FCC “staff is actively wrapping up” its investigation into whether top wireless carriers submitted incorrect broadband-service coverage data in violation of Mobility Fund Phase II rules (see 1812070048), Chairman Ajit Pai said in his written response to a question from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Wicker asked for further information on the investigation as a follow-up to the committee's June FCC oversight hearing (see 1906120076). Wicker in December abandoned plans for an amendment to FY 2019 federal spending legislation that would force the FCC to revisit its MF-II maps because of the investigation (see 1812100056). Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., temporarily placed a hold on Senate reconfirmation of Commissioner Brendan Carr over his concerns about the commission's decision to suspend the window for responding to MF-II challenges amid the investigation (see 1812200060). “I hope that we will be able to report the results of [the MF-II] investigation soon,” Pai said. “The Commission’s next steps will depend on those results.”

Decision time is near for DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim on T-Mobile/Sprint (see 1907180041), but questions remain, New Street’s Blair Levin said Monday in a report to investors. Since FCC Chairman Ajit Pai endorsed the deal two months ago “the consensus view -- with which we agreed -- was that Delrahim was more likely than not to approve the deal, assuming a deal was struck to create a fourth competitor,” Levin wrote: “The more difficult question was how much pressure he would put on the T-Mobile to strike a deal in which the odds of that fourth competitor providing a sustainable competitive dynamic were significant. To do that, of course, Delrahim had to signal to T-Mobile that he would be willing to block the deal. There were no signs that he had done so until last week. But now he has done so, meaning that despite the companies’ assertions in court, the DOJ effectively joining the states’ effort to block the merger is a material risk.” The most likely outcome is a deal between Dish and T-Mobile/Sprint, Levin said. T-Mobile may want conditions keeping Dish from doing deals with major tech and cable companies, but the court reviewing the state challenge (see 1906210033) may be reluctant, Levin said: “Adding a constraint on DISH's ability to raise capital (and any constraint on a sale is a constraint on raising capital) is a red flag for the court that the deal is structured to create something less than the competitive dynamic Sprint offers.” Investors are asking if cable operators are “behind the black curtain?” Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche said in a note to investors: “And if so, is it all of them or just one?” She expressed skepticism on news DOJ will make a decision this week. Meanwhile, motions continue in the state challenge before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Comcast, Charter and Altice asked for a new, single deadline for motions made under the stipulated interim protective order. They suggested "any such motions should be due three days after the resolution of the non-party motions to amend the protective order.” The rules are “unnecessarily burdensome for non-parties that seek to mitigate the risk to their commercial interests caused by discovery in this action,” the cable groups said (in Pacer): “Defendants have been identifying their designated in-house counsel piecemeal, creating a stream of rolling deadlines.” AT&T asked the court to restrict access to information filed. The court should “follow the usual practice of requiring a particularized need before allowing Defendants’ employees access to competitively sensitive information from their competitors,” the carrier said (in Pacer): “Under this practice, which AT&T and Time Warner lived with in their recent merger litigation, Defendants can show why specific in-house counsel should have limited access to specific non-party confidential information.”

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should deny Qualcomm’s request for a stay in its appeal of an FTC lawsuit over the company's alleged mobile chip monopoly (see 1907160069), the agency said (in Pacer) Thursday. A stay could mean some customers continue paying “unreasonably high royalty rates,” the agency said. In addition to failing to show the public interest favors a stay, Qualcomm failed to show it will suffer “irreparable injury” absent a stay, the agency said: It failed to meet its burden of establishing a likelihood of success on the merits. The lower court correctly said Qualcomm’s “no license, no chips” policy is anticompetitive, the commission said. DOJ backs the company.

A Senate Judiciary Committee task force led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., discussed privacy with Salesforce, Snap, Mozilla and Match representatives, a Blackburn aide confirmed Thursday. Blackburn will co-chair the task force with ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the aide said. There’s no end date for the group’s efforts, given ongoing issues for the tech industry, and members hope to meet again before the August recess, the aide said. Blackburn, Feinstein, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., attended Thursday’s gathering with about 50 people, said the aide. Discussing the need for a new federal privacy law is “a good spot to start,” Blackburn told us, noting the task force is open to all committee members. Blackburn said on the Senate floor that the group will also explore antitrust, competition and any other issues that arise. She urged backing for her Browser Act (see 1904110052). Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told us his office is interested in participating. “I’m glad there is increasing interest,” he said. “I hope we will be moving toward some actual legislation.” Speaking on the Senate floor, Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., reaffirmed his commitment to reaching bipartisan, federal privacy legislation that sets one standard across the U.S. Hawley noted there have been public calls to re-examine the tech industry’s content liability shield from Blumenthal and Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, since he introduced legislation aimed at Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

USTelecom renewed the contract for President-CEO Jonathan Spalter for three more years, through 2022, it said Thursday. Spalter started in January 2017 (see 1610040059). His reportable compensation that year was $1.43 million, according to the association's most recently available IRS Form 990.

