State regulation of interconnected VoIP is pre-empted because it’s an information service, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday. One judge dissented. But overall, the 8th Circuit affirmed last year’s ruling by U.S. District Court in St. Paul on Charter Communications' complaint the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission overstepped its authority by imposing state regulations for traditional phone services on VoIP.
Local government and public, educational and government (PEG) access programming interests plan to push back on proposed rules changes governing local franchise authorities that are teed up in the Further NPRM on FCC members' Sept. 26 agenda (see 1809050056). Local government authority is seen under attack in a variety of proceedings.
The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council sees the 4.9 GHz band as under growing pressure for wireless broadband reallocation but will continue to stress the importance of the band for public safety, Don Root, chair of the group’s Spectrum Management Committee, said Thursday at a meeting. Michael Wilhelm, chief of the Public Safety Bureau Policy and Licensing Division, told NPSTC the FCC is weighing comments in its related proceeding.
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel called on the FCC to move forward as quickly as possible on auction of unused 2.5 GHz band licenses, using spectrum once set aside for school use. Since it was educational spectrum, money raised should be used to address the homework gap, she said Thursday at a Silicon Flatirons spectrum conference streamed from Boulder, Colorado.
Determining the right balance between national security and privacy rights will remain “an enormous issue” that the Supreme Court and lower courts will need to continue to grapple with over the next 10-20 years, high court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said during the Senate Judiciary Committee's Thursday confirmation hearing. Kavanaugh continued to discuss Chevron deference by courts to agency expertise and said he would maintain an open mind on calls to open the Supreme Court to live media coverage. Kavanaugh faced questions Wednesday on Chevron and his dissent in the D.C. Circuit's 2017 en banc affirmation of 2015 net neutrality rules in USTelecom v. FCC (see 1705010038 and 1809050061).
USTelecom's bid for incumbent telco wholesale relief faced further resistance from rivals and others in replies to the FCC due Wednesday, though more large ILECs filed support than initially (see 1808070024). New competitors, some state regulators and consumer advocates said the commission should dismiss or deny the petition. Now, they are joined by more than 8,000 individuals filing substantive opposition, according to Incompas. Our review of docket 18-141 appears to confirm that.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden will subpoena Google if necessary to get a top executive to testify, the Oregon Republican told us Thursday. A day earlier, the platform was criticized for its absence at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing (see 1809050057). “Someday, we will have the Google execs in just like we had [Facebook CEO Mark] Zuckerberg, just like we had [Twitter CEO Jack] Dorsey," Walden said. "We’re just going to continue to march right through, and obviously we have tools to get there if we have to use them. We shouldn’t have to use them.”
No further action by the New York Public Service Commission is needed to require Charter Communications and any successor ISP to follow net neutrality rules, a PSC spokesman said Thursday. He responded to Democratic state legislators urging the agency to use its leverage in the Charter dispute to require adherence to FCC now-retracted 2015 rules. Observers on each side of the net neutrality debate said not to count out net neutrality rules in an expected settlement that could let the company remain in New York. In California, legislators urged Gov. Jerry Brown (D) to sign their net neutrality bill to build momentum elsewhere.
Local government officials warned concerns continue over wireless 911 location accuracy, at an NG911 Institute lunch Wednesday. Meanwhile, CTIA said the four nationwide wireless providers -- AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon -- are adding new location-based tools to existing wireless 911 location technologies starting this year.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh attempted to parse his views on deference by courts to agency expertise under the Chevron decision, saying he's not totally opposed to the precedent, during the Senate Judiciary Committee's Wednesday confirmation hearing session. Kavanaugh's views on Chevron as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit mean many in the communications sector believe he would raise the bar for FCC regulations (see 1807100020). Kavanaugh defended his dissent in the D.C. Circuit's 2017 en banc affirmation of 2015 net neutrality rules in USTelecom v. FCC, as expected (see 1705010038 and 1808310045). Questions continued into the evening.