The FTC had sent us a link to comments on its draft vertical merger guidelines (see 2002270043). We therefore are withdrawing a Freedom of Information Act request.

Commerce Department Deputy Chief of Staff and Policy Director Earl Comstock is leaving effective Friday, communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed Comstock’s impending departure Monday (see 2003020028). Ross noted Comstock had committed to “serve for three years.” Officials and lobbyists noted overarching controversy over his tenure, including his role in the department’s public disagreement with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on 5G goals (see 1906120076). Comstock’s exit could provide a new opening for President Donald Trump’s administration to attempt to nominate a permanent replacement for former NTIA Administrator David Redl, though there appears to be little time left to feasibly advance a nominee through the Senate confirmations process, given the presidential campaign cycle, lobbyists said. Redl left abruptly in May, with some saying his disagreements with Comstock were a factor (see 1905090051). Work to find a permanent successor has been hindered by concerns about Comstock’s influence at Commerce (see 1908090070). Several officials pointed in December to Treasury Department acting Deputy Assistant Secretary-International Affairs Edward Hearst as a potential successor (see 1912160049), but he now appears to be out of the running because of objections to his tenure at Treasury, lobbyists said. Doug Kinkoph is acting NTIA administrator (see 1912230065). “The relationship between Earl and the NTIA was unprecedented and odd to be sure," said Gigi Sohn, Benton Institute senior fellow. "So are a lot of things about how this administration works.”

Senate passage of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998) got more praise Thursday and Friday (see 2002270070), including from the bill’s original co-sponsors and FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. The bill would allocate at least $1 billion to help U.S. communications providers remove from their networks Chinese equipment deemed to threaten national security. The House passed the measure in December (see 1912160052), meaning it now moves on to President Donald Trump. “The existence of Huawei’s technology in our networks represents an immense threat to America’s national and economic security,” said original bill sponsors House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky. "This bipartisan bill will help communities across the country by bolstering efforts to keep our communications supply chain safe from foreign adversaries and other dangerous actors, while helping small and rural providers remove and replace suspect network equipment.” Starks tweeted he’s “very glad to see bipartisan agreement around helping small carriers get untrustworthy equipment out of their networks.” The FCC “needs to work quickly to get these funds to providers,” he said, replying to our tweet reporting the development. “We’ll all be more secure when the replacement is done.” FCC national security supply chain rules barring equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE from networks funded by the USF took effect in January (see 2001020027).

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter will host a March 16 hearing in Detroit on 5G, big data, privacy, artificial intelligence and civil rights, the FCC announced Thursday. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., experts and advocates will join the 1 p.m. discussion at Wayne State University School of Law. “The benefits of 5G technology must meet the needs of all Americans, including low-income people, people of color, people living with disabilities, people residing in rural communities, children, and the many ways in which those identities intersect,” the announcement said. The discussion will include how to minimize privacy harms and data abuse of marginalized communities.

The telecom industry disagreed with Connecticut consumer advocates about whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit invited state net neutrality rules through its Mozilla decision. Connecticut’s Joint Energy and Technology Committee held a Thursday hearing on SB-5, a hybrid net neutrality/ISP privacy measure that would reverse repeals of past FCC orders on those topics. The court didn’t "free the states” to make rules, said AT&T in written testimony. “While the DC Circuit vacated the express preemption provisions in the 2018 Order, the Court stressed that its decision did not preclude the FCC from relying on established principles of conflict preemption or any other implied preemption doctrine to invalidate state laws that actually undermine that order.” USTelecom Vice President-Strategic Initiatives Mike Saperstein urged at “minimum” to “delay further consideration of this legislation until courts resolve the pending challenges to state open internet laws.” USTelecom is part of ISP lawsuits in Vermont and California, plus another against a Maine ISP privacy law. American Civil Liberties Union-Connecticut policy counsel Kelly McConney Moore wrote that state regulation is “clearly permissible” post-Mozilla. Pua Ford of Connecticut League of Women Voters agreed: “Connecticut may now confidently follow Washington, Oregon, California, and other states in drawing up its own regulations.” Industry said a national policy would be best. Consumer advocates said that’s not likely soon. “States enacting protections against the worst overreaching of the FCC order will help to make it more likely that the FCC and telecommunications companies come to the table with the states and other stakeholders to work together to find a more balanced compromise,” wrote acting Connecticut Consumer Counsel Richard Sobolewski. Maryland lawmakers heard similar testimony Wednesday (see 2002260057).

