With a partial shutdown possible of federal agencies not fully funded through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the FCC Tuesday slightly updated its plans. The continuing resolution funding the FCC and other agencies expires at midnight Friday. If a shutdown is implemented, 245 employees, 17 percent of the total, would keep working. Those figures are similar to September estimates. "If a potential lapse in appropriations is imminent, the FCC will determine whether and for how long prior year funds are available to continue agency operations during a lapse. If prior year funds are available, employees will be notified that the FCC will remain open beyond a lapse and directed to report to work as usual," the notice said. "If the prior year funds are unavailable, or such funds are exhausted during the lapse in appropriations, the agency will furlough employees." The administration "would like to see Congress pass an appropriations bill that fully funds our government and that allows the president to protect our border and provides substantial border security funding," said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, per a shared-media outlet report.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is in Israel this week for meetings. “An honor to represent @FCC & US Gov‘t this week in Israel!” he tweeted. “Look forward to working with counterparts like [Communications Minister Ayoob Kara] & meeting entrepreneurs, students, and others.”

T-Mobile denied it’s a target of an FCC investigation whether top wireless carriers submitted incorrect coverage maps (see 1812070048) for the Mobility Fund Phase II auction, responding to the Rural Wireless Association. “T-Mobile has not been contacted by the Commission regarding the agency’s announced investigation into alleged violations of the MF-II 4G LTE data collection and has no reason to believe that T-Mobile is involved,” the carrier said in a Friday filing in docket 10-208. “RWA’s vague and irresponsible statements regarding T-Mobile’s MF-II maps are unsupported by any evidence and are patently false.” RWA said earlier T-Mobile in some cases appeared to report “its future 4G LTE coverage” rather than current coverage. New Street Research’s Blair Levin emailed investors that even if the allegations against T-Mobile are found to be true, they wouldn't affect FCC consideration of T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint. Levin also cited reports that Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. review of T-Mobile/Sprint is proceeding quickly, with approval likely in light of the companies’ agreement not to buy Huawei equipment. “If so, that seems to eliminate a small but material risk factor that had developed in light of the opposition expressed by a secretive organization named Protect America’s Wireless,” Levin said. Industry officials said Monday clearance of the deal by CFIUS appears imminent. A Monday report by the Economic Policy Institute said the deal would drive down wages. “Average weekly earnings for retail wireless workers would decline by between 1 and 3 percent in most affected labor markets, with earnings falling by as much as 7 percent in the most-affected labor markets,” said the report, paid for by Communications Workers of America. T-Mobile didn't comment.

More municipal broadband-network allies said FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly's concerns (see 1812130073) about such ISPs infringing on free speech are off base, while those often opposed to regulation told us they shared such fears. O’Rielly "cannot identify a single instance of a municipal broadband network infringing on anyone’s freedom of speech," said Executive Director Deb Socia of the Next Century Cities group of communities including Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco. "Local government officials have a Constitutional obligation to uphold free speech." Others we surveyed also couldn't think of an instance of a public ISP infringing on citizens' First Amendment rights. Baller Stokes President Jim Baller, whose law firm represents local interests, told us he disagrees "with most of Commissioner O’Rielly’s arguments." Others agreed with the commissioner. As they are government-run entities, First Amendment curbs on limiting speech "would likely apply to municipally owned broadband networks," emailed American Legislative Exchange Council Communications and Technology Task Force Director Jonathon Hauenschild. "They would likely face lawsuits and find their terms of service heavily questioned by federal courts." Other than sometimes public ISPs in unserved areas, generally, "such services should not be offered by government in competition with private sector providers," ALEC recommends. O'Rielly is rightly "concerned that muni broadband networks could get into the business of censorship by imposing speech codes that prohibit speech deemed 'impermissible' by local governments," emailed Richard Kaplar of The Media Institute. "The First Amendment protects against such censorship at all levels of government." The institute, which Friday said Kaplar advanced to president-CEO (see personals section), is where the commissioner gave his earlier speech opposing muni broadband that drew opposition, prompting his response in Thursday's blog. NCTA and USTelecom declined to comment Friday.

One of the chief challenges for the U.S. at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) will be balancing the spectrum needs of satellite and international mobile telecommunications, especially as those use cases are increasingly "crammed together" in the spectrum bands, NTIA head David Redl said at a U.S. ITU Association meeting Friday. While that also was a fight at WRC-15, the world is now further along in development and deployment, meaning there's more relevant data guiding the discussions, he said. Also a big challenge is agenda item 1.13, regarding spectrum between 24.25 GHz and 86 GHz for mobile broadband, he said. Some issues that might have been particularly contentious at the 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications have died down. "Six years, in internet time, is an eternity," he said. Other topics, like cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, will continue to be ITU hot buttons for the foreseeable future, he said. He said a big reason the U.S. wanted American Doreen Bogdan-Martin elected head of the ITU Telecom Development Bureau (see 1811010052) is its perception a leadership change was needed to help push along connectivity globally. He said the U.S. wants to see the ITU's focus not just on connectivity "but connecting them in a way that makes them equals … connects them to the global economy.” Redl said he didn’t know when the U.S. would appoint its WRC-19 delegation leadership, as that's in the purview of the State Department and he was not privy to those discussions. But NTIA, FCC and State Department staffs will have a lot of preliminary work done when the delegation leadership is decided, he said.

