurricane damage and recovery efforts (see 1803070054, 1803080048 and 1803090062), and explained his plan to provide USF support for telecom networks (see 1803060039). Pai retweeted (here) FCC tweets on his meetings and visits with officials and people in the Virgin Islands Friday and Saturday. U.S. Virgin Island government officials, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Homeland Security "and unified telecommunications industry leaders met for two hours and recounted the impacts to the U.S. Virgin Islands infrastructure from the two ... CAT 5 hurricanes, focusing on communications and how government, industry, the private sector and other organizations all worked together to deal with the crisis," emailed U.S. Virgin Islands Public Service Commissioner Johann Clendenin. "From impacts, to response and recovery, the participants related their stories, sharing personal perspectives of the challenges, successes, work arounds, important lessons learned and recommendations for the FCC to shorten recovery and increase infrastructure resiliency in the future." Members of a Hurricane Integrated Telecommunications Team discussed various recommendations with Pai, including "the need for overall unified Telecommunications jurisdiction during Disaster response by States and Territories," which can "support relief ... hot spots, roaming, infrastructure support, debris removal, permits, equipment -- cranes, dozers, etc.," he said.

President Donald Trump issued an order barring Broadcom’s takeover bid for Qualcomm in response to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ finding last week that “China would likely compete robustly to fill any void left by Qualcomm [in 5G development] as a result of this hostile takeover.” Trump invoked the 1950 Defense Production Act, saying “there is credible evidence that leads me to believe” Broadcom “might take action that threatens to impair the national security” of the U.S., Trump said Monday night in the order. The takeover bid is “prohibited” and Broadcom and Qualcomm must “certify in writing [to CFIUS] that such termination has been effected,” Trump said. Qualcomm has been fighting the bid (see 1802050042, 1802160041 and 1802220057). Broadcom CEO Hock Tan took his fight over the deal to Capitol Hill last week after CFIUS released its determination, telling top lawmakers the company is “committed to making the United States the global leader in 5G” (see 1803090061). Broadcom and Qualcomm didn't immediately comment.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was on his way to the U.S. Virgin Islands Friday after finishing his trip to Puerto Rico (see 1803070054 and 1803080048). "Leaving #PuertoRico grateful to the countless people in the public and private sectors who are doing their best to bring back communications services. @FCC stands ready to work with them in Uniendo a Puerto Rico ! Now on to the U.S. Virgin Islands," he tweeted. Pai was on a four-day swing through the islands to survey hurricane damage and recovery efforts and to explain his plan to send additional USF support to providers for telecom network restoration and improvement efforts (see 1803060039). He was scheduled to conclude the trip Saturday.

A federal court set oral arguments for May to consider two FCC cases. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit May 7 will hear Sorenson Communications and Video Relay Services Consumer Association challenges to the commission's 2017 video relay services rate order, said a Friday court order (in Pacer) in Sorenson v. FCC (No. 17-1198) (see 1802200021). The court May 17 will hear PMCM TV's petition seeking restoration of a channel originally assigned to its WJLP Middletown Township, New Jersey, said another order (in Pacer) in PMCM TV v. FCC (No. 17-1209) (see 1803050038).

There were 2.75 billion U.S. robocalls in February, a 24 percent increase over last February, YouMail said Thursday. That's an average of 98.1 million per day, setting a daily record based on index data starting in 2015. Atlanta topped the list of robocalled cities for the 27th straight month, with residents receiving 119.5 million robocalls. Chicago displaced Dallas as the city generating the most robocalls with 95.3 million, while "614" in Columbus, Ohio, was the most prolific robocall generator among area codes. YouMail is "warning folks to download a robocall blocker and to not pick up any calls from numbers they do not recognize, and instead allow them to go directly into voicemail," said CEO Alex Quilici. An FCC alert warned of "'neighbor spoofing' scams where thieves manipulate caller ID information in ways that make calls appear to have been placed locally" even if they came from elsewhere, including overseas. Scammers use spoofing to increase the odds a consumer will pick up the phone and trust the caller, the agency said. It offered consumer tips and noted FCC enforcement and policy efforts to combat "illegal robocalling and malicious spoofing."

