Neustar knocked the latest local number portability administrator transition status report of North American Portability Management and its transition oversight manager (TOM), PwC (see 1801020042). The "report once again fails to inform stakeholders of key elements of transition readiness and the potential for what is now imminent consumer service disruption," said a letter filed Wednesday in FCC docket 09-109 by Neustar, which is handing off LNPA functions to iconectiv (Telcordia). Neustar expressed "concerns over (1) development and testing delays with iconectiv’s Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) and the lack of transparency surrounding this issue, and (2) the lack of an agreed-upon, viable contingency rollback that will restore NPAC service with Neustar’s platform or personnel should the new system fail." Due to the TOM’s "failure to establish a viable contingency rollback plan, there is no path back to a stable platform for consumers in the affected states if rollout does not go as planned," Neustar said: "The TOM’s long lack of transparency in communicating with the public calls into question the veracity and completeness of the current and most recent reports. ... [C]onsidering the growing list of stark discrepancies between industry best practices (as well as early iconectiv commitments) and the current reality, it is apparent that the impending launch of a newly-developed NPAC platform presents significant risks that are not being acknowledged." Neustar said only three months of industry testing were allocated for a new iconectiv system after an original plan called for a year. It said that in conjunction with NAPM's schedule, it's terminating all aspects of its NPAC service in the Southeast region on April 8 as iconectiv launches its platform, "and there will be no means to restore NPAC service with Neustar's platform or personnel." NAPM didn't comment (transition page here).

Parties petitioning the Supreme Court to undo the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's overturn of the FCC's junk fax rule would enjoy "limited practical consequences" from a decision in their favor, the agency told the high court in a docket 17-351 filing Tuesday. That day was the deadline for responses to the petition for writ of certiorari. The FCC said the 2017 appellate court decision (see 1703310018) leaves open the possibility the agency could put forward the same junk fax rule under a different area of statutory authority. The FCC also said there's no merit to the petitioners' argument that there's a circuit court conflict over how to apply Chevron court deference to administrative actions in cases where Congress hasn't explicitly given power to or withheld it from an agency. In a separate brief in opposition, a group of private respondents -- primarily healthcare businesses -- said the appellate court made "a straightforward statutory-interpretation decision" and review of its decision wouldn't offer real benefit to the FCC or public since the agency hasn't suggested regulating faxed communications is high on its agenda. The private respondents said the petitioners -- who want to revive the junk fax rule to pursue Telephone Consumer Protection Act statutory damages against the respondents -- likely wouldn't benefit anyway since the FCC waived retrospective application of its rule. Counsel for the petitioners didn't comment Wednesday.

Consumer groups said the FCC shouldn't trigger a court lottery, to determine the venue for hearing challenges to the agency's recent net neutrality repeal, based on protective petitions the groups (and others) filed Tuesday in different federal circuits (see 1801160055). Free Press, New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge urged the commission "not to forward these petitions or any other premature petitions it receives, to the Multidistrict Litigation ('MDL') panel for inclusion in the lottery until ten days after Federal Register publication," said a letter, released Wednesday, their counsel wrote the agency. They recognized the FCC specified the judicial review timetable wouldn't begin until Federal Register publication of a summary of the commission's ruling and orders undoing net neutrality regulation, but they said premature petitions could still be filed. "We thus have filed the petitions in an abundance of caution to protect our rights," said their letter. OTI, Public Knowledge, state attorneys general and Mozilla filed petitions for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Free Press filed a petition in the 1st Circuit. Santa Clara County, California, filed a petition in the 9th Circuit. Various parties told us they weren't aware of any other petitions but said the FCC was in the best position to know, since petitioners are supposed to notify the agency. The agency didn't comment. Mozilla counsel Markham Erickson of Steptoe & Johnson said the FCC's path for dealing with the initial petitions should be clear soon: “I expect to know within days whether the FCC certifies the petitions to the multidistrict lottery.” An agency spokesman confirmed that FR publication of the item summary, not the effective date, will start the period for filing petitions for review in court and petitions for reconsideration at the commission, but declined comment on timing.

Intelsat and Intel are continuing to press for an NPRM that would that would open parts of the C-band to terrestrial 5G operations, said an FCC docket 17-183 ex parte filing posted Tuesday on a meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. The companies have talked with an array of commissioners about the proposal (see 1801090043).

Calendar and other corrections: The date of an FCBA Mass Media and Video Programming and Distribution committees brown bag lunch with the FCC's eighth-floor media aides is Feb. 13 ... The date of an FCBA CLE on 5G is Feb. 21. See also https://communicationsdaily.com/calendar?y=2018&m=2 ... Networks have until 30 days after the nonbroadcast network ranking public notice is published in the Federal Register to seek an exemption from the FCC’s ranking and video description requirements (see 1801120024).

