The 9th Circuit U.S Court of Appeals scheduled Feb. 10 oral argument on challenges of FCC wireless infrastructure orders, the court said Sunday. It starts at 9 a.m. PST in Pasadena, California. The 9th Circuit agreed in October to fast track argument (see 1910080029). Three days later, the 9th Circuit will hear argument on the FTC's antitrust case on Qualcomm (see 1912020029).

Qualcomm has monopoly power in two key chip markets, maintained by refusing licenses to rival chipmakers, the FTC argued to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 1910100017). Oral argument is set for 9:30 a.m. Feb. 13 in San Francisco. Qualcomm and DOJ said previously that the lawsuit and lower court’s injunction threaten national security, given Qualcomm’s role in leading 5G advancement against Chinese rivals. The FTC called those claims “purely speculative.” Intel supported the commission in the case, also announcing it agrees with the district court’s finding “Qualcomm’s licensing practices have strangled competition in the CDMA and premium LTE modem chip markets for years, and harmed rivals, OEMs and end consumers.” Intel claims it “suffered the brunt of Qualcomm’s anticompetitive behavior, was denied opportunities in the modem market, was prevented from making sales to customers and was forced to sell at prices artificially skewed by Qualcomm.” Ericsson and Samsung previously argued in favor of Qualcomm, with Samsung saying contract and patent law are “better suited” for settling disputes about fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms. American, Japanese and German automaker groups said prices of cars with 5G will likely increase if Qualcomm wins. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and Denso with Continental Automotive Systems filed briefs. “Automakers have been forced into unnecessary and inefficient [standard-essential patent] licensing negotiations ... even though chip sales that exhaust patent rights ... would negate the need for such negotiations while allowing the patentee to be compensated for its inventions based on the price charged for a chip,” the alliance argued. That will worsen if Qualcomm practices are ratified, it said. The Computer & Communications Industry Association supports the agency, saying Qualcomm has an “antitrust duty” to license competing chip manufacturers on FRAND terms. Open Markets also supported the FTC, saying in a release that Qualcomm practices compel “smartphone and tablet producers to pay exorbitantly high amounts for their chips.” The company didn’t comment Monday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled Feb. 10 oral argument on challenges of FCC wireless infrastructure orders (see 1912020018).

An item to modernize Category 2 spending in E-rate was deleted from the FCC's circulation list, updated Friday. It was approved 5-0 and Democratic concurrences are possible, an agency official said Monday. The item, which went on circulation last month, is expected to make permanent funding for broadband-related services inside libraries and schools (see 1910290016). "We do hope that it's soon because libraries are planning now" for next year's budgets, and they need the certainty of a rule, said Marijke Visser, American Library Association senior policy advocate, about possible forthcoming release. Visser said in an interview Monday that ALA seeks an increase to libraries' per-square-foot funding levels.

Verizon wants the FCC to modify language in a draft order on remand and declaratory ruling to develop a unified intercarrier compensation regime related to over-the-top VoIP services, said a Wednesday filing in docket 01-92 on its meetings with Wireline Bureau officials. "The modified language would emphasize that LEC-VoIP partnerships may assess charges for non-end office access services only if they provide the functional equivalent of such services, and thus help avoid new arbitrage schemes based on non-end office rate elements."

After more than 45 years with the FCC, including 13 as head of the Office of Engineering and Technology, Julius Knapp will retire effective Jan. 3, he said Wednesday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Knapp "is an FCC institution, and I will miss him for his expertise, his leadership, and his friendship." Knapp was named OET deputy chief in May 2001 and chief in October 2006. "I've loved it," Knapp told us. He said, with his wife retiring and after more than 45 years with the agency, the timing was right. He said OET leadership transition "will be addressed in due course." Former Chairman Tom Wheeler emailed that Knapp "is a National Treasure," and has been "a guide for Chairman after Chairman as the world evolved from analog to digital. Forty-five years at the FCC means Julie was pre-G; he has seen it all." Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said Knapp has been "a role model for me and countless other FCC employees [and] the gold standard for civil servants." The FCC "faces a monumental loss," Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said. Knapp helped "to lead our nation’s communications policy across many Administrations and with so varied a set of Commissioners." Knapp "is such a fantastic authority, a terrific teacher, and an extraordinary colleague whose input has improved countless decisions at the agency," said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Commissioner Brendan Carr called Knapp "one of the most consequential public servants the federal government has known." With most agency staffers lawyers, “Julie's knowledge & advice were critical in making sound policy,” tweeted Gigi Sohn, fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy, who was at the FCC under Wheeler. “One of the few things people could still agree on in D.C. is the integrity of Julie's engineering analysis,” said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. The Wireless ISP Association and Qualcomm also had accolades.

