FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a neutral NPRM on the 12 GHz band late last week, plus a notice on bidding procedures for the 2.5 GHz auction, attempting to close out two more spectrum items before he leaves office Jan. 20. The two items had been rumored candidates for the January commissioners’ meeting (see 2012210051) but didn’t make the agenda. With Democrats poised to take control of the FCC, industry experts said the question is whether they will allow the items to get a vote or ask for a delay until the new administration. The timing of both items would allow Pai to force a vote under must-vote rules, though he still has the option of putting them on the Jan. 13 meeting agenda.
Antitrust experts expect somewhat more stringent enforcement and merger and acquisition reviews under a Joe Biden administration than under the Donald Trump presidency, but not significantly more so, several told us. It's also unlikely a Biden DOJ will veer noticeably far from the Facebook and Google antitrust litigation underway, they said.
The FCC is monitoring telecom and 911 outages caused by the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville, a spokesperson said Monday. The bomb was in an RV parked next to a major AT&T central office, which was badly damaged in the blast and a subsequent fire. Industry officials said FCC staff will likely look more closely at the broader implications and how to better protect operations centers from similar attacks. AT&T said Monday most services have been restored. The effects were widespread, with Nashville International Airport halting flights after its internet connections went down and more than a hundred 911 call centers in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama losing data from some callers.
ILECs and broadband advocates want a stronger FCC vetting process for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund II bidders. Several companies won billions of dollars during the RDOF Phase I auction to deploy services they may be unable to provide (see 2012070039), stakeholders said in recent interviews.
The FCC will be under the gun as soon as the omnibus COVID-19 legislation (HR-133) takes effect, if it's signed by President Donald Trump. Trump suggested he may veto the bill and seek changes, though industry experts said it’s not clear whether he will follow through on that threat. Among the deadlines in the legislation is an unusually quick turnaround for telehealth grants. FCC officials said work on implementing the bill will have to start under Chairman Ajit Pai and continue after Jan. 20, when Joe Biden becomes president.
Proposed new EU rules for digital platforms could become a global norm, some stakeholders speculated. The Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Market Act (DMA), unveiled by the European Commission Dec. 15 (see 2012150022), aim to protect fundamental rights online and create a fairer, more open digital market, the EC said. DSA would require very large platforms ("gatekeepers") take risk-based action to prevent abuse of their systems through increased transparency.
Challengers to the FCC's attempt to loosen broadcast ownership rules cited the harms of media consolidation and ways the FCC fell short of administrative law, in Prometheus IV amicus briefs filed Wednesday with the Supreme Court. Christopher Terry, University of Minnesota assistant professor-media law, told us there are social issues of broadcast ownership diversity tied to the case, but at its heart, it's a procedural administrative law case, which the respondent amicus briefs delved into more than petitioner amicus briefs (see 2011230064). The FCC didn't comment.
Contrary to expectations, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai decided not to seek action on any items at the Jan. 13 commissioners’ meeting (see 2012210051). Pai on Wednesday released a meeting agenda that lists five panels updating commissioners on various parts of the FCC’s work. The meeting will be Pai’s last as chairman. Industry officials said Pai’s strategy means he can highlight the work he has done while avoiding complaints or letters from Congress that he must stop doing anything major.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the National Lifeline Association's petition for review of the FCC Wireline Bureau's revisions to the Lifeline program’s non-usage rules, said a ruling Tuesday. The same court last month denied NaLA's request for an emergency stay of the minimum services standard increase to 4.5 GB monthly (see 2011300069).
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) doesn't plan to restructure the capital's 911 call center after Office of Unified Communications Director Karima Holmes' resignation, Bowser said Tuesday. The mayor praised Holmes for leaving OUC “so much better than what she found.” Others including D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) Tiffani Nichole Johnson said the next director must overhaul the office, amid an audit and reports of 911 dispatchers sending responders to incorrect addresses and other problems.