Small, rural carriers may find it harder to absorb costs of federal requirements to trace illegal robocalls, said panelists at an FCBA event Thursday on implementing the Traced Act, which became law last year. Voice providers aren't allowed to add line item charges for call blocking services. That doesn't mean carriers won't raise prices. "It depends on the magnitude of the costs" to companies for upgrading their networks and ongoing costs to administer call blocking and traceback efforts, NTCA Senior Vice President-Industry and Business Affairs Mike Romano told us. "If the costs are significant, they'll have to" raise prices, Romano said. He hasn't heard of such plans. Philip Macres of Klein Law Group said he has heard that even for small operators, it can cost $100,000 to upgrade a network for call authentication. "There are upfront costs and ongoing costs to operate," Romano said. USTelecom Senior Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Patrick Halley said operators should be careful in evaluating vendors because risk can be involved "when you have a regulatory obligation to do something in a short period." Romano said NTCA members are sensitive to issues of "reasonable analytics" used for call authentication because rural carriers were the ones that historically had problems with call completion when larger carriers didn't send phone traffic their way. The vast majority of members run IP-based phone networks, Romano said, which makes it easier to provide caller authentication for traffic originating on them. Too often, rural carriers must rely on tandem networks that still use TDM switching, he said: In many of those cases, authenticated calls from the small IP-based phone companies "will be sending out [authentication] certificates to nowhere."

The FCC is collecting data from eligible telecom carriers on whether they use equipment or services from Huawei or ZTE, said a public notice Wednesday for docket 18-89. An agency rule bars USF funds for equipment posing a national security threat to the telecom supply chain (see 2002040047). Data includes the type of Huawei or ZTE equipment or services ETCs own or use, purchase and installation costs, and removal and replacement costs. The FCC has proposed reimbursing small rural carriers (see 1906270039). Carriers not designated ETCs may also file, the agency said. Filings are due by April 22. Senate Commerce plans a March 4 hearing on 5G supply chain security (see 2002260028). Three Democratic presidential candidates said in Tuesday night's debate they wouldn't allow Chinese firms to build critical U.S. infrastructure (see 2002260019).

Power loss continues to play a role in cellular network outages in Puerto Rico, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said Wednesday, after his Friday hearing there. "During the recent earthquakes, the overwhelming majority of cell-site outages resulted from power loss, not damage to facilities," he said, calling power loss a long-term challenge. He visited one facility that's running on a generator more than two years after a hurricane destroyed its power lines. He said stakeholders are exploring expanded coordination agreements with power utilities, plus alternative energy sources. "At the federal level, we urgently need to consider new rules and legislation to ensure access to power," he said. Starks said ending internet inequality in Puerto Rico requires "sustained commitment and significant resources." He said closing the digital divide could allow telehealth to give Puerto Ricans better access to mental healthcare. Starks posted prepared statements from Friday's witnesses. Puerto Rico Telephone Co. General Counsel Francisco Silva in separate discussions with Starks recounted Wednesday in docket 18-143 called "inconsistent" the frameworks the commission adopted for determining location adjustments in the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. Silva said FCC rules penalize support recipients in Puerto Rico "when location data used to establish milestones overstates the number of locations in an area, even though the challenges associated with accurately assessing location data acknowledged in the RDOF proceeding are even more acute in Puerto Rico" (see 2002200021).

DOD is “willing to share” use of its spectrum with wireless carriers in some cases, Defense Secretary Mark Esper told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday. The committee was examining DOD’s $705 billion FY 2021 budget proposal. “A lot of U.S. companies want to go to the mid-band range" of spectrum for their rollouts of 5G technology, Esper said. "The private sector wants that. We need” those frequencies. “The technology exists, I’m told, to” share spectrum that DOD currently occupies, he said. “That’s the best way to move forward so we can meet the economic priority with the national security priority.” Esper noted Pentagon use of the 3100-3350 MHz band. NTIA in January called for further study, saying federal agencies may be able to share that band (see 2001270049). DOD has objections to Ligado's L-band license modification applications (see 1911210055).

The FCC Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council meets March 17, said Tuesday's Federal Register. The meeting starts at 1 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room. The first major documents from this iteration of CSRIC are due at the meeting (see 1912100053). In December, CSRIC got updates.