The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said the FCC should clarify its limited role in a follow-up order on a narrow aspect of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act -- providing an exception for companies hired by the federal government to collect funds that are owed the government (see 1605090037). Congress provided a special exemption for federal debt collectors in last year’s budget deal, the Bipartisan Budget Act, and the FCC is drawing up rules. The CFPB said it has broad authority to oversee debt collection. The FCC NPRM “appropriately does not suggest in any way that Section 301 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 was intended to weaken consumer financial protections under the Bureau’s authority or to limit the Bureau’s exercise of its authority,” the CFPB commented. “It would provide greater certainty to many stakeholders if the FCC in connection with this rulemaking were to state expressly its understanding that Section 301 affects the TCPA and its implementing regulations but does not affect other laws, including specifically those for which the Bureau has responsibility.” The CFPB is the independent federal agency responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector, created in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, which was approved in the wake of the near collapse of parts of the financial sector in 2007-2008.

Restricting future fixed satellite service (FSS) earth stations operating in the 28 GHz band to predetermined locations would hurt satellite-provided broadband services, broadband satellite operators said in a filing Monday in docket 14-177. The filers -- EchoStar, Inmarsat, Lockheed Martin, O3b, OneWeb, SES and ViaSat -- said there's little basis for thinking collocation of 28 GHz FSS earth stations would be practical with terrestrial antennas. They said that earth stations and terrestrial antennas point in different directions, making vertical collocation impossible. They said FSS earth stations are far less dense than terrestrial transmitters, meaning there's little business incentive for third-party site developers that take care of terrestrial transmitter issues like real estate or pole attachment rights and infrastructure build out. They also said grouping FSS earth stations in limited locations per upper microwave flexible use (UMFU) license area would require power flux-density limits at each collocation site, and putting those on retroactively would require operational and physical modifications to the earth station operations and would end up limiting FSS deployment to one 28 Hz band antenna per earth station location, defeating the purpose of setting up a single location for deployment of multiple 28 GHz band antennas. The satellite companies said different site infrastructure and site size needs would make the idea of clustering multiple FSS earth station licensees in particular spots unworkable. They also said UMFU deployment "would be unlikely at best," particularly in low population density areas, and FSS operators should be allowed to choose where to put earth stations based on system design and technical characteristics, to modify and add transmitters to those earth stations on a co-primary basis and to deploy those facilities on a five-year basis after licensing. In a separate ex parte filing Friday in the docket, O3b recapped meetings of CEO Steve Collar and Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Suzanne Malloy with Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai, along with Chairman Tom Wheeler's front-line staff, to discuss FSS sharing in the 28 GHz band. O3b said exclusive geographic licenses are inappropriate for the 28 GHz band, and sharing with terrestrial use is feasible since FSS needs small areas for earth station uplinks, and terrestrial use "will also be confined to relatively small geographic areas." O3b also said it needs "reasonable access" to build new earth stations beyond one site per county, but at customer premises. It said its satellites need protection from terrestrial uplink interference, and the threshold when aggregate terrestrial emissions would cause interference is now a question mark, so the FCC needs to act to ensure emissions are below that threshold and can be reduced if the threshold is passed. O3b urged the agency to push for industry consensus on FSS/UMFU sharing and "not rush to adopt technical sharing parameters that do not have broad consensus among UMFU proponents and satellite operators."

The push for opportunistic public access of channel 14's licensed and unlicensed portions -- as has been advocated by Public Knowledge and New America's Open Technology Institute (see 1603250042) and by the Wireless ISP Association (WISPA) (see 1606100048) -- is apparently motivated by the belief two wrongs make a right, commented Wireless Communications Association International (WCAI) Monday in docket 13-213. WCAI said Globalstar's terrestrial low-power service plans in channel 14 pose a big interference threat to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, educational broadband service (EBS) and broadband radio service (BRS) spectrum. PK, OTI and WISPA don't try to address the evidence of interference, WCAI said. "Their position, in effect, is that if Globalstar can cause interference, Wi-Fi users should be allowed to, too." WCAI said if the FCC let anyone other than Globalstar use the 2483.5-2495 MHz band, that decision would have to be vacated since that "was neither proposed nor a logical outgrowth of anything that was proposed" in the Globalstar NPRM. Beyond that, WCAI said, the opportunistic access proposal "is, at best, half-baked," since details on how access would work and how it would be controlled to protect EBS and BRS aren't addressed. Any unlicensed use in the band must come after a public notice and opportunity to comment, WCAI said. PK, OTI and WISPA didn't comment Monday. In an ex parte filing Monday, WISPA recapped a meeting with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel aide Johanna Thomas, saying it opposes the draft Globalstar order on circulation because it seemingly grants the company conditional operating authority without any requirement for testing for adjacent-channel interference. WISPA said that would let Globalstar initially deploy TLPS "in 'safe' areas" and leave the FCC and public with little usable data at the end of the conditional licensing period about interference and degraded broadband service. Some commissioners have voted against the draft order (see 1606030041).