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai viewed hurricane damage and recovery efforts in Puerto Rico Thursday, a day after consulting with the island's leadership and outlining his proposal to help the commonwealth and the U.S. Virgin Islands (see 1803070054 and 1803060039). On day two of his four-day visit to the islands, Pai had "informative visits in Utuado," a county "hard-hit" by Hurricane Maria with some parts that "still lack connectivity and basic infrastructure. Much work to do," he tweeted. That was one of his many tweets and retweets (here) of his site visits and meetings with Puerto Rican officials, including Gov. Ricardo Rossello (New Progressive Party). At a news conference Wednesday, Pai discussed his plan to provide $954 million in USF support for telecom networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, including $256 million in new funding and other "repurposed" funding. The aim would be to give short-term funding to providers to restore networks and longer-term funding "to improve them and hopefully harden them in the case of future disasters," he said. "We want to be able to make the business case as easy as possible, in this case by providing additional federal funding, an increase over what Puerto Rico would have gotten in the absence of the plan." He said his plan's "lead proposal" is to invite companies to submit competitive proposals for a geographic area, with Puerto Rico's 78 or so "municipios" the suggested unit for the commonwealth. "Let's figure out which [proposal] gets us the biggest bang for the buck," he said, noting other alternatives included a subsidy auction. Funding recipients would have to use the money for its intended purpose and meet buildout and reporting requirements, he said. Rossello said his government is taking actions to speed and streamline the permitting process for telecom construction and other efforts. Pai met with broadcasters during his trip to Puerto Rico, an FCC spokeswoman said. Broadcasters aren’t eligible for new USF money targeting carriers affected by the storm but still need assistance, said International Broadcasting Corp. Legal Adviser Jean Paul Vissepo in an interview. Broadcasters need funds to repair damaged stations and equipment, but Puerto Rico’s damaged economy is also affecting them, he said.

MuckRock released emails it obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request to the FCC on Chairman Ajit Pai’s decision not to attend CES in January (see 1801100027). Included is a Dec. 29 email from Julie Kearney, CTA vice president-regulatory affairs, to Pai aides asking about rumors Pai wouldn’t attend in person a Jan. 9 on-stage interview with CTA President Gary Shapiro. “We’re hearing from 3rd party sources that the Chairman is planning to do his Tuesday one-on-one session with Gary remotely,” Kearney wrote. “This seems like strange info. since we haven’t talked about it, so I’m just letting you know. I assume that we are all systems GO for CES.” Kearney reassured the Pai aides: “We have a very tight security plan for the room and the area (and for all of CES), so I hope that provides comfort.” Also included is a Jan. 3 email from Kearney to Pai's Chief of Staff Matthew Berry expressing disappointment that Pai canceled and alerting Berry that CTA planned to put out a news release that afternoon announcing Pai's withdrawal from the show. "Gary feels that we need to issue a short release" because many CES attendees "are expecting" Pai's "presence" at the show, said Kearney. She promised CTA would answer any media inquiries about the release with a "no comment." Days later, Shapiro told a C-SPAN interviewer on the CES show floor that Pai withdrew because his children got death threats over the FCC's December vote to roll back 2015 net neutrality rules (see 1801260018). We “totally understand and appreciate all you and the team have done over the past several days on many fronts,” Kearney wrote Berry in her Jan. 3 email. The FOIA materials released also included a Dec. 18 email that Kearney sent FCC staff with draft questions Shapiro planned to ask Pai during their Jan. 9 one-on-one in Las Vegas. Among the topics were net neutrality, efforts to cut regulation and Pai’s digital empowerment agenda. The FCC and CTA didn't comment.

Challengers to the FCC net neutrality repeal order remained quiet on plans immediately after a court lottery Thursday chose the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case. Representatives of several of the parties that filed petitions for review in the D.C. Circuit declined to comment or didn't respond to our queries about whether they will seek to have the case transferred to the D.C. Circuit. After the FCC notified the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation there were 10 timely petitions in the D.C. Circuit and two in the 9th Circuit, a panel order said the 9th Circuit was "randomly selected" to review the consolidated case (see 1803080055). The two in the 9th Circuit were filed by the California Public Utilities Commission and Santa Clara County, California. The litigation timetable will likely depend on which circuit hears the case, said Markham Erickson, a Steptoe & Johnson attorney, speaking at an Incompas conference Feb. 7 (see 1802070037). The D.C. Circuit generally can decide cases within a year, but the 9th Circuit could take up to a couple of years, he suggested. Erickson is representing Mozilla in the net neutrality litigation and also represents Incompas.

The FCC's daily roundup of actions returned to its regular email schedule Wednesday. The Daily Digest resumed being emailed the same day of publication, after a hiatus since Friday (see 1803060035), users told us. "It appears to be fixed and functioning as usual," said an FCC spokesman. Also received Wednesday was Tuesday's issue. That earlier issue said at the start that "Yesterday's Daily Digest was not received by all recipients. While it was posted online, we wanted to share it today now that the technical problems in the email list appear to have been fixed." The digest throughout the period remained accessible at www.fcc.gov/proceedings-actions/daily-digest, with the current day's version here.