New York City needs to be able to attach images to wireless emergency alerts it sends to the public, said Police Commissioner James O’Neill in a letter posted Tuesday by the FCC in docket 15-91. O’Neil noted that in September 2016 when the New York Police Department got a photo of Ahmad Rahimi, later convicted of guilty of eight federal charges Monday in connection with a September 2016 bombing in Chelsea, it had to send out an alert advising the public to check the media for the image. “We cannot continue rely on the public taking this extra step,” he said. Microsoft said additional WEA requirements could have some effect on how smartphones operate. “Microsoft has not performed device testing but expects that the addition of an additional data page to a wireless emergency alert to accommodate polygon geocoordinates should impose a minimal impact on device performance and message delivery latency,” the company filed. “The potential for increased alert delivery latency or device performance degradation (specifically, battery drain) would be more likely to occur with a significantly greater number of polygon coordinates, due to the increased magnitude of calculations that the operating system would be required to perform.” Commissioners are scheduled to vote a draft order Jan. 30 (see 1801090050).

Tech innovations on display at CES in Las Vegas last week highlight issues that need addressing, including the future of net neutrality and how to increase diversity among candidates for jobs in tech and related sectors, said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., in a Friday opinion piece in the Las Vegas Sun. Commissioners' December vote to rescind 2015 net neutrality rules is “troubling” because “while we don’t know what the next game-changing inventions will be, you can bet they involve the internet,” they said. “It’s important to ensure that connecting to our online world remains open and fair to everyone who creates and consumes online. The fight for this openness is not over” given upcoming legal challenges and a planned Congressional Review Act resolution to undo the repeal order, the Democrats said. Increasing diversity in the science, tech, engineering and math workforce is important because women hold “only 24 percent of the jobs in STEM fields,” Cortez Masto and Rosenworcel wrote: “This math needs to change,” in part via legislation and using “clubs, classes and apprenticeships to build a more diverse STEM pipeline.” The Democrats also noted an ongoing commitment to closing the “digital divide,” with “too many of our students ... falling” onto the wrong side at “a moment when digital skills are essential for future success.”

The National Retail Federation hailed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Friday to take up a South Dakota case on whether online sellers can be required to collect sales tax the same as local stores. “Antiquated sales tax collection rules have resulted in an uneven playing field that’s making it harder for Main Street retailers to compete in today’s digital economy,” said NRF President Matthew Shay. “This is a basic question about fairness, which all of our members deserve whether they’re selling in stores or online.” NRF also backs federal legislation to allow states to require out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax and to resolve details on how collection would take place rather than leaving it to each of the states to interpret how to do so, said Shay. At issue in the case, South Dakota v. Wayfair (docket 17-494), is whether the Supreme Court should repeal its 1992 decision that sales tax laws were too complicated for retailers to know how much tax to collect unless they were physically present in the customer’s state. NRF argued in a Nov. 1 amicus brief that modern computer software renders those concerns obsolete. Online merchants' groups, including the American Catalog Mailers Association, counter that the state sales tax landscape remains overly burdensome and that the states have offered no meaningful alternative to the physical-presence requirement. South Dakota has no state income tax and relies on retail taxes for much of its revenue, it argued in an Oct. 2 writ of certiorari petition. The state’s “low-density, rural population has a particularly strong incentive to take advantage of tax-free sales from internet retailers, who now quickly deliver everything from major appliances to everyday necessities throughout the country,” it said. The National Conference of State Legislatures also hailed the decision to hear the case, saying it has “long supported marketplace fairness as states are losing tens of billions of dollars per year in uncollected sales taxes.”

Comments are due Jan. 24, replies Feb. 23 on an FCC Lifeline NPRM and notice of inquiry on proposed and possible changes to the low-income subsidy program, said a notice to be published in the Federal Register Tuesday. The NPRM, NOI and an order were adopted 3-2 by commissioners Nov. 16 and released Dec. 1 (see 1711160021 and 1712010042). Under a separate rule to be published in the FR Tuesday, the Lifeline order will take effect Feb. 15, with some exceptions: Section 54.411 changes -- scrapping "port freezes" that locked Lifeline broadband and voice customers into provider services -- will take effect March 19; information-collection requirements won't take effect until after approved by the Office of Management and Budget. (See here for FR information on deadlines for January items.) An FCC robocalling order adopted Nov. 16 (see 1711160054) will take effect Feb. 12, said a rule published by the FR Friday.

The court case slowing planning for the FCC’s move to a new headquarters was dismissed from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit at the request of all parties, said a court order (in Pacer). The government, developer Trammell Crow and FCC landlord Parcel 49C sought dismissal (see 1801080050) after it became clear that Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., another federal entity, will replace the FCC in the Portals building. Parcel 49C, Trammell Crow and the commission didn’t comment on the status of the planned move.