Globalstar and a critic of its broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) proposal, the Wireless ISP Association (WISPA), made their cases in recent days to eighth-floor FCC staff. Globalstar CEO Jay Monroe and General Counsel Barbee Ponder were among company representatives who met with Chairman Tom Wheeler aide Edward Smith to make the case for TLPS permission, the company said in an ex parte filing. And in a conversation with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's staff recapped in an ex parte filing, WISPA said the draft order doesn't tackle its primary concerns about a lack of any guard band between channels 11 and 14, which raises the likelihood of interference to fixed wireless ISPs. WISPA said the draft order apparently gives Globalstar conditional operation authority without the need for testing for adjacent-channel interference. That lets Globalstar initially deploy TLPS "in 'safe' areas (and perhaps even indoor only)" during the conditional license period, and meanwhile undercuts any ability to determine at the end of that period how much wireless ISP customers are affected, the group said. The draft order should be amended to give Globalstar an experimental license that requires it to do cooperative lab and field testing against outdoor devices to gauge channel 11 interference, WISPA said: Or if the FCC approves the draft order, it said, it should be required to vote whether to give full TLPS authority at the end of the one-year conditional term, with that vote based on such testing. If the FCC goes forward without a required testing regimen, WISPA said, it should consider allowing channel 14's licensed and unlicensed portions be available for opportunistic public access. Public Knowledge and New America's Open Technology Institute have been pushing that provision before the FCC (see 1603250042). Some commissioners have voted against the draft order (see 1606030041). The filings were posted Friday in docket 13-213.

Any interference exclusion zones around fixed satellite service earth stations in high-frequency spectrum should be determined using technical analysis/parameters already offered by CTIA member companies, CTIA said in an FCC filing. “The Commission should reject use of any static or beyond worst-case modeling suggested by the FSS industry as overly conservative and inconsistent with real-world effects,” the association advised about fixed satellite services. “Prior to any new FSS earth station deployment in the millimeter wave bands, the new FSS entrant should coordinate with any affected terrestrial licensee (whether from prior auctions or the new auctions contemplated by the Commission). The terrestrial licensee should have a right of refusal of a new FSS system, so long as that refusal is based upon the technical analysis provided by the Joint Filers to the FCC and that its coordination efforts are made in good faith.” The filing is in 14-177 and other dockets. With a July order possible on sharing FSS 28 MHz spectrum with carriers for 5G, the satellite and wireless industries have been in disagreement (see 1606080061).

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler named Wharton School business economics associate professor Katja Seim chief economist, effective July 1. Seim has written several papers on such issues as competition in the online market, said a Wharton webpage; the school is part of the University of Pennsylvania. Much of her published work isn't specific to the communications sector. But a 2011 paper looked at structural changes in the wireless industry from 1996 to 1998. “Entry causes an increase in the number of plans offered, both as a direct result of competition, and as an indirect result of the introduction of digital service that is marketed with more plan offerings,” the paper said. “In markets with more entry, incumbents and entrants spread plans more evenly over the usage spectrum and are more likely to lower prices. However, high-valuation consumers benefit more than low-valuation consumers as firms offer steeper quantity discounts in markets with more entry.” Seim replaces FCC staffer Jonathan Levy, who was acting chief economist and will return to his position as deputy chief economist. “In today’s world, it is vital that public policy and business economics are understood as interrelated fields,” Wheeler said in a Friday news release.