NTIA filed a revision to its initial filing asking the FCC to update rules for the wireless priority service, designed to give priority to calls by public officials during times of network overload (see 1807100040). NTIA filed on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security's Emergency Communications Division (ECD) Wednesday in docket 96-86. The agency requested changes consistent with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018. The edits “make more clear that DHS is responsible for issuing procedures and other technical guidance needed for the day- to-day operation of WPS, while the White House remains responsible for setting the Executive Branch’s overall national security/emergency preparedness policies,” the filing said. In response to industry complaints, NTIA said it changes “references to specific existing technical standards that could have locked service providers into using approved standards that may be replaced or updated in the future.” NTIA also filed a petition at the FCC Wednesday asking the agency to update telecom service priority rules (see 1907170042). TSP authorizes national security and emergency preparedness organizations to receive priority treatment for vital voice and data circuits. “Rules governing TSP were developed in the late 1980s and have not been updated since the program began,” Senior Policy Adviser Shawn Cochran blogged. “While the purpose of TSP remains fundamentally unchanged, the program has needed to evolve to accommodate new technologies as well as meet the increasing communications needs of the national security and emergency preparedness community.” Many of NTIA’s requests “simply seek to align the FCC’s rules with ECD’s practices and capabilities, remove ambiguous language, and include terminology more reflective of today’s telecommunications environment,” Cochran said.

The type of petitions posted in docket 18-119 Tuesday were petitions for reconsideration of FM translator interference rules (see 1907160066).

The FTC requests comment on 2013 amendments to the children’s online privacy protection rule and whether additional changes are needed, the agency announced Wednesday. The comment period will be open for 90 days after Federal Register publication. A workshop is scheduled for Oct. 7. “In light of rapid technological changes that impact the online children’s marketplace, we must ensure COPPA remains effective,” Chairman Joe Simons said of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The agency included specific questions. It wants to know if the rule affected “availability of websites or online services directed to children” and if it considers the right factors for determining if websites are directed at children. It asks about implications “for COPPA enforcement raised by technologies such as interactive television, interactive gaming, or other similar interactive media”; if the commission should consider exceptions to parental consent for educational purposes; and if the rule should be modified to “encourage general audience platforms to identify and police child-directed content uploaded by third parties.” This appears to be a move by the Trump FTC to help Google and “other child-directed digital marketers escape responsibility" for big data and manipulative marketing practices, said Center for Digital Democracy Executive Director Jeff Chester. “I am worried that this commission is more concerned about the profits of big platforms than the privacy of the public, especially America’s youth.”

The FCC continues to look at the possibility of routing 911 calls to public safety answering points based on where the call originates, as location-based routing becomes more technologically feasible, but it’s “not there yet,” said David Furth, Public Safety Bureau deputy chief, at a GPS Innovation Alliance briefing Wednesday. The agency began a notice of inquiry in 2018 (see 18032200027). Citing traffic fatalities in rural Nebraska where victims couldn't be found until days later, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., co-chair of the GPS Caucus, said GPS-linked 911 is a lifesaving synergy between two capabilities that speeds up response. In some jurisdictions, 80 percent of 911 calls annually come via smartphones, he said. Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., a member of the NextGen 911 Caucus, said most 911 dispatchers have a story about being unable to get location of a caller in an emergency. "The technology is getting there,” but geolocation needs federal support, said Torres, a former 911 dispatcher. She backed the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (Saves) Act (see 1904050054) and hopes it gets Senate support. Stormy Martin, U.S. National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing director, said ongoing GPS modernization efforts like the Air Force's ground infrastructure upgrades and the next-generation GPS III satellites will lead to increased accuracy and availability of GPS signals, which in turn will mean better accuracy of 911 geolocation. The first GPS III satellite, launched in December, should be operational next year, and the second GPS III satellite is set for launch later this summer, he said. Martin said mapping software rather than the constellation is typically the source of GPS problems such as wrong locations.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau deactivated its disaster information reporting system for Tropical Storm Barry Monday at the request of the Department of Homeland Security's National Coordinating Center for Communications and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it said in docket 19-660 and Tuesday's Daily Digest. The FCC published its final daily communication about the storm earlier Monday (see 1907150050).