FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said one 2020 priority is looking at ways the agency can try to ensure artificial intelligence and facial recognition technologies respect privacy and aren't discriminatory in application. At a Congressional Tech Staff Association/Congressional Black Associates event Wednesday, Starks said it's "a moral imperative" to look at broadband connectivity beyond just the existence of infrastructure but also as an affordability and digital literacy issue. He said his criticisms of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund -- as reflected in his partial dissent (see 2001300001) -- included it not prioritizing "future-proof" connections at speeds that will be relevant a decade from now. The approved RDOF order hasn't been released; Starks said some issues are "still getting tweaked." He said the agency has to put more priority on holding connectivity providers accountable when they decide not to build out networks after all, pointing to more than 10 percent of Connect America Fund Phase II auction winners defaulting. He said federal dollars for rural broadband providers should come with requirements for offering low-income service options. Starks said the FCC "has done good work" tackling supply chain vulnerability with its USF supply chain rules adopted last fall (see 1911220033), but there also needs to be attention paid to Huawei and ZTE technology already in U.S. telecom networks. He said forthcoming enforcement actions announced by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for carriers seemingly disclosing consumers’ real-time location data (see 2001310058) are "long overdue." Starks again supported the Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act (HR-3957) sponsored by Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., which would restore the minority tax certificate. He called the nearly nonexistent full-power TV station ownership by women and minorities "a shame."

Phone companies that allow international robocalls into U.S. networks need to take part in efforts to trace those calls' origins, the FCC said Tuesday. It said Enforcement Bureau Chief Rosemary Harold wrote gateway service providers All Access, Globex, Piratel, Talkie, Telcast, ThinQ and Third Base, requesting they take part in tracking down the originators of illegal spoofed foreign robocalls. It said the seven "are uniquely situated to assist government and industry efforts to combat scam robocalls." The letters come atop proposed rules Chairman Ajit Pai circulated on Jan. 28 that would establish a registration process for naming a consortium to conduct private-led efforts to trace back the origin of suspected unlawful robocalls. Sprint, T-Mobile and Comcast on Tuesday said they had all implemented anti-spoofing technology in parts of their voice networks (see 2002040020).

3rd Generation Partnership Project is canceling some face-to-face meetings because of the coronavirus virus (see 2002040037), the group said. 3GPP cited “the critical situation in China … the fact that the coronavirus outbreak is a global health emergency and represents a risk outside of China” and “travels restrictions/company policies already applied.” The group recognized that the “main driver in this situation is and must be the health and safety of our delegates, we should avoid organizing large [face-to-face] meetings in Q1, even when the location of meeting is not in China, to avoid international flights in this critical period.” Umair Javed, aide to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, tweeted Tuesday: “Apparently the #coronavirus is now slowing down #5G standards work.”

DOJ, reviewing its settlement with T-Mobile/Sprint/Dish Network under the Tunney Act, asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly in Washington to move forward with a decision. “The proposed Final Judgment will provide substantial long-term benefits for American consumers by, among other benefits, ensuring that large amounts of currently unused or underused spectrum are made available to American consumers in the form of two new advanced 5G networks,” said a Monday pleading (in Pacer) in docket 1:19-cv-02232: “The proposed Final Judgment further provides for a substantial divestiture which, when combined with the mobile wireless spectrum already owned by DISH … will enable DISH to enter the market as a new 5G mobile wireless services provider as well as an additional nationwide facilities-based wireless carrier.” Justice noted states challenging the deal in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York “have declined again in their second amicus brief to take a position on the specific question before this Court, and they agree with the United States that their merger challenge and this Tunney Act proceeding present different legal questions under two different statutes.” Dish also filed. “The carefully-crafted remedy imposed by the United States addresses the competitive harm alleged to result from the merger by, among other things, facilitating and accelerating DISH’s entry into the consumer mobile wireless market,” the company said (in Pacer). “Having DISH competing head-to-head with AT&T, Verizon, and New T-Mobile will ‘provide substantial long-term benefits for American consumers.’”

Tech companies met an aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and staff for the Office of Engineering and Technology on power levels required for 6 GHz band augmented and virtual reality body-worn devices. The FCC is considering rules for sharing the band with Wi-Fi and other unlicensed. “Given the significant body loss that affects connectivity between body-worn devices, 14 dBm radiated power is the minimum level of power that will reliably enable AR/VR applications” but the devices don’t have to “typically or constantly transmit at these power levels,” said the filing in docket 17-183. Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Microsoft, NXP Semiconductors, Qualcomm and Ruckus Networks were represented. Meanwhile, cable Interests are pushing for low-power indoor (LPI) Wi-Fi use in the band. Comcast, Charter Communications and Cable Labs told OET it isn't a threat to fixed service incumbents in the band, and data from 500,000 Wi-Fi access points used in simulations helped prove that, per another posting Monday. Comcast in meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks urged allowing LPI use throughout the band without the need for automated frequency coordination.

The FTC and DOJ Monday extended draft vertical merger guidelines comments until Feb. 26 (see 2001130002). They set workshops March 11 and March 18. Afterward, DOJ looks “forward to finalizing the first update to our vertical merger guidelines in more than three decades,” said Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim. The FTC approved the extension 5-0.

The FCC opened docket 20-32, "Establishing a 5G Fund for Rural America," it said Monday. Chairman Ajit Pai announced the $9 billion USF rural wireless program in December (see 1912040027).

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he plans to seek a vote on an $9 billion 5G fund “in the coming months,” in a Jan. 24 letter to leaders of the House Commerce Committee posted Friday. The Mobility Fund II program, emphasizing 4G, no longer makes sense, Pai said. “5G deployment in rural America is currently in a much more nascent stage,” he said: “The most sensible and efficient approach for determining which areas in rural America will be eligible for a program focused on 5G will likely be different than the optimal approach for determining eligibility for a program focused on 4G LTE.” Pai said the FCC will look closely at which services quality and deployment benchmarks. The MF-II 5-0 commissioners' order "decided that auction winners would have to demonstrate coverage of at least 40 percent by three years, 60 percent by four years, 80 percent by five years, and 85 percent by six years across all areas for which they would receive Mf-II support in a state,” he said.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated an item Tuesday for an NPRM implementing Section 13(d) of the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (Traced Act) (see 1912310028), per Friday's circulation list. The act requires the FCC to establish a registration process for a neutral, third-party consortium to lead efforts to trace back the origins of suspected unlawful robocalls.

The FCC Disability Advisory Committee will meet Feb. 26 to receive updates from staff and reports from its subcommittees, said a Thursday Federal Register notice. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. EST in Commission Meeting Room.