Verizon and its union workers will try to smooth their rocky relationship after the nearly seven-week strike by the company’s wireline workers, said Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton. Members of the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers returned to work June 1 (see 1605310032). In an interview that was to be televised over the weekend on C-SPAN’s Communicators, Shelton said Verizon Chairman Lowell McAdam seemed surprised how bad things got, and expects the company “is truly going to try to improve that relationship now, because they realize a happy workforce is a good workforce.” Shelton said he is pleased with what the unions got in the final agreement. “The strike from our point of view was about one thing and one thing only -- jobs and job security,” he said. “We managed to come out of it with what we wanted.” It wasn’t about money, since workers were paid well, but rather taking back jobs from contractors and offshore workers, he said. “No matter what you’re making, if you don’t have a job, it doesn’t matter.” He estimated the strike's resolution means 1,500 new jobs for the unions. Shelton conceded the unions made healthcare concessions worth millions of dollars, “but we were willing to do that" since January, he said. Asked about the presidential race, Shelton took a dig at GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump. He claims to represent the working class, but “it’s kind of hard for me to understand how a guy who is a billionaire is the working-class candidate,” Shelton said. “Donald Trump’s message is probably a lot like mine, but I don’t know if Donald Trump believes that message.” The union head previously endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt. If Sanders exits the race, Shelton said he will shift allegiances to “the only place we can go -- Hillary Clinton,” the Democrats’ presumptive nominee. “If the choice is Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, there’s no choice for my members," said Shelton. "If Trump gets elected, not only is labor in trouble, this country’s in trouble.”

A federal court set Sept. 13 oral argument on Neustar's challenge to an FCC order that gave Telcordia the inside track to be the next local number portability administrator. The composition of the three-judge panel to hear the case will be revealed 30 days before oral argument, said a short order Wednesday of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (Neustar v. FCC, No. 15-1080). A Neustar spokesperson said, "We are pleased to see that oral argument has been scheduled for early fall." The FCC had no comment. Neustar and the FCC made their arguments last fall (see 1509210040, 1510290029 and 1511270033) and briefing closed in December. Asked about the D.C. Circuit's delay in setting oral argument, Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman, who is not involved in the case but is a longtime court watcher, told us “it does seem to be a little slow, but I’m not sure this is unusual.” The D.C. Circuit “stops hearing cases in late May. Unless there is some need for expedition, cases that don't make that schedule are heard in the fall, and the court doesn't start scheduling the new term until about now," he emailed. "This case is one of the very first cases being heard in the fall, so without knowing more, it could well be that it just missed the cut for the current term." But he also said two cases heard in May had briefing that wasn't completed until February or March, "so something might have held" up the Neustar case.

The FCC rechartered its World Radiocommunication Conference Committee and is soliciting applications for members, the International Bureau said in a public notice Thursday. The agency said the committee would focus in particular on international frequency spectrum issue advice and recommendations for the agenda of WRC 2019. The committee will meet two to three times a year in the District of Columbia, and members also would be expected to take part in working groups, IB said. The initial deadline for nominations is June 27, though the IB said it will accept committee membership applications on a rolling basis afterward, and nominations -- including qualifications -- can be submitted to WRC-19@fcc.gov.

Sharing the 28 GHz band between fixed satellite service (FSS) and upper microwave flexible use licensees requires restrictions on UMFU skyward emissions to protect satellite broadband service, satellite industry representatives told Edward Smith of Chairman Tom Wheeler's office, according to an ex parte filing Thursday in docket 14-177. The restrictions would either put an aggregate cap on skyward equivalent isotropically radiated power density or require the FCC to codify and monitor UMFU device certification matters such as off-axis EIRP, power control and antenna down-tilt, they said. The commission as soon as next month may vote on rules helping 5G use the 28 GHz band already occupied by FSS (see 1606070059). The satellite representatives also said any rules need to prevent interference to satellite receivers, protect existing FSS earth stations "and allow reasonable deployment" of new co-primary FSS earth stations. Meeting with Smith were officials from EchoStar, OneWeb, O3b, ViaSat, Inmarsat and SES. In a separate meeting with International and Wireless bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology representatives and with eighth-floor staffers, Nextlink Wireless said if the agency changes the geographic areas for UMFU licensees in the 28 GHz band, those licenses should be based on partial economic areas (PEA), the end result being harmonized license areas for all new 5G licensees. County-based licensing "present[s] many financial and technical challenges for incumbents and new operators alike," such as requiring investments in additional radios, construction, fiber backhaul and location rents, meaning bigger challenges for licensees in deployment and possible inadequate populations to support ongoing activities, Nextlink said in a filing in the docket Thursday. It also said. with the FCC planning to license 600 MHz spectrum, which will likely be used for some 5G services, based on PEAs, that would create greater uniformity among 5G licensees' license areas.