FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn suggested a rural "health safety net" to help address obesity, a shortage of primary care physicians and other problems in communities lacking robust communications access. "Almost half of U.S. counties are 'double burden' counties, where there are elevated levels of chronic disease, and low levels of broadband connectivity," she said in prepared remarks Thursday to the National Rural Health Association. "Rural counties are 10 times as likely as urban areas to be low broadband, high diabetes areas. ... Perhaps it’s time for us to evolve our thinking, grow our vision, and create a 'health safety net,' for rural America. Instead of accepting the facts as they stand today, should we shake our heads and concede that some people will always fall through the cracks? Let’s aim higher, by intentionally meeting the health needs of every single American, regardless of where they live, and let’s leverage broadband technology to do so. While connectivity may not resolve every single health challenge, it certainly has the capacity to solve most of them." The FCC is focused on rural broadband deployment through targeted subsidies, removing deployment barriers and promoting competition, she said.

Telecom players backed FCC efforts to ensure the transition from Neustar to iconectiv as local number portability administrator is completed on time without disruptions. They also sided with the manual contingency plan of North American Portability Management and its transition oversight manager (TOM) over Neustar's call for an automated solution (see 1801290046). With an April 8 regional system cutover nearing, telecom carriers and groups cited the importance of the plan to roll back LNPA functions to Neustar "in the unlikely event" that the initial handoff to iconectiv fails. Discussions between the key players broke down "despite the availability of a well-thought contingency roll back plan initially developed by the TOM and iconectiv, with participation and input provided by Neustar, and ultimately accepted by the NAPM," said a filing Tuesday in docket 09-109 by USTelecom, CTIA, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, CenturyLink, AT&T, Frontier Communications and Consolidated Communications on a discussion Friday with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. They said NAPM, after consulting with stakeholders, decided on a process that was consistent with industry practices, created efficiencies and aligned with the transition timeline. "The TOM facilitated at least five industry meetings, in which it was decided that a manual, rather than automated, contingency roll back process would be the most reasonable approach," said the parties. But noting recent public comments and filings suggesting the transition is at risk (see 1801250037), they asked the FCC to encourage the parties "to resolve this issue in a way that maintains" the timeline, and "to focus on the task at hand and avoid any rhetorical exchanges that undermine confidence in the LNPA transition." Pai Friday sent a letter to NAPM, the TOM, Neustar and iconectiv demanding they report back on a solution by Feb. 16 (see 1802020070). NAPM backed Telcordia (iconectiv) opposition to Neustar's request the FCC remove confidentiality protections from Article 19 of a "Master Services Agreement" covering iconectiv as the new LNPA (see 1801310042).

CTA, groups representing drone makers and users and aviation industry associations asked the FAA to investigate a video that shows an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) flying directly above an airliner making its final approach at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. A video hit the internet Friday. “This careless and reckless behavior endangers the safety of our airspace for all users,” said Monday's letter to acting Administrator Daniel Elwell, included in an email blast the next day. “We urge the FAA to use its full authority to investigate, identify, and apprehend the operator of this UAS flight and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. We also encourage the FAA to work with law enforcement in Las Vegas and Nevada to pursue all applicable charges within their authority.” The agency said it's investigating. “Although details are still emerging about the nature of the operations, it seems certain that the stunt violated FAA regulations,” blogged Wiley lawyers Sara Baxenberg and Josh Turner. “The only questions appear to be which ones, and how many?”

The Senate approved the House-passed version of the Kari's Law Act (HR-582) Monday by unanimous consent. The bill, which the House unanimously passed in early 2017, addresses direct 911 dialing. The House previously passed the bill in 2016 (see 1605240057). The Senate also approved its version (S-123) in August as part of a deal to confirm Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr as FCC commissioners (see 1708030060). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai lauded Senate passage, saying the bill “will help ensure that every call to 911 directly connects those in need with those who can help.”

The FCC should extend Comcast/NBCUniversal conditions or impose new ones that reflect the current market, or at least strengthen program access rules, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., co-wrote Monday on Bloomberg's website. They said DOJ should investigate anticompetitive threats posed by Comcast/NBCU. Justice and the FCC didn't comment. Clyburn and Blumenthal said Comcast has a history of violating conditions of its NBCU approval, noting the company was forced to extend its unbundled broadband offering to a fourth year and criticisms over cable channel placement of competitor Bloomberg (see 1206280043). Comcast said the FCC conditions expired and there's "no credible basis" for extending or modifying the consent decree or conditions. "For seven years during a time of rapid change in the video and broadband markets, Comcast met or exceeded all of the commitments and obligations under the deal," it said, saying none of its six annual reports to the FCC detailing its compliance track record was ever challenged or objected to. Clyburn has criticized the end of conditions on the deal (see 1801220030).