The Hawaiian Broadband Initiative and National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) petitioned the FCC on priority filing window eligibility rules for tribes seeking 2.5 GHz spectrum licenses. In a docket 18-120 posting Tuesday, the Hawaii agency said native Hawaiians not being listed as an eligible party for window participation wasn't raised with the agency before its October order because no reasonable party would have anticipated the FCC's saying Hawaiian homelands are eligible for the window but omit native Hawaiians from the list of eligible applicants to participate. Gov. David Ige (D) (see here) and state Office of Hawaiian Affairs (see 1911250040) also raised eligibility red flags. NCAI said the FCC should reconsider limiting off-reservation lands including tribal trust lands from the eligibility window because that limit will especially affect rural tribal nations without reservations or that have service populations located in noncontiguous parcels of off-reservation trust land. It said the agency should reconsider its requirement that an area be "rural" to qualify for the tribal priority window. The commission didn't comment.

The FCC will hold the first meeting of its rechartered North American Numbering Council Dec. 16 at 9:30 a.m. in its Commission Meeting Room, said a public notice Tuesday for docket 92-237. Chairman Ajit Pai named Jennifer McKee, NCTA vice president-associate general counsel, NANC chair. Maine Public Utilities Commissioner Bruce Williamson is the new vice chair. NANC was re-chartered two months ago (see 1909190070). Other members also were named. The FCC will also take nominations through Dec. 26 from non-NANC members who want to participate on particular NANC working groups.

Ford remains willing to share the 5.9 GHz band if it can be shown non-safety applications won't degrade cellular vehicle-to-everything technology (C-V2X) performance or jeopardize the future availability of the spectrum, CEO James Hackett wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who tweeted the letter Monday. Hackett said Ford will begin deploying C-V2X in 2022, and all its new vehicles will have it within a few years. It said the proceeding considering C-V2X as a crash avoidance technology is "appropriate and timely." Dec. 12, commissioners vote on a proposal to take some band from dedicated short-range communications and reallocate it for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use (see 1911200055).

SES CEO Steve Collar and Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler told aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai how the C-Band Alliance "could work cooperatively with the FCC" to develop a C-band public auction, per a docket 18-122 posting Monday. Pai supports an auction instead of what had been CBA's planned private sale (see 1911180026).

The FCC is "solidly on track" for a 2020 C-band auction, said Commissioner Brendan Carr in an interview with The Communicators, posted online Friday and to have aired on C-SPAN over the weekend. Noting concerns that such an auction might be three or more years out, he said "that's not going to happen" due to the auction's being such an agency priority. “A lot of regulators right now are struggling with a lack of vision” on 5G, and he said it will be more consequential than the transition from analog to digital. He said that lack of vision is reflected in opposition to T-Mobile buying Sprint. Support of deals like it shows "you understand where technology is going," he said: "A lot of consumers aren't happy with the status quo," and want to see new competition. He has "significant concerns" about China Unicom and Chinese Telecom being licensed to operate in the U.S., and favors an investigation of whether existing Communications Act Section 214 licenses should be pulled. He said there's unanimity among U.S. allies on the issue. Carr doesn’t think there's a need for a new agency like the FCC to regulate just edge providers; instead, antitrust authorities need to have "forward-looking vision" to see where the tech industry is going.