The FCC Consumer Advisory Committee will meet Feb. 26, starting at 9 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room, the FCC said Thursday. "The Committee is expected to consider a recommendation from its Robocalls Working Group regarding call authentication,” said an FCC notice. “The Committee will also receive briefings from Commission staff on issues of interest to the Committee.”

Gone are the days when few firms had more than 20 lawyers, but the communications field is far more inclusive than it once was, veteran communications lawyers said at an FCBA event Wednesday. The anecdote-laden talks involved many career tips from long-time practitioners for new lawyers. Networking is a must-do, said Wiley Rein co-founder Richard Wiley. He was famous for knowing secretaries' names at the FCC, said Diane Cornell, who most recently was special counsel to former Chairman Tom Wheeler. Cornell said reputation is a key lawyer asset that can easily get tarnished. "Don't screw people over," she said. "Don't lie." Former Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said emails and texts largely replaced phone calls and in-face conversations, but prompt replies demanded by etiquette remain. Many talked up mentorships but said older lawyers can learn from younger peers. Talking about changes in overtime, Covington & Burling retired broadcast lawyer Jonathan Blake said when he started in the 1960s, partners filled out time sheets annually, and it was unheard of for law firms based elsewhere to practice in Washington. Discussing how to stay abreast of changing technologies, Abernathy said she made in-house engineers "my best friends." She advised lawyers to set up meetings between the FCC and clients working on noteworthy tech even if there's no advocacy on a proceeding but as a means of making connections. When at the agency, she said, "I loved those kinds of presentations." Blake said lobbying where one takes up more than 60 percent of the conversation is a bad session and there needs to be plenty of question asking. Overreach in lobbying "is the kiss of death," he said.

The transition to 5G will need "fundamental changes" to the FCC's permitting and regulatory structures, including modernization of the local, state and federal regimes that govern infrastructure deployment, Commissioner Brendan Carr told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Telecommunications and E-Commerce Committee Thursday, according to his prepared remarks. The current regulatory regime can't support the tenfold to hundredfold increase in small cells and millions of miles of new fiber that will be necessary, he said. Carr said in coming weeks he will lay out "concrete steps" for making regulatory structures "5G ready." And in a reference to the TV series The Office, Carr jokingly advocated the agency adopt a "Dunder Mifflin Rule" that a regulation that benefits only paper suppliers "is void ab initio."

After “a strange” 2017 for broadcaster mergers and acquisitions, with pent-up demand leading to a burst of activity after the incentive auction was done, that pace looks to continue this year, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast lawyer Howard Liberman in a Digital Policy Institute webinar Thursday. He said small and mid-sized telecommunications company transactions, meanwhile, haven't been nearly as active, perhaps because of regulatory uncertainty under the Trump administration. Liberman said the ATSC 3.0 standard's rollout among broadcasters will likely come over the next two to three years. He said for viewers, it will mean more robust signals in a mobile environment as well as more enhanced features like better audio and multi-camera choices. Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner said the FCC's Title II rollback will likely lead to congressional action that brings back net neutrality rules that aren't "encumbered by heavy Title II regulations." Conversely, privacy rules are "in a holding pattern," though there's broad consensus on the need for "stronger and better" privacy rules. Consumer Policy Solutions President Debra Berlyn said it's a benefit to consumers that privacy rules are back before the FTC, where protections will be universal instead of limited by industries. "We don't want a patchwork of protections," she said. Entner said a key need for 5G implementation is more spectrum, and that, while the FCC is looking at 28, 39 and 60 GHz bands, more also needs to be freed up in the lower bands. The agency also needs work toward standardized rules to help with siting of new cell sites and acceleration of how quickly sites can be made operational, Entner said. He said consumers will be inundated with 5G marketing and messaging this year, with the first implementations coming by year’s end. He said consumer confusion will be inevitable because of the varied applications of 5G.

On the anniversary of his assuming the role of FCC chairman, Ajit Pai Wednesday released seven pages containing 70 bullet-points he said was a summary of his first-year accomplishments. They included passing Communications Act Title II net neutrality rollback; setting key rules for the Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auction; approving U.S. market access requests for broadband satellite operators OneWeb, Space Norway and Telesat; adopting robocall rules; and assessing firsthand, damage caused by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

The Supreme Court extended a filing deadline to March 5 for net neutrality litigants, according to the court's docket webpage for Daniel Berninger, et al. v. FCC, No. 17-498, and combined cases. After three previous extensions, the DOJ solicitor general Friday requested that a Feb. 2 deadline for responding to cert petitions be extended to March 5, and the court did so Tuesday for all respondents. Berninger and others asked the high court to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's affirmation of the previous commission's 2015 Title II net neutrality order. Some doubt justices will agree to review the case on the merits because they believe it has become moot under the current rollback of Title II net neutrality regulation (see 1801080036).