The FCC Technological Advisory Council meets Jan. 14, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., in the Commission Meeting Room, said a public notice in Thursday's Daily Digest. The meeting had been scheduled for Dec. 5, postponed due to the death of President George H.W. Bush (see 1812030032).

Over-the-top video services are the “bull's-eye of where everybody wants to be,” but limited disposable income and the integral role of advertising in financing content must be considered in a “post-merger world,” said John Penney, 20th Century Fox executive vice president-consumer business development and strategic partnerships, at a Parks Associates conference. Addressing AT&T’s Time Warner acquisition (see 1812130004), Disney/Fox assets and Comcast/NBCUniversal, Penney cited a “new balance of power” among studios, distribution platforms and ISPs. Media conglomerates hope to turn themselves into direct-to-consumer media companies to get in on the data trend, Penney said Wednesday in Marina Del Rey, California. The battle for market share by large consumer electronics companies and internet companies will make the home “even more cluttered with devices,” said Penney. Pushing for “reduction in complexity,” he said the living room has become a “rats’ nest of wires and boxes,” some due to competitive dynamics. In addition to Amazon and Google, Apple and Roku are trying to leverage hardware to sell services, creating a “mess” for average consumers who just want to discover content they want to watch and make it all work, he said. That’s a “real disservice to how good this can be,” said Penney, saying OTT “can be a lot better than traditional distribution by broadcast and cable,” but large internet and CE companies “have very little desire to pull together and create a more holistic mechanism for search, personalization and the like.” He said “something’s got to give” because it won’t be possible to make video content and distribution work economically. Penney referenced a comment on a previous panel that the new piracy in TV is shared accounts for OTT. Some in industry hope for relationship breakups so each member of the ex-couple ponies up for a separate paid account, quipped Michele Edelman, Vubiquity executive vice president-marketing.

The Department of Agriculture opened its $600 million rural e-connectivity loan and grant pilot ReConnect Program Thursday, including an online portal for the program. Congress appropriated funding for the pilot in the FY 2018 omnibus federal spending bill (see 1803230038). The department said its Rural Development division will be the primary agency in charge of the program, with assistance from other federal partners. USDA set out details in a notice for Friday's Federal Register. $200 million of the appropriated funds will go toward grants, $200 million to loan and grant combinations and $200 million for low-interest loans. Grant applications are due April 29, loan-grant combination applications are due May 29 and loan applications are due June 28, the department said. The department will begin accepting applications early next year, starting no later than the "second or third week of February," said Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue during an event announcing the program's rules and application schedule. The ReConnect Program, in conjunction with Rural Utilities Service broadband language in the farm bill Congress passed this week (see 1812120053), will go “hand in hand” to improve Agriculture's ability to improve rural broadband connectivity, Perdue said. “Our goal is to … open up the opportunity for transformative connectivity” in rural areas. Approved projects will be allowed to serve only rural communities of fewer than 20,000 people and that currently have either no broadband service or services with a maximum of 20/2 Mbps, Agriculture said. Projects must create a minimum 25/3 Mbps service. The department said it's prioritizing projects that will connect rural homes, agriculture production facilities, e-commerce, healthcare and educational institutions. It's "dedicated to spurring broadband deployment and investment in the areas that need it most,” said White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios in a statement. “We can’t allow rural America to fall behind.” NTIA “looks forward to providing technical assistance to potential applicants,” said Administrator David Redl. “NTIA’s BroadbandUSA team has extensive experience working in the telecommunications industry, building broadband networks and consulting with service providers and local governments.” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said the program and similar initiatives “can help us close the digital divide." She "will continue to push for similar resources” in future bills. NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield praised the launch. The program and the farm bill's broadband provisions “highlight a much-needed shift in federal policy to make rural broadband a possibility for the estimated 23 million Americans who lack it,” said National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson.

The FCC issued a reassigned phone number database order with a safe harbor that was unanimously adopted by commissioners Wednesday (see 1812120026). The safe harbor from Telephone Consumer Protection Act liability wasn't in an initial draft but was added this week. "A safe harbor will incent greater [database] usage, thereby further protecting more consumers from unwanted calls," said the order released Thursday in docket 17-59. But the commission agreed with consumer groups the safe harbor shouldn't be broadly applied to every call made by callers who use the database without regard to whether they reasonably relied on it to make the call. "Once the database becomes operational, callers that wish to avail themselves of the safe harbor must demonstrate that they appropriately checked the most recent update of the database and the database reported 'No' when given either the date they contacted that consumer or the date on which the caller could be confident that the consumer could still be reached at that number," said the order. "Callers bear the burden of proof and persuasion to show that they checked the database before making a call. The safe harbor would then shield the caller from liability should the database return an inaccurate result."

External communications by the Office of Emergency Communications needs work, GAO reported. The Department of Homeland Security should assess methods for communicating with external stakeholders, GAO said. DHS concurred. Some FirstNet statewide interoperability coordinators (SWICs) and public safety officials said OEC could improve communications, GAO said, as “26 of the 54 SWICs responded that OEC could use additional tools or approaches, such as social media" and public safety officials "missed training because they were unaware of opportunities.” Also Wednesday, GAO reported it continues to monitor federal agencies’ implementation of its recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity. Agencies haven’t implemented 41 percent of more than 1,200 recommendations about IT management and operations, and 23 percent of about 3,000 cybersecurity recommendations since 2010, GAO said. “These recommendations include those to improve the implementation of CIO responsibilities, the oversight of the data center consolidation initiative, software license management efforts, and the strength of security programs and technical controls.”