Department of Transportation officials are working to “determine what went so horribly wrong” in two separate Amtrak crashes last week “and they'll identify what needs to be done to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told pool reporters Monday. Three people died in the two crashes -- one in Crozet, Virginia, of a train carrying dozens of Capitol Hill Republican lawmakers to their retreat in West Virginia (see 1801310046), and a second incident early Sunday when a Miami-bound Amtrak train crashed south of Columbia, South Carolina. National Safety Transportation Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said Sunday that positive train control “could have avoided” the South Carolina crash, in which the Amtrak train hit an idling CSX train. An Amtrak engineer and conductor died in that incident. The House Transportation Committee’s Railroads Subcommittee is planning a Feb. 15 hearing on PTC implementation that will include Amtrak, Federal Railroad Administration, NTSB and industry officials.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Monday he plans to convene a group of experts this week to discuss the problem of contraband cellphones in correctional facilities. Industry officials said the meeting is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at the FCC. Pai has expressed concerns about the danger of contraband devices since before he became chairman, including at a 2016 public hearing in Columbia, South Carolina (see 1604060058). In January, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, NTIA and the FCC cooperated on a test of micro-jamming technology at a federal prison in Maryland (see 1801180054). “The most important participants in this fight will be wireless carriers,” Pai said in an opinion piece in a Charleston, South Carolina, newspaper. “They have largely remained on the sidelines. This has to change. So I have challenged each wireless carrier to join me and federal, state, and local officials as a full partner to help develop effective and affordable ways to address this problem.” CTIA and "members recognize the very real threat that contraband devices pose in correctional facilities across the nation, and we appreciate the commitment of all stakeholders to identify and implement lawful solutions,” a spokesman said. Meanwhile, T-Mobile filed a report at the FCC, by Roberson and Associates, on potential problems posed by jamming cellphone signals in correctional facilities. The paper said a managed access system (MAS) costs less to deploy and operate in larger prisons, while a jammer is cheaper in smaller institutions, T-Mobile said. “The study also details a number of detrimental impacts of a jammer solution compared to an MAS solution, such as blocking legitimate use of wireless devices, including use for E911 and FirstNet, jamming other important uses, including GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and creating a significant potential for interference with use of wireless devices by the general public in surrounding areas,” T-Mobile said in a filing in docket 13-111.

The FCC 3-2 cited broadband "progress" in keeping a 25/3 Mbps fixed benchmark and said mobile isn't a full substitute, in Friday's report under a Telecom Act Section 706 mandate, following through on Chairman Ajit Pai's draft (see 1801180053 and 1802020058). The report, also backed by Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Brendan Carr, concluded the agency is encouraging "reasonable and timely" broadband-like advanced telecom capability deployment. ATC improvement "slowed dramatically in the wake of a 2015 net neutrality order, the report said: fixed broadband was newly deployed to 13.5 million 2015-16, down 55 percent from 2013-14; and mobile LTE broadband went to 5.8 million more people in 2015-16, down 83 percent. But Republicans said the FCC was promoting ATC gains. Fixed 25/3 Mbps reached 95.6 percent of Americans and mobile 5/1 Mbps reached 99.6 percent by year-end 2016, said the report (appendices, here and here, on county breakdowns); and the current FCC reduced "regulatory barriers" to infrastructure deployment, created a Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee to assist efforts, repealed "heavy-handed" Title II (Communications Act) broadband regulations and took other steps. The Democrats said too many Americans lack adequate fixed or mobile broadband for a positive finding. Republicans partially acknowledged the point. "While we are now headed in the right direction, we have much to do," Pai said. "Far too many Americans still lack access." The FCC should "shoot for the moon," said Carr, urging continued streamlining of wireless and wireline deployment rules, freeing up spectrum for consumer use, and creating incentives to spur edge and network innovation. O'Rielly disagreed with FCC refusal to acknowledge wireless broadband as a substitute for wireline service, or set a wireless speed benchmark, but said a "plethora of data" backed a positive finding.

The Supreme Court will decide Feb. 16 whether to hear appeal of U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturn of the FCC junk fax rule. The high court said Wednesday it distributed briefs in docket 17-351 for the Feb. 16 conference. The FCC and a group of private respondents argued against the court taking up the appeal (see 1801170002). The petitioners last week said the D.C. Circuit decision (see 1703310018) was "radical" in its reasoning that Congress' silence on a regulatory issue -- such as whether the FCC can regulate opt-out notices on solicited fax ads -- shows intent to prohibit regulation of that issue. Petitioners argued that the agency's issuing waivers to the private respondents is a side issue since those waivers shouldn't survive judicial scrutiny.

The trend of longer DOJ and FTC transaction reviews can be reversed by sometimes deferring Hart-Scott-Rodino notification filing to use that time to better work out arguments why the deal poses no harm to consumers, said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Barry Nigro Friday at the annual Antitrust Law Leaders Forum, according to his prepared remarks. After that, quickly give strong arguments for why a fuller investigation isn't merited, he said: "A high level white paper re-hashing the rationale for the deal and the reasons not to worry often won’t cut it." Instead, within days of the HSR filing, provide names and phone numbers of major customers, big data for key transactions, areas of product overlap, internal analyses of competitors in areas of product overlap, business and strategic plans for overlap areas and analyses of the proposed transaction done internally or by consultants. Very few deals raise competitive red flags, with the DOJ Antitrust Division in 2017 opening investigations in 2.7 percent of proposed transactions and issuing second requests in 1.6 percent, he said.