E-rate school and library USF support has done much, but more efforts are needed, said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel at an E-Rate event Wednesday. She praised Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and former Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., for spearheading the 1996 legislation that authorized the program's creation 20 years ago. "Connecting our schools and libraries is not enough. Because preparing the next generation for digital success now requires connections not just at school -- but at home," she said according to written remarks. "More can be done to address the Homework Gap. Carriers across the country are pitching in by making available low-cost broadband service. Libraries everywhere from Maine to Missouri are loaning out wireless hot spots -- and letting students borrow connectivity for schoolwork. Rural school districts are putting Wi-Fi on buses and turning ride time into connected time for homework. Communities are mapping out where free online access is available for student use. These efforts deserve applause. More importantly, they deserve expansion."

AT&T's proposal for Congress to pursue an “Internet Bill of Rights” on net neutrality that “applies to all internet companies” drew swift condemnation Wednesday from the Internet Association and praise from several communications sector groups. “End the debate once and for all, by writing new laws that govern the internet and protect consumers,” said AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson in an open letter. “Legislation would not only ensure consumers’ rights are protected, but it would provide consistent rules of the road for all internet companies across all websites, content, devices and applications. In the very near future, technological advances like self-driving cars, remote surgery and augmented reality will demand even greater performance from the internet. Without predictable rules for how the internet works, it will be difficult to meet the demands of these new technology advances.” AT&T is running such advertisements. “It is impossible to believe that AT&T is serious when they have such a long track record opposing consumer protections like net neutrality,” an IA spokesman emailed. “IA and our members support” planned Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval aimed at undoing the FCC's order to rescind its 2015 net neutrality rules and that has support of all 49 Democratic senators and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. “We support strong, enforceable net neutrality rules, which were consumer protections on the books until AT&T and their allies had their way” via the FCC rescission order, the IA spokesman said. USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter lauded AT&T's proposal “and encourage[d] our Congressional leaders to work together to enshrine net neutrality principles into law.” The Internet Innovation Alliance said it has “long advocated for Congressional legislation that would make permanent the core principles of an open Internet. Only Congress can craft a unified regulatory framework that would apply to all entities in the Internet ecosystem and provide the nation’s consumers and businesses with the online protections they deserve.”

Calls to update U.S. competition policy aren’t grounded in sound economic analysis, said speakers at a Heritage Foundation event Tuesday examining Trump administration antitrust policies. “A lot of substance has been happening on antitrust in the Trump administration,” said Jeffrey Eisenach, an American Enterprise Institute visiting scholar who helped lead the transition to the Trump-era FCC. The “populist energy” around antitrust isn’t new, it’s just moving locations -- away from the FCC and to the FTC, Eisenach said: “Welcome to net neutrality.” Eisenach praised FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s commitment to providing more robust economic analysis at the commission, which he said will complement the FTC’s ongoing work in examining competition. The FTC has several major matters that could go to litigation within the next few months, said Bruce Hoffman, Competition Bureau acting director. “The volume of information coming into the FTC is huge, and the sophistication of information has grown,” Hoffman said, rejecting arguments (see 1712010027) there's growing industry consolidation that requires a revamp of antitrust laws: “The system has a lot of safeguards.” A "lot of what is going on is the effort to protect labor,” said William Blumenthal of Sidley Austin and former FTC general counsel. “What seems to get lost is that the interests of labor and interests of consumers are at odds.” A transaction may lead to lower prices, which helps consumers, but harms those whose jobs are lost, he said, suggesting that policymakers balance both interests.

An FCC draft NPRM seeks comment on the jurisdictional separations proposals of a federal-state joint board, an agency spokesman told us Tuesday. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, joint board chairman, has voted the item, which circulated last week, an aide said. The joint board in October recommended largely "ministerial" tweaks to Part 36 separations rules for allocating costs between the federal and state jurisdictions (see 1710270059). It responded to a commission request to make the rules consistent with the agency's new Part 32 telco accounting rules (see 1704250018 and 1702230051).